2021 brought with it many life changes for me, the most since 2006. For starters, a new decade of my life began. I had health issues which led to changes in my eating habits. My employer of many years had merged with its competitor bringing with it massive changes including an eventual breakup of our office.
I worked for WIS from the end of 2008 through most of 2021. My nearly 13 year tenure at WIS was bookended by two bad years at the beginning and two bad years at the end. While the reason for the last two years may be obvious, the first two years (2009 and 2010) were riddled with growing pains. I still wasn’t over my college days and the pain from those days. Going back to school still loomed large for me. I felt unwanted by the power counters on my team when I was put on a dedicated crew and I often got into scrapes with them. The boiling point came in the Fall of 2010 when I got under my co-worker’s skin over office drama. The last two years were tied to the events from the pandemic. Also, my health issues that landed me in the hospital led to a wake-up call down the road. Changes in my office that weren’t in my favor would have an impact on my future with WIS.
The beginning of the end for my employment is debatable as to when it started. You might think it started:
In the Spring of 2020 when the pandemic began.
The day I found out my assignment.
When we started losing key people from our office, or
When I had my health scare.
One day at a Target late in the Spring of 2021, I began to hear rumblings of the merger between WIS and RGIS. I turned 40 that Summer and speculated for most of it over my future with the company. That Fall, early in October as a matter of fact, is when I got my assignment. While it wasn’t what I wanted, I was going to make an effort to embrace the change that was coming.
The final month that we were 3609 was bittersweet. For me, my journey had just started to take off. It would have to be put on hold as I got established at my new job. Just as it was coming to fruition, I took one step forward and two steps back. For the first half of 2022, I dealt with loneliness, isolation, depression, and doubt as the support system I had around me disappeared. Though through it all, I’m still doing me, I’m still here and, I’m not changing to please anyone.
In our last days as an office, there was fear, sadness, and the reality that we weren’t going to be together anymore and that was hard.
During the last week, we all said our goodbyes. I got to work with the girl who sparked my interest in Coach as she didn’t have much going on in the office that week. She was my innocent crush for the last two years that I was there. I wish I’d have given her a hug after that quick and easy Dollar General we did. That last day at Rite Aid in Lawrenceville, I shared some things with the girls about my journey. They told me they’d always be there for me if I needed anything. I was glad the universe worked in my favor that last morning we were 3609.
We parted ways that morning. There were tears, no doubt. It finally hit me that these people I called family weren’t going to be in my life anymore (or so I thought). We officially became office 371 on October 30. The next day was Halloween and I worked my first assignment under the RGIS name using their machines. It was a Shop’n Save in Penn Hills on Frankstown Road. We started at 5 and were done by 11:30. First day at RGIS in the books.
Well, it was the end of an era for sure and the beginning of a new one. Would I be happy in this new regime? Only time would tell.
Stylish 🍒 