[FreeFromBlue]

Well, as the title states, I am free from big blue! I have been a long time lurker here, but never really felt the need to post before. I have worked for blockbuster for almost 5 years as a store manager. Like everyone here, I have had my ups and downs with the company. At first, this job was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed coming to work and I don't have any complaints about any of my employees at any of the stores I ran.

The last year or two were really difficult on me. I had been so stressed out by everything that had been going on with the company. I had a decent DM. By all means, he was a lot more lenient than our neighboring DM, who I originally worked for years ago and who I witnessed kick a door open once when his district didn't finish first. I was a dedicated store manager. I put in well over my 45 hours, I made sure my store hit all of our goals, I treated every customer with respect, and my employees were really happy. But for the reasons we all know, I really grew more and more tired of working there. I had been keeping my eyes open for any new positions elsewhere, but I wasn't actively seeking jobs. Mainly, I felt a responsibility to my team to not let them down. Store morale had been reaching an all time low, and I didn't want to let anyone down.

As someone close to me recently told me, I am a very loyal individual who works hard and doesn't like to rock the boat. So, while I was unhappy, I wasn't about to give up on my team and leave. That was until a few weeks ago. On a Thursday, I got a call from my DM telling me that he had bad news. He told me that I was going to be affected by the closing stores. It was not because my store was closing....rather he was going to switch me with the DTSM because her store was closing. Basically, we had just recently had a string of store closings. Like everyone else, we had more stores closing in the area than we had open. My DM, wanting to keep his DTSM, was going to switch me to her store because I had the only store that was close to hers. He also informed me that when the store was closed, I would be done with the company. He was also going to switch my ASM as the DTSM wanted to bring her ASM with her to my store. He told me the switch would be effective that Monday.

When I asked about severance, he told me that I would not be offered a severance package. He said I would get a $1,000 bonus for staying, and the TA payout. He stated that he wanted to switch me right away so I would have time to rack up that TA bonus! When I questioned how I could have worked there for almost 5 years and not be offered a severance package, he simply told me "we are in bankruptcy and can do whatever we want".

Now, I don't know if what he told me was right or not. If they would have offered me some type of severance or what. But, at that point, I really didn't care. He did apologize for informing me all of this over the phone. But he was going on PTO the next day and didn't have any other time or way to talk to me.

After we hung up, I had a long conversation with my wife. We both felt that severance or not, I was already up to my eyes in stress from the company, that the best thing for me to do was just call it quits. So, I finished out the rest of my week at my store, and that Sunday I walked back in and dropped off my keys and asked my SL to call the DM and let them know I wouldn't be in on Monday. Having found out about this, my ASM, who was also basically being let go, did the same. After that, it was like a domino effect. Two CSR's at my store, upset by what happened, also quit as well as one of my SL. The other SL found another job right away and put her two weeks in. They all told me that they in no way wanted to work for anyone else but me. It felt good to know what a great team we were.

Well, I knew unemployment was not going to happen. Luckily, my wife is incredible and started working over time at her job to help make ends meet. We figured we could plug along for at least 3 months before things would get out of control. I planned on hitting the job search hard, knowing times are tough and finding a job would take a while. It didn't. Exactly one week after I quit, I was hired by a new company. A company that treats its employees with respect. A company that has bonuses and raises constantly and is actually paying me more than double what I made at Blockbuster. A company that recognizes and honors hard work. It's a smaller company (about 300 employees) that is local to my area, but I am so very excited to be there. I have honestly not felt this great about my work in a long time. I feel so lucky to have found this position.

So, now that I have written a book, I guess the moral of the story is that there is hope out there. I know at times, I felt trapped. For those who are still working there, keep your chins up. You never know what is around the corner. Thank you for reading my post and I am sorry it is a bit long. But I am so glad to be Free from Blue!