Stopped by my old Job today
It was not part of my plan for this trip, but I needed to buy something, and it seemed like the most sensible place for me to visit. I have to say that even though I felt nostalgic about it all, I also could not help but to reinforce my conviction to move on.
Not to say that there's something wrong with that job, or any job for that matter. Work is dignifying and it certainly beats doing nothing. But, after seeing some of the same faces there so many years later, who these days, just like me, sport some gray in the beards, I could not help but to wonder if life was going as planned for them, or if they just got stuck.
I'm fully aware that being afraid of change is not only normal, but you could say, it's also healthy in most situations. If "it's working" then why fix it. It seems to me that the Job stuckness as I'm going to coin it, must be connected to the dynamic between fear and uncertainty.
It becomes a lot harder for us to get jobs as we age, and I think that's not unreasonable. A friend recently told me he applied to work at a warehouse since his usual IT gig was something not needed anymore, and he was told he was too old and out of shape to be effective lifting boxes.
But, coming back around to my recent walk around my old store. Watching all those guitars handing on the wall, the keyboards, the speakers, and finally my old boss walking towards me with a sincere smile, I had a flashback to the days when I felt that was my life, my career.
He asked me if I'm still in the music business in one way or another, and even though I wanted to say that I am, I told him the sad truth. Until this trip, I had not touched an instrument for months, and more shockingly. These days I spent my days underneath cars trying to figure out why something is not working.
Like many others out there, I've dabbled in so many things over my four decades, that some of my other professions seem to belong to another life. I may remember MenO, the cook with a shirt full of grease singing songs to the sizzling of a hot surface, but It seems like an old movie I saw a long time ago, and not necessarily me.
At any rate, this trip is stirring some inner searching desires, and that is never such a bad thing... or is it?
MenO
That's quite the wall full of Les Paul type guitars...
The store used to have thousands in stock back in the day
I can imagine working in a music store would give you a few fun stories. I have never worked in retail, but I hear a lot about it from others. I think a bit of variety in career makes for a more interesting life.
Mind you, online retail must be making life tough for the actual stores.
I suspect there's no much time left for anchor stores anymore. With the lockdowns sales went up like crazy, but brick and mortar stores had to size down afaik due to the lack of foot traffic.
It will be a sad day when you can't go and try out some music gear. Hope some of the local stores can survive.