A Brave New World

Goodbye. So long. Farewell.

After graduating college, being both terrified of the working world as a liberal arts degree holder in the midst of a recession and too poor to launch into a doctorate program that might drive me into debt so deep I couldn't say daylight, I spent a year on a decent scholarship getting my Master's Degree in Commerce. It was supposedly a program meant for the average liberal arts degree holder. It was instead a crash course in business doubletalk and the positives of becoming a yuppie accountant or market analyst for enormous faceless firms.

For the last year nearly to the day, I have been employed part time (and one week full time!) at Target in the Manassas Mall on Sudley Road. For the most part, my co-workers and employers have treated me with kindness and respect. While they may not have understood my educational background or aided significantly in my wishes to advance both in pay and status during my admittedly short tenure, they universally praised my work and we typically enjoyed each other's company.

Thank heavens that's over. I'd like to take this time then to make a few reaffirmations that I feel have been a long time coming.

• I was not a "team member." I was an employee with co-workers.
• Customers are not "guests." Any guest I know who royally screws up my home would never set foot in the house again.
• Weaknesses don't need to be dressed up verbally as "opportunities." If you're weak in something, it's a weakness. As in the opposite of a strength.
• If I want to look into something, I refuse to "drill down."
• Clothes are no longer "softlines." Not clothes are no longer "hardlines."
• No, I can't help you find diddly. Don't ask me.
• Do NOT get a Red Card. Horrible interest rates. 5% is a crappy discount.
• The customer is so rarely right it hurts.
• No, it is not in the backroom.
• Yes, thank you. I appreciate you thought I "managed execution" by actually doing my damn job and "strove for results" by actually working.

I could make a whole lot more statements about the importance of flexibility when it comes to corporate entities' interaction and guiding of their local storefronts. I could comment on the broken promises that turned full-time into part-time again in 7 days. I could remark on the fact that cutting payroll and wondering why guest service suffers is ridiculous.

But you know what? It's over. It's done. I have a whole week of self-imposed vacation now to relax, decompress, and gear up for a job that I actually hope to make a career of - a career that is academic in nature, collegial in atmosphere, and one that aligns perfectly with the subjects I studied for four years.

And you know what I'm going to do during this week? I'm going to watch football, read a few books, sleep in, visit family, visit friends, eat amazing food, and generally be content.

It's a brave new world without that red and khaki and all those meaningless buzz words to try and reshape my mindset. I'm gonna jump right in.