Doesn't sound too bad.
Not that I want you to quit, but just wanted to make sure you were looking at the whole picture.
Personally I would think it best to stay in school, but I totally understand the current financial situation too.

I would recommend to stay in school and get your degree. That is the BIG picture for your future. I would talk to the district manager and plead your case. If you are an asset to the company they will not want to lose you. Your work history should speak for itself. Bust your butt and get things back up to par and in the mean time I would check other stores similar to your field and see if they have any opportunities available. You've been with them long enough and have proven yourself time and time again so perhaps they can put you back in jewelry or another dept. Be sure to remind the district manager about your accomplishments there. If you don't brag on yourself no one else will

Good Luck and keep us posted.

What a load of crap. Hopefully things will go well with the district manager.

If not though, I think I'd suggest trying to cut costs to make ends meet while working a lower paying job, vs. quitting school at this point. As much as I hate to say it, the car payment would seem like the easiest thing to trim from the budget... I know it seems crappy in the short term, but maybe downgrading to "basic transportation" for a while (say, a '93-95 SE) would be a better long-term plan than quitting school. If that would balance the budget, anyway.

So do you work in OKC? Or do you work in Stillwater? Thats a pretty decent drive back and forth all the time, and Im sure you know that. But finding some way of maybe like staying with friends in Stillwater instead of driving back to OKC at night or something, cut back on costs here and there.

Of course if youre spending nights away from home, or at least away from the little lady, then you have one angry fiance, and thats no good.

How many hours a week do you work now? If all you need to make is 325 a week, that shouldnt be too hard if youre able to work full-time...part-time is another story though.

I was looking into doing this as well with my Malibu. That takes a HUGE chunk of change from my check each month. However, there are problems in doing so. Depreciation in a car means you will never be able to sell the car outright and break even. In my case, I have so much negative equity that even if I were to sell it outright, I would still owe money. And giving up on the payments just to let the man take the car is a bad move too. Car payments are the easiest things to trim from a budget...this is true. But they are the hardest to recover from.

i currently work in Midwest City and go to school in Norman. ill be doing my observations in south OKC. i also live in Midwest City.

i do have friends i can stay with in Norman if i need to (a large number of them, actually).

as it is, i go to class early monday morning then go to work immediately after i get out of class. its fairly convenient for me, right now, to be sleeping in midwest city, as i get off work at 10:30-11:30pm.

the past couple months, in an attempt to control as much debt as i can, ive been trimming as much as i realistically can. ive been carpooling on tuesdays and thursdays to cut gas out, weve taken on a roommate so that i pay 1/3 of the bills as opposed to 1/2.

cutting the car from my budget and downgrading to basic transportation, as has been suggested, doesnt really seem to be in the cards. im upside down on the car by a couple thousand, so selling my car and getting a different car would leave me in the hole by even more. im still playing around with that idea, though. id hate it, but necessity drives action.

I would also shop around for cheaper car insurance. I was with Esurance for a while, paying x amount of dollars per month for 6 month terms. I shopped around for a while...most charged more, so I kept what I had. But I checked out 21st Insurance, and per 6 month term, it was nearly 300 dollars cheaper, AND better coverage to boot.

Depending on your cell provider, you can back down on your plan to shave a few bucks off each month.

And for school, if you haven't gone with Pell Grants yet...that'* a nice check each semester that doesn't require being payed back.

As far as any advice on what to do with your job situation...I can't offer any. It sounds like your supe already has their mind made up. I can almost bet they wouldn't be like that at all if you were persuing a degree that makes you more beneficial to THEM. But in their eyes, a degree in education has little to no value in the sales aspect, which in turn gives you little value to them. Why waste any more company dollars training you to do THEIR job when you are just going to leave when the degree is obtained?

