LAST EDITED ON Dec-15-07 AT 02:48PM (MST)[p]Sage,
I could have easily posted the exact message you did because it's a mirror image of what happened with me in 1968 or so.
I had gone to work selling major appliances in a Sear's satellite store. Other than the appliances, it's major function was a catalog order and pick-up location.
There were two other salesmen besides me, and we were open 6 days a week from 9 am to 10 pm, and Sundays from 10 to 6 pm. So one of the three of us had to be there for those hours. We worked on straight commission.
Long story short:
Several friends planned a DIY pack-in on horseback combo elk/deer hunt in SW Colo. So before I agreed to go, I asked the store manager and got his blessing. We then made deposits on rental horses and sent off for licenses.
A week before the trip, one of the other salesman quit, thus leaving two of us to man the floor until a new guy could be hired.
No problem; the third one told the manager he would be happy to work every hour of every day while I was gone for a total of six days. He knew he would make a bundle in commissions, of course.
The manager wouldn't even consider it. He told me if I went, I likely wouldn't have a job when I returned. At that point, I KNEW I wouldn't have one.
So I told him to straight to his face, "I didn't have a job when I got this one, so I guess I'll just have to go through the process again." Then I said, "Don't wait for me to call you when I get back."
I later talked to the other salesman who said he did wind up working all by himself for nearly two weeks. They eventually transferred another guy from one of the other PHX stores.
At the time, I had three kids under 7 years old, and my wife was making all of $70 per week working for Mountain Bell!
Two days after I returned, I went to work in what then was the largest gun shop in Phoenix. That led to a career of selling hunting & fishing gear on both the retail and wholesale level for 15 years, until I bought a lodge within 5 miles of that first pack trip. I never looked back.
Then in 1984, I turned my part-time outdoor writing and photography into a full-time self-employment opportunity. Since then, the only one I ask for time off is my wife of 46 years. ;-) -TONY