Sounds like you’re not even sure about wanting to take the job. Got to decide how much you want it and if you’re willing to potentially be “outted” - make no mistake, it happens. Agree with the others though that you should do whatever you have to, to keep your application process covert until/if you receive an offer and the background investigation begins. At that point, you have no choice but to tell your boss.

You should know you’ll probably be taking a big pay cut your first couple years if you’re a store manager right now. Got to decide if you want to deal with a different kind of stress. Of course your current job is stressful, no doubt. But government work is completely different and there will be things you stress about that you’ve never considered before. And if you become an 1811 at a bigger agency that deals with violent organized crime vice an agent working contract fraud at a smaller OIG, you will certainly experience a great deal of stress/anxiety depending what you get into. Not that an OIG agent doesn’t experience stress…no matter where you end up, there is always too much work to do in a day. You’ll take work home with you and probably receive calls after hours on occasion. Seeing a case through to trial, balancing a large case load, frequent travel, night/weekend ops, and finding time to spend with family through all of it…are equally stressful.

People need to calm down. Educate, don’t tear the OP down. Big part of the job is listening to others and having an open mind to different perspectives.