The office: Chatter about your job

The store manager up and got transferred to a different store. It's considered a promotion, since it's a smaller store that does more business. In the transition:

• one assistant manager transferred to follow the old manager
• one merchandiser quit rather than even bother meeting the new manager
• one driver transferred to follow the old manager
• one retail clerk got fired by the new manager because of ongoing attendance issues
• one new driver was hired by the old manager just days before the handoff

It's a zero sum with us drivers (except we traded our second most experienced driver for a newbie), but the front counter is devastated. The evening shift is okay, but during the week the new manager opens in the mornings, and he basically runs the store alone until whenever the assistant manager can be persuaded to come in before his scheduled time. Higher management is trying to find one or two people to transfer into our store rather than hire on new people.

Oh, also on the new manager's second day, he had an allergy attack and had to leave the newest retail clerk (so new he didn't have a collared shirt yet) to run the store with as much help as I could give him because it was just the two of us for 45 minutes until the assistant manager came in.

edited 17th May '16 5:30:22 PM by TParadox

MY BOSS HAD AN INTERVIEW. PANIC. PANIC. PANIC. I WILL NEVER HAVE A BOSS AS DOOFY AND UNDERSTANDING AS THIS ONE AGAIN.

Coincidentally, soon as I shared my panic with my bff, her mother informs me of a sweet courthouse finance gig.

...fly, little resume!

Bur: Oh dear. Hang in there it might not be as bad as you think.

The new cleaning crew has been a real mixed bag this time around. We got another working couple this time from Cuba. The ladies English is pretty good and the guy is improving. They work really hard and are friendly. They are also almost absurdly good looking lol.

The third member of the crew is the mixed part. She is from a French speaking region in Africa and I am not sure if she understands the English she seems to speak or not. What is worse it turns out she has been cutting a lot of corners cleaning so she can just find someplace to sit for the rest of the shift while everyone else is still working. She has to be constantly reminded what needs to be done almost every day. She will stop and go do the other thing and then the next day turn around do the same thing again. She has misplaced the cleaning crew key set several times as well including managing to lock them in a hidden spot in the closet. She is easily distracted by anything and everything. I am starting to wonder if she has some sort of memory and/or attention disorder. She is nice enough but she comes across as bumbling and extremely forgetful.

She just got in trouble today with the boss for not paying attention and cutting corners and was given specific instructions on mopping the lobby so the late shift can leave the building without leaving a mess over fresh mop work.

edited 19th May '16 6:17:18 PM by TuefelHundenIV

She... might actually have the after-effects of malaria or some other parasite. Or damage from TB, or something else. :/

Betcha she's never had a thorough batch of tests run on her blood her whole life. -_- If she is suffering the long-term health effects of something nasty, there are things which can alleviate a lot of the symptoms. But, she's unlikely to ever be offered the various therapies, both drug and cognitive behavioural — let alone ever get diagnosed. -_-

A lot of the African immigrant reputation for malingering? You can blame on immune system fallout.

edited 19th May '16 6:44:48 PM by Euodiachloris

Well the way her forgetfulness and distraction kicks in is what is making think something somewhere may have gone awry. It could be as you say from injury caused by disease or possibly untreated disorders. She has grand children so maybe it could be Alzheimer's. I occasionally worry a bit if I don't see her on my rounds. I am half scared I am going to find her toppled in the dumpster dock or something.

On Wednesday the manager asked me to start coming in early to handle getting stock checked in before things get busy. I was scheduled for 8-5 today, but in light of the change of procedure, it was changed to 7-4.

I've pretty much become accustomed to never having to be anywhere before 8, and I had to stay up late last night to meet my blog schedule. So I was really tired most of the day.

Since moving me up an hour was the only change made to the schedule, today my supervisor (I guess technically an assistant manager, but fully specialized in commercial sales) asked me to stay an extra hour so we didn't abandon our newest driver to handle everything alone for two hours at the end of the day. Sure, that's fine. I'm always up for overtime.

