Right now I’m supporting my sports radio habit financially by working the early shift at Home Depot. I start at 6:00am and spend the day helping Twin Cities residents with all of their flooring, blinds, and shades needs. It’s obviously not something I hope to do long term, but it could definitely be much worse. The hours are perfect and allow me to get to evening games anywhere in the metro area, it’s well managed, and I’m learning things that could potentially help me as I try to improve my own home in the future.
I’m a glass half-full type of person, and I’m always looking for ways to improve as a sportscaster and as a person in general. After almost a month and a half at Home Depot, there are several ways in which I’ve found working in retail has helped me in both areas.
Being A Morning Person: I’ve never been a natural morning person, and I’ve always envied those who are able to wake up early and take advantage of the wee hours to get things done. Working the opening shift at Home Depot means being up and productive by 6am. I’ve had to alter my lifestyle to go to bed earlier as well as find ways to be more efficient doing evening game prep. It’s still not easy getting up early, but it’s a habit I hope to continue well after my time in retail is finished.
Dealing With All Kinds Of People: In these divisive times, what does everyone have in common? We all have a floor! I’ve spent my entire life in rural Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota; none of which is an especially diverse place. It’s been fun to be around different people of all kinds of races and religions. On the flipside, working in retail means dealing with jerks with unrealistic expectations on a daily basis. If you can learn to take unfair criticism to your face from someone who’s mad that an installer screwed up their $10,000 hardwood floor, you’ll never be bothered by unfair social media trolling again.
Getting Healthy: While working at Home Depot is definitely not as physically demanding as digging ditches or laying concrete, it is surprisingly physical. Hauling around cases of tile and walking back and forth for eight hours across the massive store is definitely a calorie burner. In fact, I’ve been consistently losing weight since I started wearing the orange apron. Also, in order to get off as early as possible to get to games on time, I chose to only take a 30 minute lunch break. The unplanned side effect of that decision is almost completely eliminating fast food lunches. Instead, I pack a basic sack lunch which is obviously a far healthier alternative to my old habits.
Keeping My Eye On The Prize: While it’s far from the worse thing in the world, I have no plans of building a career in retail. Every day when I get home, I ask myself what I can do to reach my goal to get full-time work in the sportscasting/radio industry. Knowing that I’m doing this as a means to an end keeps me hungry to continue to build my sportscasting career in the Twin Cities.
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