The End Is Nigh

[Becks]

Sooooooo, my stint at Arby's is almost done, and I can't wait.

I won't know until tomorrow if I'm actually scheduled for the 31st, or if tomorrow will be my last day of just over 5 years of Hell.

Oh, and the remodel of the location I'm working at that they've talked about for at least 2 years is happening now. I'm rather sorry that I'll miss the end result, but dealing with the current nonsense* is beyond my current abilities.

Too bad I know I won't get even a token going away party, because they're cheap s.

*I am willing to go into ranting detail if anyone needs the entertainment.

[No Coupons 4 You]

Please go into detail.

[Trixie]

Having lived through a retail remodel, that's its own special hell right there.

[taxguykarl]

No kidding there...the only thing worse is when the remodel is a surprise.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Having lived through a retail remodel, that's its own special hell right there.

Can confirm. When the swamp last remodeled I was working anywhere from 10-12 days straight, yet never working enough to get over 40 hours in a week.

And then we ended up with a big mouse infestation at the end of it.

[Captain Neon]

Contractors have absolutely no qualms about blocking any and all doors open. It is a special hell in food manufacturing where government regulations require all doors to be closed and sealed, and contractors are told this multiple times all of the regulations required to be inside a food plant. Regardless, it became a part-time job during a remodel at a prior employer to close doors, remove boards, brooms, stones, etc., that contractors had used to allow them easier return access. Yes, pictures were taken, plant manager notified, promises made, and still they just don't care until finally they are told to pack up their tools and leave the premises due to frequent repeated violations of government regulations. We actually called the sheriff and had one guy charged with trespassing because he refused to leave.

[morgana]

*I am willing to go into ranting detail if anyone needs the entertainment.

Sounds like you might need the rant, hon. Please feel free.

[Pixelated]

Sounds like you might need the rant, hon. Please feel free.

What Morgana said.

[Aria]

Is a remodel worse than a system upgrade? Inquiring minds want to know...

[Trixie]

Remodel is worse. Ours was done during the summer. A very hot summer. Half of the store was closed off to be worked on at a time. Did I mention the hot, hot summer? For a portion of it our employee lockers were on the sales floor even though it was in a closed off section. Oh and one of the contractors hit a sprinkler with a ladder and set it off, above said lockers. There was some personal items lost, I guess people got reimbursed for it. We also never got hot water in our breakroom, but it is in the bathroom.

I've been through a register upgrade and now a photo lab upgrade. I'd take that over a remodel any day. Of course my company doesn't do anything cutting edge with technology so maybe the bugs are worked out before they install it.

[Becks]

To start off, you know it's bad when even the contractors say to employees that the place should be closed while the work is being done.

Anyhoo, they've been working on the store for nearly 2 weeks now. I'm not sure what time in the morning that they start, or what time in the evening they stop. I do know, however, that they take a smoke break that lasts from approximately 11:30 am-12:15 pm.

The lobby is torn up. There's a lovely plastic curtain separating the lobby area from the area in which we make and serve food. Yeah, there's sawdust and miscellaneous other dust forms all over EVERYTHING. It's gross. I'm glad I don't eat there. (Protips: avoid the turnovers, and always use your straws.) All they have done, that I've seen, is create a wonderful partition done in varying shades of dark brown wood.

For some reason, even though the lobby's the main focus, they tore up the floors in the whole place. I can't say that I enjoy standing on concrete and getting back spasms, but maybe someone does. I won't judge. Oh, and I hope they enjoy dealing with the oil saturated concrete when that time finally comes.

We also no longer have a bathroom, a hand washing sink, and we barely have a sink in which to do dishes. Every time I need to restock something, I get to {literally} trip over sheets of plywood.

Saws and jackhammers are used at varying times, which makes it ever so much fun to try to deal with the only customers we can deal with, in DT. Oh, and the fact that the guys are in and out through the lobby door, which opens directly into the DT lane. Fun is had by none someone, maybe.

