Well work is utter shite at the moment. Since a supermarket opened last year, my little conveinience stores sales have dropped about £2000 a week. I thought eventually things would start to pick up for us again, as the novelty of the supermarket wore off, but no i was wrong. Now my store isn't actually making any money and i can see the company i work for getting rid of us before too long. And i really wont mind! I've had enough, and so has my deputy. In fact the only reason she hasn't already left is that she needs to stay with the company a bit longer so that she can get her maternity pay.

Today i've been looking for jobs elsewhere but there isn't anything out there suitable. The trouble is i've been in food retail for so long that i don't know what else i could do.

Also, i think i fancy my deputy. Which is wrong for a start as she's my deputy. Then there's also the fact she lives with her boyfriend and is pregnant with his baby. it's really not the best situation.

Ok, so this has been a bit of a rambling post, so sorry everyone!

I'm feeling a lot happier than i was in my last post. Things are going pretty well at work now, and i no longer feel like leaving. A lot of that is due to my new deputy manager. She actually has a passion for the job which is rubbing off on me. We've done quite a bit to improve things in store already and we've got quite a few plans for the future so it's all looking up. Plus i get on really well with her. Despite the fact i've not known her for that long, i feel really comfortable around her and feel i can just be me around her (which is something i find hard to do around most people). If it wasn't for the fact that she's my deputy, only 23, in a long term relationship and pregnant i could see myself falling for her.

In my last post i mentioned a deputy manager from another store that i thought i shared a spark with and was waiting for the Christmas party to see what was going to happen. Well i met up with her at the Christmas party. The first thing she did was hug me, we spent the night drinking and dancing and the night was going well and we were having a really good night. Then, at the end of the evening, i decided to man up (for once) and ask her if it was actually going anywhere and she told me that she was still in love with her ex. Which kinda spoiled the evening. We're still friends, and there still seems to be something between us so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone!

Yesterday my boss came into my store and questioned my ability to manage my store, which is always a good way to start the weekend. Then he asked if i felt it would be better if i stepped down to assistant manager. I've been thinking the same thing myself recently. Well, i've actually been thinking i want to get out of food retail. I've decided that this will be my last Christmas in food retail for one of three reasons:-
1. i find a new job and will be happy working somewhere else.
2. The early mornings and long hours finally get the best of me and i die in a car accident caused by me falling asleep at the wheel.
3. My find finally cracks and i end up being commited!

On the plus side, there's a girl who may actually be romantically interested in me! She's the assistant manager at one of the other stores on my district. She's the same age as me and recently we've been getting on really well and i think there is definately something there. It's our works Christmas party on Wednesday and she'll be there so we'll just have to see what happens...

So tomorrow i'm going to be 31 and i'm going to spend the day helping my two best friends move. It should be a fun day though, and it looks like the weather is going to be good.

Also, as it's my birthday, i've booked some time off work and i've decided it's the perfect time to re-read all of Strangers in Paradise. Though i'll hopefully get the new Discworld novel for my birthday so i'll have that to read too.

Wow, over half a year gone and this is only my second post of the year...

To be fair, not a lot has happened thats worth writing about. I've gone on a few dates that didn't lead to anything (which was my own fault, so i can't moan about it.). I've recently been awarded for being with the company i work for for 10 years. and that's about it. The rest of the year has been filled with the normal day-to-day stuff.

But, tomorrow morning, i'm off to Krakow for 4 nights and i can't wait! Every year me and one of my friends try and have a lads weekend away in another country. Basically it's an excuse to go get drunk somewhere we don't know! But for the last two years the furthest we've got is Newquay in Cornwall, and neither time was that great! So this holiday is very much needed!

Well, thats it. Hopefully something interesting will happen and i won't have to wait another six months to have something to write about.

I really don't want this to be a whiny post, but i apologize in advance if that how it ends up.

At our companies Christmas party i got friendly with a girl who works at one of the other stores on my district. We chatted a bit but mostly just danced (rather intimately). It was nice, as it had been a while since any girl had showed me any attention. She's pretty, seems like a really nice girl and she likes me, so it's all good. The only problem is that she's only 18. I'm sure most 30 year old men would be quite happy with this situation, but personally I'd rather someone my own age. Someone who remembers the same TV shows and films that i remember from my childhood, someone that grew up hearing the same music and...so on. I know age shouldn't matter, but from past experience I've found that i have nothing in common with girls a lot younger than me.
So, I'm not sure if i should pursue a relationship with this girl. Part of me has decided that it wouldn't work out, because of the age difference. Then, there's another bit of me that agrees with a couple of my friends who said i should just have a bit of fun with this girl and move on. But, then that's not really what I'm after and, I'd like to think, I'm not that kind of person. Generally i try not to be an arsehole.

Ok, this has been a slightly rambling post that hasn't really gone anywhere, but it was something i needed to get off my chest.

Well the last time on posted on here i was feeling very down. I feel a lot better now, thanks mostly to my district manager telling me that he didn't think i needed to step down. Still not 100% happy in my job though. Think i just need a change from food retail.

in fact i think i just need a change in pretty much every aspect of my life! I'm currently in a rut, everyday i go to work, come home and play on the xbox till i go to bed then repeat the same the next day. the only thing that breaks it up is the occasional saturday night out with my friend, which happen less and less frequently since he and his girlfriend got a place together.

Or all of this could just be because i'm going to be 30 this year and it's freaking me out a bit!

I think it may be time for me to update this.

So, lets see what's happened recently. I basically received a vote of no confidence from the majority of the staff at the store i was at in Cinderford (they though i was too soft on them among other things!) so i was moved to a smaller (at least in sales terms) store in Cheltenham. This was about two months ago. In the two months i've been there i have had to deal with staff continually letting me down, on about six occasions i had to do eight hour shifts all on my own and my assistant manager and one of my supervisors not getting on. I'm also supposed to be having a new supervisor starting, who used to be an assistant manager, who will be getting paid more than my other supervisors (and my assistant manager) which has caused a few problems. As you can imagine its not been a fun couple of months.
All in all, i've had enough of working in food retail. i've felt this way for a while (since just after christmas actually) and i think it may be time to find a new job. Only thing is i'm not sure what i could do. i've only really worked in retail and i don't know what i want to do. But it's not something i need to rush into.

On a separate note, i have two weeks booked off this summer and i'm very tempted to travel across the usa. I have family in atlanta and family in california and i'd love to travel from the one coast to the other and visit all my family, while seeing the sights along the way. though to be fair it may be slightly unrealistic to do it all in two weeks! Plus, its not something i'd really want to do on my own.

I've decided that i don't really like snow.

For about the last week the Forest of Dean (and the rest of the UK) has been covered in snow. It looks very pretty and i enjoy walking in it when i'm on my day off from work, but it's a pain in the arse when i'm at work. I have to take a longer route to work because the forest roads aren't safe to drive on, we can't get our deliveries in properly and people are going absolutely nuts with panic buying. Still, it could be worse. At least the snow is supposed to be gone by next week (fingers crossed!)

i've just completed the my first christmas and new year as a manager, and i think i did ok. there were a few little problems, but in general it all went pretty smoothly. Though it was bloody stressful!

All the best for the new year to everyone!

i put up the Christmas tree last night, and it's finally put me in the festive mood. It's taken a while, but then that's probably because i work in retail and for me Christmas started in august when we got our first delivery of Christmas stock.
I'm actually really looking forward to Christmas now, and not just because of presents! Mostly i enjoy it because we always have big family get- togethers, which are always fun.
Just got to finish my Christmas shopping now!