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regrettablewritings · 3 years

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Hi!😁 I'll give you another ship with my dear Lucifer morningstar from Lucifer cuz as it turns out I'm a hoe for a lot of characters but what can ya do? Thank you!

Aw hell yii, somebody's talkin' my lingo! 😎

Who the fuck put the Peeps in the microwave?: Lucifer. And no, it's not because he actually likes them or is curious about what would happen; he's seen plenty of Youtube videos enough to know exactly what happens. No . . . It's far more malicious . . . Generally speaking, you don't like the constant comparison of cats to the devil. But after getting to actually meet The Devil, you think that those believers might be on to something. Lucifer's whorey ways bleeds into his need for attention like red bleeds into white in the wash, and he's completely shameless about it. For example, if he feels like you may be focusing too much on work or, gasp, other people besides him, you run the risk of encountering a very . . . mischievous Luci. Not that he's not already a prankster, but he somehow becomes a bit more childish. Catlike in some respects. He puts your mugs up higher than what you can normally reach without having to climb on the countertop. He joins you at your kitchen table while you're reading over files for work and puts on his most angelic face, insisting he just wants to keep you company and will be as quiet as vermin in Dear Old Dad's house . . . then proceed to obnoxiously click a pen while pretending to solve a word problem, or eat cheese puffs obnoxiously loud. And then . . . the Peeps: The absolute prettyboy bastard used your microwave as a casualty of war, plopping the unplated, mutant-colored marshmallows directly on the glass and letting them go. To be fair, it technically didn't ruin anything. But at least he had your attention now -- because after fussing at him for making a mess, you were currently supervising him scrubbing not only the effected areas of the glass dish, but the rest of the microwave as well. Unfortunately, you can't say a lesson was really learned because now Luci knows that if he wants to get a rise out of you, what he needs is a bunch of candies from the bargain bin.

Who forgot to put the cat out before sex?: It's not that either of you forgot the cat was there -- it was that Lucifer wanted the bloody animal to give the both of you some privacy. And because Lucifer forgot the cat was there. He was simply too busy embracing you in a liplock and laying you down on the couch to notice the glaring eyes of the cat you had rescued from the shelter. Thankfully, you two didn't get very far before the lovingly-named Lucipurr released a meow, indicating that he had become flesh and bone in the few hours it had been since you'd last fed him. Suffice to say, after a startled Lucifer flung himself off of you and onto the floor, nearly breaking his ass on the coffee table (and the laughing fit that had induced on your end), the mood was killed. For the next fifteen minutes, that is. The next time he tried anything, Lucifer made sure that his efforts would be continued in the bedroom (but not before he did a complete check of every nook and cranny in there to make sure the furry bastard wasn't trying anything).

Who posts Vines/TikToks of the other doing embarrassing shit?: Lucifer absolutely lacks boundaries. The moment he discovered smartphones, social media, and all their potential, he was all in and recording as many videos of friends and coworkers as he could in as many awkward or unideal situations as they came. You felt bad for Dan being his constant target, but you were somewhat sure that Dan felt bad for you in a way: After all, you were dating the freaking guy and yet Lucifer had few qualms about posting a video of you, drunkenly singing karaoke in what was supposed to be a private room? Harsh.

Who breaks the most phones?: Lucifer does. He's not necessarily careless, but his part-time occupation does lead him to circumstances that tend to put his phone in danger. You, Chloe, Dan, literally everyone has told him to just leave his phone in the car if he's going to get it broken that often while on the job, but the dumbass never learns. Not that he really seems to care all that much: With his wealth, he can always buy a new one. Though, the only times he gets frustrated is when photos or videos don't quite make it to the transfer and things get lost along the way. Funny photos, suggestive videos, photos and videos of you . . . Photos and videos of you being funny or suggestive . . . Downright pornographic videos he had recorded of you -- Though don't worry: He's sure you'll be more than happy to help recreate the latter. He'd gladly help you . . .

