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Note: not all (as will be obvious) are the fault of lousy management ... this time.
1) Self-checkouts are down. Again.
2) Intra-store phones are behaving erratically. Sometimes they'll let you call a department, sometimes they won't. And sometimes you pick up the handset and get nothing at all.
3) Multiple sick call-outs, including 1 or 2 cashiers (not sure)
4) Repeated lineups due to 3). Head cashier hops onto a register DESPITE THE FACT that Alien Queen is prowling around. (Alien Queen has decreed that Head Cashier are not to be on registers, ever, no matter what)
5) Lunches are an hour or more behind.
6) One coworker took herself off for lunch (this is quite the story in itself), despite the fact she came in around 8 (I think) and I was there at 7 and thus my lunch should've been first (head cashier sent me off for my lunch anyway, with a request to let CW know that HC was none too pleased with her).
7) As I'm going up the stairs to the staff room to fetch my stuff (because I wanted to GTFO of there for lunch), I see Young Coworker sitting midway up the first set of stairs. There's a long-ish set of stairs, then a landing, then a shorter set of stairs before you get to the second floor itself. He's sitting halfway up the long-ish set. Something about him doesn't look right.
Me: "What are you doing?"
YCW: *mumbles*
Me: "What?"
YCW: *mumbles* "... high ..."
After a bit more of this, I finally get the gist of the situation.
No, it's not what you might have deduced from that one word. YCW is a diabetic who relies on insulin and apparently his sugar levels were WAAAAY out of whack.
Me: "Can I help you get up the stairs? Would water help?" (Yeah, stupid question, like water will do much of anything ... maybe fruit juice ...)
YCW: "No, I'll be okay ..." As it turned out he had given himself some insulin but it didn't seem to be doing much.
Me: "Um, if you can, you might want to move closer to the bottom of the stairs."
YCW: "Yeah ..."
All I could see was him toppling head-first down the staircase.
I got my stuff and went back down the stairs and he was still sitting there, so I reported it to everybody I could find. Alien Queen and Really Great Assistant Manager went off to deal with the situation. YCW had been insisting that he could drive, and we had all been told that we were to keep an eye on the exit doors, and if he came near them we were to tackle him and sit on him (okay, I made that part up). Actually we were supposed to go get Really Great Assistant Manager and let him deal with it. After AQ and RGAM talked to him, they somehow got him back upstairs to the staff room, from whence he called a friend to give him a lift home. When I left at 3 p.m., he looked a lot better ... but he was probably still not in good enough shape to get behind the wheel. I offered to give him a lift home and that was when he told me a friend was coming for him.
8) Second Coworker has medical issues that are not being properly dealt with. He has a doctor's note saying he cannot stand for long periods, nor lift anything heavy, nor do ... well, much of anything ... But they are continually putting him in the position of "loader" or putting him on cash ... A third coworker has received special permission to bring a stool whenever she goes on cash but for some reason this guy hasn't gotten this permission. Somebody suggested it was because Third Coworker came in with a doctor's note that SPECIFICALLY STATED that she MUST have the opportunity to sit if she's on cash. Apparently "must not stand for long periods of time" is too vague for the Powers That Be.
I know yet another coworker also brought in a doctor's note saying she's not to stand for more than 5 hours at a time (hence: SHORT SHIFTS, PLEASE) and yet they have started putting her back on 7- and 8-hour shifts.
So yeah, that was another day in Clusterfuck Central.
One bright note: I'd been scheduled for The Dead Zone (which isn't quite so dead these days, but still ....) I'd been there maybe half an hour when yet another coworker (not any of the above ones) called me on the intrastore phone (presumably before they all decided to go wonky) and asked if I'd like to trade places. Reason? She has allergies and there are massive displays of flowers right up by the front registers.
You betcha, lady. Any. Fucking. Time.
And when I got home I found a message from Big Grocery Store wanting to do a phone interview with me. I have no idea whether it'll be a better environment than Clusterfuck Central, but I'm willing to chance it. Last time I applied to one of their stores they told me that, because the stores are unionized, I would start out with only 8 hours a week. Back then I said I was hoping for more hours. Now I'm thinking "Fine by me." I have other ideas that I'd like to get moving on and this would give me both the time and incentive to do so.