I figured since 11AM is too early for me to eat lunch and I was now going to stay until after the veteran driver left anyway, I let him go to lunch first at his usual 11:30. So I was sleepy and hungry, and I was working hard checking in the stock, resolving discrepancies in the stock, and also taking deliveries out when it got busy. I was really pretty crabby by the time I got my lunch at 12:30. Eating and unwinding helped a lot though.

Anyway, when 5:00 came, so did the last store-to-store loop of the day with a few orders that needed to go out when the new girl was already about to go out on a run the other way. So I went out in rush hour traffic again after 5:10. Came in expecting to leave at 4, actually clocked out at 5:45.

An art store is hiring. I sent in an application. If this goes through I'll be even more able to start off that webcomic I've been thinking about.

Well ladies and gentleman it is time for more adventures in someone didn't think this through.

Today there was a planned cleaning of our lobby atrium windows and to do this they need a 20 foot lift to get to the windows. Now this isn't the first time this has been done and lifts have been used successfully. Well this time they were looking to use what looked like a good sized electric wheeled articulated boom lift.See here for what that is.◊

Now the boom lift was parked outside and the cleaning crew for the atrium showed up at about 9:30am. They drive the lift around to the front of the building where an obvious ramp is that looks big enough to take the lift. This is where things immediately start going wrong. The crew guy operating the lifts controls instead of backing it up and going straight up the path to ensure it clears the clay based muddy soil of the side gardens near the ramp drives the lift right on top of the edge of the concrete slabs. This lasts just a few seconds before the weight of the machine causes the concrete edge to crumble causing a small side slip into the garden plot and into the damp clay where the machines weight not only loses its measly 4 inches of ground clearance but sinks up to the hubs and cracks the concrete slab. The edges of two slabs are against the backs of the wheels.

This thing is stuck. The knuckle head who got it stuck because he wasn't paying attention and his partner in idiocy think they can "rock it out of the rut". Keep in mind this machine is heavy enough that 4" thick concrete slab edge crumbled under its weight. They call a tow truck and keep dicking with it. The flat bed shows up first because no one knows how much the machine weighs. The flat bed budges it a few inches but has to stop so as to not further damage the slabs and tear up the garden plots even worse. It becomes abundantly clear it is too heavy for the flat bed alone and it needs some lifting. The flat bad is a light duty tow vehicle so they call in a medium dutywrecker tow truck, what most people think a tow truck is. This one has a single boom and two articulated hooks that can pull separately meant to get wrecked vehicles unstuck. They can't tip it because not only is it grounded the weight profile is balanced across the bottom. So they can't drag it from the side. They try and use the boom to lift it directly. In the attempt the front of the tow truck lifts up instead as the weight of the lift is too much. At this point everyone is starting to wonder just how heavy this damn lift is.

The wrecker drive says fuck it and goes to get a heavy duty tow truck used to move semi-trucks around. He comes back with a large wrecker that just lifts up the machine like it was nothing and they pull it out.

After everything has been moved off I get a good look at the mess behind. Not only is the garden patch messed up royally, thankfully they missed the sprinkler line, the concrete slab has a large chunk of the edge that not only sheared off down the side but a bit under the slab as well giving it a beveled break. The slab has three serious cracks in it that flex slightly with heavy foot pressure. A nearby slab is broken at the corner.

The tow guys estimated its minimum weight at about 4 tons. I decided to get the exact weight for my reports and pulled the make and model and checked the manufacturers specs. The damn thing weights 7.5 tons. The scissor lifts,see here, that we have used in the building weighed in at most at 1 ton. The scissor lifts cracked tile through the thick plywood meant to help spread weight out. If this damn thing had gone through the doors as planned would have demolished the tile floor.

It took just over three hours to get this stupid machine unstuck. Thankfully the machine wasn't damaged which is good thing because it thumped pretty hard on the massive battery packs which have a notable fire and explosion risk if breached. It also has something like 2 gals of what is likely petroleum based hydraulic fluid so if it had gone badly it would have been really bad.

