“Trapped In A Loveless Marriage”

The story I’m about to share with you is certainly not for the faint of heart. If you’re neither sitting or lying down at this moment, now would truly be a good time for you to do so. For what you’re about to read will likely send you into a tailspin of awe and anger and I would hate for my blog to be the reason for your possible concussion. With this entry I scoured the deepest and darkest corners of my mind and while the memory sickens my heart, I feel it’s an important one to share.

In the nearly five years I worked with Macy’s Department Stores I met some of the most phenomenal people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. Some of my greatest friendships are a direct result of my time with that company and for that reason, I’ll forever be thankful to the opportunities Macy’s gave me across this country. With that being said though, I also met one of the most diabolical people I’ve ever known and because of her heinous words, I found myself incapable of continuing to work there alongside her, regardless of how much I enjoyed all the other aspects.

I’m going to spare you the full details, but just know that I was good at that job. Outstanding, in fact, according to my Sales Manager Scorecard and annual review. As a Sales Manager, I ranked #1 in both my California stores and coincidentally second in both my California districts. I was blessed with two phenomenal teams, which carried me to the top of those charts, those amazing people always made the job worthwhile. Unfortunately for me though, my Store Manager at my third and final store (second Californian one) was a monster in every sense of the word. The pictures in this post are from her store and feature many of the people I loved dearly – don’t be lookin’ for her though, she most definitely didn’t make the cut.

This particular Macy’s was in Escondido, California. I lived in the city of Temecula, California the entire three plus years I was out there. Well, when a Sales Manager position opened up at the Temecula store, I approached my Store Manager about transferring to that location as it was less than ten minutes down the road from me versus the forty-five plus minutes I was driving at the time to reach Escondido. I went in with the expectation that because of my top notch scorecard and results, she would work with me to make this transfer happen, but alas, I should’ve known better.

It didn’t take her long in our closed door session to shoot down any hopes I had of transferring. She told me some big changes were on the horizon at the store and she would need an experienced leader like myself to remain in the building through the upcoming transitional phase. While her response irritated me, it would soon pale in comparison to the treachery she was about to bombard me with. Seemingly out of nowhere, she changed the topic of conversation to one that’s typically my absolute favorites: Céline Dion, but I should have known this topic was laced with an ulterior motive.

As we were discussing Queen Céline and how she is the undisputable greatest singer in the world, my Store Manager said something so heinous, so twisted, so devious, so aggressive, so terrible, SO EVIL that such an abomination should NEVER be able to escape one’s mouth, much less enter that individual’s mind, but there I was having to hear such blatant blasphemy.

She said to me – literally out of nowhere – there was no time to transition topics or prepare myself for what I was about to hear. Without warning she said the single most awful thing anyone has EVER said to me in all my life:

“I hate to say it, but Céline Dion is trapped in a loveless marriage.”

She didn’t hate to say shit and all I remember thinking in that moment was, what the fuck this bitch just say to me!?! I could feel the rage and anger of a thousand suns boiling inside me. I wanted so badly to HULK out and send her ugly ass all-glass desk flying across her office in an epic HULK SMASH moment. I mean, how could anyone say something so horrible!?! What kind of terrible life was she living that this sort of thing was even floating around in her mind!?! I knew that if I gave in to my impulses I would be leaving the store that day in handcuffs, so I remained cool, calm, and collected while taking several quick deep breaths before delivering my response.

“I think you’re dead wrong.”

She looked surprised by my firm disagreement, but she shouldn’t have been. Céline and René had the kind of love that every couple on this planet we call Earth should strive for! Yes, they met when Céline was thirteen, but there has never been any indication that they did not love one another immensely and because of the love they had for each other, the entire world became a better place.

Céline Dion sings and performs in the universal language of love, which is why she is the world’s best-selling female artist of all time! Everyone knows love in some form or another (everyone except obviously my then terrible Store Manager), Céline’s music is so universally adored because everyone can understand what she sings of.

René is the reason for Céline’s music reaching the world’s ears. Together the two of them have more or less brought about world peace, but because of people like my old Store Manager, that world peace isn’t allowed to shine quite as brightly as it should.

I shared this tirade of facts with my Store Manager and she just repeated the same hellish line she did earlier about Céline being trapped in a loveless marriage. I can assure you, hearing it a second time was no easier than the first. I knew then that if I didn’t cut the meeting short, the end result was going to be less than desirable, so I quickly maneuvered for an abrupt conclusion.