1) Self-checkouts are down. Again.
2) Intra-store phones are behaving erratically. Sometimes they'll let you call a department, sometimes they won't. And sometimes you pick up the handset and get nothing at all.
3) Multiple sick call-outs, including 1 or 2 cashiers (not sure)
4) Repeated lineups due to 3). Head cashier hops onto a register DESPITE THE FACT that Alien Queen is prowling around. (Alien Queen has decreed that Head Cashier are not to be on registers, ever, no matter what)
5) Lunches are an hour or more behind.
6) One coworker took herself off for lunch (this is quite the story in itself), despite the fact she came in around 8 (I think) and I was there at 7 and thus my lunch should've been first (head cashier sent me off for my lunch anyway, with a request to let CW know that HC was none too pleased with her).
7) As I'm going up the stairs to the staff room to fetch my stuff (because I wanted to GTFO of there for lunch), I see Young Coworker sitting midway up the first set of stairs. There's a long-ish set of stairs, then a landing, then a shorter set of stairs before you get to the second floor itself. He's sitting halfway up the long-ish set. Something about him doesn't look right.
Me: "What are you doing?"
YCW: *mumbles*
Me: "What?"
YCW: *mumbles* "... high ..."
After a bit more of this, I finally get the gist of the situation.
No, it's not what you might have deduced from that one word. YCW is a diabetic who relies on insulin and apparently his sugar levels were WAAAAY out of whack.
Me: "Can I help you get up the stairs? Would water help?" (Yeah, stupid question, like water will do much of anything ... maybe fruit juice ...)
YCW: "No, I'll be okay ..." As it turned out he had given himself some insulin but it didn't seem to be doing much.
Me: "Um, if you can, you might want to move closer to the bottom of the stairs."
YCW: "Yeah ..."
All I could see was him toppling head-first down the staircase.
I got my stuff and went back down the stairs and he was still sitting there, so I reported it to everybody I could find. Alien Queen and Really Great Assistant Manager went off to deal with the situation. YCW had been insisting that he could drive, and we had all been told that we were to keep an eye on the exit doors, and if he came near them we were to tackle him and sit on him (okay, I made that part up). Actually we were supposed to go get Really Great Assistant Manager and let him deal with it. After AQ and RGAM talked to him, they somehow got him back upstairs to the staff room, from whence he called a friend to give him a lift home. When I left at 3 p.m., he looked a lot better ... but he was probably still not in good enough shape to get behind the wheel. I offered to give him a lift home and that was when he told me a friend was coming for him.
8) Second Coworker has medical issues that are not being properly dealt with. He has a doctor's note saying he cannot stand for long periods, nor lift anything heavy, nor do ... well, much of anything ... But they are continually putting him in the position of "loader" or putting him on cash ... A third coworker has received special permission to bring a stool whenever she goes on cash but for some reason this guy hasn't gotten this permission. Somebody suggested it was because Third Coworker came in with a doctor's note that SPECIFICALLY STATED that she MUST have the opportunity to sit if she's on cash. Apparently "must not stand for long periods of time" is too vague for the Powers That Be.
I know yet another coworker also brought in a doctor's note saying she's not to stand for more than 5 hours at a time (hence: SHORT SHIFTS, PLEASE) and yet they have started putting her back on 7- and 8-hour shifts.
So yeah, that was another day in Clusterfuck Central.
One bright note: I'd been scheduled for The Dead Zone (which isn't quite so dead these days, but still ....) I'd been there maybe half an hour when yet another coworker (not any of the above ones) called me on the intrastore phone (presumably before they all decided to go wonky) and asked if I'd like to trade places. Reason? She has allergies and there are massive displays of flowers right up by the front registers.
You betcha, lady. Any. Fucking. Time.
And when I got home I found a message from Big Grocery Store wanting to do a phone interview with me. I have no idea whether it'll be a better environment than Clusterfuck Central, but I'm willing to chance it. Last time I applied to one of their stores they told me that, because the stores are unionized, I would start out with only 8 hours a week. Back then I said I was hoping for more hours. Now I'm thinking "Fine by me." I have other ideas that I'd like to get moving on and this would give me both the time and incentive to do so.
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