She Might Cry Tonight But The Change Will Be Good

Beth works at Little Caesars two evenings a week. She folds boxes, sometimes 300-400 in a three hour span. She loves her job and the people she works with. The problem though, is that her job is about 45 minutes from our house. And that's on a good day.

There is usually SO much traffic, it's known as a bottleneck here in Seattle. When people hear you have to take that route to get somewhere, you'll hear moans and groans. It's a long, grueling trip and no one likes it.

Well, Beth has been taking that trip (riding the DART bus each way) for more than 2 years. Sometimes she's on the bus for 2 and a half hours each way which means she's gone from the house for sometimes 8 hours... for a 3 hour shift.

And the poor DART drivers! One night they dropped her off at home at 10:20! I asked the driver if he was headed home and he still had one more person to drop off! It makes for a long day for everyone.

Beth's job coach has been searching for a store closer to our home that would hire her to do the same job. Some stores are franchises and they don't have a position of 'box folder'; others don't have the hours to spare.

But today she found a store willing and able to take Beth! The same woman owns both stores, the one Beth is at now and the one she'll be going to and she was willing to hire her at this new place! She heard how beneficial Beth was and what great job she did, so she was willing to let her switch!

And... the new store is only about 15 minutes from our house. I'm so relieved.

I told Beth about it this morning over breakfast and she was sad at first. I could see her starting to tear up, but the more we talked about it, the more excited she got! She met this new manager a few weeks ago and when I told her K would be her new boss, she smiled and her eyes lit up.

She ended up making a card for everyone at the store tonight, then I printed off a picture of her in her uniform and we put it on the front. She wrote a beautiful sentiment inside and I expect she might cry as she leaves work for the last time.

But I know she's gonna love this new place. We plan to take her by the store tomorrow so she can see where it is and it won't be a big shock to her come next weekend. It's such a relief knowing she won't be so far away and she won't have to spend 6 hours on the bus!