After leaving her office, I had to leave the store all together for a quick bit and went out into the mall to get some Starbucks. On my way there I called Melissa to tell her about the terrorist attack that had just happened on my ears and brain. I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was foaming at the mouth with that same level of rage and anger I was still very much feeling.

“SHE’S A LITTLE CUNT! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH HER!?! I SWEAR TO GOD I’M GOING TO LOOK AT FLIGHTS AFTER WE END THIS CALL, SO I CAN BE SURE TO GET ON THE NEXT PLANE OUT THERE TO COME AND KICK HER ASS!”

Melissa was every bit as livid as she should’ve been. We’ve both been fans of Céline’s for as long as we can remember and we loved the relationship Céline and René had. Prior to that day, I thought the entire world marveled at the strength of their love, so it was quite the shock to me to learn otherwise.

Not being allowed to transfer would probably not have been enough to make me leave Macy’s, but finally realizing that I was working for someone who was inherently evil and suffering from some severe mental defects most certainly was. I decided that very afternoon that I could no longer continue subjecting myself to such deplorable working conditions. She and I already didn’t get along and we always wore our fake faces around one another, but she really didn’t get along with anyone. We all secretly hated her, just some of us were better at keeping our secrets than others. Her blasphemy was the motivation I needed to truly better myself, but I couldn’t let it end with her words.

I realized I needed to harness the rage and anger I felt at that very moment in her office following her putrid remark and turn it into something productive, so I could truly reward myself with a better work environment. I had to find a new career and in order to ensure I did, I turned to the art form that Céline personifies: music.

I went home that night and instantly created a playlist of songs that would strengthen my resolve and force me to do what was right for me. I will never, ever forget that evening for immediately after adding the playlist to my iPod, I threw on my gym clothes and set off for LA Fitness. I ran for the entire duration of the album, which is nearly 80 minutes! I had a lot of stress to shed away and running nonstop to those jams helped me do just that. Luckily for you all, I still have this playlist in my arsenal and am thrilled to be able to share my musical motivation!

Bad Blood – Ryan Adams

You Give Love A Bad Name – Bon Jovi

They Don’t Care About Us – Michael Jackson

Uprising – Muse

Fighter – Christina Aguilera

Takin’ Back My Love – Enrique Iglesias & Ciara

Lose To Win – Fantasia

High By The Beach – Lana Del Rey

Human Nature – Madonna

Happy – Leona Lewis

Let It Go – Idina Menzel

In The Air Tonight – Phil Collins

On The Rocks – Nicole Scherzinger

Goodbye To You – Scandal

Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac

Bye Bye Bye – *NSYNC

Yesterday – Toni Braxton

Stronger – Britney Spears

Survivor – Destiny’s Child

Bad Blood – Taylor Swift & Kendrick Lamar

You’ll notice Céline is absent from the tracklist, but she doesn’t sing about kicking someone’s ass, so I decided to leave her out of this. Those twenty songs were quite literally all I listened to for about a month and a half. Although I was eager to find something new, I never allowed myself to become desperate. I interviewed with a multitude of other companies and turned down a handful of offers before accepting an entry level management position with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I also finally got my transfer so to speak. There were three Enterprise locations within ten minutes of my home in Temecula and I ended up working at two of them.

Thankfully, I got exactly what I was wanting out of that whole ordeal and my monstrous Store Manager got exactly what she deserved. If you recall, she prohibited me from transferring because the store would soon be entering a what she described as a transitional phase, well, she certainly wasn’t wrong about that.

In the same week I left, two of my peers did as well. Ironically, one of them was transferring to another local Macy’s that was CLOSER TO HER HOME (she was ALWAYS the Store Manager’s pet) and the other was moving away and resigning her post. By the end of that week, the store Sales Manager staff was halved and I take great pleasure in the knowledge that the immediate time following was a period of high stress for my blasphemous old foe.

Well, as always, THANK YOU so very much for reading! I hope this nightmarish read didn’t cause you nearly as much stress and pain as it did me. PLEASE feel free to leave me a comment below! You know I LOVE reading and replying to those! My California Brother, Dean, is hard at work on his guest blog, but it will be delayed till what should be the first week of August as I already have the next two weeks outlined for you all. I’ll be back next week with a special birthday post for a good friend of mine, but until then, I hope each and everyone of you has THE BEST week ever!