Have you seen these?
A Year in Books - 2009-12-27
Skip Tracer, Loan Detective - 2009-11-22
New Job - 2009-11-03
The coleslaw got served. - 2009-10-21
Probably a new job. But maybe not. - 2009-10-08

That's not Writing, that's typing. But it did help me think through a few things.
2006-03-21 12:06 p.m.

I have practically survived my Week of Suck. All that's left is tonight, which will be easy. (Of course, now that I've predicted that, it will turn into a hell night, but even if it does, I've got tomorrow off. I'll just keep telling myself that.)

I'm in a pretty amazingly good mood today.

I FINISHED the 3/30 week of schedules three days early, and Head Boss Lady doesn't have the next month of manager schedules done yet. If she doesn't have them done by Thursday, I can enjoy my 3-day weekend with a completely clear conscience. I literally can't do my bit if she hasn't done hers first.
(Of course, that means Monday will really suck for me, because Area Supervisor needs the first long and sucky step mailed to him by Tuesday. This is the positive entry though, so we won't dwell on that for too long.)

Oh, how the 3/30 schedule sucked. I was told that Mr. Beloit would be working Mon-Weds. First, HBL said just do it with 2 closing managers. Riker wouldn't really do much, but she had to be there, because even though Mr. B knows in theory everything that has to get done, he might have questions about how we do it. So, I did that. (Mr. Beloit isn't in our computer yet, but I cleverly assigned a random associate the hours, just so the computer could do its little hourly projections accurately. Then, I took the associate out, and left the day nine hours understaffed.)

Then, I swear Riker said something about how she could close the cashier position and advise Mr. Beliot at the same time. This made sense at the time, so I went back into the computer, put the dummy-associate back in, and refigured everyone's start and end times that way.

Then I showed my work to HBL, because I wasn't sure if my dummy-associate plan was the right way to go about this. She said, no no no, I told you to have TWO managers. Riker denied saying anything different. Maybe I hallucinated that conversation. Sigh. Back to the forecasting. A brief reappearance of the mock-associate. A schedule with two managers written in, but only one in the computer. I e-mailed the forecasts to Area Supervisor, with a note that I knew Mon-Weds looked screwy, but this is why. I wrote out the shift planners all nice and neat-like, with assigned positions.

As I was starting to congratulate myself on how clever I was, the phone rang. Mr. Beloit had decided to accept a new position somewhere else instead.

I screamed, "HATE!!!" and HBL laughed at me. I sighed, and went back to the forecasting. At least this time I didn't have to bother with the pseudo-associate. I even assigned all the extra hours that I suddenly had those days to the people that really would want them. I'd felt bad about skimping them a little, but there was no way around it. Since I didn't have to do that anymore, everyone would be happy.
***
The lack of Mr. Beloit might mean I get to move a little faster through my advancement, or it might not. I won't count on it. I thought I'd get the salary way back in October, but then a new manager came in out of nowhere. That could easily happen again.
***
While I'm in Work Mode (again) I want to rant a little about the new potential Associate Managers. I will call them A B and C.

A is the one who wants to come to the west side. B was hired in January, as an associate, but he does have previous manager experience. C just started like a month ago, with no manager experience.

C has impressed the hell out of Riker. Riker is all C is fast-track, schedule her working with me, I'll let her count my deposits and do my temp checks, and all the other little things you're supposed to let potential managers do.

I have no problem with that. C is pretty amazing. The thing that's stressing me out is that right now, we're short on day staff, so all three of them are pretty much stuck on days. I'm mostly nights, so I don't have the opportunity to take either A or B under my wing and get them doing all the stuff C is doing every day she works with Riker.

I think A or B could be a manager much more easily than C. Both of them are strong on ALL the positions. C is good with guests, but she hasn't been in the kitchen much at all yet. But since C is Riker's pet, she's getting the star treatment.

That's fucked up. I don't like to think about the days all three of them are working with Riker.

The solution should be obvious. I makes the schedules. Again, though, we're short on day staff. I need all of them on days. HBL makes the manager schedules, and I'm usually nights. I'm doing what I can (I've got someone else doing pasta on Saturdays now, so B isn't stuck back there, not learning anything.) but it really isn't very much.

HBL wants A as much as I do, and she's coming to the other store. If I can ever get a shift with her, I can start working with her. The real problem will be whether B or C gets my open AM slot. It should be B, but I think it will be C, and it sucks.

Hmm. I can talk to the AM who usually opens, and ask him to work some with A and B. In the summer, I can have anyone I want opening, because the kids will all be out of school. That means I can start getting A and B on my shifts more consistently. Summer is months away, though. Riker could very well have C practically certified by then.

What I need to do is talk to Riker. I can tell her that I approve of the C-is-fast-track plan, but it shouldn't happen by sacrificing A and B. I'll explain that I can't be working with A and B right now, and I'd like her help. If nothing else, that will clarify her position on B.

Also, I'm a moron. I just now realized something. I'm scheduled 3-4 manager shifts a week. That leaves 1-2 shifts that I assign myself closes, just out of habit. I can fix the days needs people issue and the when can I work with A and B issue (AND even the there's not enough closing shifts for everyone who wants them issue) by giving MYSELF day shifts. I can't believe that didn't even cross my mind.

Another boring entry. Sorry about that. If it's any consolation for you, the one remaining bit o' work stress is gone now. Tonight will be SO easy.

previous--next


ComicsCurmudgeon
DamnHellAssKings
EWAV
Francesco
Neil Gaiman
Indeterminacy
Ironic Sans
KnowledgeForThirst
tmwfa
Postsecret
PassiveAggressive
WaiterRant
Wil Wheaton

Barren
Kahlora
LiveJournal
MySpace
Thor
Twitter


Achewood
AlienLovesPredator
DinosaurComics
Hobotopia
HoustonChron
NeuroticallyYours
PerryBibleFellowship
Pibgorn
RedMeat
Sinfest
SluggyFreelance
SomethingPositive
xkcd


Alter Ego
Chat Noir
Chronotron
CrayonPhysics
FVBN
HHGTG
House of Bugs
La Pate a Son
Popcap
sirteT
3DPong


A&L Daily
Everything
Fark
The Onion
Red Dwarf
SomethingtoRead
Slate
Straight Dope
Taus
TV Tropes
Wikipedia
Wonkette


Cockeyed
Inventors
McSweeney's
MentalFloss


GRSites
MyImager
W3
Webmonkey