Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!

So I've had two interesting interactions with former co-workers over the past couple of weeks. First, I had lunch with the office administrator before I took my trip to LA. She caught me up on all the company gossip, including the fact (later confirmed) that the office would be closing in the near future. When I first took my job position out of the stores, I worked from home, and really enjoyed it. Too bad I didn't survive the purge so that I could have taken advantage of going back to that situation. Working from home while going to school really would have been ideal. That being said, I'm really hoping nothing happens to her and that her job is okay.

Second, I stopped into my neighborhood Starbucks today, and got to chat up the store manager for a few minutes. My biggest complaint about this store, and the reason I usually stay away, is that they have a nice patio in front that is inevitably run over by smokers. I feel like I've smoked half a cigarette just walking through the cloud to get to the front door. I know they get customer complaints about the smokers, and I've attempted to put my two cents in on more than one occasion. The store had a visit from a temporary VP during a tour, and he expressed his dismay about the situation, and now they're going to ban smoking on the patio starting the beginning of next month!

It's funny how much has changed at Starbucks since my layoff. If anything, it definitely looks more like the company as I would have liked it to look when I was there. After I had finally gotten over losing my job after 12 1/2 years, now for the first time I am feeling like I want to be back in the Siren's fold. Oh well, I don't want to look back, I need to be like a shark, swimming forward. But I will be a customer at my neighborhood store more often now, so that's a nice change.