An Update

Wednesday

​The past two days I have felt somewhat like I’ve been adrift in a fog. As I returned to the infamous vintage shop to discuss the terms of my severance pay, I was met with a very quiet and remorseful Bossman. He explained to me his regrets in firing me and how it had been haunting him all night. Eventually he took me to an ally by a courtyard outside the back of the store. 
Before he talked about where things went wrong, he pulled a lighter from his pants pocket and started burning the security tag one the side of them, telling me how it wouldn’t come off any other way. It got to the point that the fire had grown to a concerning size and I was urgently told to blow it out. He continued his lesson on security tags and trousers as he lit the burnt plastic again and gave me a five second wait before I was told to blow it out a second time. He struggled to finally remove the mangled tag and pin that held it in place from his trousers, which now had a wee hole where the stitching came undone from his battle. 
Now with the reason we were there in focus, he again explained his regrets. He said that what happened was between him and Managerlady and I just got caught in the middle of it. He said it was unfair to me and he rescinded my termination. 

In all honesty, I didn’t even realize he knew the word “rescind”. 

He asked me to think about it over the next couple of days and if i decided not to come back then he would give me my severance and we would part. I told him I would come in on friday, payday this week, and tell him my thoughts. He seemed grateful for that. He went on about how it seemed that Managerlady was malicious with her intent to disobey him and when it came to watching things fail. It seemed to him that she enjoyed when things didn’t work out for him and that was what infuriated him. He told me he had to work on his anger because he was not an evil man, his heart was huge, he had no malice. 
As we headed back inside he mentioned that I had a bit of a problem chatting at the front with customers and staff because I was a very friendly and talkative person. I just countered that with saying how I only saw people at work due to the pandemic and it was terribly lonely but I was working on it. He said he was lonely too. Although his mood was improving, he brought up the issue of hating employers. This I was able to clear up by saying most of my problem was directed to past employment and to larger corporations. Him yelling at me on top of that was what set me off. He understood and we temporarily bonded over corporations taking everything from the commoners and then he gave me a hug. He said he hoped that wasn’t inappropriate. I didn’t complain since it would be counter productive and I wasn’t terribly bothered. It just felt nice to know that he was wrong and he apologized and we could both be at peace. 
I don’t believe I will go back. It really is a lot to handle and if I struggle with finding a second job I can at least work four days at the drugstore in the meantime and survive on a little less income for awhile. I will say though, that I no longer feel as though I am stuck in a fog or like I am bearing a weight on my chest. Bossman kept saying how glad he was that I came in, and, in the end, as am I.