Changing Jobs: When is it time?

One of my personal outlets has always been journaling of some sort.  Whether I'm writing myself a letter, blogging here, or just writing in some kind of journal, putting words to paper seems to help.  Or maybe it helps because I'm getting the random thoughts out of my head, and down into some semblance of order, which in turn helps me to "see the bigger picture", or "get a handle" on the stress inducing thoughts. 

I'm still in a huge quandary about my job, or rather, how my job will function with the upcoming changes.  I think I see the handwriting on the wall, and my position will be eliminated in the near future.  But I looked at other jobs on line today, just to see what was out there.  I've been in retail so long, I am not sure I'm qualified for anything else.  I couldn't survive on a minimum wage salary, so flippin' burgers is out.  lol   Data Entry:  boring, but I'm good at it.  I would be good at doing research, finding answers to puzzles.  But each job that listed those qualifications always had a large portion of the job being people related.

If I could create the perfect job, what would it involve?  A library full of genealogy resources.  Finding data, leading others to find data, scanning all the old documents to be shared on the internet to assist others in doing their own genealogy research.   Or scanning old documents and photos for a family so they would always have copies of these things.

The other day, I was doing what I call "hit and miss" research.  I wasn't trying to locate a specific person or a set of dates.  I was just perusing, and happened to come across an internet copy of my maternal great-grandparents' marriage certificate.  Not a listing with the data, the actual copy with signatures!  I was tickled.  (Not many are, but I shared it with family anyhow. lol) 

In all my thinking, I checked out the MAPP test (the first portion is free) and while it gives a basic summary of traits and strengths, it does include a few suggestions for career preferences.  Many of mine referenced library activities, which I enjoy.  Another one I haven't considered for a while is Pharmacy Tech.  I could DO that one!  It would be less stressful that what I'm currently doing, and could still be done within my BigBox Store.  Hmmmmmmmm.  I've thought of this avenue a few years back; I should look at it again.  Or get started on doing what needs doing.

Having an "out" when everything is so topsy turvy can supply you with a load of relief!

Work Woes

The last 24 hours have been an all time low.  I have known about changes coming to my job for about a month now, and they're finally here.  I realize that in the retail sector, the main controllable expense is payroll.  They need people with experience, but aren't willing to pay for that experience.  Retailers want people on the floor for customer service, but there are some things that need to be done in other places within a store in order for the store to function. 

With my ""new responsibilities"", I'll be managing all the deleted and/or clearanced products in the store from all the different departments.  The "higher up powers that be" have decided how our time is to be spent, and damn the consequences. 

And the area of the store I'll be working in will be in the same sector as Elvis. 

Along with changes being implemented to the actual job function, one of my team members was promoted to another store; my direct manager transferred to another store; two other managers left our store as well as the store manager.  We're really under the gun as far as leadership goes, so two different managers came in and gave me "the run down" on all the changes.  When I tried to be creative to help streamline my original job that is being reduced from 8 hours to less than 2 hours a day, I was told that it wasn't part of company protocol.  OK, I can deal with that, but when I tried to explain my reasoning behind it, these managers told me they hadn't ever done my job, but I can't create a better way to do my job, I had to do it the corporate's way. 

I'm at the point where I'm just going to go in and do what I'm instructed to do, no more extras any longer.  I won't be a decision maker, I don't feel like it's my place to go above and beyond because I've been shot down too many times.   My new phrase is going to be:  "I'm sorry, but I don't know the answer to your question ..." 


I keep trying to remember that it's just been a few bad days ....
Being old, I'm stuck here until I can retire .... 2,582 days!
But that doesn't mean I can't look for another position within my store.

Maybe the right thing will come along ......