Shifting Gears

This has been a looooong time coming. So, hang on, because I have to start this tale at the beginning, and that goes back 17 years and three months ago, give or take a few days. It was 2002, and I had a young daughter, only a year and a half old, and I wanted to get out of the car fixing business. That was a great job with an awesome, business savvy boss and fun co-workers, and I made a LOT of money doing that. I had benefits, a 401K, insurance, and the whole nine yards. But......I didn't want to be THAT kind of father. I was working 60+ hours a week, and I would be dead tired at the end of the day. Plus, I had to work six days a week every other week. It was too much, in my mind, for me to be a good Dad. I needed to change jobs to be the father I was wanting to be.

That's me back in 2005 at my bench. Image probably taken by Jeff Kerkove.

And in September of 2002 I did. I started working at the bike shop.  I ended up being a part timer for many years, with little to no benefits, no  retirement, no insurance, and a boss that was the polar opposite of my boss at the auto repair shop. I took a HUGE pay cut. But in return I didn't have to work nights, weekends, and I got Holidays off. I got one week paid vacation, and later on, two weeks. For a while I got paid holidays too. But the biggest benefit of all was that I could, at a moments notice, take care of family matters with no repercussions. I could be there for my kids to take them to school every morning, and pick them up in the afternoons. I got Wednesdays off for years. This helped a ton with my review work. It was low stress and a lot healthier lifestyle, despite the lack of benefits you'd normally associate with a job. I was very fortunate to be able to raise my two kids in this era of my life with this employment situation. I was also very fortunate that I met many of the people I have met because I was in this job. I am well aware of that part.

But then things went bad. I cannot say much about the business here.  (You know what they say- If you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all.) As far as how things were going personally, about three years ago, with no warning, my paid vacation and holiday pay were yanked. It became increasingly clear that something was deeply wrong at my place of employment. About a year, year and a half ago, I started looking into my options. The kids are grown, I didn't get the same benefit out of working there anymore. The plan was to move on in the Spring of this year, but circumstances didn't pan out.

Meanwhile, things got worse. My hours were cut again and again due to poor business decisions. Repair and maintenance work disappeared due to the appearances that the shop was in trouble. There was a new shop and many good customers went there instead during late 2019. Things got weird at work with management, then they got weirder. On December 1st, I found out via Facebook that the shop was closing its doors for good on December 31st. (Not that I was surprised, mind you, it was the principle of the thing that got to me) Maybe someday I can release details, but for now, all you need to know is that I no longer work for Europa Cycle & Ski. I terminated my relationship with that shop as of last Friday.

My work area during my last days at the shop.

I knew the end was coming for quite some time and I had been moving my things back home piece by piece over the Spring and Summer. The "situation" has been obvious to many, I know, and I wasn't blind to it either. By the time December came I had pared my tools back to a bare minimum to do basic stuff. Not that there was much to do....

Switching gears now will be tough until I can enter whatever will be my next phase in my employment life. I'm excited for that, and I know I will be a LOT better off than I have been for several years. But until then, I have to muddle through for a while. It'll be okay. I've managed to save some money, and I have some odd jobs lined up. It'll be tight, but change is never easy, is it?

Stay tuned.........