Perpetual Ruminations

Friday

My last day off before going back in for the weekend. I had three days off and did a bit of backed up work on Wednesday, then I had to spend some time yesterday working, and now today I have to go in to work for double coverage. Three days off and no time off, what a deal. Even better, two of those days I worked without pay. It's part of the job, there are some things I must do from home and I get paid a bit more per hour to compensate.

Normally, that would not be much, and not take very long. There is the occasional memo, there is schedules to make and print, and there are time corrections. Once a week I send an e-report, as well. Like I said, not a lot of time is required. I also have some employee reviews to fill out and go over with them, and that is one of the longest tasks, since I have to drive fifty miles round trip, go over the review, fax it, as well as the time it took to fill it out. But, that's once per year for each employee. Disciplinary action is the same, but that is less frequent than the evals. Well it should be.

But not here, not with a handful of adult children. I don't know what else to call them, they are adults, most older than me. Yet they are still childish brats that try to get by without doing their jobs, doing things wrong, and causing trouble. I spend more time baby-sitting and correcting things than I do anything else. I talk and explain, and in some cases it goes in one ear and right out the other. In the other cases, it doesn't even get in the one ear.

We recently started having guests come in with online orders. Now, they could order things online for some time, they could have it delivered to the store, and they could go in and get it by showing the order to the front desk. The front desk would print up the proper picking ticket and have them pay, then send them around back. But they changed that to where the person can purchase, pay, and print everything online.

They print out the picking ticket, bring it in, and we scan it and check the order. All new, much easier, and much faster. When the new system was implemented, we received a notice with instructions and an image of what the order will look like. I pointed this out to the guards, to make sure they did not have any questions. One particular guard looked at the paper, the image, and said, "Oh, I've had lots of them."

I smiled and said, "Really?"

She confirmed with a nod and told me she gets them all the time. I said, "That's funny, since it says right here they are just starting this and it will become available the first day of March."

I then went to the calendar and looked, pointed and asked, isn't it still February? Of course she would not admit that she was wrong, she just said that she seen something similar, if it wasn't online orders, it must be something else. Like a little kid who knows it all and refuses to acknowledge they are mistaken.

Well, I would love to write a bit more, or to work on my story a bit and try and make my goals, but I have to go to work and baby-sit.

I'm back home and really wishing I could take a few days off to just chill and re-energize myself. It was a beautiful day, and it made work nice. Guests were in good moods, yard traffic wasn't real heavy, and everything was going fine. Key word here is, was.

A certain person showed up, to get her check and at first seemed fine. She talked to the other guard a bit, but when I came out she hushed right up. I asked her about an appointment she has for next week, but it wasn't set yet. I asked her to keep me updated, as soon as possible, so I could ensure she had the day off, if needed. I also asked her to make sure she gets something in writing from the doctor, and have him list any restrictions or special needs, so we can accommodate her at work. She began swearing and going off, complete and total hysteria.

I backed away and tried to calm her down, but that only seemed to fill her with more rage. I backed away, and they left. Unfortunately, it was too late and I had to document it and report it. The other guard was there, but claimed she did not see or hear anything. That in itself was untrue, I know she did, but does not want to get involved. How can you be a security guard and hide from responsibility?

I wrote things down and logged items. I mentioned to the guard there that it was important to log visitors, and she said she would have to ask Jason. I jumped on her, being in a bit of a bad mood now, but I apologized and walked a bit. Then went in and spoke with Jason. I still don't understand why this person has to push and resist simple instructions, but I will have to list it, too.

It's funny, and sad at the same time. I try and get them to do a better job, but they just resist, and insist on trying to ensure we will get written up and have problems. It's all in the book, but it's never been enforced. Now, they see me as the bad guy who is making them do all this.

It's a pain, but all I can do is try and lead. If they don't follow, they will get left behind.

Even so, it's difficult to have to see it, and not be able to do anything. There choice, but it's still difficult.

At least I got out of there pretty early. I had to come home, make a report and send it, but it's done and now on to relaxing and taking some down time.