Well, my life suddenly got more interesting...

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Glad you got a good package deal. You got lucky !
28 years there ? That’s super looking on a resume.
But you have to add in the age factor. Just saying.

Oh yeah, I am well aware that my age may be a red flag to some recruiters/headhunters/etc. I can't do anything about that, obviously, so all I can do is put myself out there and hope/pray for the best.

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I always thought of you as being a record store owner. Seriously.
Maybe it’s your intense overall knowledge of music - lol.

Haha, that was always the dream, even when I was a young punk, my bro and I used to daydream about running a combination record store/comic book shop (combining our two favorite things). Of course, if I did run a record store, I would totally be an elitist dick like Jack Black's character in High Fidelity so I probably wouldn't be in business for long

...and by the way, I still feel like an F'n genius for taking the buyout from my previous employer when I did, cuz just as expected, they laid off about a hundred people across the country (mostly journalists/reporters) this past week after that disastrous earnings report. I don't know if anybody was whacked from where I used to work, but I'm sure this will not be the last round of cuts.

Meanwhile, I'm still settin' up profiles on every job site I can find, and my phone is blowin' up all day long with updates like "We think you're a good match for this position," but they're still mostly irrelevant crap. Lots of sales positions, which is most definitely NOT me (I've never sold anything in my life and I'm sure as shit not gonna start now), social media manager positions (I do not wanna be put in charge of some company's F-ing Tik Tok!), retail stuff that's WAY out of my area, and blah blah blah.

If I sound like I'm being picky, I don't mean to be. Honestly, I'm not asking for much, I just want to find something that's relatively close to home that pays enough to keep my lights on.

In the meantime, Spirit Halloween has been giving me 16-20 hours a week, which is just enough to make it worth the trouble, and I spend the rest of my time looking at job sites and getting shit done around the house.

I had to laugh this afternoon when I was at Spirit, cuz I helped unload a truck full of merch (something like 1100 boxes), surrounded by a bunch of guys who were young enough to be my kids, and they were all fuckin' DYING, asking when they could take a break, etc., etc., meanwhile I'm bustin' ass, haulin' stuff all over the place, without any complaints.

One kid (who I swear looked like Danny Lilker circa 1986) sez to me "is it like this EVERY day?" and when I said "pretty much, yeah," he was like "Fuuuuuuuck."

If nothing else, the Spirit gig has been an ego booster cuz it shows I can still do stuff like that if all else fails. Score one for the old goat.

If you don’t find a new long term gig after Spirit Halloween, you could work at Target stocking shelves. You have experience from your K-Mart days…

Target is always hiring and they are less ghetto than Walmart.

I’m surprised DB hasn’t chimed in on this.

The older - the tougher - unless they want compete - then you step back.
Yeah, I always thought there was s” Fat Freddy’s “ record store somewhere.
I have heard of people dying their hair - to hide their age. I work with them.
Last year, I bought some stuff from ‘ Spirit Halloween ‘. My favorite holiday.

Fat Freddy wrote:

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On a side note, have ya considered doing your HubPages via webcam? There are various platforms to put that type of stuff on.

You mean, like an OnlyFans?

But seriously... my kid has been telling me for a while that I should start a YouTube channel, where I could talk about and show off cool stuff from my CD/music collection (kinda like what Scott, Trog, and a few others are doing), but I have a face for radio.

I meant pretty much meant what your kid said. Put on a hoodie and shades or use an animated backdrop

Just in case anyone is wondering how it's been goin'...

It's been just a hair over a month since I left the paper, and in between my 12-15 hrs. per week of stockin' shelves at Spirit Halloween, I've updated and tweaked my resume at least three times, spent more time on LinkedIn than I have in the past ten years, and applied for about twenty positions... and got no response from any of them. (sigh)

Not lookin' for pity, just sayin'.

Quick funny story about something that happened the other night at Spirit Halloween...

At the end of the night when we were doing our after-closing "sweep" of the store (putting misplaced stuff back in its proper places, straightening displays, etc.) a couple of us found a bunch of Christian propaganda leaflets and cards hiding on shelves, between items, etc. -- I guess that was inevitable, since a lot of holy-rollers consider Halloween "Satan's holiday," or whatever.

