Post by Charisma69 on Feb 9, 2007 1:38:06 GMT -5
Okay, now I know you're all wanting to read the ranty part of my post but I'm going to start with the cool stuff first and then go backwards.
I just bought a bunch of parts to build my very own computer. I've been wanting to do it for years and Tiger Direct had a cool barebones deal that I couldn't pass up.
I'm building it on the cheap of course so it won't be the smokin-est thing out there - but it will completely blow away my current system.
I'm so looking forward to putting it all together. I so hope I do it all right. I mean, I've installed pretty much all the parts before - with the exception of a motherboard - but not all at the same time or even in the same system.
So, the reason I was AWOL yesterday and today was partially because of work and partly because I was looking at lots of parts and comparing things. I almost bought some stuff last night but the price was just too high for me right now. Then I got an email today about a cool special that cut what I was going to be spending in half so I just had to go for it.
I'm also hoping to install Vista on the new system - but first I need to see if I can install XP on it one more time. I've used that disk several times now for different computers and I'm not sure if it'll let me install it again.
I would much prefer to buy an upgrade copy of Vista since it's so much cheaper but you have to already have XP installed on the same hard drive for it to work.
I could always clone my current hard drive but then I couldn't do a clean install.
Okay, now onto ranty bitchiness.
Yes, it's a work rant. Who would have figured it?
Most of you know how Heather has been out because of her back. Last Saturday she had to go get a pain epidural for her back. There is a risk of paralysis with an epidural so I was worried about her going. I told her to call me as soon as she left the doctor so I knew she made it through okay.
Problem was, I was at work. I kept my cell phone on me so she could call me. See, there's this nifty feature where you can have personal ring tones so you know who it is the second the phone rings.
We aren't supposed to have our cell phones on us at work. I've had mine on me since Heather got hurt in case she had an emergency. The General Manager and the Store Manage haven't said anything about me doing this. They've both seen me take a call from Heather while at work. They've also seen me keep working as I'm dealing with the phone call.
It's pretty much like answering the phone at work. You have to answer it but you also have to keep serving customers.
Also, Heather's well being is work related since she's out right now because of her back. Work needs to be updated on her progress so they know if she needs to be out longer or not.
Okay, enough background. So last Saturday I'm running for drive thru when Heather calls me. I answer the phone since I know it's her and Bonnie and Gaby both ask me what I'm doing.
I tell them, "It's Heather" which should shut them up since they know the situation.
Thing is, it doesn't. They both start yelling at me from the grill area asking me why she's calling and keep hounding me.
I'm trying to hear what Heather has to say - and run for drive through but I'm having trouble because of them.
I tell them to hang on a sec but they won't stop yelling. In the mean time they've both stopped making food. So, the orders I was getting way to slowly anyway are now coming even more slowly because they're too worried about what I'm doing to do their freakin' jobs.
I get annoyed and I actually yelled back at them, "Guys, we don't have time for this right now! I have a full screen in drive thru and on counter and I'm not getting any food." - oh, I'm already off the phone by now too.
So Bonnie's response is, "Well, you'd be able to get food if you'd get off the phone."
Like my being on the phone effects their ability to make food.
I about went over the landing zone and after her on that one - Courtney (a guy by the way) really thought I was going to.
I was doing my job. I had 5 cars parked because they weren't doing their jobs. I had a whole counter full of people waiting on food. I kept having to go back to their grill area to drop nuggets and stuff because they weren't watching the cabinet levels.
Oh, I was so angry - still very much am.
Then Bonnie says she's telling Laura - our General Manager - on me.
She's 43 freakin' years old and she's going to tell on me.
And what's even worse is our Store Manager, Tammy, was there at the time. She was off the floor of course. She's like that a whole lot lately.
I kept yelling for her to come up and help us but nobody seems to hear me yell.
Anyway, she should have been Bonnie's first choice for telling because that's the chain of command. When Tammy finally came up I told her Heather called and that she said they couldn't do the epidural. Her break was all the way across the tail-bone so the Doctor wants to do surgery instead.
Tammy obviously knew that Heather called my cell but she didn't get on to me for answering it at all. She just told me that I needed to tell Heather to call her.
The next day Heather went in to show Tammy her X-Rays so she could see for herself how bad her back is. When she went in Gaby cornered her and yelled at her for calling me at work on my cell phone. Then she told her that Bonnie called Laura and told her about it.
In the meantime I'm at home and I wake up early - sick as a dog. I threw up lots. It was awful. So I give them 6-hours notice that I'm calling in and I'm treated like I'm making it up.
So not only am I sick, but now I'm even angrier.
Today was my first day back at work. I missed Sunday and Monday because I was sick and I was already off Tuesday and Wednesday.
Last night I had trouble sleeping because I was worried about having to work with Bonnie and Gaby. I told Heather that if Laura tried yelling at me I was going to go off. I said I'd probably still tell Bonnie and Gaby off if they even looked at me wrong.
Well, Laura didn't say a word to me about it today. Not one. I didn't really think she would but you never know.
Gaby was off today so it was just Bonnie that I had to deal with.
Bonnie was nice to me in the morning though so I thought maybe things wouldn't be so bad.
Well, that changed in a big way during lunch. I put her up front this time and Courtney and I were in the back. This way we'd have food up.
