Baking

At work, I am known for baking. If one of my coworkers has a birthday or gets promoted or finds out she is pregnant or makes it ten years with the company I will probably bring some cookies. Sometimes I bake for no reason at all. Anyone's last day is sure to bring out the baked goods. 

Yesterday I baked all afternoon. I baked a lemon cream pie, complete with homemade crust and real whipping cream. I baked fudgey walnut brownies. And then I baked a double batch of coconut chocolate chip cookies.

Why? Today was MY last day.

...

Wait, what? That's pretty much how I feel about it as well. On Thursday afternoon my manager told me that I was being transferred to another location. Today was my last day. I start at my new store on Tuesday. It's all very abrupt.

I'm still digesting all of this, but I am getting excited. I have worked at my current store for four years, and it's the only location I've ever been at. It's right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of downtown Seattle, and I love that. It's the biggest store in the state, so it gets all the special interesting product that other stores might not receive. We just did a full remodel, so we have all of the newest, nicest finishes.

But at the same time, my old store is kind of a monster. It's super high stress and high expectations, and going into overdrive all the time is really starting to wear me out. I haven't received any of my required training since I got promoted this spring, but I'm still expected to be exceeding expectations without any support to do so. I've actually been scared that if i do get pregnant, all the stress I am under will be hard on the baby. An acquaintance at (yet) another location just had a stress-induced miscarriage, and that terrifies me.

My new store is at a mall I have never even been to. It is small and old and unimportant. It never gets visited by the CEO when he is in town. I'm a little sad to be stepping out of the spotlight, but I'm also relieved that I'll get to reduce my stress level and relax a little bit, and finally get the training I so desperately need, so that I can move on to bigger and better things.


I am so not looking forward to my new commute, though.