After the first day, we actually got signs that say that the lobby is closed--DT only. Any guesses on just how many people have tried and/or actually made it into the place? Seeing what site we're on, you know the answer. Just on Thursday, we had a busload. (With that, buses are technically supposed to call ahead. Few do in actuality.) The exterior is torn up, there's minimal signage, a construction dumpster and other paraphernalia scattered about our part of the property, mind you.

And this all is just what is dealt with when I'm there (usually between 11 am and 1 or 2 pm). I can only imagine the joy of dealing with (local NFL team) nonsense, and what the closing crew has to deal with.

[Teysa]

Hmm, now that you're leaving, a call to the local health department may be in order. Not having a dedicated hand washing sink is a very bad thing. Although, I guess not having a bathroom helps mitigate the risk of noro and other nasties , but still, just ewww.

[Becks]

You'd think the DM would be on top of stuff like that, but...

You know, I haven't seen her since before I gave my notice. I think she's avoiding me.

[Food Lady]

Is a remodel worse than a system upgrade? Inquiring minds want to know...

I've been through a retail remodel and I'm currently dealing with the fallout of a major system upgrade at the cust. service job. The upgrade is much worse.
During the remodel we had to direct traffic and things were in weird places and such, and the cafe was closed for a few days, but we were still able to find things for customers and serve them in a timely manner.

But in both departments under billing at the cust. serv. job call volumes are high every day. Hold times are at an hour. I spend all day every day trying to find thousands of dollars our system has misapplied. I also spend all day apologizing. I'm not supposed to be an account manager but that's pretty much what I'm doing. I am putting out billing fires all week. Solving someone's issue takes researching, sending to a different dept. if I can't find the money, apologizing for how long that's gonna take, taking numerous steps to get a client off the collections call list, etc. But mostly the research is killing me slowly. All that copying and pasting of numbers is frying my brain. I have 2 browsers and several tabs on each. On top of that our temporary ledger is on a java session that likes to kick you out in the middle of a call. If someone just wants a copy of an invoice or contract I sing hallelujah. Those are the types of calls we're supposed to have in the future. This stuff is crazy. In the last 3 weeks our system (which I think is an evil sentient being) has:
--Double-billed invoices and pulled money from clients' credit cards. The kicker is that the second payments were rounded up to the nearest dollar just because?
--Sent out old invoices from before the system changeover, just for kicks. I had to explain to a few people that yes, they can disregard those. They waited 45 minutes to have me tell them that.
--Posted payments meant for new contracts to erroneously generated invoices on totally closed contracts.
--Kicked clients' recurring payment settings out of the online bill pay thingy so that they end up with late fees. Again, no real reason for that.
--Produced invoices with correct amounts due on the front, but with line items on the back that don't add up right. It's like the system is doing Verizon math.
--The really insane one: trade-up amounts. If you have a lease with us and want to upgrade to a better machine before the lease runs out, you can. But you still owe however many payments you agreed to when you signed. When the new contract is worked out those old payments are spread out over the term of the new contract and built into the price. Well, lately the system has been billing clients for those old amounts still owed, to the tune of several invoices a month (when you are supposed to get one every quarter). And the amounts are all over the place. You could get bills in the amounts of $19, $249, $137, and $3300 all in the same month. And I have to explain that without calling them trade-up amounts because frankly clients don't really realize they are paying off the former lease and would get upset about it. (So many of them don't seem to understand what a lease is. When they want to cancel they don't want to pay the settlement amount. They should've gotten a rental, then!)

[WishfulSpirit]

Hotel remodels are super fun too. The atrium at the Big Green E where I work is closed down and the whining about "you never told meeee" (it was on the website) and "I deserve a dis-count!" (no you don't) never ends. Though most people are surprisingly nice about it, actually. Probably because Bossman only lets them work between 10am and 5pm, when most people aren't at the hotel anyway.

We also get the people (I've had two in less than a month working there) who somehow think a "two double" suite means there are two separate bedrooms. Um, no that means two double beds. We do have 2 bedroom suites and if you'd like to cough up the $299 per night, have at it. Otherwise you shoulda read the room description better.