Timing

A while ago I talked about the past and how memories from it creep up on you.  Today I'd like to talk about the present.  The events that are currently in the process of happening, and in a way, how they reflect the past.

Back in high school, I worked at a local Walgreens.  It was my second job (my first was working at a pizzeria, which I quit as soon as I got the Walgreens job) and I basically worked there as a cashier and associate for a year and a half.  It was pretty easy work.  Towards the end of my high school years, I had learned just about everything about the operations of the store other than pharmacy, which I couldn't learn because I was under the age of eighteen.  However, I had decided to join the Navy, so I could earn money for college, see the world, and experience something new.

But there was another option.  My manager asked me one day if I wanted to become an assistant manager after I graduated.  She wanted to put me on the track to move upwards in the company.  I declined because of the military I had already signed up for.  Fast forward to right now....

As I've said, I currently work at a liquor store.  It doesn't pay enough to live on, so I've been looking for another job, something full time.  About a month ago, I started taking part in a course that would help align me with a sales job that would be full time and could get me into a position where I could once again be self-sufficient.  However, at the liquor store, we've had a problem with one of the head clerks. Every employee, and even some of the customers, have noticed and expressed complaints that he has been drinking on the job.  Usually, he'll be downing at least a full bottle of wine, sometimes two or three in a five to eight hour shift.  If he doesn't drink, we've noticed he gets the shakes.  To add to this, he has been stealing these bottles of wine from the store itself if he can't seem to get his hands on an opened return bottle, or bottles from the tastings from Saturdays.

Honestly, I don't see him working there for much longer, especially after the store manager told me that the issue was out of his hands now, implying that it had gone to higher ups.  One of the associates who works there was also apparently talking with him about what would happen.  This associate told our manager he doesn't want to talk over as head clerk, and said that the position should be given to me if possible, to which the manager said "I just might..."

This leaves me with a dilemma.  One one hand, I could get a job that I don't know, but has the possibility of creating large annual incomes for myself.  On the other, I have a job I know very well, and if I could get enough hours at the right pay, I could easily live on my own again.  And both have managed to present themselves at the same time.

The timing on this couldn't be worse.  If instead, the liquor store had offered me the job a while back before I had even joined this program, I would have taken it in a heart beat.  It still hasn't been offered to me, so I'm keeping on as I have been.

These timing issues seem to happen to me a lot.  Whenever I have tons of free time, I have nothing to do.  Whenever I get something to do, I suddenly don't have nearly as much time, sometimes even so little I have to drop out of the project.  But it's how the world works.

What I'd like to leave you with is that whenever you are faced with timing issues like these, especially when making the decision can change your future, take the time to actually weight the pros and cons.  Play devil's advocate for both sides.  Try to convince yourself not to take one, then convince yourself not to take the other.  See which side wins.  I'm currently leaning hard towards a new job, but if I'm offered the job in time, and the questions I have about it are to my liking, I may lean back and stick with my current one.  But I have a list to convince me both ways.  We'll see which way I jump.