I was reading Belemo's post about his new warehouse job in Nottingham, England; (Which has GOT to be my favorite country). I envy him so much as I loved every minute of the 23+ hours I spent there in Birmingham, back in 2017.

His account reminded me of the retail store job I posted about early this year where I quit after facing death threats when someone stole a bottle of Hennessy when I had my back turned helping an elderly customer. In When Retail Becomes Dangerous: Part 1, I gave you all a little peek into life inside a retail store in the heart of the hood.

After receiving death threats for me and the other cashiers, I decided I'd had enough, and stayed away until recently. We have a lot of crime and shootings here, as this is one of the worst areas in the entire state. I should start calling this place 'Little Nigeria' or 'West Mogadishu' cause they tell us how bad it is over there, but we might give them a run for their money on some days.

The gunfire at night will be like a little slice of home... :)

In fact, I'd suggest you steer clear of the entire eastern half of the state. Stay well west of the Susquehanna River. Of course then you'll be deep into Trump country, so you'll have other problems, as them people are armed to the hilt and they ain't playing.

So Stay Frosty! :)

I went back there a few days ago just to shop and chat up my old co-workers, and boy have things changed...

The More Things Change...

First off, the place was almost deserted in the middle of the day, with just me and one other customer in the store. The store is right downtown in the CBD, with tons of foot traffic. This is when it would usually be packed for lunch, so something was clearly different. It seems that many of the people that I worked with at the start of the year have quit since I left.

Now I don't know if that means "got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, quit," or "quit, quit." They didn't elaborate, and I didn't push it. They even suggested that I should think about coming back.

But no, I don't think I'll miss the people shooting up in the open defecating right outside the front door and pleasuring themselves with abandon, without a care in the world. My manager, chasing thieves out the door and around the block like she's Bat-Chick or something! The frequent fistfights, the super-aggressive panhandlers, and the shadowy gangbangers hanging around across the street, waiting for the closing shift to go home.

What is this, freaking San Francisco?

Nah, bro. I did the right thing when I got the Hell outta dodge in early 2023.

Going back there for a visit just reinforced that my decision to leave was the correct one. But I must say that I miss my co-workers. In the eye of the storm, we had a helluva good team. They were great people to work with, and I don't know if I'll ever find a bunch like that again.

You ever have a job like that where the customers were jackasses, but the workers were solid as a rock? There were bad times, but there were also many good times, and I'm glad I go to experience it with some really good people.

If you found that this post added value or inspired you, you know what to do... :)