A Different Side

As if the life of a Zookeeper was fulfilling enough I also work a part time job. Yes it's sad that I have to work another job, but even though us Keepers work with some dangerous animals we are more often than not grossly underpaid. So in order to pay the bills and not be living paycheck to paycheck I have taken on another job.

The job I have is in retail, it's actually at a company I've been employed at for just under 5 years now, so I was able to transfer to the branch out here when I moved. Worked out well for me since I have tenure at this company I have earned a semi decent pay rate and I came in fully trained so the transition was pretty easy. What's sad is that just as I moved out here and got set up at this new store the company announced it was closing a bunch of it's less than ideal stores. This company has some major fiscal challenges since the economy sucks. Of course my new store was one of those chosen to close. Figures. Now as we head into August the clock is ticking down for my store.

We've been liquidating our merchandise since early June so at this point there isn't much left. Watching the changes in the store was something though. It's just odd to see empty shelves and fixtures when we've been trained to keep things as full as possible. The store would normally have merchandise from floor to ceiling, so it's weird to see entire rooms empty and now blocked off to consolidate the remaining merchandise. They've even begun to sell the fixtures themselves. I suppose if I wanted an endcap for whatever reason I now know how much it's valued at. Some stuff is being shipped off to other stores that aren't closing, but most of it is being sold off. It's been an interesting process and I'll admit I'll be sad when the door finally close and the hammer falls. Not just because I will lose that 2nd source of income, but it will be the end of an era for me. After being with the company for so long I guess I'll miss it. I know some of you are groaning right now and saying "yeah right" but seriously I will miss it, but not out of loyalty to the company. I haven't forgotten all the times I've been screwed over by them, but I'll miss the fact that no other PT job will pay me as much as I was earning there and now I have to start over and be trained in something else. I was hoping that this store wouldn't close and I could just do my thing for awhile.

So now I begin the search for a new PT job that will be flexible regarding my Zoo schedule. I suppose I could go to our competitor where it'd basically be the same thing just a different store, but rumor has it they aren't doing so hot either, and maybe it's just time to do something different. It's been an interesting ride though. I've learned a lot of useless information during my time there and made some good friends too, so as bittersweet as the ending will be it wasn't so bad.