Introducing Katie

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

I have a new boss at the card shop. Her name is Katie. I like her.

Right now she is juggling our store and the one in a la-de-dah suburb to the west. That store lost its lease -- the owner believes he can make more money with a restaurant in that location -- and so she's moving over to manage our store. She'll be with us exclusively as of February 1.

She's performed admirably, even with her hands very full. She is more adept at dealing with corporate than our previous manager, my beloved Ceecee, had been. Katie has already gotten us new equipment. I guess she's a more effective squeaky wheel.

Katie has told me she appreciates my way with customers and has been giving me as many hours as she can. I've actually been working more than I'd like, and my schedule changes from week to week, making it hard to make plans.

But I understand why Katie is doing this. She's been frank about her expectation that between Easter and Halloween, she'll only be able to give me 4 hours/week. To be honest, I like that lighter workload. But I'm not very confident right now about money.

I don't like Trump's tariffs nor the impact his election has had on the markets. The money in my retirement fund has to last me for the rest of my life, and that makes me nervous. I simply cannot afford to sniff at the opportunity to make a little more money right now.

I have a meeting set up with an advisor from Fidelity to develop a path forward. I'll be sitting down with an accountant in mid-February to discuss taxes. Maybe after those two consultations I'll feel a bit more sanguine. But for now, I'm grateful that Katie is eking out extra shifts for me.