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I had a sales job.
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The understanding, as I knew it, was simple. I could work remote unless my numbers started to slip. If they did, I’d come back to the office until they were back up. That’s how sales works. The numbers dip, you bring them back up. I knew the deal and I was fine with it.
My wife was in Japan. That left me alone in the house with our six animals, and I was the only one to care for them until she got home July seventh.
Then it changed overnight. What I understood as a condition, come back if the numbers slip, became a requirement to be at the desk the next day. No ramp, no notice. Just: be here tomorrow.
Being in the office meant being away from home ten hours a day. I couldn’t do that on no notice with six animals depending on me and no one else to care for them. I told them the truth. I was ready to come back when it was actually needed. But ten hours away starting the next morning wasn’t something I could make work.
I didn’t delay or drag it out. I drove the hour to their offices and handed back all of their computer equipment in person.
That’s where it got to me. The owner said nothing. The operations manager said nothing. My manager looked at me like I’d done something wrong. I told them straight: I’m not quitting. I just have no choice.
Nobody answered.
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Here’s the part I keep turning over. The company is owned by a husband and wife. They say it right out loud. Family owned, family is important. I know that’s meant for people, not dogs. But those two owners bring their own two dogs with them everywhere they go. Everywhere. The dogs are family. Mine, apparently, were an excuse.
There’s a noncompete in play too. I signed one six months ago when I started. Three years, no geography named. From what I can tell, an agreement that broad probably isn’t enforceable, but it’s still sitting on the table.
But I made the call I made. I wasn’t going to leave six animals alone ten hours a day on a day’s notice to keep a desk. Aiko is asleep at my feet while I write this. She’s seven. She has no idea any of this is happening.
My wife comes home in a couple of weeks. The work will come.
— Neon
Thank you for reading.