What you've all been waiting for . . .

A JOB UPDATE!!!

Two months ago I was wondering what was going to happen with my work situation since I didn’t pass my oral boards with the UHP. I was a little worried about the new position I was offered with IFA due to everything I had heard about the position. Over the last two months a lot has changed.

For the last month I have been working at the South Logan IFA location as the Sales Manager. This is one of the smaller stores in the company, and thus gave me worry because of all I had heard about how slow it can be. With the recent onset of spring, however, we have been amazingly busy. My store deals mainly with bulk fertilizer and feed. We have eight fertilizer spreading carts that we rent out to local farmers. Using a skid loader and mixing machine, we provide everything from straight Urea, Phosphate, and Sulfate to specifically formulated mixes.

While I spent some of the first few weeks in my new position learning the different responsibilities from reports to ordering, I spent a majority of my time cleaning the yard up and repairing the fertilizer carts. Jacki said I should have taken before and after pictures. Unfortunately, I didn’t. Many of the changes are only noticeable to those who frequent the store; but they all give the store a cleaner appearance, make it easier to market our products, and make our operations run more efficiently.

There are many aspects of my new position that I really enjoy. I have really enjoyed fixing and maintaining the fertilizer carts, but mostly I’ve enjoyed getting to know our customers on a more personal basis. Our store is the closest thing IFA has to the traditional ‘feed store.’ As such, we have a lot of farmers coming in on a regular basis. Getting to know their personalities and hearings some of their stories has really been a great experience. I laughed the other day when I was going through the checks from the day’s sales and realized I recognized some of the checks and was able to name the customer without looking at the names.

I’ve realized that I am, surprisingly, ok with not passing the UHP boards. I feel really comfortable with what is happening in my life right now. I was upset when the letter came informing me of my score on the interview, but I know that the Lord works in mysterious ways. This has been a great experience so far and I’m excited to see what the future holds.