Chapter 13: Pink Slips

I found out some pretty devastating news tonight. Of course, it’s only upsetting when I actually think about it, but all the other moments I don’t feel like it really happened. I called my store tonight to talk to my manager about getting hours next week and I told her I understood that they may not have a lot of hours but I would like some if they could give me any. She said that they actually had a bunch because they had to let someone go. “Letting someone go” doesn’t happen very often so she had to repeat it because for a second I didn’t understand what she meant. Then it clicked. I asked who but she said she wasn’t actually allowed to tell, which I didn’t realize otherwise I wouldn’t have asked her. But she did end up telling me when the other manager left the customer service area. She swore me to secrecy and warned me that she could lose her job because she told me so I’d better not tell anyone. I swore that I wouldn’t tell anyone (writing in here is okay and since I can’t tell anyone I’ve got to get it out somewhere, this is big for me). It turns out that The Warrior has been let go. I’m not sure why he has been let go but for some reason I feel like it is because of an honesty issue, that’s the only thing you don’t get a second chance on in this company. This just hits more then the other kids at work because The Warrior and I even started the same day (well my day back to the company after a two year break…but still the same first day). I was seriously shocked, of all the people I didn’t expect him, of course I honestly didn’t really expect anyone, she said that I would find out sooner or later who it was and honestly I didn’t really think it would be anyone in particular. I don’t know why I didn’t even wonder, or think of a name.
When I hung up with her (I called while on break from training) I was sitting there and my trainee’s had both decided to sit upstairs with me on their break I looked across the table and told them that I wasn’t going to tell them. I knew they wanted to know what we had been talking about but they weren’t going to find out. They laughed. Humor is my way to deal with things and I tried to keep myself busy but we sat there for a second and no one was talking. I stared at my work notebook and it started to sink in.
The Warrior is one of my most favorite people at work and it’s going to pretty much suck without him there. In a way it’s made my decision to accept the promotion a lot easier. The Warrior’s “Release” kind of opened my eyes to who else may be gone without my noticing, and there’s an older man who works(ed) there and I hadn’t seen him in a while, upon investigation I found out that he had been let go as well. Then there was another girl who quit, but her dismissal wasn’t far away to begin with.