I was at my first job for 22 years, my second for 12. Both were “white collar” and people tended to keep their positions for a long time. Even if they weren’t your best buds, you go to know their stories.
After being downsized from the newspaper writing/editing gig, I moved to retail work for the first time since I was 13 at a mom-and-pop fruit stand in Brooklyn. Considering the type of work I do, things are pretty stable. There are about 200 people at my store. I imagine the turnover is fairly low, although I have no basis of comparison.
During the height of the pandemic, people could be away for long periods. At the early point of Covid, I was under quarantine for two weeks and then took off two more, just to be “safe.” It wasn’t uncommon to come back even from your “weekend” (mine was Tuesdays and Wednesdays) to learn that one or two people had left, either of their own accord or due to some transgression (the store has a “zero tolerance” position for some behaviors).
So who knows what it will be like when it comes time for me to return, perhaps sometime in September, according to my recovery prognosis.
Crew members set their own schedules. For most of my three-plus years, I was on the 4 a.m. to noon shift. Unlike the rest of the day, when you open, you’re assigned to one of a handful of sections and you’re usually working with the same same people day after day, so you do develop a certain relationship. Because of the responsibility and time pressure involved, these are almost universally conscientious, fine folks and I consider myself lucky to know them.
Let’s be clear: I’m old enough to be the parent — in some cases grandparent — of most of my colleagues. That alone excludes me from a lot of the bonding that goes on. Totally understandable, but that used to bother me, making me feel isolated.
One of reasons I’ve been reluctant to move up to the next level is that it would mean having to be available for any shift (the store closes to customers at nine, but locks up at midnight in order to stock the shelves). Another reason is that I would almost certainly have to go to another location, which means leaving these people behind.
The Worried Journalist 