promotion proposal

10072025-26

— पांच हजार आठ सौ बानवे —

I already posted last night about all the goings-on of my weekend. I did this both to save myself time today coming back after a day off, and to give me some time and space to share about the pretty notable thing that happened at work on Friday.

Gabby and I had our weekly 1:1 meeting over Teams, and she gave me quite the pleasant surprise: she has already put in the request with HQ to give me a promotion, at least in title and accompanying raise.

She was very sweet about this, because I have been very vocal for years, since long before Gabby came along, about my lack of ambition and my zero interest in, for example, ever becoming a Merchandiser. I don't want my job ever to become something I can't just leave behind when I go home from work. I don't want to be on-call on weekends, and I don't want to be managing anyone. Perhaps most importantly, I'll never go in any direction that would necessitate getting a car. Back when Scott was still here and the Associate Grocery Merchandiser position was going to be open, he even came to me to ask if I was interested. I really appreciate that gesture, but I still said: "Would I need a car?" He said: "Probably." And that was the end of that.

Gabby's a bit different, though. She's guided me into a position of far more responsibility than I ever expected just in the couple of years she's been here. It's mostly been fine, but I'd be lying if I said it never occurred to me to wonder if perhaps I should be put into an officially different position to reflect this, and maybe get some kind of componsational acknowledgement of it. And that is precisely what she is trying to make happen for me here.

As it happens, I had not that long ago reiterated to her in passing that "I don't want a promotion." So the biggest reason she wanted to let me know she had done this was so that I wouldn't feel like she was going against my wishes. But, as long as it's simply a promotion in name (and wage) but with no expectation of changing the way my job is already working, then of course I'm not going to argue with that! "This was a pretty pleasant way to end my week," I said.

Gabby did stress, and therefore I should really stress here, that nothing has officially occurred beyond her putting in the request. It sounds like she has spoken to Dave (her boss, the VP of Merchandising) and he has no issue with it. The sense that I got is that if there is any rejection of this proposal it will be budget based. She doesn't want me to get my hopes up, but naturally I'm a bit hopeful.

That said, several years ago, when Eric was in the position Gabby is in now, he actually tried to create an entire new position for me. This presumably also would have involved a raise of some level. That totally fell through. I did mention this to Gabby, and she noted that she's different from Eric. This is absolutely true, and Gabby has a tenacity unlike anyone I have ever known. (Granted, she also tried once to create an office position for one of the store POS admins, and that also fell through—but also was a very different circumstance. That guy was not one of her direct reports; it was much earlier in her tenure here; and presumably she has a much better understanding of official protocol either way now.)

— पांच हजार आठ सौ बानवे —

07222025-15

— पांच हजार आठ सौ बानवे —

We even talked a bit about what my new title should be. She seems to have settled on "Pricing and Promotions Analyst," which is the title Amy has had for a while now—although she focuses far nore on promotions than I do, and on different types than I have ever worked on. My current title is "Center Store Support Specialist," which I only just realized after opening my document tracking these things is what it's been now for nine years—the longest I have ever had one title, incidentally. Also, if you don't work in Grocery, you're not likely to know what the hell that title even means. I even quipped about it on Facebook.

Mind you, even this is the fourth title I have ever had here. None of my title changes, to date, have been actual promotions—they've really just been an evolution of my role. Which this change would be reflecting too, except, hopefully this time it'll actually be registered as a promotion. Anyway, I started as a "Merchandising Assitant" (2002-2008); then was switched to "Merchandising Specialist" (2008-2012); then was "Assistant Merchandiser" (2012-2016); and then "Center Store Support Specialist," which felt a little like a demotion to be honest, even if only in title. But, this was reflective of the corporatization of our structure when Cate came on as our CEO (she left ages ago, like shortly after the pandemic hit in 2020).

Gabby clearly understands the impact of language, though, and specifically said, "I think you've outgrown the 'Specialist' role." I wouldn't particularly argue with that.

The somewhat curious part about all this, assuming it actually goes through, is the relative expectation that a raise would go into effect in January. Without the idea of any kind of promotion, I was already not expecting any kind of wage increase until April—we were all informed long ago that, for the first time ever, our wage increases will be tied to our annual review, and those happen at the beginning of the year. In the past, we were given cost-of-living increases (if nothing else) that went into effect in January, even though evaluations were not due until February. Gabby always found this odd, and sees this change as moving toward industry standard. That all makes sense to me, although it's also worth noting we were told whatever raise we get in April will be retroactive to the beginning of the year, so we'll get a lump sum when it starts in April—but that's the only time that will happen; going forward any raises tied to evaluations will just start in the spring.

