Slowly Adjusting: An Update

I am writing this on my phone, so I'm sorry for the lack of control over the font. The mobile version of this site is obnoxious to me, but I'm in bed and do not feel like getting up to grab the laptop. Though I am working on another blog at the moment that I haven't had the time to finish, I realized that I never gave an update on here about what's going on these days.


Most of you know from Facebook that I started working at Pier 1. For those who don't know, I worked at the Pier 1 in North Charleston for three wonderful, hard, crazy, ridiculous, long, short years. I grew up there. I went from dating 90% of the male customer/employee population to finding a wonderful man (outside of the Pier) and getting married. And I grew so close with the wonderful women I worked with. One of my old coworkers, Sam, was a bridesmaid of mine, and most of my other coworkers were in attendance that day. I have an emotional connection, a love, for that store and the women who worked there with me. Did I mention I also worked with my mom? Uh, hello?! I worked with Pammie J. Be jealous.


When we found out we were moving here, I immediately called the store here, not for a job, but to see if they had a piece of furniture in stock. (Once you purchase something over the phone from Pier 1, you have two weeks to pick it up; that's about all the notice we had to move here. A little exaggeration -- we had three weeks notice.) Long story short, I ended up speaking to the manager, Eugene, when I called about the furniture. I told him what was going on, and he told me a bit about the town (and yelled at me for calling him "sir.") He told me that once we moved, to come in and talk to him because he was hiring.


So I did. Our second day in town, I went in to talk with him. And I actually turned down working there. For multiple reasons. I didn't want to take the job right away for fear that the adjustment with the move would be tougher than I anticipated (uh, duh.) I turned it down because I didn't want to go into it, knowing I wouldn't be able to give 100% on the job. I turned it down, too, because I was so scared of snow that although we moved here in July, I wanted to wait and get a job after I learned to drive in the snow; you can bet your behind that I would have called work in December, saying, "It's Leslie. It's snowing. Is the store closed today?... No?... Well, I can't come in.... Why? Because it's snowing!" And that would probably have been the end of my Pier 1 career.


As it so happens, I was in the store shopping last month, and I ran in to Eugene. (No one else will find this strange but me. I shop there a lot. And I NEVER saw him in the store until this particular time, and now that I work there, I wonder if he ever goes home!) Anyway, Eugene is very direct. He simply said, "Why aren't you working for me yet?" I gave him the most honest answer (and the least crazy) and told him I needed that time to adjust and I knew I couldn't make work my top priority. He told me that he was hiring again, and asked if I wanted to work there, and he gave me the weekend to think about it and call him back.


I called him the next day and interviewed that Monday. I did think about it. And this is the conclusion I came to: I'm still adjusting to this place. I'm still not Wisconsin's number one fan, and I may never be. But Pier 1 means a lot to me. Sure, they (we) sell great product and yada, yada, yada. But I have an emotional connection with Pier 1. I grew up there. My mom and half my friends still work there. In a different building halfway across the country, yes. But this new store is my slice of home. It is my constant. If I have nothing to talk about but am dying to hear my momma's voice, I can talk about work with her, and we can talk for hours. I can give this job 100% because it isn't just a job to me; it's the one thing that makes me feel like I'm not a million miles away from everything I've ever known.


I've worked for a few weeks now, and I love it. I'm meeting people and enjoying socializing, and I very much look forward to the new friendships I am making. Everyone is so sweet.


And if any of my girls from North Charleston are reading this, none of you will ever be replaced, and I miss you all like mad. And Michelle, I have no one thus far to bond with over Jimmy Buffet and margaritas :-( and I'm the only one here with a badass car. ;-)