Who dies first?: It should go without saying. It really should. But that doesn't make it hurt any less. Lucifer was always one to get caught up in his indulgences, after all: Somewhere along the way, he must've gotten too swept up in the thrill, the feeling of adoration. He tells himself this but it's really just denial. Closer to the truth is that it all really was just denial: He denied the idea that you would ever leave him, that you would ever die. Luci was never good with his own thoughts and feelings, but the way you made him feel was nearly enough to convince him that, in some way, you would just plain live forever. But of course, this was not the case: It didn't matter that you were fantastical enough to love and be loved by the Devil; you were still very much a human. Very much mortal. So susceptible to things like time and illness and injury. Lucifer was the King of Indulgences. It was extremely rare for him to experience regret. But when your time inevitably ran out, remorse filled him like smoke filled his lungs with every cigarette he ran through from the moment your funeral arrangements were decided. He could never regret knowing you, as much as part of him thought doing so would spare him this pain. He tried to think of how much better he might've been had he never met you, and it always felt like he was stuck in his own personal Hell Loop with everything going wrong over and over no matter how hard he tried to change it. He regretted that for as much time as he lived up with you, he felt like he didn't use nearly enough of that time to just . . . enjoy you. You in your mortality, your fleeting beauty and love that would nonetheless haunt him for however long he might go on for. So maybe . . . for eternity? This didn't feel like his own personal Hell Loop: This was his own personal Hell Loop. And until he learned to forgive himself, it would never end. So he'd be stuck here for maybe . . . eternity.

Which one I could see as being lactose intolerant: Neither. Unless they get brought down to mortal enough, Celestials generally don't suffer ailments, let alone from things like food allergies.

Who thinks they can do something really well even though they can't?: Lucifer . . . It's not that he's not smart. But by Dad, he is lacking in so much self-awareness that it can be maddening. He thinks he's pretty good at following Dr. Linda's advice (and, to an extent, he's progressing). But the fact of the matter is, he's incredibly troubling at best. Not nearly as bad as some patients, mind you, but when Linda admitted to you that one or two sessions of Lucifer completely misinterpreting her advice nearly drove her to consider adding a secret bar into her desk, you believed her and didn't blame her for one bit.

Who is more likely to get kicked out of bed?: Lucifer is a changed devil. But it's a very slow change. You're more than happy to understand and accept this, but that doesn't mean you have to let him and his issues walk all over you. Sometimes, the big dummy just says or does things without thinking -- or because he thought too hard and thought this was the best decision to avoid further strife. And you try to be patient with him about these tendencies, you really do. But that doesn’t erase your ability to be upset by these habits, or your right to be. And no amount of him buttering you up is going to be acceptable, even when he comes by your place, armed with a dish he so thoughtfully prepared for you. Nope, he can literally go to Hell with that (really, you’re sure the demons there would appreciate a nice beef wellington); you just need some space. Ironically, this may create a cycle wherein his need to make you happy again and have your attention on him drives him to constantly hover around you and attempt to win you over, which in turn just further frustrates you. It’ll likely keep going until you either snap or a loved one pulls Luci to the side and gives him a heads up that maybe he should respect your boundaries. After all, intention isn’t the problem here: It’s the actions taken. And as much as it hurts him knowing that he accidentally hurt you, he has to respect your need for time to cool off. He forces himself to go back to his place and tries to think less about how he feels and more about how you might feel, and try to work out ways to avoid similar incidents in the future. And even though the conclusions he comes to may not be perfect, you at least respect the effort -- particularly when he next sees you, no longer armed with snacks from your favorite bakery or bouquet-carrying teddy bears. Instead, all he has is an apology. It’s sheepish, and it feels foreign to someone who rarely experiences shame or regret, but you know his whole heart is in it even if he himself doesn’t understand entirely why that is. Which is good because that’s just part one of the process; part two involves him warming up that spot in your bed that’s reserved for him!

