End of an Era

 

I don't want to make too much of it as it relates to everyone else, but today is officially the last day of my life as a retail manager.

I started in retail in 1991 as a Christmas hire in a music store, not knowing if I had a job after the holiday season.  In a shock to myself, I fairly quickly became the assistant manager and then, before I knew it, I had told my district manager that I wanted my own store.

There are dozens of little stories I could tell, and perhaps someday I will,  that have peppered the path til now.  But after nearly 32 years, and a few stops-and-starts, here I am.

For the last ten years I have managed a music store in Music City.  Today I will assist someone who is coming in to buy some of our store fixtures, and when I lock the door behind us, it will mark the true end of an era.  No longer will I have to greet people as they enter the store. No longer will I have to look for whichever item a person is also looking for.  No longer will I have to answer the phone with the name of the store. 

I have fooled people for 3 decades.  Most people I have worked with thought I liked people because of the way I talked to customers.  The truth is...I don't.  I look forward to speaking way fewer words every day.  I look forward to not having to hear about the music collection of every middle-aged white man.  I look forward to not having to find "that song, you know, the one they're playing on the radio all the time."  

Thirty years in retail of any sort has the potential to make you crazy.  I'd like to think it merely honed my skills as a smart ass:  

Customer:  "Hey, do you have Mariah Carey?"

Me:  "Why?  Is she missing?"

Truthfully, though, there are a few people along the way that I will miss, and it's going to be weird to not drive to the same place every day.  

But mostly, I'm tired and looking forward to a change.

- - - 

I will be retiring at the end of the year, which means I had to find some sort of paying gig until then.   Luckily, a customer of mine has been trying to hire me for years and he finally gets to.  I will be working a job about as far from retail as one could imagine.  I will be working for his remodeling company -- fixing decks, doing minor plumbing or electrical work, installing fences, and whatever else people have on their honey do lists that honey hasn't done.  

It's a strange job to take on at age 61, but I hope to use it to  lose a little weight and enjoy the fresh air.  I'll probably figure out what the bright orb in the sky is before long.

Goodbye retail, it's been nice.