Post by: UncleBob on June 09, 2006, 08:07:09 PM
As some of you know, I work at Wal*Mart. While it's not the best place in the world to work, it doesn't completly suck, the pay is decent and the people can be great.
Well, there are changes coming company-wide with Wal*Mart. Really, I see it as Wal*Mart looking very short-term - which, means to me that I don't see Wal*Mart being in my long-term plans. I probably haven't mentioned this much here, but I worked hourly at Wal*Mart, went into management there for a short while, quit to work for my in-laws -bad-, then went back to Wal*Mart as an hourly with some intention to go back into management sometime down the line. However, with the changes coming I just don't think that's in the cards.
Well, I live in Southern Illinois in a pretty desolated area - job wise. To top that off, while I like to think I'm an fairly skilled person, fairly well-rounded person, a 2-year college degree is all I've got. But even if I did have much higher than that, there's not much to go for in this area. Unfortunatly, my wife works for my in-laws (her parents, duh) with their fairly-new restaurant which she pretty much talked them into opening. Now, this restaurant isn't failing by any means, but it certainly isn't high-sailing either. There's no chance in heck that she can leave - the place would fall apart. Which, of course, means I'm stuck here - as leaving her isn't an option for me.
Now, of course, my dream job would be to work for Nintendo, idealy at the Nintendo World Store as a salesfloor associate or, better yet, as a retail representative - with my years of working at Wal*Mart, I would totally kick ass and take at that job. Alas, moving to NYC isn't an option (and the commute would be killer!) and, even though I check about weekly, it's either there is no retail representative position anywhere near my area (which goes in line with what I've seen at local stores) or the person who has that position will have it until they die (or, again, going by what I see at the local stores, perhaps they already have and no one has noticed...)
So I'm stuck. Basically, in this area, it's teaching (which is what I originally went to college for until I spent a summer working with kids and almost went insane), coal mine (heh... I could never cut it) or minimum-wage burger flipping (been there, done that)... Going back to work for the in-laws is not an option (that was a lot of stress for both me and my wife and I never want to put her -or me- through that ever again). And, unfortunatly, my other dream-job of opening an arcade would never work out in this area. Although I would totally have four Mario Kart GP machines in it. Five, if you count my personal machine I'd have in the back room.
Anywhoo... no real point to this post. Just needed to cry and moan a little bit. I've talked with my wife about some of the changes at Wal*Mart, but really, I don't want her to worry about it until it gets to the point that I know 100% that's not where I want to be. Basically, I just needed to get this off my chest and I know things that not a lot of others at my store aren't supposed to know yet, so I can't really talk with them about it... And now that I'm a married old man, I have no real friends, outside of work... so you guys get to hear it all. Aren't you thrilled?
Post by: IceCold on June 09, 2006, 08:28:06 PM
Post by: UncleBob on June 09, 2006, 08:31:10 PM
Post by: Bill Aurion on June 09, 2006, 09:08:05 PM
Post by: wandering on June 09, 2006, 09:28:36 PM
It'll get better, eventually.
Post by: ShyGuy on June 09, 2006, 11:28:45 PM
Seriously, have you thought about venturing into some business on your own?
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on June 10, 2006, 04:05:32 AM
Instead of aiming to be a sales associate/representative of a Nintendo store, why don't you try to be an owner of a store that sells Nintendo goods? I personally think you have your goals set just a little bit low, and with the confidence you have in yourself as a salesman, I think you could be selling you self a little short of what you are capable of.
edit: 6 hours later... ^^^^this post was made after 6 hours of drinking at 6 in the morning. I'm sorry if it doesn't apply to your problem
Post by: decoyman on June 10, 2006, 04:46:49 PM
Well, I'm a designer, so I managed to land a job at an ad agency, but even that was up in the air for awhile. But I definitely know what you're talking about... I'm a "married old man, no friends outside of work" kinda guy too (unrelated note: why's it so hard to make friends outside of school? Why?!).
A couple things:
* Have you checked into other dept. stores where you could easily transition to? (Target's pretty cool in my book, I thought about working there before I got my current job.) However...
* I agree with BnM 100%, even if he was in a drunken stupor
. I'd aim higher if I were you. I think given your sales experience and your love of video games, you'd be an awesome video game store owner. If the technical aspects of owning a business are holding you back, perhaps you could take on a trusted partner (with contracts and all that) who could specialize in that and help share the start-up costs. If there is any population of kids in your area (probable), there'd definitely be a market for it, assuming you angle it well. Even a little arcade section would certainly be do-able in a video game store... 
* You could also check out starting up a franchise if an independent business isn't feasible. Isn't this how EB Games and the other shops are run?
You seem like a solid guy with a good head on your shoulders. I think it's time to make some lemonade.
Lemonade made out of MONEY.
Ew.
Post by: IceCold on June 10, 2006, 05:50:30 PM
Post by: vudu on June 11, 2006, 04:47:54 AM
Have you considered moving out of Carmi, but not so far away that you wife can't still work at her parents' restaurant? I've never been to SIU (in Carbondale) but I imagine it's got to be more business-friendly than Carmi. It also has five times the population of Carmi (not counting SIU students). I grew up right by NIU (in DeKalb), so I'm used to the college town life. Carbondale is about 70 miles from Carmi--would it be possible to move halfway between the two and both of you commute your respective ways?
There's only one GameStop/EB Games in Carbondale, but I'm sure there's higher demand what with the college kids.
Post by: nitsu niflheim on June 12, 2006, 11:49:04 AM
