Bug Eye Tired

I don't know what it is... well, I do know - I don't sleep properly at night - but, I'm bug eye tired.

Crappy day at work today. Oh, how I wish today had been the last day! Now, I gotta work the weekend, as well as those long 11 hour shifts next week. Already I have agreed to work an extra half hour on Saturday, because poor scheduling meant there was only one left after closing to count the cash drawers and finish things up (aka work "closing"). Fine, I'll do it - it's half an hour that pays like a full hour, and hardly any work involved. I mean, who says it's hard work to sit on your butt counting some money and fiddling around with the computer?

I actually laughed a little bit today. Let me just tell you about these experiences at work today, which will give you an insight into how perfectly well things are organized at the place I work. And read irony into that statement.

The store manager is away for the remainder of the week, getting some information and education on some new things (they don't tell us what these secret things are, for some reason - though it is something she will need to pass on to us once she returns). Okay - that happens, right - nothing funny about that.

The thing is... our assistant store manager (actually the sales manager, they way it is structured at our store) whom I genuinely do NOT like, is doing the morning meeting as I arrive. Now, I gotta give the lady some credit here - this is a day off for her, and she had been in at work since 7AM this morning, and she stayed til 7:30PM when I went home after closing.

What is funny here is that she looked at me during the morning meeting and asked me:

"R.E.H. what is up with your situation here?"

"What do you mean?", I ask.

"Well, I hear today might be your last day...". Notice the might be?

"No, I don't think so. According to the Union Rep the District Manager wanted me to stay on for another week. I wasn't going to accept the 19th as the date of my lay off, so it's been pushed forward to the 25th, and because of that I need to work another week. But, I don't know for sure - the Union Rep said it had something to do with the scheduling."

"Ok. Did the store manager talk to you at all about this yesterday?"

"No she did not. Only person I've talked to about this is the Union Rep."

"So, when do you do your last day?"

"I don't know."

So, apparently - our store manager has not filled in for me on the schedule. That means they will be understaffed every day I was supposed to have worked, right? That's minus one body on the premises.

Add to this the following. Next week - our store manager goes on vacation - for three weeks if I understood the whole thing right. She has not scheduled anyone to work her hours at the store. That's minus two bodies on the premises.

Now, if you lose two workers out of five, that leaves you with only three.

Add to that the following. One of the guys who was supposed to work this weekend had told our store manager that he could not take those hours, in which he was scheduled to work. This guy works two jobs, and is only an extra at the store I work at (for one more week). His other job is his priority, of course. She had scheduled him without checking his availability, so he told her he cannot work those two days.

She has not replaced him on the schedule.

If I had in fact not worked this weekend, as was planned, out of the three people scheduled to work on Sunday - a day on which we never are more than three people working - there would be NONE able to work, and neither would've been replaced. That would have made it interesting.

So, now that I am back in the frame, and the Sales Manager working the weekend there are two of us. And here is the killer.

Because we do not have anyone left to call in for work, it became known to me that a girl who quit to move to Norway during the fall is now back in the picture. So, they lay me off, and bring back other people as extra workers to make up for the hours they've lost. That way they don't have to pay these extra workers any health benefits and what not.

So, I lose my job, and other people will work my hours, while the company can claim that they have less people on the payroll.

The other funny thing is that when our store manager goes on vacation, nothing about my situation has been resolved. She has left no information about what needs to be done, and there are a ton of things that needs be done as summer approaches and lots of new stuff is coming in. We need to assemble all the patio furniture, make space to display those, learn all the technical details so that we can answer the most ridiculous questions customers tend to ask.

Further chuckles escaped me as I had to start off the day by figuring out, all by myself, and then teaching the others at work how to custom order roller blinds.

This is a new thing we sell at the store as of this Monday. Not one person has been given the required information on how to do this, should a customer want to buy it. This lady had been in yesterday, when I had a day off, but they had not been able to service her. They said they would look it up, and if she comes back today we will know how this new thing works.

So... I dig through the archives of the computer, and indeed I find a step-by-step tutorial how to place the order. So I help the customer, and then I have to show to the others how to do it.

I look forward to the day when they have to figure things like this out for themselves.

It has always been like that. We are not given the necessary information when needed. We've known we were going to start selling custom made roller blinds for the past two months - still we have not been informed how that works.

My store manager knew, on Tuesday, that it was the last day she would ever work with me. She didn't even have the common courtesy to find me and say goodbye, wish me luck, or whatever before she went home that day. She simply vacated the premises, without saying a word to a single person.

I remember on Tuesday, as one of the registers malfunctioned, I walked into the office to let her know that she would have to get in touch with support next day and fix the register. I couldn't find her. I asked the others where she was and they said they didn't know... half an hour later we all figure she must've gone home.

I called support first thing this morning and fixed the cash register. It works just fine now. Two days later...

Some people want home delivery on stuff they buy. Maybe because they don't have access to a car big enough to transport it all, or they are too old to carry heavy boxes themselves and don't have anyone who can help them out. Anyway - when a date is booked for delivery, it is of course important that we deliver on that day. People might even have taken time off work to be there to receive the furniture.

On Tuesday, I had one of these, and it was important they have it delivered before 4PM on Thursday, which is today, right. That requires that we book the delivery with the delivery service the day before it is due.

First thing, this morning, I find that paper still in the slot awaiting confirmation. I ask if it has been booked - and of course it hasn't.

I called up the delivery guys and asked them if they could please squeeze in this delivery today, as we had missed booking it yesterday.

The customers got their new mattresses today - before 4PM.

I'm not saying that I'm better than anyone at my job or anything. I make my fair share of mistakes too... but is that not all a result of being understaffed?

Yeah, I'm boring you all with this work crap blogging. Soon enough - that'll all be over and done with.

Now, who wants a beer?