Leaving HomeI still remember the day I knew I wanted to move to Arizona. I was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania working on opening a new store for Longhorn Steakhouse. It was a Saturday night and we were tossed around the kitchen. My job was to train and coach the new cooks during the shift. I was sweating like I was running a marathon in the Arizona summer heat. After the big push from the guests came from the kitchen and the new cooks were able to handle the line, the instructors and I headed to the back to begin prepping for Sunday. I overheard my training coordinator talking to some of the other Arizona trainers. My training coordinator was telling us that Longhorn was planning to build a store in Chandler, Arizona. He was telling me that Arizona was close to many great places like the Grand Canyon, California, Las Vegas, and skiing in Colorado. Arizona really appealed to me because I've never had the opportunity to travel a lot in my life. That's when I told myself I was going to move to Arizona. I originally planned to work on opening the new store to see if moving to Arizona was what I really wanted to do. When I returned to the home shop in Columbus, Ohio, I started talking to my managers about my plans. They told me I would have a job if I decided it was something I wanted to do. I spoke to the regional manager who would be in charge of the Arizona store. I found out that I couldn't work on the opening because they had already selected a training team. I spoke to my general manager again to tell him I wanted to leave by the first of the year. He told me I couldn't, because if I left, he wouldn't be able to run his kitchen. He told me I should give him time to replace me. I think the whole idea of ​​that move was in hopes that I would change my mind. I talked to my mom about my plans and she was really excited for me. He knew I wasn't really happy with my situation in Ohio.