A bit of a rant, I'm willing to answer questions if I missed something.
I work for Safeway in the department no one wants to work in: the deli. Literally, when people from other departments are called in to help, they immediately are like “fuck my life” as if I'm not right in front of them and can hear them. I've been here just shy of 3 months and have quickly become one of the best employees, primarily because I haven't called out right before my shift, showed up 30+ minutes late, or taken longer breaks than I should. My manager has said that me and her are the “dream team” and that I'm one of the few people she can rely on. That being said, I've also become a sounding board for her (and the assistant manager's) complaints, to the point where I even wrote an email to the store manager expressing our need for new hires, that we are underpaid, and that maybe, just maybe, we should cut down the services offered until we have the people to cover them. Of course the latter isn't happening, but they've told me they're working on hiring more people.
This is where my dilemma kicks in. I've never planned on staying in the deli, or even this store, long term. I was unemployed without benefits and needed A job when I got this one, and was planning to either find a different job or stick with it for 6 months and transfer to possibly a different city. There are 3 Safeways and a Walmart near where I'm living, most or all of which have had openings in their bakery, which I aspire to be in. I'm expressed interest to the bakery staff at my store (which we share a kitchen with) and applied to a position, which has my current manager in a bit of a tizzy. I think that's what started the “dream team” talk. Today, the store manager talked to me about the bakery position in front of my manager, and after my manager said “Are you leaving me?” like I'm abandoning her. And in a way, yes, I would be. I recognize that the deli will never get better if people keep leaving, but I don't know how much longer I have before the stress breaks me, and I can't wait for us to be fully staffed when that may never happen. I have applied at other stores/companies, and although I would like to try to stay with one company for a period of time, I don't know if the benefits are even worth it because my union rep won't answer my questions (my first time in a union and I'm not really liking it). I guess I'm wondering if it would be a horrible decision to leave Safeway if I don't get into the bakery, because I'm pretty sure if it were up to my manager I wouldn't be leaving the deli any time soon.