Who uses the computer the most?: You, absolutely. Lucifer's adorably but altogether completely crap when it comes to technology. Besides, he can easily find other things with which to amuse himself, and doing the paperwork is for other people anyway.

Thank you sooooo much for participating again!!! It really means a lot!!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

#lucifer morningstar x reader #lucifer morningstar imagines #lucifer morningstar imagine #lucifer imagine #lucifer imagines #character ship meme #character ask meme #regrettablewritings #thanks for your patience by the way! i would've had this up last night but i went out with family for the evening!

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fuck-customers · 5 years

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Big Bird Deli, Part 3

Continued from https://fuck-customers.tumblr.com/post/185625162330/continuation-of-the-big-bird-deli-story-found

Now, I know you all want me to say I got a new job and rubbed it in my store manager’s face. Sadly, reality is often disappointing. My top choices so far sent back general rejection emails and I’m looking into different industries to branch into. Now, it's not all bad news, but in order to get into the good news, I need to tell you all a story about one co-worker; our constant call off, whom I’ll refer to as CCO. Buckle up for a long story.

CCO was transferred to our store from the one about five minutes down the road a little under three years ago now. I was still in my first year when she transferred in. As I worked with her, she seemed like a good co-worker. Knowledgeable, dependable, she even taught a bunch of tricks to make the job easier. Then, some things started to bubble to the surface.

At first, the only bad thing about her is that she took a long time in the bathroom, 10-15 minutes, pretty much a break without clocking out for one. CCO’s explanation for this was biological, but she couldn’t identify her condition. Skeptical, but ok. Then, she’d also take a long time to get a drink (Non-alcoholic). Managers caught sipping a drink in the break room, and even the training room (Small room with computers for basic training/OSHA/Food Safety) and told her multiple times, she could only do that on breaks. She’d also do stuff that led to numerous signs in our back hall. She’d try store dry food there, take drinks back there, and she’d be on her cell phone on her shift way too much (Mostly showing her cats, making notes, not talking or playing games).

Then, she began to talk constantly. She’d talk with customers even after their orders were done. I constantly saw customers get that “I need to get going but I don’t see my chance to leave yet” expression, and she’d keep blabbering on for a few more minutes as the customer slowly tried to inch away. But it wasn’t just customers, CCO would do the same to co-workers. She’d blabber on while doing nothing or only very small tasks. Sometimes her conversations sucked you in, even though the topics were things from youth, church, or constant updates about her cats (she and husband got up to FIVE cats, and yes, introductions to them included pictures.) I had the highest tolerance for these stories, not sure why.

Now, I can handle those things above. But it got worse. So. Much. Worse. After our store got remodeled just before CCO came in, tasks were updated to include not only sweeping the department floor every night but also washing and squeegeeing the floor. CCO made excuses so she wouldn’t be the one doing it. She’d do anything she could to pass it off on that night’s co-worker. She made excuses that it hurt her back, but refused time and time again to get a doctor’s note to excuse her from the task. She also made excuses that it was tiring, but she stopped those excuses after only a couple weeks. This, coupled with many closers forgetting some tasks, provoked our Deli Manager to make daily task sheets starting this past summer, mostly focused on the closing staff. I, personally, am ok with the sheets, as I view it as a tool to acclimate new employees to the department tasks.

But here’s the big one. She ‘began’ to get migraines within six months of her transfer. She’d slow and become less useful during work, taking long treks to get water and basic medicine that seemed to do the trick at first. The kicker is that she began to call off once every two weeks. Now, you may think that’s not so bad and it’ll count against her. Wrong. She applied for FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) for her migraines. She could spend a TON of hours towards it, and she could reapply when she ran out. I started out sympathetic, as I have family members with migraines, but they have methods to curb it so they can work. CCO started calling off once a week. Twice a week. This year, it went up to three times a week. And it was almost always on the same co-worker, Nice Coworker (NC). NC became stressed, she didn’t even want to be scheduled with CCO because of it, but sometimes had no choice. I saw NC break down in tears multiple times. She threatened management to not call her if CCO called off on Sundays, cuz she wouldn’t come in at all. Our deli manager retaliated by trying to schedule CCO less. CCO retaliated by complaining about her hours and claiming hours of other co-workers due to seniority!!! She’d just take their shifts and call-off anyway! So not only was she causing hours to drop, she was basically stealing money from people who actually show up for work.