None of the knuckleheads were injured which is a blessing as my accident report forms are the very picture of bureaucracy if someone is injured on site.

Edit: Update. Well they fixed up the garden and hid the damaged edges until they can fix the slab. The big hunk of machinery is still sitting on the North End of the building. I really hope they don't plan on trying to use it again.

edited 24th May '16 4:57:39 PM by TuefelHundenIV

I had a trial shift at this one vegan restaurant I frequent. I feel really good about it! Everyone's nice, it's a bit chaotic but only because the kitchen's understaffed. They need Wednesday mornings, which is when I have class, but that's the only conflict. I really hope I get this. It's half time, pays well enough for my bills, and I really love the food there.

I'll hear back from them next week, so I'm still following up on another place tomorrow.

This Memorial Day is my first holiday as a full time employee, and so is my first time getting a day off with pay. Holiday pay doesn't count toward overtime though, so I'm probably going to still not make as much next week as I normally would. There's no way I'll get over eight extra hours into four work days.

Para: Enjoy the downtime. Always nice to get some time off from work. I don't know if I will because the person who decides that forgot about me before he left for vacation last week.

Lerad: Well the bills part is always nice.

edited 27th May '16 7:20:25 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Not sure if I'm going to try to get creative work done^* I've got a writing project, I'm considering making a sample of a podcast I've been kicking around for years, and I've recently realized getting material to build a new reel can be a lot more simple than I've been not doing. or try to go to movies^* I have a subscription, so assuming I can avoid ordering any snacks, it's free.. Either one will be an effort.

I would've loved to get in on a sketch shoot or something, but of course since the people I work with in that realm are professionals, they work normal weekdays and take holidays off.

Heard back from the boss chain. I got Monday off.

Just when I'm freaking out and looking at available jobs I get a 7k raise.

...I acknowledge the error of my ways, current job.

Lol. Yeah when they throw that much money at you that tends to get your attention PDQ. Grats by the way.

Speaking of work. The heavy machinery circus will be back this Saturday this time to repair the slabs they broke. I hope they don't injure or kill someone this time.

One of the cleaning crew is staring down the barrel of being terminated. If it wasn't just one problem but a bunch. Things like completely ignoring instructions given to her including changing mop water, changing mop heads, putting up the mop heads to dry so they don't get manky, and to stop trying to access secure areas she is not allowed into. She also can't seem to do her job like she is supposed and her supervisor has been in the building several times over the last two weeks trying to show her what she needs to do.

edited 1st Jun '16 5:16:37 PM by TuefelHundenIV

I got the first job!!!! Now I can get a dog and fix up my red bike!! And also pay bills.

Lerad: Congrats. Hope it is one you will be at for a while.

Oh they will have to pry this job from my cold dead fingers!!! It's a great restaurant with amazing food, otherwise I wouldn't be so excited to brunch there so often. :D

I have a new career goal. Once I get my microbiology degree, I want to get into research on new antibiotics. Moreso using virology, because I have a few theories.

Superbugs want to brag about immunity to antibiotics? Challenge fucking accepted. I ain't letting medical science fall back. .

Sweet, I know some people who do that. It's important stuff.

Got bitten by a cat the other day at work So it's a week of antibiotics for me. And it happened in front of the owner, too, so I couldn't cry and swear and drop the ball like I wanted to do

Today:

Scheduled for work at 7:30.

Got in the car perhaps a little later than I should've.

Attempt to start the car, it clicks and dies. Completely. Clock resets, volume knob servo sets to default volume.

Decide AAA would be too slow, hunt through neighborhood for people who can help.

First couple don't have jumper cables, and neither do I.

Find somebody who has cables, but can't jump anybody because he has a breathalyzer interlock.

Flag down a pickup.

Borrowed cable doesn't reach, we use the pickup owner's cable and eventually manage to start my car.

I drive around to where I borrowed the cables from. And shut my engine off because I always turn the engine off when I park.

