It's been an interesting few days, and by interesting I mean devastating and emotionally draining. It's been a long time coming, as this job has been mentally taxing on me.

It all started last Tuesday as I arrived at work. The first couple of hours went along as normal; my manager and I had our usual talk about all the nerdy things. Then the Area Manager, we'll call her Liz, showed up as my co-worker, let's call her Susie, arrived. At first I didn't think much of it, until Liz asked to talk to my manager privately. After a few minutes of confusion, Liz called Susie to the back room. It wasn't until I saw Susie leaving the back room in tears that I knew what happened. She was fired for laying hands on a thief a few weeks prior.

For those of you who don't know, the store has a incredibly high theft rate, as well as many cases of people armed with machetes and knives trying to rob us. Upper management has yet to do anything about the dangerous environment we work in despite our numerous reports.

Anyway, immediately after Susie was fired, my manager handed his keys to Liz and resigned on the spot. His reasoning was that he was sick and tired of upper management regarding it as, "just theft" and to "not take it personally." It's not just theft, it's a very dangerous work environment that upper management refuses to do anything about.

Later during my shift, the Assistant Manager stopped by to hand in his keys as well after he heard what happened. For the next few hours, I was the only one employed in the store. Just as I thought matters couldn't get any worse, 10 people entered the store and stole dozens of bottles of liquor. It was at that point where I lost it. Once they left, I locked the doors, put the money in the safe and left an hour and a half before closing time. I didnt' sleep that night.

I saw my psychologist the following morning, and I told her what happened. She advised me to stop working immediately as it was causing severe damage to my mental health. After my appointment, Liz called me asking if I was coming into work. Coldly, I told her I was coming to the store, not to work, but to hand in my keys and uniform. So I did just that.

Now what? Well, I've been finding it harder and harder to get up in the morning. Not since I quit; it's been going on since I started that job. Now I have to worry about affording medication, food, and rent. But also... I've fallen into some deep darkness, and I'm not sure if I can get out on my own. After all the mental anguish of having weapons pulled on me, and all the thefts that happened daily, I can't help but fixate on the fear, dread, and suicidal thoughts.

TL;DR, Everyone quit the store, including myself. Now I have to find a job.