This all caused morale and productivity to plummet. We were stressed, aggravated even. All the while management still wanted everything perfect while not addressing the problem. And since we’re union, management has to give CCO chance after chance before she’s finally fired or CCO will just run and cry to the union about ‘unfair termination’. We also got wind from people in the store down the street (Sometimes people over here have to cover over there and vice versa) that this behavior happened down there, but not to the extent it got down here, and was the reason CCO transferred. We also learned that she’s had this behavior at all the past jobs she told anyone about. This woman is ten years older than me and hasn’t learned any lessons about her behavior.

Oh, but the cherry on top of this comes in the form of gaslighting and manipulation. CCO dared to call NC her friend while she was claiming NC’s hours and calling off on her! CCO would apologize and say that she “was a shitty person,” and that we “must hate her”. Insincere apologies, self-bashing designed to make you say “No, you’re not a piece of garbage!”(even though she was). CCO also spread rumors about a friend who’s like a brother to me (from another department) when he briefly got in deep trouble. She did this because she thought she could get his full-time position once he was fired (A position that took him being there 12 years and his manager begging multiple times on his behalf to get). Needless to say, I heard through the grapevine and began to truly hate her.

Oh, and remember those call-offs? CCO’d often do those on the weekend, y’know, the busy times. Especially Sundays. Since she was a “Good Christian™”, she’d want to go to church on Sundays. Ok. Reasonable. Then, she called off on Sunday evenings, a shift that’s hell to close alone. Again, on NC mostly. She’d do this repeatedly until our Deli Manager decided to not schedule her on Sunday, two weeks in a row. CCO smirked and told NC that “Her plan had worked!” and that she won’t work Sundays (She didn’t put them off on her availability because it was discouraged, and sometimes even rejected, to not work weekends). To say that, and say that to the person she called off on constantly, is just despicable. Many of us told our deli manager as soon as possible. If she didn’t schedule CCO on Sundays, she’d work on Sundays in any department she had experience in (she’s cross-trained in the Hot foods and meat departments).

At the start of this year. Everyone in the department hated her. Some would be catty or strictly business with her. I opted to pretend to not want to rip her face off, otherwise, I risked forwarding that bile to customers, and I have cried on CCO’s shoulder in the past due to previous work-related bullshit (not the story above). But, we finally had some news from the grapevine; CCO’s doctor AND corporate had picked up on her FMLA abuse. It was flagged as abuse because during times her FMLA expired and needed to be redone her migraines had ‘mysteriously’ disappeared. No call-offs until after FMLA was reinstated. Her doctor told her that he wouldn’t approve more and even if he did, it wouldn’t be approved by the company. By our calculations, she’d run out at the end of May. She ran out mid-May. All we had to do was wait.

And this past week, the good news! Turns out CCO didn’t help NC much the Saturday of my paid vacation. NC went to Store Manager on Wednesday, on her day off, to report CCO. Store Manager told NC that CCO, and potentially all of the deli, was going to get pulled into the office soon one by one. Details couldn’t be said due to confidentiality but NC said that shit was about to go down, we all just didn’t know what. On Friday, now mid-June, our Union Steward (A worker to represents the union while not working for the union directly) came and got CCO and pulled her into the office with Store Manager. Ten minutes later, CCO was escorted out of the store by Loss Prevention. The scales finally tipped when the customer complaints stacked up, and that she got into a verbal argument with a co-worker (Not me or NC) with a manager as a witness. Said co-worker was at the store on her day off, shopping and chatting with us briefly. While CCO passed by, CCO called her a bitch, in earshot of Loss Prevention. But that was the last we’ve seen of CCO.

