I have two (2) Apple IDs.

When I purchased my first Apple product I had no clue what I was doing. I started with a new franchise and they were Apple and all I knew was PC. I purchased a Macbook Pro and all sorts of stuff with an Apple ID that was my franchise email. A few years went by and somewhere in between I created another Apple ID with my personal email (Gmail). Things have been going smoothly until recently. I tried to purchase an app and of course I had all sorts of issues related to these two IDs. I'm leaving this company and no longer want to use the first Apple ID I created. If I need to change a Password or anything related to this ID, I won't be able to access this email for much longer.

Apple says I can't delete the first Apple ID nor can I merge them. The only thing they said I can do is deactivate one. THIS IS CRAZY ! ! ! Does anyone have a suggestion what I can do or am I stuck with this Apple ID forever?

(I know Apple knows what it's doing, most of the time, but sometimes I simply don't get it. Like this situation.)