I work retail.
About 4 months ago I went for a promotion. I got offered a different position instead.
I needed the money and I was bummed I didn’t get the offer I wanted, but the position I was getting was comparable.
In about 10 seconds of the offer I decided that I could do it, I was excited to do it, I wanted to do it. I wanted to do it because it was my chance to be a leader/help the company as a whole. I knew it’d be a challenge, as it’s outside my wheelhouse, but per usual I thought I could make it work.
I’m usually very positive and one of those people who tries my very best. I stay late because I care, and I care about my reputation of “getting things done.”
This has been the worst mistake of my life. I work more than I did before. I get cellphone calls on my day off. I’m responsible for conditions of 20 something locations all at once. When I was in stores I could wrap my arms around whatever was happening in the 4 walls. It frustrates me when I’m trying to work with a local managers and they don’t have the same drive I did.
The worst part is how close I am to the top. Before I had all these positions above me as a buffer between me and leadership. I could do my thing and be left alone.
Now I got to walk with presidents and vice presidents and sale managers and marketing people. Some of them are nice, but they lack the energy/comradarie/understanding that store level associates have about the grind that is retail. Everything is so textbook to them. The worst is the beating we take. I feel like that meme of that dude shielding raining bullets from hitting a sleeping kid.
I don’t know how much I can take. I’m not sleeping. I’m not eating well. I have not taken care of my dogs as well as I should. Hobbies? I need to be an expert/obsess over my new job. No room/brain juice for silly hobbies.
Oh and of course my relationship is hurting lol. This is fucking madness.