Venting

Okay. Time to vent about work. I really do enjoy retail, but an on-going situation has me genuinely and truly pissed. I've been a cashier supervisor for about a year now. There are supposed to be FOUR cashier supervisors, but for most of the year, our store has run on three. People at my level are supposed to have one set day off a week and every other weekend, barring, of course, the 6 weeks between Thanksgiving and the middle of January, which is the busy season. Having only three cashier supervisors, however, means that you average one weekend off a month and you mostly have the same day off every week but don't count on it. Mind you, this has gone on for about a year. Having struggled through the holidays with a fourth cashier supervisor who was WORTHLESS (and who was terminated at the end of her 90 day probationary period, thank God!), my two other peers and I figured we could bear down and hold out until the new fourth cashier supervisor started next week.

Here's the kicker. She's not coming. She was an internal transfer that allegedly already knew the position. Turns out that supposedly due to some personal stuff, she has taken another position at her current store and isn't coming to our store. AAARRGGHHHHH!!!!! This has led to schedule changes in the next two weeks that are hell. Hellfire.

I think we are having a meeting on Monday. Now that I am over the initial thoroughly pissed stage, what really bugs me is the feeling that our willingness to be responsible and step up to the plate to do what needs doing is being taken for granted. It's presumed we'll cover shifts. Well, we're about to collectively stop being so darn nice about it.

Now I am off for the weekend. I've walked, fed and snuggled Dogzilla. Dogs always make you feel better. There really is no one else in the whole world who's ever run around the living room because they are so excited to see me.

How I Spent My Day Off

I really de-stressed yesterday. First, I slept until I wasn't tired. That still meant I was up by 8. I had breakfast and played on the internet. I did some yoga, just to stretch things out. I did up the dishes, including unloading the dishwasher and reloading it. I read more of the book I am working on "Yellow Fever, Black Goddess", which is about the co-evolution of people and plagues. I did some cooking. Cooking is something I really enjoy and it really is relaxing to me. It's the cleaning up that is hard! I made pasta with peas and ham, which is a variant of a dish I got off a PBS fund-raiser show. You cook 8 oz. of small shaped pasta, like shells or elbows. While it is cooking, you saute a little garlic and onion in some olive oil till soft but not brown, and then add about a cup of frozen peas, lots of black pepper and sprinkle of salt. I added some diced cooked ham at this point, but it wasn't in the original recipe. Anyhow, after the peas, you put in about 1 1/2 cups chicken broth and let it simmer. Take the cooked pasta out of the cooking water and add it to the peas, etc. If it is too dry, add a couple spoons of the pasta cooking water. Then stir in a tablespoon of butter and some grated Parmesan cheese. Adjust the seasonings if necessary. Serve with additional grated Parmesan if you want. I had it for lunch yesterday, and I've got leftovers for lunches for about 3 days now. I also made up some granola. I used Alton Brown's recipe with some modifications of my own. I didn't have cashews, so I substituted walnuts, and I used a mixture of dried raisins (golden and regular), chopped dates, craisins, apricots (I chopped about 4 halves), and cherries instead of the cup of raisins. I also added a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice to the mixture before sticking it in the oven. I am not sure about the serving size given with the recipe, though. Six servings????? That's a lot of granola at one sitting. I don't eat a cup of granola at one shot. So I am dividing it into 24 1/4 cup servings. I am putting it with some yogurt for breakfasts. I had some last night sprinkled over a serving of passionfruit sorbet. Yum!

For dinner, I broiled some turbot from Trader Joes and did some pea pods. A glass of lowfat chocolate milk rounded things out. I watched some TV and read a bit more. Turned in around 10 and stayed in bed till a bit after 6 this morning. Now I'm doing a load of light clothes before heading into work this afternoon. I'll need to get my suitcase packed as I plan to head north to Dad and Dogzilla after work tomorrow. We're taking Dogzilla to the V-E-T on Sat. a.m., and I am getting my hair cut in the afternoon. I made an appointment with my ex-sister-in-law, and I'm looking forward to doing something with my hair. I think it has been 3 years since I did anything with it! Tired of long and shaggy!

I think I'll go have a little more coffee.......

And how was YOUR day?

Okay, so today is my day off. Woohoo! Sitting here sipping coffee and blogging. Ahh......

Now yesterday was the kind of day that makes you look forward to time off. I was closing. Like I'd done 5 of the six days I'd worked since my last day off. That already made it tough. I don't mind closing as much as some of my peers, but anything over 3 days worth gets old. I go in and the person I am relieving tells me that my service desk, the operator and one of my closing cashiers has called off. ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!! Worst case scenario, I was down to two cashiers for the evening. And then there was the raccoon in the trash can outside. He wasn't well. Except for his tail and his face, all his fur had fallen off and he was skinny. Animal control had been called. They said to call the police, who said to call animal control. Orkin had to talk to the game warden to trap the wee beastie and we were waiting for that. So, due to bureaucratic inertia, there was a potentially rabid racoon peering out of the trash can everytime someone went into the store. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

Now, as it turned out, things went much better than anticipated. One of the 30 people we called did come in to work until close. One of the girls on the sales floor said she could cover the operator shift and zone up the area around it. The photo lab person covered the service desk. And, we were not busy. Whew! Had a little burst between 6-8:30, but that was also when I needed to get people on breaks. I am glad I have such a good relationship with the sales floor, so they come a-runnin' when I call them usually, and last night was no exception.

But I am still glad that today is my day off!!!! The dog in the picture is NOT Dogzilla, but it is the sort of thing that would happen to him, I am sure. Not that he'd ever let a raccoon get that close to him.........