14 months

It only took 14 months for the General Manager to acknowledge, accept, appreciate, and laugh at my sense of humor.  It's like all of a sudden something clicked and he was like, "wow, Tommy's pretty clever..." or something.  He told me a couple of weeks ago that he was impressed by the little one liner I offered at the daily meeting... (my thought was, dude I do it all the time, where have you been...) made note and just kept it moving.

Yesterday, he talked to me a bit more which still makes me paranoid...yes, I'm one of "those people." But this morning, this morning was icing on the cake.  I'm out on the floor (yes working on a saturday, eww) and he comes up to me and is like "hey, are those the two girls from yesterday that were spotted just chillin' after pretending to be sick and leaving work?"  I explained they were and that my boss and his ops manager had decided that a final warning was acceptable simply because they need bodies here to work with the volume as high as it is.  I assured him that my boss was working on getting more quality people in here so that we wouldn't have to tolerate such things in the future.  He wasn't amused.

He wanted to know why we were wasting time on them and just hadn't fired them.  I explained it to him again, but using different verbage and added how on a personal note I'm trying to not get frustrated by the fact that we can't hire dependable people that come to work on the regular and want to be here.... I said a few other things and he stopped.  ( I assumed I had said something wrong) He looks at me and says, "Tommy don't lose that passion... when you lose that passion, that's when you begin to accept mediocrity."  It was deep, but weird.  Did I just have a philosophical moment with the GM, a dude who has kept communication with me to a bare minimum since my start here over 14 months ago?  Wow...breakthrough or twilight zone?  I'm not sure.

To top it off I had continued on my "rounds" and was helping some of my ladies reticket some items and build a pallet when he walks by and is like "Tommy can I talk to you." Okay sure... the convo went something like this:

Me: Yes sir, what's up
Him: I thought you were going out of town this weekend
Me: (chuckled) I was, but we had to work today...and no one could cover my shift (meaning I didn't bother asking my boss because I knew she wouldn't be interested), so I had plans of being gone, but it didn't work out
Him: Oh, I'm sorry about that, so you're saving the trip for another time?
Me; Well it worked out that I was broke this weekend anyway and couldn't afford to go, plus I was out sick on tuesday and since I don't get sick time, I need the few extra hours to make up for it....
Him: Oh Okay, I just new we had talked about it earlier this week...I was confused.  I'm glad to see you're not in a bad mood though... "Grumpy Tommy" has the potential for fifty pissed off people from the start (in reference to my contractors)...

He continued laughing about how he uses the "Grumpy Tommy" metaphor as a management strategy in meetings or something...okay weirdo.  I mean yeah, sort of funny, but I'm more concerned by why this guy is talking to me all of a sudden.  I'm freaking out.

I'm kind of in GM overload.  People totally switching it up on me like that freaks me the hell out.  It would be one thing if he were bipolar or something and constantly up and down...but this is a total change from how things normally are.  I'm paranoid.

There are rumors of more cuts within the client company happening by February...I don't see my job lasting into the new year... I don't see the presence of the staffing company I work for being out here period by that time... I'm being realistic.  In order for the client to survive (despite the numerous cuts they've already made) they are going to have to operate bare bones to make up for the labor involved in peak "production"... I just hope that my resume catches someone's attention by that point so that I can leave voluntarily rather than being escorted out.  Blah.

I've thought about looking for work in new cities or areas, but I don't know where to begin...or where I'd want to work.  I love new england, never been and they have shitty cold winters but I've always been drawn there...Maine especially.  Oregon has always caught my eye, so has Washington State... I don't see myself in a Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi place or the surrounding area....

Georgia maybe, South Carolina, North Carolina dependent upon the area.... Texas, not really but I dunno, Oklahoma, Kansas or Tornado anywhere, fuck no.... Arizona and New Mexico sure... but the freaky snakes and spiders rule it out... California, nah... Nevada, Utah, Nah.... Idaho, what the fuck, no, Colorado, maybe... Minnesota, South/North Dakota, Alaska.... negative... I'm not trying to be in Virginia forever but I definitely have to research before actually following through on such a drastic thought.  Ohio, no... I think a good portion of Ohio is now living in Virginia simply for the military bases around here... there and Kansas seem to have folks that join the military just to get the hell up out of there, haha.... why would I go sprinting that route... Michigan...Wisconsin...I dunno...

I'm amused about the thought of just picking up and starting fresh, but in reality I could do that with a move out of grandma's house you know, I don't have to leave the state... Canada would be a thought... but not the french side... lol. I guess I've kind of narrowed it down a bit, I mean shit, what's left really, lol. Oh West Virginia--NEGATIVE...i Have family there...which means I'm already related to probably the whole state somehow or another...

I digress...spreadsheets to do... gotta get ready for Monday.