For those of you who don't know, Sports Authority is going out of business. The company filed for Chapter 11 due to being over 1 billion dollars in debt. The company was going to try to stay open but later announced they would be closing all stores down.
For those of us who are employees with Sports Authority, this really hits us a lot harder than others. Casual customers of Sports Authority will carry on normally and move on to other sporting good stores. The more loyal shoppers were sad to be informed of our imminent closing.
In my case however, Sports Authority isn't just a job or another store, it's like a second home. It's the place where I spent countless days and dealt with "difficult" customers (you know which ones I mean). It's also the place where I met some of the greatest people I've ever met in my life while working and just doing my job. My coworkers have become close friends I know I will keep for a long time to come.
The amounts of laughs and fun times we've had on the clock would make anyone want to quit their day job and come work for Sports Authority. From playing soccer in the team sports section to throwing things across the store at each other, there is never a dull moment. Nights were spent playing baseball in the back room and hiding out in the break room when we couldn't take being out on the floor anymore.
We turned any bad situation into a joke such as the backroom flooding and us dealing with mopping up puddles and having it smell like toilet water for weeks back there. Sure, people have come and gone but those of us who have stuck around are like a little family. We laugh constantly and joke around with each other more than even siblings do sometimes.
Although if you ask us if we like our job we'll tell you it's the seventh circle of hell and we dread coming to work every day. Even though we all say that and sometimes shifts there are just completely ridiculous, deep down we all love the crazy antics that go on there.
Seeing the store all torn apart, getting ready to officially be out of business, and pretty much empty is a little heartbreaking. I will miss the store and all of the memories made there so much and even the pretty sick discounts I was granted! However, more than anything I will miss the friends made there and the great times we all had in that building.
So thank you Sports Authority, for being a great sporting goods store but an even better place to work and serving as a second home. You gave me amazing co-workers and so many things to smile about. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten.
