"This is my face covered in freckles"

I went to get my paycheck today. I want to discuss an interesting topic...

I recently got a promotion with which a considerable pay raise is expected. Well, as Dick's Sporting Goods likes to do, I got screwed. I didn't get my raise. :( Needless to say I was upset. Since I didn't get my raise I can't afford to pay some of my bills this month. So I went to go talk to my manager...who was conveniently shut away in his office in an "interview."

So I see my favorite manager Brad Little. This guy is seriously the best. I stop in to say and ask him to let Alan know I needed to talk. He says, "What's wrong sweet pea? You look upset."

And I lose it right there. I just start crying about how I only get 5 hours a week, and without my raise I can't afford life on that few hours.

How can someone as inconsequential as a manager (that doesn't even cover my department) reduce me to a miserable shell of my bright, bubbly self?

The answer: Because he cares.

And it all came out. Everything. I can't afford my bills, my dad is losing his job, my mom has to have surgery, my dog is dying, my heart has been acting up...and all I want is more hours and the raise I was promised.

Brad just sat and listened to my problems patiently. That's all. I wasn't looking for any kind of answer just someone to pretend they cared for a moment. I'm sure Brad has problems of his own, and they're probably bigger than mine. But for that moment he cared.

After I was done he says to me, "I'll look into your raise for you. Would you like that?"

Ugh, he's the best.

Granted he'll probably get very busy and forget to ask, but the fact that he was willing to be there for me when I needed it was enough for me.

So good news faithful blog followers! The recent barrage of depressing posts is coming to an end. I just needed a good cry/get everything off my chest session and I'm good as new!

To those who have tried the past couple days to get me to open up (you know who you are) it's not that I didn't want to talk to you...I just wasn't ready until today. I had to get to the breaking point, and Brad was the one that just happened to be around for it.