A New Job

    I have a new job. I will be doing relief work part time for a small grocery store chain in the Twin Cities area. I'm pleased to be able to work for this company. I had interviewed with the company two years ago, but they had no open positions. I left my resume and a good first impression. Last October a position did open up in a nearby city. Since I already had a job that I liked and didn't want to work two part time jobs, I didn't go after it.
  It was a good thing I didn't. October was when my health challenges started to get worse. If I had got the job, I would not have been able to work.
  When my last store closed C reminded me about this company and suggested that I send an email asking if anything was open. I did. Lo and behold there was a casual on call float position. Normally I would not have wanted it, but for this company I was sure it would be all right.
   The bad weather kept the head of the pharmacy department from getting back to me. She had to take time off to be with her children who had snow days. We finally got together and she gave me the details of the new job.
   It was what I had hoped for. I would be working part time with a schedule determined a month in advance. There could be some spur on the moment requests, but I'd know where I was working ahead of time. I would be able to block off times that I didn't want to be scheduled. (Obviously not in my best interest to block off a lot of time.) Most of the stores would be in an easy driving distance. Only three stores would be an hour away from home.
   A few weeks later I met with an HR person. She was really nice. People came into the office while we were doing paperwork. She introduced me to all of them. They all said they were pleased to meet me and sounded like they meant it. We scheduled some time to meet with the trainer who also schedules the float staff.
   The trainer's name is Devi and she was a delight to be with. Every so often we would get up and walk around. She gave me a tour of the corporate office. Along the way we met people. Devi introduced me to them. All of them welcomed me to the company. It felt good. I had a wonderful time training.
   Devi and I walked across the street to a store so I could see the layout of the pharmacy. As we left the corporate building, an older woman wearing dress pants and a sweater walked out ahead of us. "It's too cold for you to be outside without a coat! What are you thinking?!" Devi called out to her. The woman turned. "I'm just going across the street, I'll be alright." Clearly they knew each other. Devi smiled at me. "That's our CFO, " she said. I looked at the woman in amazement. She wasn't wearing a power suit. She didn't look like an important executive. She talked to Devi like anyone else would. Devi must have read what I was thinking. She pointed to a window. "Russell's office is up there. Sometimes you can find him eating a bag lunch in the breakroom." I was amazed. Russell is the first name of the CEO of the company. The fact that she used it so casually paired with the fact that he would actually eat a bag lunch in an employee break room amazed me. This was not anything I was used to. The CEOs I was used to walked around with a small entourage. I never knew if I was supposed to kiss their hand or just curtsy when I saw them. (which wasn't often) I couldn't imagine any of them eating a bag lunch ever.
  When we got to the pharmacy I felt instantly at home. Almost 20 years earlier I had worked for another pharmacy company who had their pharmacies in the same stores I would be working in now. The layout was just what I remembered and some of the equipment was still the same. The software system the pharmacy uses was one I had worked with before. Even the cash register program was familiar. Arrangements were made for me to shadow a pharmacist for a couple day the following week. I didn't know the pharmacist that I was shadowing, but it turns out that we have acquaintances in common.
  I left the training feeling very happy and thankful. Things are starting to look up.