JDLundyLIVE!

This site is eventually going to be my home online. I have big plans for it, but I realized people coming here may not even know me or what I’ve been up too. Since I’ll most likely be posting personal updates here, it seemed appropriate to say a little about myself.

To be honest, I’ve never really been great at that… Talking about myself or really talking to people in general. I’ve been ridiculously shy my whole life. But lately I’ve wanted to change that. A lot has changed for me recently, actually. I quit my job of over 7 years at Family Dollar in October. I’ve worked in retail most of my adult life. This job was actually pretty cool. Or, it was. Truth is, the job was absolutely horrible. Soul crushing even. Between the ridiculous demands of corporate, the terrible pay and hours, the dehumanizing nature of the way you’re treated overall by the company, and those customers… If you’ve ever worked in the service industry, you know the ones. That job was killing me mentally and physically. But, the one saving grace was the crew at my store. We really were like family. Teshia was the best store manager you could ask for. We all got along great and did our part. They made it fun. Plus, I listened to hip-hop all day at work on my phone lol. I was an assistant manager, under Teshia.

But then, she quit. I was angry even though I understood. Then it was on me. I was in charge. It scared the absolute shit out of me, honestly. But I just did it. I did what I knew to do. I did what she taught me. She taught me well, in more ways than one. The pay got better, but the hours got so much worse. Truth is, you’re never really off. Officially, you get one day off. You’re always expected to be on call, though. For every emergency. Every question. Every bullshit pointless annoying text from your dipshit district manager who couldn’t even keep a store up when she had it. Like, I’m talking having Christmas items strewn about her store in the middle of summer because her backroom is full of stock she’s not getting out…

I got sidetracked. She sucks. Anyway. I did the job well, but I stayed on edge. I promise you I’m not exaggerating when I say I got intense anxiety every time I got a notification on my phone. It was causing problems with my personal relationships. It was destroying my mental wellbeing and physically I was falling apart. So, I took the last lesson Teshia taught me. And I quit. I just couldn’t take another day and I knew it. I did what I had to. And again, I was terrified.

I learned one thing from my experience as a store manager that I’ll keep. It’s okay to try and fail and knowing when to quit isn’t failing. I did something I didn’t think I could do. And now I’m going to do it again. Welcome to the show. -JD

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