30 Days of Thanks...Day 10

Day 10: I am thankful that tolerance ruled in a very uncomfortable situation.

At my second job, there is this co-worker that I have nicknamed “Dragon.”  I guess one can tell this isn’t a term of endearment.  I deem her this for many reasons. 

One, she doesn’t know how to talk to people, although she is in a position of leadership.  She usually uses finger pointing and eye contact.  When she does use her voice, she acts like she doesn’t know your name, so she just says “hey” or “you”.  The last time she and I worked together on the same shift was many months ago, and I called her out on it.  I told her I’d prefer she use my name and I didn’t appreciate her yelling and pointing at me.  I’m pretty proactive in the sense I don’t need someone on me to tell me what needs to be done.  If the cooler’s low, I stock it.  If we need more stuff to be stocked, I stocked it.  I don’t need to be yelled at.  But she continued to yell and not address me properly, so I behaved in a way that would be considered passive, which was not respond to her unless she addressed me properly and not yell, yet I still continued to do work.

Two, she doesn’t properly do her work but she expects others to follow protocol.  The fresh items are supposed to be dated, yet she doesn’t date them.  Expired product is supposed to be thrown out, yet she’s the main one that doesn’t throw it out.  In fact, she tells others to leave the stuff on there so that the shelf appears full (which makes no sense to me whatsoever…why would you prefer people get sick over expired product than to throw it out to make room for new product?). 

Three, when she gets called out on things she’s supposed to do, she tries to blame the other employees.  I can count on fingers and toes how much I get blamed for things, yet I’m the employee who is there the least. 

Four, when things are getting done, she takes a lot of the credit, even when other employees are the ones who saw it got done.  Also, when her shift is over with, she doesn’t finish what she starts, she just leaves, and she leaves things a big mess.

So this particular day, Dragon and I were scheduled together.  Things could have been a repeat of before, but instead, I did treat it as if she weren’t there—in the sense that I conducted the shift like I normally would.  I spoke to her when necessary, but that was about it.  I got through it.

However, the Dragon was still annoyed because I overheard her telling one of the managers she never wanted to work another Saturday ever again.  Plus, I guess it didn’t help that one of the promotions Dragon set up I knew about but she had no clue.  

How can the employee who’s there the least know the most?  

I didn’t go out of my way to make her look clueless; it was just one of the other managers asked me about it; I knew about it.  She asked Dragon if she knew about it, and she was like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  The manager was like, “How could you not know?  You set it up in the system and were supposed to let the other employees know.  That’s what a lead does.”

Enough said.

30 Days of Thanks...Day 9

Day 9: I am thankful for maintaining my composure during a moment when I seriously wanted to “act a fool”.

I almost chuckle when I type those last three words because my “acting a fool” is extremely rare.  People tell me I have an extremely high tolerance, but over the years, the tolerance has been decreasing little by little, especially for people where you’re going through the same drama or having to repeat yourself over and over again.

There was a situation that happened at the 2^nd gig yesterday but before I even talk about it, I have to give you some background on some things.

Background:

I guess the 2^nd gig is technically the 1^st gig because I was offered it during the time temp jobs were very slow.  However, once I started securing more and more temp jobs, I did let the place know that on the weekdays, since I got off at 5, I couldn't come in until 5:30, but my flexibility was still free during the weekends. 

They adhered to that, but still wanted me to do 5 days a week.  

After a while I was honest with myself that it was a bit too much to handle.  As soon as I realized that, I requested to be cut down to three days a week, which they said they would adhere to, but they took their sweet time in doing so.

Then, I found out about a month or so ago, I needed to work later on Thursdays at the primary job, so I informed them of this as soon as I knew and let them know I would prefer not to work on Thursdays.  Yet they have scheduled me on Thursdays for the past two weeks, and yesterday, they scheduled me for 5:30 when I told them I couldn't come in until 6:30.

So, one of my main problems with this place is they don’t adhere to or respect people’s changes in availability.

But let me not get too far off track. 

Fast Forward:

Around January or so, the seasonal work that SOS was doing was coming to an end.  The boss at my 2^nd job asked me if I knew of anyone who was looking for work because of being supremely short staffed.  I knew SOS was looking and one other person was looking, so I encouraged both of them to fill out an application.  SOS got hired around late February to work there but not in the same area as me.

