I write about my discontent at my job way too much. I'm about to do it again, though I do so abashedly. I hate the fact that I just rant in here sometimes, so I guess I'll placate my readers by opening up with a bit of cheer:
Today I actually got a lot of shit done that I thought I wouldn't get to touch. See, usually I'm on the register on Sundays. I was scheduled to be. But I was about 15 minutes late (riding a bike can make it tough to estimate how long it will take), so another girl (Sarah) had already been put on the register and I was told to take customer service, and the boss wasn't mad. "The boss" being Stephen, of course. I was still mad at him (see previous entry).
I came in and looked at my schedule. Yesterday a lot of people were mystified as to where our schedule was, because some of us wanted to know what we were working the next day. But Stephen was required by HIS boss to make the schedule for the whole month of December way back in November. So I knew my schedule was 7:45 to 4 today. But when I looked at my hours, it was a new schedule; he'd changed it so I was suddenly working Thursday, the day after Christmas. Uh-uh. You made the schedule a month in advance, buddy, and you gave me that day off and I'm gonna be in friggin' Orlando, okay? So I found him and told him.
"I've got a problem," I began.
I told him that he'd changed the schedule and he denied that he did. So I calmly told him first of all that he DID change it because originally he'd had Christmas day all decorated with pretty marker stuff, and now it just said "Christmas" in black. He couldn't exactly deny that he'd changed it. But he claimed that he hadn't changed anything on my schedule, which I also denied, and then he tried to plead with me to work it but I told him I'd be out of town and could not. It goes both ways, guy. We have to give you our plans for the month of December back in November so you can make the schedule; therefore, we BOTH have to be expected to stick to it. He finally scratched me out on Thursday. I win!
Since I was feeling lucky I also told him he made me sad yesterday when he hung up on me, and I got an apology out of him. Haha. Another co-worker was listening and told me I should have hit him. I said I'd rather settle it with words since if I hit him chances are he'd just do it again instead of getting the point.
I had to hold the telephone because Stephen had a conference call with upper management. I found out later that he fell asleep during the call, just sleeping while everyone had their conference call. Heheh.
So I put out my kids' books and did a nice thorough cleaning of the section (which of course was destroyed later in the day anyway), and for most of the rest of the day I was on register. Poop. But it wasn't bad. I worked alongside Sarah. We have some funny talks. I told her Stephen napped during the meeting. She cracked up.
We'd both arrived at 8 this morning, and as the clock inched toward one o'clock we wondered whether we'd ever get our lunch breaks. Two o'clock went by. I called Stephen and bugged him for our breaks, and he acted annoyed. I told him later that I wasn't calling to NAG him, it was just that if he waited to give us our lunch breaks until so late, he might as well just not give them to us at all and make us leave a half hour early. I let Sarah go to lunch first and then when I got my break it was almost three. Yay. I didn't care, though. I'd been eating candy someone left in the back room all day.
While on my lunch break we all started hanging out and talking. (Two other people were in the back room sorting the books that came in our shipment yesterday.) The conversation turned to a discussion of Neil. We found out the candy had been brought by our district manager PJ, who apparently only brought it because HER boss, Kim, bought a tin of popcorn for every store in her region. Someone mentioned that Neil thought Kim was "cheap" because the popcorn tin only cost five bucks. Someone had gotten on his case because Kim has about forty stores in her region. That's not exactly cheap. So everyone started telling Neil stories. Apparently every one of us, including the manager, has had at least one instance of his trying to tell us what to do. Stephen said he would have fired Neil if he'd said and done some of that stuff to him. He does things like snap his fingers and point to customer service when he wants us to go help someone for him, or make snide comments, or try to reprimand us over things that are not his business. Once Kyllie was off the clock and he asked if she would help him out by helping a customer, and when she couldn't find what the customer wanted, Neil said to the customer, "That's why I do customer service and not her." Stephen overheard her telling him that if he ever did that to her again she would slit his throat. Our new guy, Dan, has only met Neil a couple times, and his verdict is, "Oh, yeah, he's a jackass."
I like Dan. He looks a little like my ex-boyfriend.
I'm keeping a count of how many people at the register say "Merry Christmas" to me. The tally's up to ten.
In related news, Linda, my old manager, called from the Ocala store today. She asked me to put her on with Stephen, but then she told me she hoped I would have a happy holiday. I told her, "Thanks. I did." Mine is over, guys. So is Chanukah. But now I'm being picky.
Dammit. I have no time anymore. I have a two novels and a short story in progress and I never write them. All I do is sleep, work, read over my old shit, do my e-mail, and play DDR. And eat. A lot.
Notes:
Hey Ju-lo, hope things work out for your mom. Don't know the specifics but it sounds troubling. Glad you had a nice solstice and all. I hope I'll be able to visit sometime in the near future, I would enjoy a nice session of sitting and looking at things. Oh, and I have been karaokeing some, so I am ready for a rematch. I will so win this time. NEways talk to you soon --- EN
Weee, more Stephen bashing :) It's like hating a fictional character or a celebrity; I've never met him but he's a pain... I wished everyone "Happy Holidays" in the mall the other day, until my mom told me I was embarressing. It's supposed to be the other way around isn't it? [katqueen]