The card I found has a very metal-looking, comic book style pic of the Grim Reaper holding a scroll on the front that sez "At some point YOU will be the NEXT PERSON on Earth to DIE." The back is a bunch of gobble-de-gook about how you shouldn't have such a light hearted view of death and you should think about whether you're "good enough" to get into Heaven and blah blah blah.

Naturally, everyone found these hilarious. I was like "Dude, I guess this means we're on Satan's payroll!" and one of the girls sez "I think Satan would pay more than minimum wage."

Fat Freddy wrote:

I was like "Dude, I guess this means we're on Satan's payroll!" and one of the girls sez "I think Satan would pay more than minimum wage."

What about "Satanflation"

I remember this big black lady walked into a small bookstore. Nice town.
She put all these church cards in all these new books.
The Pastor of her church got an angry phone call……
Pastor had to go there and go through every book and remove each card. Pronto.
He was so righteously angry at this big woman.

Still nothing new to report on the job hunt front... I've applied for a bunch of stuff and have gotten absolutely zero responses. Even a "Dude, f**k off, go away, stop bothering us" rejection letter would be nice at this point...

the temp gig at Spirit Halloween only has a few more weeks left in it, obviously, and I'm not sure if I should try to get another part time/temporary gig after it ends, or not.  

On the other hand, yesterday my former employer announced yet ANOTHER round of "austerity measures" (mandatory unpaid leaves, reduction of hours, offering voluntary severances, etc., etc.), so if nothing else, I know I made the right decision jumping off that sinking ship.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I know I made the right decision jumping off that that sinking ship.

Yeah, that proverbial first carrot on a stick is usually the best option.
Hope things work out for ya Brother

I got my first call back from a job application yesterday... going for an interview tomorrow morning. It's nothing fancy, just a general office gig at a place that manufactures radios and other communication/alarm equipment for fire departments, emergency services, etc. Wish me luck!

Good Luck bud!

Hope good fortune abounds in your endeavour

Good luck!!

Good luck to ya !

Count me in with a good luck to you!

Good luck Freddy, knock ‘em dead!

Thanks for the well wishes, all.

I had the interview yesterday, it went OK but I don't think anything's gonna come of it. It's a new company, or should I say an old company with new management (i.e. younger) and they're looking to staff the place with young, hungry, wanna be "marketing and sales ninjas" (their words, not mine), which is not me at all.

Besides that, the office is WAY out in the fuckin boonies and the starting pay is five bucks less per hour than I was making at the paper... soooo, yeah, pffft. Not gonna happen.

I'll be very surprised if they call me back, but if they do, I'm gonna pass.

Oh well, I needed the interview practice anyway...

You’ll find something eventually.

Never heard back from the company that interviewed me (which was not really a surprise) so I've just been keepin' on lookin' for jobs, applyin' for jobs, not getting any calls back, lather, rinse, repeat.

The gig with Spirit Halloween is just about over. Our last day of biz was Nov. 2nd, we spent the next two days taking everything down and boxing it up, then we go in for two more days next week to put everything on a truck after it has been inventoried.

Meanwhile, I heard thru the grapevine that staffers at my former employer (as well as other company sites around the country) went on a one-day strike yesterday to protest the most recent round of layoffs and their dissatisfaction with working conditions in general.

So yea, my immediate future may be uncertain but I'm still glad I left that place

On a whim, I put in a app at a new supermarket that's opening in my town in a week or two. I figured my Spirit Halloween experience might get me in the door there. They just called me up and want me to come in for an interview on Wednesday. So hey, things might be looking up.

(I just won't mention that my wife works for their competition, Shop Rite. Haha.)

Fat Freddy wrote:

On a whim, I put in a app at a new supermarket that's opening in my town in a week or two. I figured my Spirit Halloween experience might get me in the door there. They just called me up and want me to come in for an interview on Wednesday. So hey, things might be looking up.

(I just won't mention that my wife works for their competition, Shop Rite. Haha.)

Best of luck!

Did you apply for a specific position, or were you open to anything? They have different departments: Produce, Deli, (front of house) cash register and janitor.