I don't want to live in Nekoosa again. The Nurgles aren't even building managers anymore, so I'd end up living in a van down by the river. That's really scary.

It's only three hours. That's nothing to freak out about. It's still just about the easiest entry-level job with the best benefits I could hope to stumble across. The bullshit vs. money earned ratio is still more than acceptable. But what if the hours get cut even more? How low can I get, without sacrificing my personal comfort level?

Also, since everyone's hours are cut, the shifts are going to be more stressful.

In a perfect world, there are three people working nights on the cold side. I can do my hot side thing, interspersed with cleaning. I know that one of the cold case people will let me know if they sell me out of anything. One of the cold people leaves at six, one of the cold people does a lot of sidework and leaves at eight.

The 6:00 person is non-negotioable. His shift has to start no later than 11, so he can make sandwiches before lunch. If someone gets cut from a day, it will be the 12-8. It makes no sense for the 6:00 guy to do basically any cleanup before he goes, so he doesn't.

On the days when there is no 8:00 person, there is me, and one person on the cold side, after 6:00. I have to leave the hot side to help her any time there are more than three people waiting. There are almost always people in line, from 6-7. I can either devote myself to helping her, and end up way behind on my own stuff, or I can be only slightly behind on my stuff and help her do all her cleaning at the end. Either way, we both finish the night completely stressed out and punching out late.

To punch out late requires a manager override. If one of the head managers is working, you page him or her to the time clock, and prepare to get scolded for dragging him away from whatever he was doing. If it's just a lower-level manager, he has to go into the office safe, and get a form for you to fill out.

(Ah, but punching out late means not losing hours, right? Technically, yes, but I really don't like getting yelled at, especially when it's not my fault. Must try harder! Must work more! Must bend laws of time and space just to gain supervisors' love!)

So, yeah. My job might start sucking soon, but I'm not sure how much of the suck is all in my head. I'm not even sure if this qualifies as teh suck, or if I'm just basically dissatisfied with the entire concept of work.

Is there a job that I wouldn't resent, eventually? Probably not. Do I have enough justification to start whining right now? I'm thinking no. Then, where exactly does the line get drawn? I have no idea.

Goddammit. I really wanted this to be a lower-stress job.

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