Slight dancing was had, and upper management reminded us that this is an opportunity to turn the deli around. We got a new person who started during my vacation. She’s absolutely amazing and gets along with everyone. It’s only been a few days, but already other departments are commenting that the deli seems happier and that a great weight has been lifted. I always joked about giving CCO this big speech in a dark, even tone and saying she needs to go on disability or welfare if her work ethic or migraines are that bad. But, I decided against doing a big Facebook drama thing. Instead, I blocked her on social media and her phone number. I’m glad to finally cut her out of my life permanently.

As for me? I’m still at Big Bird. Now that the main problem is gone, I can take my time finding a good job and not go for the first one that gives me an interview. I still want to leave because of upper management, and I haven’t received confirmation that my write up was overturned. Things are looking up, and I’m glad we now have a solid, competent team as we get ready for the 4th of July sales.

Last word: I was going to post this as is, but today, I heard something amazing. A co-worker had to work a split shift, beginning down the road then coming up to our store. Turns out, CCO didn’t tell her husband that she got fired! She told him she was on vacation! And he works down the street! I busted up laughing, imagining scenarios when he finds out she lied. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall for that confrontation. :3

TL;DR

Not much has happened other than a co-worker getting fired and absolutely deserving it after putting the deli under so much stress.

#submissions #happy ending #fuck co-workers #fuck coworkers #retail justice #submission

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samthenifty · 6 years

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Welp, time to get personal I guess. Story time peeps. If you care to read for a few.

So I'm currently in the process of switching jobs. From a minimum wage crew position at good ol McD's, to a starting pay of 13/hour as a interior cleaner of new homes being constructed. Also, bonus its a switch from the dreaded graveyard shift to a lovely regular week day 8 to 4 shift. All with the awesomeness of getting to work with my girlfriend again cuz they hired her too! So I've been stoked!

Although there is a lot of good change in my life, its been stressful. I am awful at handling change. Always have probably always will to some degree. I was also sad to be leaving my team. Almost all of which I thoroughly enjoyed being around. Sure I could try to stay in touch afterwards, but other than an added mutual at this sight to spam with memes. I knew I'd be losing touch with all of them. The allies we have in the hellscape of these sorts of jobs, they are valuable and treasured. Take away the warfront though, and we'd have no real reason to stick together.

I'd only been at this latest Mc'Ds for a couple months, but I'd managed to gather a few amazing memories already. I'll treasure those, along with a couple harsh lessons its brought my way.

One of these lessons, is why I'm writing this post. The lesson that, even with all the growth I've had in recent years, I have a lot to learn about reading people still.

A small bit of backstory for you guys. I have a couple of mental illnesses (no surprise, this is tumblr after all) including generalized anxiety disorder, depression and aspergers tendencies. This last one, for how it affects me at least, essentially hinders my ability to read people. Social cue readings going arrie when I try to absorb them. A very common example being my problem with thinking someone is mad/negative when they probably weren't trying to. Combine that mess with my anxiety, and it becomes very hard to be around people I have had altercations with in the past.

A couple days ago I started the first day of my two weeks after giving McD's my notice. I went in ready to go. Ready to be a part of the team and make the most out of my remaining time. When a little ways into my shift an altercation began. One I have not fully recovered from.

For the sake of anonymity we'll refer to her as M, she is a overnight manager. I had known her as a customer, she was a favorite of mine and my girlfriend's back when she was a crew member. Then one day I came back to the store on a snack run, and I found out she was a manager. Shortly after I applied and started working overnights.

I had been so enamored with her customer service persona that I was so sure I would enjoy working with her. For some parts I was right. She was complicated, mildly selfish and sharp tongued, but I didn't dislike her. At least not at first.

