Exactly 30 days...

...until I'm away and moving on with the rest of my life. I honestly cannot stand any more school at the moment.

My workmates and I are going out to the Melting Pot the Sunday before I fly. It's a fondue restaurant and quite nice, I've heard. It's unique. The girls at work are an amazing group of people. We work so well together and it will be sad to leave because of the fact that we're a good team. Which reminds me of something Jill, my manager, said earlier today. She's a Field Training Manager and while I was typing up the new schedule for March (I felt a small pang when I got the last week and realised that my name wasn't there anymore), she told me that she's training the new manager for our Alderwood store. And about damned time, too. They've been without a manager for freaking too long; Jill and Nina (assistant manager) have been managing two stores without extra compensation and that's just not fair. Anyways, Jill, who's very reluctant to see me go, said that if I weren't going, I could've had the manager position for Alderwood....and that reminded me of something years ago. Back at FAO (Schwarz. The toy store I devoted three years of my life to. *Sigh* I'm nothing if not loyal.), when it was just Doug and me - he was GM and I was supervisor - we didn't have an assistant manager for the longest time. Oh, well, there were other supervisors...wait, no there weren't...not really. Em was there but she never took it seriously and it was partly TJ's fault, damn his eyes, and she always let him get away with shit which annoyed me beyond words; supervisors have certain responsibilities and aren't supposed to be like that!...Kirsten and Airika were only around for the morning weekday shifts (heavy emphasis on only)...Airika didn't even stay around long...and Erica had left...then Kirsten got into a tizzy with Doug and left as well... so yeah it was just me and Doug. Poor Doug. He never wanted to be GM but he had no choice but to step up as Tracey had gotten promoted. But I digress. When we started interviewing for an assistant manager, I half joked that I should interview for it. Doug said he'd give it to me in an instant (and Kristen, our District Manager, liked me enough) if only I wasn't in school. Undaunted by a 19-year-old assistant manager, Doug had a lot of faith in me. We worked very well together. I was essentially his unofficial assistant manager.

Well, the point of my rambling was that this is twice now that I would've been seriously considered for, if not given, a managerial position. If I could've been assistant manager while juggling full-time school, I would've leapt at the chance. I couldn't though, even if I was working almost 40 hours a week; because of my classes, I couldn't be as flexible as an assistant manager should be and that would've been unfair to FAO. And now...well, if I wasn't who I am, then I'd leap at the chance as well. But I am who I am and my future lies across the pond, not here (though I do love Seattle) in retail *slight shudder*.