The Party's Over

When I was 39, back when I was young and idealistic, I had a goal that I would get a second little part time job that would allow me to save up for my birthday trip to Greece.  I wanted something that was fun. Something that was not stressful and somewhere I wouldn't have to work on Sundays.

In Utah the options for places that are closed on Sunday are kinda hard to come by because EVERYONE  wants a job with Sundays off.

On a whim I wandered into the party store. I turned in an application and a couple of days later I got a call from the manager. I interviewed shortly thereafter... and by interview I mean, I sat down to chat with the manager and before she even asked me anything retail related she said, "you know what? You're awesome. I'm not even going to interview you. You have the job."

It was that easy. And just like that I started working at the party store! It was just as the Halloween season was kicking off. I was happy to work until Halloween got closer and the store started to look like this.

It was totally out of control. People can be such jerks when they shop. Go ahead and throw it on the floor. Sure. Sure. Go ahead, open the package and then just leave the random costume parts strewn about. That's not at all a jerk face-y thing to do. Ugh...

But I survived Halloween and asked if I could stay on as I was hired as seasonal. I never doubted that they'd keep me- I'm awesome.

Seasons came and went and I got into a good routine. I always worked with mostly teenagers but for the most part they were pretty good kids. Lazy? sure, but when they did work- they worked super hard.

We always had fun though. Which was the hole point of the job.

From my years at Freddies I have a little merchandising experience so they let me do a few things in the store. 

Corporate would have someone slap together a table and they'd send us a picture of it... the manager always gave it over to me and let me improve on it. It was a fun way to use some of the weird things they sell.

Last year for our gradation table I filled this 36 inch balloon. This is the Balloon like, seven months later. After nine months it was still floating but it was looking pretty pathetic so someone popped it. Crazy, right?

As Halloween rolled around again, the manager knew to keep me away from costumes or I'd have a nervous break down! Ha! I still hadn't recovered from the previous Halloween. But by now I had other responsibilities throughout the store so they had the newbies do the seasonal and I was in charge of candy. I filled all the bulk bins and made sure things were fresh and clean.

I actually worked on Halloween night and we had waaaay too much fun! I talked my friend Ana into working there with me and it was always fun when we got to work together. It was rare- but when we were both there- watch out!

If I never blow up another balloon, it will be too soon. There were days where I went home with raw, sore fingers from having blown up so many balloons.

Like I said, this all started when I was 39, young, bright-eyed and full of hope of going to Greece for the big ugly birthday. Well, I'm 40 now, Greece didn't happen and I'm still broke.

A few months ago- I'm not sure what happened but it stopped being quite so fun. The people that I liked to work with started quitting. And the teeny boppers that were replacing them weren't fun. They were lazy with no side of hard work- just lazy through and through. and SO fowl mouthed. Ugh. I tried to make my own fun. And I mostly kept to myself doing the candy gig.

A couple of months ago they got a new manager... things didn't change. In fact, they kinda got worse. The teenagers got lazier, the store got more chaotic and it was officially no longer fun. I never even met the new manager. She's been there two months and never cared about her employees enough to even meet them face to face? The only time I've ever even spoken with her was when I called in after my vacation to tell me I was scheduled on a wrong day. She said I had to call someone to get coverage. Umm... not my mistake there honey. So instead, I worked the shift and turned in my two weeks notice. It was supposed to be a fun evening job, something to do to get me off the couch and out of the house.

Well lately it seems that I just don't have time to do anything. I was only at the party store two nights a week but it just seemed like it took up so much time. And it was work. I already have a full time job that is work. I already supervise a department of like, 20 people. I didn't need to go to a second job, work my tail off and make the same amount of money as the kids who stood around playing on their phones. Nope.  When it's supposed to be lighthearted and carefree- but you end up spending nine hours a week fuming with anger- it's just not worth it. So I quit.

I told them my last day was going to be tomorrow- but I worked yesterday and it was such a lovely day. Everyone I worked with was working so hard there was no time for anything else. I worked with Ana and so all of it I was able to leave on a really positive note.  Tomorrow it's all the teenagers scheduled so yeah... I'm not going in. I don't think they know that yet... but I have officially given away my last damn. I have no more left to give.

 I've been trying to be good and stay off foods my doctor told me to avoid- but I figured my last day on the job warranted a celebratory shake. It was good. It better be good because I waited FORTY FIVE FREAKING MINUTES in line for the dumb thing!

Anyway, that's the story of that one time I worked at a party store. I tried to leave in a positive enough way that if I decide to in the future I can go back... I don't know how kindly they'll take to my not showing up on the last day... but... oh wait.. there it went. The last damn. NOW I'm out of them.

Auf Wiedersehen, Zurchers!