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I don't even know where to put this; it fits so many categories. Anyway, this has been a frustrating day. I opened cafe. I am not a morning person. I have to be there at 7:30, and I have half an hour to open. When I got there the cleaning crew was still mopping the floor. I was trying not to slide all over while opening. They used to be done by 7:00. It's getting later and later.
I managed to get mostly open, but for some reason didn't start the coffee first. I don't even know why, but I was glad I hadn't when a coworker came up wanting it before I was even open. His team takes breaks all at the same time, so I don't know why he was trying to order from the dining area while I was in the kitchen and couldn't even hear him, while the rest of his team was working. He could wait.
All the senior citizens were there today, so of course they polished off all the coffee in 10 minutes, so that when another coworker came by on her break, she couldn't get the coffee she ordered. Yeah, I should've made 4 pots, but I'm busy in the morning trying to set up food safety stuff, clean the oven, wait for machines to heat up, stock food, etc. Again, I have half--well, less than half--an hour.
On top of it, I posted before how we were running out of hand soap. I found right away that we were totally out, until I realized we have exactly one container for the rest of the weekend, and the dispenser it was in wasn't working. Management has known for a week. I work cafe all weekend. How am I gonna wash my hands 20 times an hour (only slight exaggeration) without soap?? And it has to be a special kind to prevent residue and kill germs, and what-have-you. Serious violation if we get inspected. Sometimes I wish they'd shut it down.
Also there were so many people that tried to talk to me from the dining room. I can't hear them above the running water and the fans in the machines, etc. Wait until I come to the counter! It just annoys me, as did the half-empty condiments. If someone had left me a note as to why, I would've excused that. I do my best to leave it perfect, and if I can't, I leave a note. Ugh.
But beyond all that, which is one frustrating day, we are now being shown our individual survey scores. If we get dissatisfieds, we know. I don't think it's cool to hold the cashiers responsible just because they're the last people customers see before doing the survey. Now, my coworker "Karen" is the sweetest, most helpful person with customers. She knows regulars by name. I can't imagine anyone ever calling her rude. She told me today that she was informed there were 3 really bad comments on her, but was not allowed to see them. WTH? Why even tell her, then? It probably had to do with waiting too long while she did the required customer schmooze. We're required to do so and then congratulate ourselves with little cards we write up every shift. I have coworkers who told me they straight-out make stuff up. We're graded on it for reviews, on little self-written cards.
And then there are credit aps. When I started, "Vivian" was the HR person at our store, and she was sweeter than Karen. I remember trying to thank her once for things she'd done for me by saying "I think [company] hired the right person for the job (HR)." She responded, "Yes, they certainly did." We chuckled over the fact that she meant me, the new hire. She's just like that, a real people-person. Well, HR is considered an upper manager, and they must, by company policy, be moved to another store every 2 years. She ended up half an hour north, and at some point became upper manager over the whole front end. Karen told me today that because of all the pressure about credit aps and metrics, Vivian up and quit the company after 26 years. She's got to be over 50 now, and it will be hard to get another job, but she hated it so much she had to leave.
I have no idea why Karen hasn't quit, except that she's stubborn. She could be ok with just her husband's job, but because of the stress of her son's health issues, work is a way to get away. Still, managers have done so much junk to her to get her to quit, as some didn't like her. I think she stays as a challenge to them.
Managers have been demoted. New hires get paid as much as people who have been there for a couple of years. Cashiers are being required to be salespeople and salesfloor people spend all their time as cashiers. This morning we had 2 cashiers, one of which was the person who does cash, and the other the FES, who isn't supposed to be on a register. And FES spent so much time trying to help me with the soap situation while running the front, because we no longer have a cafe manager; that doesn't exist.
No wonder people are leaving in droves.
I managed to get mostly open, but for some reason didn't start the coffee first. I don't even know why, but I was glad I hadn't when a coworker came up wanting it before I was even open. His team takes breaks all at the same time, so I don't know why he was trying to order from the dining area while I was in the kitchen and couldn't even hear him, while the rest of his team was working. He could wait.
All the senior citizens were there today, so of course they polished off all the coffee in 10 minutes, so that when another coworker came by on her break, she couldn't get the coffee she ordered. Yeah, I should've made 4 pots, but I'm busy in the morning trying to set up food safety stuff, clean the oven, wait for machines to heat up, stock food, etc. Again, I have half--well, less than half--an hour.
On top of it, I posted before how we were running out of hand soap. I found right away that we were totally out, until I realized we have exactly one container for the rest of the weekend, and the dispenser it was in wasn't working. Management has known for a week. I work cafe all weekend. How am I gonna wash my hands 20 times an hour (only slight exaggeration) without soap?? And it has to be a special kind to prevent residue and kill germs, and what-have-you. Serious violation if we get inspected. Sometimes I wish they'd shut it down.
Also there were so many people that tried to talk to me from the dining room. I can't hear them above the running water and the fans in the machines, etc. Wait until I come to the counter! It just annoys me, as did the half-empty condiments. If someone had left me a note as to why, I would've excused that. I do my best to leave it perfect, and if I can't, I leave a note. Ugh.
But beyond all that, which is one frustrating day, we are now being shown our individual survey scores. If we get dissatisfieds, we know. I don't think it's cool to hold the cashiers responsible just because they're the last people customers see before doing the survey. Now, my coworker "Karen" is the sweetest, most helpful person with customers. She knows regulars by name. I can't imagine anyone ever calling her rude. She told me today that she was informed there were 3 really bad comments on her, but was not allowed to see them. WTH? Why even tell her, then? It probably had to do with waiting too long while she did the required customer schmooze. We're required to do so and then congratulate ourselves with little cards we write up every shift. I have coworkers who told me they straight-out make stuff up. We're graded on it for reviews, on little self-written cards.
And then there are credit aps. When I started, "Vivian" was the HR person at our store, and she was sweeter than Karen. I remember trying to thank her once for things she'd done for me by saying "I think [company] hired the right person for the job (HR)." She responded, "Yes, they certainly did." We chuckled over the fact that she meant me, the new hire. She's just like that, a real people-person. Well, HR is considered an upper manager, and they must, by company policy, be moved to another store every 2 years. She ended up half an hour north, and at some point became upper manager over the whole front end. Karen told me today that because of all the pressure about credit aps and metrics, Vivian up and quit the company after 26 years. She's got to be over 50 now, and it will be hard to get another job, but she hated it so much she had to leave.
I have no idea why Karen hasn't quit, except that she's stubborn. She could be ok with just her husband's job, but because of the stress of her son's health issues, work is a way to get away. Still, managers have done so much junk to her to get her to quit, as some didn't like her. I think she stays as a challenge to them.
Managers have been demoted. New hires get paid as much as people who have been there for a couple of years. Cashiers are being required to be salespeople and salesfloor people spend all their time as cashiers. This morning we had 2 cashiers, one of which was the person who does cash, and the other the FES, who isn't supposed to be on a register. And FES spent so much time trying to help me with the soap situation while running the front, because we no longer have a cafe manager; that doesn't exist.
No wonder people are leaving in droves.
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