What this means for me if I get a promotion, though, I don't know. Would the increase I would otherwise get in April be ignored if I get a presumably larger one for a promotion in January? Except I would still be going through the evaluation process after that, so who knows? I have no idea. Whatever might happen next year would just be icing on the cake, if this promotion actually gets approved.

Naturally I'm hoping it does. I guess I'll have to temper my disappointment if it doesn't. It's still a few months away though so I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about it. My budget is so tight now, though (due to major travel plans over the next couple of years), that it would sure be nice to have the ability to loosen that tightness a little.

— पांच हजार आठ सौ बानवे —

10072025-25

[posted 12:30pm]

Day Two

08132025-46

— पांच हजार आठ सौ सड़सठ —

Not a lot to update on today, as I already wrote extensively about the first day here at the new office yesterday. And I took quite a bit of time on that last night, when I did not have any other plans. After that, Shobhit and I watched this week's episode of Alien: Earth, which was largely an homage/remake of the original 1979 Alien film. It was mostly very well done, except for how many shots of the xenomorph looked like it was just a guy in an alien suit.

Anyway! One interesting difference between yesterday and today, which somewhat inverted expectations and may be different yet again in the weeks going forward: there was a lot of people here yesterday, and it's notably quieter today—when the general expectation had been that more people would be in on Wednesdays than any other day of the week. But, there was a lot of activity yesterday with people getting settled in, figuring things out, getting new equipment and enlisting help from IT for various things, etc. I suspect more people than usual came in yesterday just by virtue of it being the first official day at this office, and perhaps fewer came in today than they would be otherwise as a result.

I did bring my shoe box full of office supplies back to the office today. I don't think the rolling unit of drawers under my desk is intended to be for my use only, but no one has told me it can't be either—and I work here every day, so, whatever. I figure that any time I take PTO, that can be when I do indeed move my laptop and keyboard etc to one of the cubbies, and someone can work at this desk if needed. The next day I take off will be a Friday though and hardly anyone ever comes in on Fridays.

— पांच हजार आठ सौ सड़सठ —

08132025-38

— पांच हजार आठ सौ सड़सठ —

Something else different about today, which is only partially related to work: my bike's handlebars went wonky on my ride home yesterday. I mentioned this in yesterday's post, but it did nean I couldn't ride back to work today, as I need to get it to a bike store after work today—they were closed yesterday. So: I walked to work today.

I went the route where I can go through the Underground Concourse. I don't think I'll do this as a rule when the weather is fine, though. I realized walking down Pike toward the Convention Center that if I just cut over to Union via the street that cuts over beneath the Convention Center, that takes me in a nearly straight shot to Rainier Square Tower. The walk outside is much more direct and more efficient, and I really only need the tunnel if I want to get out of bad weather.

Still, I wanted to test it via the tunnel today. I was also going to time it, but I got sidetracked: I misremembered that I should go out the second floor after walking through the Convention Center, and instead went all the way up to the fourth floor. That still opens out onto Freeway Park, just at a higher level with no outdoor access to the east entrance to the lobby at 2 Union Square. Plus, most of the Convention Center doors did not re-open from the outside to allow me back in so I could backtrack. I finally found a door that opened, and went down to the 3rd floor, only to discover there are no exits at that level. The level between entrances to both the Convention Center and 2 Union Square is actually the second floor. Oops: note to self for next time.

I finally went into 2 Union Square, down the escalator to ground level, and then another escalator past 1 Union Square to the Underground Concourse. I did notice signs for a coffee shop down there "coming soon," though, so that's exciting. It would mean the first shop of any kind down in that tunnel, not just since before the pandemic but since before the huge renovation of the entire Rainier Square block. I'd love to see more activity down there, as it's been a ghost town for a good six or seven years.

No lovely lunch break on the terrace today, though. The Office Relocation Team is still meeting and they're still insisting on doing it between noon and 1:00. Very annoying.

— पांच हजार आठ सौ सड़सठ —

08132025-48

[posted 1:48pm]