Back to Work – The Job from Hell

 

Back to Work – The Job from Hell

Teenagers at home! Teenagers at work! Rebellious boys at home and temperamental girls working for me at the store There was no escape. You may remember my mentioning Sunnyvale Newcomers in previous blogs. Anyway, one of my newcomer friends was instrumental in getting me the job from hell. I, who had NO experience in retail suddenly was managing a huge children’s discount clothing store. I had NO experience dealing with girls. Boys are definitely different.

Girls will argue and argue. Boys are passive aggressive husbands in training. The DO NOT argue – they will sweetly agree and then go out and do exactly what they please which is nowhere near what was agreed upon.

Now, It’s probably important for me to describe my state of mind after a shocking and devastating divorce. I was a mess – couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t concentrate. It’s also important to describe the owner of the store. Milard was one of three sons and he was the only “non-success”. He wasn’t a doctor, he wasn’t a lawyer, he was in retail! Making this business a success held an importance far beyond making a profit. So there you have it – two emotionally damaged nut jobs trying to launch a business and establish some sort of relationship. And, most importantly to accomplish the impossible! This endeavor had to make Milard a success!

Two years cranked by and my home situation was not happy. Kids going wild with no adult supervision. My perfect student sons were becoming problems in school. Our money situation hardly improved the absence of my former husband’s income. We rented out a room, which improved my finances, and enriched our lives. More about that later.

Then, finally I found the courage to quit and at the same time another friend from Newcomers asked me to go into a real estate investment with him. We bid on a run down property at a foreclosure auction and we got it! This was the beginning of a new life and career. It seemed as if the clouds were parting and I could see blue sky and some security ahead. I had found my niche!

The store limped along without me and because of poor decisions, the whole chain crashed and burned. The fragile ego of the owner/founder was battered to a pulp. He wound up taking his own life in his bookkeeper’s flat. A very sad ending to an even sadder life.