Over the short time I've been working here, I slower started to see through my old view of M. Who I tried my best to continue liking, but it didn't last. One reason being that we had several situations where I would try to say/suggest something helpful, and she'd talk me back into a corner, refusing to give up the last word. I always bit my tongue and tried to brush it off. It wasn't a big deal right? She's the boss after all, so what does it matter what I think right? Fucking wrong.

So when this particular situation arose yet again, I finally lost my patience. Here's what happened okay?

I was running orders for front counter, the guy on register being a new guy. A new guy who had mentioned to me that he hoped he would get assigned the sauces later. He liked that job he told me. So a little while later, after the rush had lulled, I went to ask M if she would be okay with me having the new guy take the sauces along with the three boxes of sauce we no longer needed up front. I was going to continue to say "and I'll watch front counter since I can run for myself", cuz I figured I was probably the more experienced between us. I didn't get a chance to say that part though, because she cut me off and said "why can't you?" I don't remember the next couple of remarks, but the exchange ended in me grabbing up the sauce boxes, informing her that it was just an idea, I don't need to hear all the freaking sass all the time.

By the time I had gotten the boxes back to the shelves, I was starting to fall apart. Whether she meant to or not, M had triggered an anxiety attack. I motioned for a coworker of mine, my mcmutual I mentioned earlier. I told her what had happened as best I could through my choked throat. Tears escaping despite my best efforts to hold my composure. She talked me down, bless her soul. I managed to make it to my ten minute break shortly after. I opened this meme machine website and a doggo cheered me up. I was shaky but stable. Then M came in, sat across from me in the tiny crew room. And tried to confront the situation. Which would have been fine. If she had handled it better. But this is M we're talking about, so of course it wasn't.

She opened up the conversation well, telling me she can't empathize/sympathize if she didn't know whats wrong. That she didn't understand why I, one of her usually best team players under any circumstances (actually a really nice compliment), was trying to push off work onto someone else. I tried my best to explain, she cut my off and told me that new guy was almost off when I asked. Something she could have told me, but didn't. I told her. (Note that he had ended up filling the sauces anyways, so all of this was for nothing in the long run.) She kept running the conversation in circles, making the whole thing about her really, and I gave up eventually. "You clearly just don't understand." I told her. I had given up on trying to explain, I just wanted to talking to end and to move on with the night. Then, she had the gall to get angry with me. She gets offended, gathers her things, and says something along the lines of "fine, you want to sit in here and pout. Whatever, you're leaving in two weeks anyways."

I was, livid. Less than a second following her last words, I boiled over. Taking my phone, which had been under my hand through out the conversation, and slammed it against the table. Fracturing my screen protector (and what I thought was my screen at the time), pissing me off worse, but not as much as the rest of the altercation had. Fine then I'm leaving I yelled after her. I grabbed my stuff, said sorry to the three ladies I was abandoning in night crew, and I sat outside next to their dumb drive through, waiting for my mom to pick me up.

I talked to the general manager in the morning, and I told him what happened, in an abbreviated fashion of course. I told him that I wanted to be there for my time still, but I didn't feel comfortable with working with M. He understood, and asked if I could work 9 to 1 am (half my original shift) so I could be off at the same time as L (another manager lady). I agreed, and he said I didn't have to work Friday and I told him I'd happily come in on Saturday and Sunday still. (I had been under the impression that M wasn't working those nights, but more on that later.)

So yesterday (friday) I go in, and as per usual I'm dropped off almost an hour early due to my girlfriend also being on a McD's night crew in a different city as a manager. I usually would chill in the crew room, but I hunkered down out in lobby instead, hoping to avoid any further conflict. A minute before I'm supposed to clock in I went back to put my coat and bag away. I put on my headband, turned around to leave the tiny crew room, and there she was. M blocking the doorway. Preventing me from starting the workday in peace.

She started with an apology. Which was good and seemed earnest. I was tired of being emotional though, and I knew talking further would trigger my anxiety. So I said, "okay, but I don't want to talk about it."

