“And now the end is here, And so I face that final curtain…” My Way by Frank Sinatra
That’s the song I’ve been whistling this past week, and my coworkers and I were singing that first line of the song while we were preparing to close our place of employment. I worked at a ladies store called Christopher & Banks for the past 7 1/2 years. I started working at a store located in Plano, Texas, and then our store closed and I moved to a new location in Garland, Texas. One of the advantages of working in my second location was I was now the full-time assistant manager instead of the manager. I preferred being out with the customers than doing all the managerial tasks a manager has to do. Another advantage to the second location was that most of our staff from the first store transferred over to the second store. Since the stores were only twenty minutes apart, most of our customers came with us. It was a win, win situation! Not to mention, it cut my drive time in half.
Everything was going great! We were making money, adding new customers, having great Fashion Shows, and enjoying our time at work. Our team was running like a well oiled machine! I believe that one of the reasons our team was so successful was that all of our ladies were Christians. If one of our ladies was going through a rough situation, or something happened to someone in their family, we would pray for each other. I would pray for each lady during my quiet time as I was doing my Yoga stretches. When one of our customers would tell us about a health problem they were facing, or some heartache they were experiencing, we would add them to our prayer list. This made us closer to our customers and to each other as a team.
Then in March of 2020, our store had to temporarily close due to COVID-19. We all enjoyed a six to eight week “Staycation.” We kept in contact by texting and phone calls. It was nice, but I must admit it I was ready to get back to work again and see my coworkers and customers. We all really enjoyed our job!
Soon the well oiled machine was running again, but now things were different. We were all wearing masks, following new cleaning protocols, and seeing less of our customers. Since our customers are mostly between the ages of 40 and 90, many of them were concerned about catching COVID-19, which is totally understandable. The customers that had health issues were coming in less and less and some were not coming in at all. The majority of our customers were now shopping online.
When the vaccine for COVID-19 arrived, we were hoping that more of our customers would return. They did and all seemed well, until we received the news that our company was closing. Our company was another victim of COVID-19.
Yesterday was our last day! A lot of our customers came in and said, “Goodbye.” I found myself very emotional this past week. I would suddenly burst into tears and wondered why? The truth is, my coworkers were doing the same thing. “Why?” I believe we were experiencing grief. Grief for our customers and the friendships we had formed with them, grief for a job that we totally enjoyed, and grief for our coworkers that we had also formed friendships with.
As a team, we decided to meet together at least once a month. We all have each other’s phone numbers and we can text each other or call each other at any time. We exchanged phone numbers with some of our customers and some of my customers have become my friends on Facebook. The truth is, the closing of our store not only affected our group of workers, but also our customers. They are going to have to find a new place to buy clothes or shop online.
My mom always says that we live our lives in chapters. Well, this is the beginning of a new chapter for my co-workers and friends. In a way it’s scary, yet exciting! What lies ahead for us? Only God knows! Truthfully, I’m glad about that! I don’t want to know what’s going to happen a year from now, or where I will be a month from now. I want to live everyday striving to please Him. I have a verse written on my Bible cover; it is Jeremiah 29:11 which states, “For I know the Plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God is in control! It wasn’t a shock to Him that our store was closing. He knows what lies ahead for each of us. Our job is to trust Him and let Him direct our paths. (Proverbs 3:5, 6)
Yesterday the end was here . . . but tomorrow starts a new beginning!
