Perpetual Ruminations

Thursday.

Another day with limited time, so I decided to get in here and write a little bit while I can. I should be working on the next schedule for work, faxing a document, and trying to convince my boss that we need to get some advertisement out for help wanted.

But, that can wait a few minutes while I type a little in my journal. I'm halfway done with the three day stretch before the weekend. I still don't know if I work this weekend or not. The last I heard, I will have Easter Sunday off, but I do not know about Saturday. I may not know until I get there on Saturday and then get sent back home. The weather is suppose to be nice, so I will likely be there till five on Saturday, then have Sunday off, work Monday and Tuesday, then be off for three days.

I don't mind the extra hours, but the not knowing is kind of frustrating. Add to that one person who keeps requesting time off every two weeks, and it's a bit stressful. On top of that, I am still being messed up by my wife's schedule, and that adds even more stress. Especially now that we are on summer hours again.

Monday through Friday, we are open one hour later, so it's one hour later getting done. Usually it's about ten-thirty when I get done, then a half hour drive home, so about eleven if we do not need to stop for anything. Not too bad, and I can handle it, if we get right home. Also, my shift does not start until five, so I have most of the day.

So why is it stressful, because my wife's schedule just will not work with mine. Today she needs to be at work by three-thirty, so we leave about a quarter to three. I wouldn't even have to get ready until about three-thirty, so there goes part of my day. Also, she often is not done till eleven or after, so it's often midnight by the time we get home, and going on one in the morning by the time we eat something, get the dogs settled back down, and then two or so by the time we are in bed.

That means we get up about nine or ten, and lose another chunk of the day, the morning. It just gets frustrating after doing this for over six months. Actually it's been more like a year, but last summer I also had no time off, so it was both jobs. One week from this Saturday, and she is done with her job. She is looking, and top of the list is a regular, consistent schedule.

I know, I've been going off with this topic a lot. It's just so frustrating and depressing. It's difficult to motivate for both of us, and it's getting old. We just don't do anything anymore. We are both trying to lose weight, but we have not been doing anything for exercise, we continue to give in on foods we should resist or limit, and we don't do any of the fun things we enjoy. We just became very unmotivated. I even understand why, no money, no time, and always interruptions. It is always a fight to do anything, and then, when we do make an attempt, it goes all wrong.

For example, last July we planned a little mini vacation for our anniversary. It came just right with my schedule for three days off without any missed work. Rhonda took the same three days off, we booked a room at a local hotel with hot tub and all the extras, and made plans to picnic on the afternoon by the lake, let the dogs go swimming and run for a while to tucker them out. Then bring them home for the night, while we go back in and enjoy the evening at the hotel. We planned on enjoying the pool and sauna for a bit, then dressing and going out for dinner. After, we would get some wine and return to the room, enjoy the hot tub and have a relaxing and passionate evening. The next morning we would go out for breakfast, then return home to check on the dogs and maybe do a short road trip with them, or just take them back to the lake for the day.

Things were set, the reservations made. We picked up some wine, some items for snacking, and even began to pack up items we would need for our overnight outing. Rhonda purchased some clothing, sexy and comfortable for the day, to surprise me with, and then we waited. Now, understand, I had not worked for a few years, so we had a lot of time to spend together up to last year when I returned to work. We were missing each other and the time we had become used to sharing together.

So, a week before our anniversary, I go into work after my two days off, and the schedule has changed. See, when I took the job, I would work a repeating schedule, the same as another guard, but opposite days. It was nice, I would work Saturday and Sunday, then get Monday and Tuesday off, work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, then get Saturday and Sunday off, work Monday and Tuesday, then get the next three days off before it repeated again for the next two weeks.

I scheduled dental work and appointments for my days of during the week, I had every other Monday and Tuesday with Rhonda, who was also off on Monday and Tuesday. Things were looking good, except the person who worked opposite of me always wanted the weekends off. She would talk to the boss and have him reschedule so she could take time off without missing hours. It would always start on Sunday. Our week starts on Sunday, so I would still have my Saturday off, but now, instead of Sunday off and working Monday and Tuesday, then three days off, I worked Sunday and had Monday and Tuesday off.

This was almost a constant, from the time I started, I had one full weekend off all summer. The rest were messed up. This is what happened, we had planned for my three day off cycle for our anniversary, I would not even have to put in for time off, but when I went to work on Wednesday, one week before our planned mini vacation, the new schedule was up, and now I would work Sunday, have Monday and Tuesday off, then work right through my mini vacation.

I was very annoyed and upset with all the changes anyway, I had talked a few times to the boss about it, but this was the last time. I went in the next morning, during his shift and told him flat out, this crap was going to end. If this other woman wants to take time off, fine, let her, but do not change the schedule again, or I will quit. I explained to him, again, how this was always messing me up, and how it was now destroying our plans.

He was good about it, he was going to let me take the three days off, but I would have to lose the pay for them, as well. That was too much, since this other lady never lost an hour. I told him the same, and also told him I was going to give my two week notice right then and there. I even took a slip of scratch paper and began to put it down in writing.

He quickly seen the errors of his ways, and drew up a new schedule.  It would return me to the one I had been on, so no missed days. Also, the other person would not miss any days, but she would not get her weekend off unless she switched it out with someone or gave up the hours. I ended up working her hours, and took another weekend off.

