Leaving The Big Blue Box The First Time

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22172 – 742:

I had originally posted this at the end of May of 2015 when it originally happened but I thought it kind of fit in here after the several retail stories from the same place. It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around the idea of all that’s happened in five years’ time.

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Greetings, Salutations, and Hi There to all of my fans, friends, fiends, foes, and relatives,

I have a new job. As many of you know or figured out, I quit the big box store after having to deal with certain management types. The type being the authoritarian, bullying type that is a throwback to the 1950s, when the boss could get away with saying, “You’re gonna do it and like it because I said so.” As you know, I try not to disrespect authority, but I really respect leadership. I cannot respect micro-managers and/or people who think it’s okay to yell at employees in front of a bunch of customers. So, after I got told off in front of a line full of people and told that, instead of closing and leaving by nine I would have to stay until possibly 10 – 15 minutes later than my shift and if I wanted to be in Money Center, then by god I better do it, I decided that I didn’t want to be in Money Center that bad. The last time I was treated that way I left Wisconsin and wound up in the Army in Colorado.

Well, winding up here, in Colorado Springs, was, I know in my innermost heart-of-hearts, actually God’s will. As I got to thinking about the whole situation I had been currently in, sort of an after-action review type of thing, I think God saw how miserable I was, how awful the scheduling was handled, and how little money I was bringing in. One of my issues, though, is that I am generally a loyal person and I don’t just up and change jobs on a whim and a fancy. He knows that the only way to get me to leave was to let things get bad enough, let me get fed up with the ridiculousness of the situation, and finally let me feel disrespected enough that I would not be able to stand it anymore. Then He let me know that I was worth more than that, that I was a good employee and they just didn’t appreciate me.

Not only did they not appreciate me, but they were actively trying to push me out of Money Center by trumping up non-existent errors and unproved allegations to try to make me doubt myself enough that I would want to quit being in Money Center. To the casual reader, this all may sound like the self-aggrandizing excuses of an egotistical person. People who have worked there for those same people will know that I am not exaggerating the extent of the politics there, the smallness of the minds I was dealing with, or the fact that any kind of leadership was replaced by micro-management. I couldn’t take it anymore so I quit.

As I said, I think God had his hand in all this, if I would have had any of the other management teams that I had there previously or if I would have worked for and with the people I talked to on the day I left, I would probably still be there. I think God wanted to bless me for tithing to Him and so let things fall out in such a way that I could get a fresh start.

A fresh start with more money and better, predictable hours. So, I am going to go back to a phone job at a desk with a rising company that is partnered up with the Kaiser-Permanente Health Network, answering people’s questions and solving their problems for a dollar more an hour than what I was making after 3 ½ years with the big box store, along with a set, 9 – 5 job schedule on Monday through Friday. I am really happy with this and the company, a global outsourcing company called Firstsource. My friend and co-Sunday School teacher who was in management there, after having left a different location of the big blue box helped me out.

So, that’s the update on the haps with Herb. The Haps with Herb. I really like that. If I wasn’t so attached to Prudentia Sit, Let Common Sense Prevail, I would change the name of this blog. Hmmmm…

Well, so long for now, but remember, THE Good Book says, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

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What do you think of that name? The Haps With Herb? I’ve had “Prudentia Sit – Let Common Sense Prevail” since the beginning because I used to do more political stuff than I have lately. It would be a big change for me. If you have an opinion or strong feeling, let me know.