I'm in no way bashing you...I'm with everyone else that says an education is uber alis. I'm just saying this is what your management team has going through their minds. Well, probably anyways.

my cell is already down to pre-paid. i use it only very very rarely, and end up paying roughly $100 a year.

pell used to be a life-saver, however now pell wont touch me as i make too much. they estimate my financial need at $13000, while i make $16000 or so.

as for my leaving them as soon as i have my degree, the only thing i have to add is that ive been completely upfront with them about it. when they took me on as jewelry sup, i didnt hide the fact id be leaving in, at most, 4 years to pursue my career.

Ok Jeff here'* a perspective I will give you from a management point of view since most of your responses seem to favour you so far.

I'm a Retail Sales General Manager and have been for 25 years. First off I have a business to run, profits and sales goals to achieve, and shareholders to answer to. This may sound very impersonal but those are the facts of running a retail business. If those goals aren't meant, no one in that store would have jobs to post about! Your General Manager obviously has the boys from the Ivory Tower (upper management) pressuring him to increase some results in the store. It looks to me like your department is one of his areas of concern. I too want my people when they are at work to give me 110% effort. I don't care what they do in their personal life, as a matter of fact I make sure I work my people to ensure they have a "quality of life". However if that personal life starts to interfere with job performance, then I have to identify that weakness in the individual and coach them back to sucess on the job. Your lucky the manager has set out a plan for you and given you 2 weeks to turn things around. Thats a legal way for the company to eliminate your position if they have to, since they gave you a chance. Now you can take the bull by the horns and step up to the plate and give your boss the results he needs in your department, or you can take the loser approach and give up and tell them to stick it, I've got better things to do. Find out from your boss what he needs out of your department. The more information you have, the more skills you can develope in yourself and your department'* staff. Do you have everyone in shoes aware of the performance of your department? Are they all on board with you? Your only as good as your people.

In my opinion your manager has started the ball rolling for your replacement and possible termination. I'd take some of the points above to heart and either step it up a notch, or take your manager'* advice and seek a new employment better suited to your personal needs.

I'm in no way taking the side of the store here, I just want you see what a manager thinks when he'* making decisions like the one your facing.

Good luck Jeff, I hope it all works out for you. 6 years of comittment to that store shows you do care!

Brian

i should clarify.

i leave my life at the time clock when i clock in. and once i clock in, i work. i "accidentally" skip my breaks as often as otherwise to get work done. my crew, however, i inherited from the prior shoes sups the department staff who isnt exactly on the same page i am. i have been trying to communicate to them my raised expectations over my predecessors.

i understand that, from his perspective, i am not holding up my end of the bargain. when i took this job, i wasn't going to school (i told him i was going to, and my availability would be restricted). the jewelry department which i was in before was pristine, as, after two years, i had refined it. the shoes department needed help, so i was moved over there and i have yet, in over 2 months, to produce the results he was hoping for. the department is regularly one of the worst in the store (also one of the most-shopped). hes annoyed and is wondering if maybe im a one-trick pony.

but he didn't ask me why i wasn't performing as he expected. he didnt ask me why i was spending so much time in the office. he gave me the ultimatum to quit school or leave my job, in two weeks. i understand retail really needs flexible schedules, but i didn't ask for shoes. they put me there. im doing the best that im able to, in 40 hours a week. obviously this position isn't really for me right now, but neither was jewelry. it took me over a year to get jewelry straightened out, and id had a background in jewelry. i don't really have a background in shoes. so it might take even longer, but my boss apparently doesn't have that amount of time.

heres the possible sequence of events:
jewelry is great
i apply for mens
im moved to shoes
shoes is not good
im fired for shoes not being good at shoes

i realize hes perfectly within his rights to do this to me, but i don't feel that i particularly deserve it. hes not giving me 2 weeks to "turn it around"; hes giving me two weeks to either quit school or find alternative employment. i don't think hes hoping for the former, either (speculation).

im not gone yet, and my department is looking better every day (just like it would have, even without this insanity). if im not there in 2 weeks, my successor WILL have a good-looking department to come in to, even if i didn't.

thanks to everyone who'* replied.