I was willing to do this, but I wanted it to be my choice, just in case I had plans. It lasted for about two weeks. Actually it lasted for a week, but the schedule was for two weeks, and after that he, my boss, was not my boss anymore. He had also, from what I had been told at the time, been messing up a few other things and the company decided to demote him.

We work as security guards, our home office is just over two hundred miles away, and the vice president came up to demote him and appoint a new site supervisor. I was it.

I talked to the vice president on Wednesday, I talked to the store management on Thursday -- there were some major issues needing attention. On Friday, I drew up some disciplinary action forms, I contacted the home office with the information I had gotten from the management, and found that nothing had been done about anything for a while. On Saturday, I took my paperwork in to work with me, explained my plan of attack to management, they approved it and then headed out for my first official duty as supervisor.

Management at the store wanted this person fired, ASAP. The security company policy is three strikes. One, a verbal warning, two is a written warning and three is your gone. None had been issued. But, the security company also wants to keep the store, our customer, happy. I got the job of finding a way to do this and keep everyone happy. Well except for the person involved. The infraction was severe, so I drew up a verbal warning.

To keep the store happy, I included that this person would agree to either do everything by the book or quit. No more chances, any violation, no matter how trivial, would result in instant termination. I knew the guard and had worked with her, she had a very bad attitude and I knew she would not want to have everyone watching every move she made. She did not like the management at all, and knew they wanted her gone. So, I had about 90% certainty she would not take this mildly, and would get pissed and quit. She did. We finished the interview, I had her sign that she understood, even if she did not agree, and asked her if she wanted to stay under these conditions, or not. She wisely decided that she would quit right then and there, turned in her stuff and walked.

Everyone was happy, well except her and I wasn't the most thrilled to start out this way. Also, I had to replace her right away, and since she was only temporary, the company did not want to hire anyone, but told me to try and cover her hours. So much for any weekends off. Some good came of it, the other guard who was always taking time off knew I had just taken position as supervisor, fired one guard, and was not happy with the way the scheduling had been. She did not ask for any time off the rest of the summer, and did not even gripe when I assigned her extra hours to help cover the open position.

Of course, all good things must end, and now she is back to wanting time off all the time, and with summer approaching, she will have the desire for the weekends, or at least Saturdays off as often as she can get them. We are also starting the double coverage on weekends, the position that the terminated guard had last summer, so there are no free weekends left for either of us. Soon, the double coverage will also include Friday and Monday, and I will have my hands full trying to cover all the hours without anyone getting overtime.

We can, but if she needs time off, someone else will have to not get any time off for that week, it's that tight. Also, another guard, the former supervisor, is leaving in May. Again, I can cover the hours, but I know that it will mean no time off for anyone, we will work six days a week and everyone will be pushing forty hours. Also, since some of them are part-time and have full time jobs, they will be working with no breaks. This will not last long before they quit and if anyone needs time off, it will create overtime for whom ever fills in.

So, there is stress from this, and of course, the possibility that I may again have a summer like last, with no time to do anything. A lot of anxiety, and a lot of stress. I do not get to relax and enjoy my time away from work, I have to do some of it from home. Up to and over ten hours a week are spent waiting do to conflicts in schedules between my wife and I, and that is not counting the hours she has to wait for me. Between the schedule conflicts and work from home time, I would say it reaches about fifteen hours a week for me.

I have contacted the office and let them know I need to hire, but as of yet, no reply. They tend to be a bit slow on replying and actions anyway, so perhaps they are working on it. The distance makes it a bit difficult to communicate. Also, if they look at my personnel, they will see we have plenty of people to cover hours. But, that is a generic average. In Truth, one guard works full time all week, so he is only willing to work weekends, and an occasional evening, if it's absolutely needed. He is up at three in the morning for his full time job, so he does not like to stay and close. Another works all week, but desires evenings and weekends off. She will help out on occasion, but that's it. They do stuff all summer on the weekends, and if she is forced to work nights and weekends, she would quit, she doesn't have to have the job, it's extra money. Also, she only has nine hours more she can work.

That's two out of five that are no help. The third guard is quitting in a month, but until then, he will help out on weekends when he isn't working his second job. Again, limited, and only has nine hours to fill in, too. The fourth guard is always requesting time off, and has some medical issues. Not sure what, it seems to change, and it could even be a bunch of bull, but what ever it is, she is not dependable. She claims to want more hours, but she also wants time off. That leaves me, and a whole lot of hours that need filling in another month. About fifty five of them, to be more precise.

So, if I seem to be stuck on this thing, it's because it is a constant cloud over me. I cannot do much of anything, just wait and see what comes. Even so, I know at this point, it could be a bad storm, but then, it could blow itself out and not be bad at all. I do know, if I could even put one person on for now, when the other guard quits we would have it covered. It would be tight, and I if someone takes time off, it will mean giving up a day off for someone else, but it's workable.

So, one more employee, with just weekends for now, and the occasional fill in, next month they would pick up my shift; I'm taking the opening after he leaves. Then, by the end of May, everyone would be working full time hours except our weekend worker, with the full time job during the week. That would do the trick, and I think we could do it. I will have to talk to Miss Missalot, and she will have to make a commitment for it to work, if not, she will be looking at reduced hours so I can justify hiring another.

I know the company will not want to, but if she takes time off, I will have to schedule overtime to cover for her, and one or two times of that and I think they will support me in hiring a replacement for her position. For now, it's schedule, plan, talk to workers, and hope for good news that we are hiring. Other than that, it's wait.