Flag down another pickup. It takes even more fiddling to get started again. Borrowed cable doesn't seem to have the juice, so we use the second pickup's cables. Borrowed cable turned out to be of no help whatsoever.

Finally get to work 40 minutes late. We expect that my car should've been running long enough to recharge, but it wouldn't start again.

Can't check in the stock, the reason I was scheduled to start so early, anyway, because the company server didn't get the shipping reports pushed out until 11ish.

We brought our voltmeter out to my car. Tested voltage across the battery (which is under the back seat), pass. Tested voltage across the charge points under the hood, fail. We figure I need an alternator.

I can't afford an alternator this month. I'm a week and a half from being eligible for a charge account, but my manager thinks he can switch me over early. We bring the battery inside to charge, since it seems the alternator isn't charging it properly.

I skip my lunch break to make up the time I lost in the morning.

Several hours later, we test the battery on our inside tester, it fails. New battery is slightly cheaper than an alternator. Still can't afford it. Turns out the best the manager can do for me is sell the battery to the store until payday. Two paydays out would be better. Next payday is rent. But I'll have to make it work.

I put the new battery in the car. No current whatsoever.

Test across the battery, fine. Test across the points under the hood, dead. Won't even start with the jump pack across either points.

Tech from the shop next door brings his probe, finds no current between positive terminal and fusebox, recommends splicing in a new cable lead.

I pull the terminals back off, discover the positive terminal is heavily corroded and possibly stripped. My manager helped me clean it of, but we determined it was in fact stripped, so he put in a new terminal. That he didn't charge me for.

Car starts, though weakly. I finish my shift.

At about 4:30, my manager told both me and the other driver to go ahead and go home since we had so little call for deliveries and the other driver only had half an hour left. She hates hanging around with nothing to do, so she's out like a shot the moment she's allowed. I linger to not get capsized in her wake.

The minute she clocks out, the phone rings. The folks at the shop ten minutes south need parts we have to order from the store ten minutes north.Guess who's on deck.

I reach the shop with their parts at 5ish. They ordered the wrong parts and insist my manager have me go get the right parts. Which are back at the same other store. "Oh, it's just 20 minutes! You should be able to bend the rules when we're spending three hundred dollars!" Of course, that's three hundred dollars after the substantial discount they whined their way into, and the new parts cost more but they want them at the same price because they already sold them to the customer at that price.

Ultimately I started the day for a 7:30-4:30 shift, skipped lunch (well, I ate, but didn't take a break), sweated over my car, spent $80 I don't have, and ended the day at almost 6. And then I had to buy groceries.

Back on light duties. Got an appointment with occupational health tomorrow to be assessed for a return to full duties.

About bloody time.

x3 Ow. Nasty business, cat bites.

Rough day at work. Non-stop enquiries since the start of the morning up to 11 (o' clock), on the back of a technical difficulty with our lab information system. Head still spinning and I'm only halfway through the day.

I am feeling pretty god damn salty right now. I am sick and tired of being ground between the gears of two sets of corporate idiots whose heads are rammed so far up their own asses that expert cave divers with a complete map of their digestive track couldn't find them.

I am sick of hearing these half assed wave offs in getting back up, making sure things are set in case of disaster, or even for fucks sake the rare vacation. I a vacation or even 3 days off once every 8-10 years too much to ask for these days?

I get it everyone works hard but you reach a point where it is more then just about money. I am feeling ground down and worn out.

As for what triggered this I had a nasty vertigo attack at work and the only reason my stomach didn't pain the lobby was my chewable motion sickness pills. My immediate boss was able to start an idea in their heads but once they decided they were in no longer in danger of immediate problems the cock biting assholes went back to dragging their feet.

Maybe I am only really cranky because I haven't eaten since a lot earlier in the day, maybe I am getting sick again, or maybe I am just sick of this shit.

I got fired because the restaurant is too fucking slow.

I mean, my boss tried to soften it up by saying I was on call. But fucking fuck this is not any easier the sixth time than it was the first time.

The only way this would not make my life fucking suck is if I got that dog grooming application I just applied for.