This One's For All My Dead Homies...

When I started working at American Eagle I didn't think anything of it.  Up to that point in time I had held 2 jobs.  McDonald's when I was 15ish, and Noodles'N'Company for the duration of the summer before my mission.  I quit McD's after only a month, and I was only at Noodles for 8-9 months.  I didn't quite know if all jobs were like that, but some people seemed to have been at these "job" things for quite a while!  Years even.  Decades if they were really dedicated/confused/stuck/etc.

It is coming closer and closer to my time to leave AE, after having worked there for 2 1/2 years, and I never EVER suspected I would get emotional about it.

Tonight was my last floorset at store 2062, and there was absolutely nothing special about it, which is ok, because floorsets are kinda crap to start with.  I also found out that my head Manager, Justin, turned in his two week notice today.  This is a man that has been with the company for somewhere around 10 years.  I never thought I'd see the day when he was no longer there.  He had always been there, and I figured he would continue to always be there.  All night, while building walls I couldn't wrap my head around this idea that he would someday be gone...

THIS IS CRAZY

I have dealt with death, loss, sadness, pain, grief, depression, but never have I felt this way.

One of my other managers, Roz, quit just a matter of weeks ago.  It was rather unexpected, but I hardly felt a thing.  I was a little sad that her quirky personality wouldn't be around anymore, but it was nothing emotional.  Just completely habitual I would say.

And now Justin is leaving and it feels like my whole world is turned upside down!  What will become of the store?  Who will the new Store Manager be?  What will happen to the happy, laughing atmosphere that is found at only our AE?  How long before Adam leaves, too?  What will the other employees think?  How long will they stick around?

I won't be around to find out the answer to any of these questions...and I'm glad for that.  I can't imagine an AE without my favorite people around.

And the strange thing is...it seems like everyone else is leaving about this time, too!

Our store is strange because we have little turn-over.  In an industry that is full of little teenagers that need a job just for nights after school for a couple years, or college kids that just need to work while home for the holidays, our store has been the exact opposite.  We have had a constant, unchanging workforce for almost the entirety of the 2+ years I've been here.  Now, we're all moving on...

It's like we are all getting a divorce or something!

This has all just become very real.  I guess before, I knew that I would someday leave, but I never imagined what the day would be like when it actually happened.  It's still quite...surreal.

But this is a retail job!  What is there to be emotional about?! 

Life is sure gonna be different in a month...

***

Life is amazing now.

~Boy