Starting Over

I'm gonna try not to sound too cocky on this one.

As I approach 4 years working at Hollister, I a lot has changed since I've started back in 2007.

No denying that its been a bitter-sweet relationship with the company (and in particular, the store), it's going to be incredibly difficult to move on from there.

Lately I've been volunteering at school for tax preparation with a new team of people. It's amazing how different a person can feel when they're thrown into a new "pool".

When I started at Hollister, it was the same feeling. I didn't know how everything worked and I didn't go out of my way to make too many friends there. In fact, when I started, I was just cooperating for a bi-weekly paycheck and nothing more.

As people came and left, I stayed and when you have seasonal patterns of that going on, it's hard to find good help and reliability in workers.

So visually, the pond (Hollister) stays the same but the fish (me) gets bigger as smaller fish (new workers) appear. Eventually, it catches up to me and Hollister becomes a second home.

That disdain for work I had 4 years ago feels a lot like a homecoming every time I walk into the store. I no longer have that nervous feeling when I walk in, the pressure is gone and there is this big sense of confidence that has filled the void.

Now, being this big fish thrown into an ocean (volunteer work) of whales (experienced volunteers) and sharks (people with their W-2's ready), that sense of pressure returns.

I guess this means I love my job? haha