One thing about SOS—he is a hard worker but he isn't the type who tolerates being disrespected.  If he sees something which doesn't make sense, he asks about it.  If he feels like there’s something which may need to be fixed, he inquires about it.  Some managers appreciate feedback while other managers want you to “know your role and fall in line.”   The majority of the managers there are the latter, so there was definitely some friction.

The other problem that I began to see as my time at the 2^nd gig got longer is there was no communication between the managers as to what’s going on.

For example, there have been moments when one of the managers has asked me to perform an earlier or later shift, but they don’t leave a note for the manager on hand.  Then, when I come in at the other time, I get questioned by the manager on hand why I’m early or why I’m late.  Then, I’m like, “ Didn't ‘so and so’ tell you or leave you a note?”  In 99.9% of the cases, the answer is no.

Also, another problem is that each manager adopts a different way of doing the shifts, causing a lot of confusion.

Another example, one of the duties of the opening and closing cashier is to handle lottery.  Opening cashier’s shift tends to end at 3 (in special cases 4).  The closing cashier tends to come in at 3 (or 4), but when I’m scheduled, they know I can’t get there until 5:30.

When I first arrived there, the set rule is not to do any lottery sales until the closing person gets there because the lottery bank ($100 bucks) gets taken down with the opening person.  However, some managers have said for the midday cashier to continue taking lottery sales, but tell the customers exact change only.  So when the evening person gets there, money is already in the bag, so if any types of mess ups happens, like if there’s an overage or shortage, then it falls on the evening person, even if she doesn’t know what happened between 3 and the time she got there.

My thing is: I want a definite concrete rule on how they are doing the lottery.  If they are letting the mid day person do sales, fine, but I need to be shown how to differentiate between the sales going on with that time frame and the sales I’m doing, since there have been times when there have been discrepancies in the lottery.  If they are doing, “no sales until the evening person gets there”, then stick to that.  It’s just crazy to have one set of managers doing it one way; the other set doing it the opposite way, and the employee gets yelled at.

But the main two, which fit the situation mentioned at hand is:

1.       The upper management, with the exception of one, do not know how to effectively communicate with their employees.  They talk at them, yell, or if they have to coach the person, rather than do it one-on-one behind closed doors, they do it in front of other people.

2.       A few of them don’t know how to separate their personal feelings for a person based on whether he can do the job well or not.

That is where SOS butted heads with them the most.  I picked up the vibe that a couple of them weren't too particular about him, despite the fact that whenever someone called out or they needed someone to do extra hours, SOS was the one which would do them.  The management was crazy enough to discuss him, and I don’t know whether they were fully aware I could hear them talking or not.  Or whether they really cared.  They even complained about other employees to me, and I’m not in any position of management at all.

So I kind of warned SOS and told him "not to give them a reason to get rid of you."  I think it went out one ear and out the other, and a certain situation came up where the wrong conclusion was drawn by one of the main managers who wanted him out.  That manager was given the go-ahead to get rid of him.

That was soon to be two months ago. 

Since people know about my association with SOS, there has been a bit of talking.  

I don’t mind the fellow employees who liked SOS and ask how he’s doing.  I don’t mind the fellow employees who are trying to sneak me leads (when upper management isn't looking) about jobs they have heard about.

What I do mind is people sticking in their two cents, judging him and taking little jabs at him through me, mainly members of management.  I just expect some level of professionalism.  I’m not talking about middle school kids or teenagers.  These are grown ass people, many of them way older than me, behaving very catty.

Act A Fool Moment:

Last night, one of the managers asked me how the wedding plans were going.  All I said was that they were going a bit slow.  Then he said in response, “Well, I understand things are tough right now.  If you called the whole thing off, I wouldn't too much blame you.  You can’t really be with someone if he can’t hold a job.  Maybe it’s for the best.”

Now, if this person was a friend of mine, it’d be one thing.  

But this guy is my boss, putting his personal opinion on something just because he personally doesn't like SOS.  Also, I didn't ask his opinion on the situation.

I was tempted to “act a fool” because he is one of the main people (along with the manager who fired SOS) who has been taking little jabs here and there through me because they can’t do it to SOS directly. 

So I told him that although he is entitled to his opinion, I didn't appreciate the fact that he stated it.  I also expressed that I am not one to mix my personal feelings about someone and how the person performs professionally.  I also added I just felt like it was unprofessional—he’s the boss; I’m the employee.

It’s been very tough being there.  I do have a feeling that 2013 will have them seeing dust…from my black shoes...as I walk away.

Peace.