That's it, that should have been the end of it.

Friends.

It wasn't.

She turned around the conversation again, making it about herself. "Well I won't be okay if I don't talk about it." She says. I didn't say this at the time, but I honestly didn't care. I along with what feels like the entirety of night crew, have been catering to M's mood ever since I started just so we won't all be miserable. I was done with that. I was too tired. I had to look out for myself. So I cut her off, for the first time ever, and I asked her if she wanted me to leave. She stormed off, muttering something about not caring I think.

And that was how I spent less than three minutes in the back of my store. Along with two almost hour long periods before and after in the lobby.

As I waited for my parents to come get me from the lobby, L came to find out what happened. I tried my best to explain it along with a small bit of info on my anxiety. About how I have trouble with people who make me feel emotionally unstable, that no matter how hard I try, M would forever me an unsafe person to me. She couldn't make me stay she says, but she would make sure I had a safe place to work on saturday.

This morning that last comment haunted me. So I called the general manager again, clarifying whether or not M works tonight. When he told me yes, dread started seeping into me. He told me L was going to make sure we stayed seperate. I expressed my doubts, "If M wants something she does it" I told him. I was going to try though, for the sake of my team.

It is currently almost 2:30 pm, and I have not slept. Up until an hour ago I had been trying to, but I've just been too stressed. So I called back, and I told the general manager what was happening. He tried to talk me into going at first, but I think he could tell how strained I was. I apologized profusely, assured him I would be there tomorrow night (the only shift I have left without M), and called out on tonight's shift.

Since that call, I've taken a shower and written this accidental novel. I feel a bit better now. Thank you if you read this far. I know a small handful of you who definitely will. You know who you are. I love you guys. I'm gonna maybe play a game and get a little sleep. Wish me luck tomorrow.

#personal #work stories #mcdonalds #anxiety #depression #aspergers #mental health

