Everyone knows that working retail kinda sucks. The hours are odd, you often have to work holidays and weekends, and you have to take a lot of abuse. It sucks even more when your boss calls you up into the office and tells you that the store has been sold, and everyone in the company is being terminated in a month.
So how exactly are you supposed to take the news that your job, your livelihood, is going away in four weeks?
I figured there were two options. A) Drink. Go Fishing. Dissolve into a pit of whiny, mopy despair about how life in big bad corporate America is so unfair, etc. or, B) Drink. Go Fishing. Rise to the challenge and move on. Please note that both options involve drinking and fishing.
Tonight, as I write this, I have accomplished at least one of those. Shane was kind enough to provide a consolatory dinner of deer steak, pasta roni, texas toast, and sweet potato fries. Served with dinner was Coldsmoke, an excellent brew from Missoula. A word of advice about it though.. Drink it slowly. If you pound it down like I did it’ll go straight to your head. Chase one of those with a Salmonfly Honey Rye and any worry will float away. The fishing aspect of both options will be taken care of later this week.
So now I begin The Shitcanned Shuffle, trying to find another job in quick enough order to avoid going bankrupt and having to move back in with the folks. *shudder* Thinking back over the past few years, I’ve put a lot of time into dead end, thankless jobs that really didn’t let me chase my passions or develop the skills I want to have in life. I think it’s time to change that.
My next job is going to be better. Things can only go up from here. Instead of freaking out about my suddenly being terminated, I know I can turn this into something positive. At the very least I’ll have a lot more time to fish this year!
And to that end, I humbly seek the assistance of you, my friends. I’ve got a couple leads on possible jobs, but if anyone reading this knows of anything that might be open, or opening up, in the Southwestern Montana region that might be suited for a trout bum creative I would be much obliged for a heads up.
Regardless of what I’ll end up doing, and when I’ll end up doing it, the dude abides. I’ve got enough deer meat, ramen and beans to last for a while, and all the free time in the interim will allow me to focus on my writing.
It’s not the end of the world. Just the start of a new chapter.