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topicprinter · 7 years

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I've been in running my startup for 10 years since 2007. Never really made it a "big" success, but we do what we can. We're a few web freelancers doing coding/design, but our storefront is mainly a niche repair shop ( www.xcubicle.com ). I'm trying to transition out of the repair business and into the blockchain space, as we have our own platform that were working on.Either way, I wasn't even sure if this new lease term is good news or bad news. Bad news is that we can't afford the rent increase of 40%. We're paying 4.5k a month now and its going to be 7k. That's alot and its already hard paying 4.5k already with the rent increase every year. Good news is, it will make us move to a better location hopefully. We get 80% of our customers coming to us from online and technically don't need a corner storefront. I've been researching some private office coworking spaces that would work, but I'm still processing all of this and really need to vent.Originally I asked for the new lease terms from the landlord a few months back, but he was reluctant to give it as he said its going to be a reasonable increase. Nothing too crazy. And we're on good terms with each other too as I've been his tenant for 10 years and have never been late paying rent. But for him to pull a 40% increase on me is kind of a smack in the face. As another friend told me, I can't be sad about it as its business and its not personal. I know I can negotiate it down, but 4.5k to 7k is a big jump for us.The good news, after looking on craigslist I was able to find a supposedly good office space for just 2k which includes everything and its on wall st at a coworking space. This is assuming its not a fake ad just to get rental leads.Having run a retail storefront for over 10 years, here's some advice and lessons learned from my journey so far:There are alot of unaccounted costs you don't factor in when running a storefront. Who is going to clean the bathrooms? windows? get rid of the birds nesting in your awning? City consumer affairs hassling you over petty shit. There's so much to list, I'd have to make a new post. Bottom line, all these unforseen things cost money to do. Either your time or someone else's time and that cost money!You might be able to make alot of money a few months of the year, but other months might be really slow. What are you going to do? Play games and check facebook all day? You see this alot with store owners when you walk by certain shops. That's doomed to fail. If you don't know how to be productive and constantly add "value" to your business on your down time, your going to die eventually.Employees in a retail environment. Let's face it if you aren't getting paid more than 15/hr, you will get low quality workers. Every now and then you might find a good one, but it's not easy. Many times, you will realize low wage earners do not have "common sense" or "street smarts". Its literally something you can learn apparently. In these scenarios, its sometimes better doing the job yourself vs having someone else do a half ass job on it. I'm grateful we have a decent team with its ups and down.If you have more than 3 employees and they are friendly with each other. Now you gotta worry about bullshit. They are talking too much and not getting enough work done. Or the bad habit virus. Once once does it, the other one will do it too. Like playing games at work... I actually still let them as long as they get their work done as its those stupid games where you just click and leave it on without paying much attention to it.Discipline your disappointment.... Not everything will go right all the time, like my lease ordeal for example. There's always a positive view you can look at it versus just focusing on the bad.Business development --- this is so important for throwing "positive randomness" into your business. You have to be a people person in order to do BD, I know not everyone can do it, but having connections is so important when you have to make a few phone calls to ask for a favor. I've met many great friends during this 10 year journey with my suppliers and clients. I knew the guy that does wholesale for chinatown bootleg bags and other crazy gadgets. He would copy anything from here and send it to his connections in china to copy it. I have some crazy funny stories.Your customers will pay you a premium just because you have a storefront and that they can talk to you! Many small businesses do not know how to "raise" prices on their services.Resourcefulness -- Being resourceful in a state of chaos is very important when things don't go your way. I had to build my own store awning when I started, cuz I refused to pay $2000 for cloth and some metal rods. Birds we're constantly pooping on my customers as I have a window service repair shop, now I have to figure out how to get rid of the birds. Bottom line in this is being able to figure out the problem given to you vs just sitting around with no solution at hand. Cuz you have no boss to turn to for help. You are the final line of defense... You will learn so much from your adversity.Technical people do not know how to price things... I fix an xbox drive issue with a rubber band that cost 1 cent and 2 minutes of time. Techs will see this as oh this is easy, just pay me $10. Never let technical people talk to your customers/clients! If it wasn't for my project managers / customer service reps I wouldn't be able to charge $80 for 2 minutes of work. Many times people do not understand the amount of time it took to learn up to the point to take 2 minutes to fix something. They only see it from their perspective of the current time it took. There is a need for a separation of techs and customers. This doesn't apply to just my repair business, but any business. Would you want your chef to also deal with customers? Or your programmers talking to your clients and say yes they can do everything the client wants!social engineering is a thing.... having that I deal with retail customers. I've experienced getting yelled at, scammed, and sued. Sometimes when dealing with customers, you might say something in a wrong way and piss off the customer. now how do you turn them back into a happy customer... this is a real skill that you can't just read a book on, but only done with trial and error. every word and emotion portrayed to someone affects their overall state which affects you and your sales! this is a very important life skill.Don't get let down from reading only the success stories. Stories like mine and others that haven't made it "big" are the majority. We're all struggling one way or another to make things work. Many times you read about the "unicorns" or some company that raised X millions of dollars. I don't think its that easy... but its a combination of factors that get you to unicorn status.There's a reason for everything even if it turns out bad. I've been scammed 2k by buying iPhones and finding out it was a box of rocks in them. This led me into reading up on social engineering hacks as I was so impressed with how it was executed. this led me to being able to train my employees better at doing customer service. There's alot more, but that would be the most interesting one. And as for my lease situation, I guess if the landlord didn't give me a 40% increase I would have never looked at craigslist and found a better spot that is next to all the subway stops in the financial district.The landlord is not your friend... Unless you hang out with him on a regular basis. It's business and nothing personal.Anyways that's enough for now, but I would like to share more of my journey as I think it can help others.As for my lease issue. Anyone know of an office space for rent in downtown manhattan for cheap? or even a shared space with another business that we can compliment.

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