Bonnie decides that we need to cut labor - in the middle of lunch rush. She wants to send all the 1:00 people home. Now, we do have to watch labor but sending people home when we could get slammed at any second is a bad idea if you don't have all your stuff done.
So I tried telling her this. That we don't need to cut our throats by sending too many people home at once. I told her that we need to make sure all the 1:00 jobs are done before we let people go.
It fell completely on deaf ears. She didn't listen to a word I said and she sent every 1:00 home before 12:30.
She even told me that I was going to finish deposit so Connie could go home. I told her that would be fine - I mean I love to get off the floor and do that - but we need to make sure things are done first and she would have to send someone back to grill to help Courtney out since that left him shorthanded and they had a break to get out in the afternoon.
She argued with me again, then sent Connie home when I hadn't counted the safe yet and took over.
See, as a security feature you have to count all the money in the safe when you take it over to make sure it has the certain amount in it. When you're in safe control you are the only manager that's allowed in it - in theory anyway.
Connie left before I took over the safe which is a huge no-no.
When I said something to Bonnie about that she said she didn't realize Laura would be upset by that. I just looked at her like she was on crack or something. That's been a rule since the dawn of time there and she very well knows that.
So, she tries rushing me back there when we're still busy and the screen is full. I told her we don't even have our 1:00 stuff done yet.
By this time Courtney is getting extremely angry. He's very upset that she's overruling us and she doesn't have the right to do that. She's the same rank as we are.
He got even more upset when he found out she was the one that was coming in the back to help him while I did deposit and charts.
While I'm doing deposit various people from the front keep coming back and venting their frustrations over the way Bonnie is acting. She's basically micromanaging the hell out of everyone and she has them all stressed out.
It's around 1:30 and she's ready to send the 2:00 people home. We don't have the 1:00 stuff done yet and she wants to send them home.
The whole store is upset by this point. She went ahead and let Tim - the lobby guy - go home without asking Jackie - who was in control of the front - if it was okay.
Courtney was apparently about ready to walk out. She was wanting to send Betty home next and they still had a break to get out up front before the 2:00 people could leave.
I ran a labor report to see where we were at and we were running 15% labor for that hour. That's really low - especially since I wasn't on the floor. That meant they were understaffed at it is so we didn't need to send anyone home.
I went up to tell Bonnie what labor was and she got all excited like it was a good thing. I tried telling her that it was too low to be sending anyone else home, especially since there were still breaks to get out and the 1:00 stuff wasn't done.
She didn't want to hear it. I tried telling her that everyone was really getting stressed out. I wanted to say - because of you - but I was trying to be diplomatic.
I went back to the back and several people came back there and told me I needed to do something about her.
Now - I don't out rank her. We didn't have a salary manager there today which ends up sucking in situations like that if someone goes all power crazy.
I knew I was going to have to do something though. Courtney and Jackie actually wanted me to send Bonnie home - even though she was off at 3:00. She was supposed to be off at 2 but Laura had asked her to stay to help cover me off the floor for charts in the afternoon - this was when Laura was at our store in the morning.
I told Betty to go up front and tell Bonnie that she (Betty) really needed her hours and to ask Bonnie if she minded going home first. I told her to say it like that so Bonnie wouldn't get mad and 'cause more of a fuss than she had already.
Well, I don't know how Betty put it to her but suddenly Bonnie came flying back and said, "So, you want me to go home?"
I told her that Betty needed her hours since she missed a few days lately and Bonnie was a high labor person so it would help labor more to send her home.
I then said, but since labor is so low for the hour and things aren't done I don't think it's a good idea to send anyone home.
Bonnie said it was fine and she'd go home. She was tired of the attitude she was getting from the grill area - that would be Courtney.
Bonnie had apparently tried to force Lorean to take her break when she wasn't ready so Courtney felt the need to stick up for her.
Bonnie really didn't like that much. Apparently they exchanged words.
Well, Bonnie left in a huff but at least it helped everyone else calm down.
I called Heather to vent and see what she thought I should do about the Bonnie situation. This is an ongoing issue with her. It really needs to stop because it's causing moral problems.
She told me to call Laura - on her cell phone - and tell her what happened. She also told me to let everyone working take a free desert home.
When I got off the phone and told them that Courtney thought I said, "Free shirt" home. I laughed at him, then Joy said that she wanted to take Courtney's shirt home.
Then everyone laughed, which totally helped break the tension.
Of course that was highly inappropriate - especially since she's in her 50's and he's only 20 - but since he didn't get offended it was okay.
I really, really hate the whole snitching on another manager thing. I always think it's better to try and resolve the problem yourself rather than resort to calling Laura. People are always calling and bugging her about stuff - like me using the cell phone.
But, I tried the nice approach with Bonnie. I tried reasoning with her. If it would have been just me with the issue I would have left it but since it was everyone working at that moment I called her and told her all the crap that happened.
Laura told me that it's not the first time she's had this complaint about Bonnie. She said Tammy was supposed to talk to her about it already but either she didn't do it or it didn't work.
She told me that she will talk to her in the morning. I'm really hoping it fixes things and doesn't make them worse.
Courtney doesn't think it'll do any good. People are wanting to look for another job largely because of her.
Hell, I'm wanting another job largely because of her. I'm so sick of this crap. I like Bonnie but working with her can really suck sometimes.
Oh, I almost forgot. When I got back from taking the deposit to the bank I had to go to the bathroom before I started charts.
OMG, lobby was a mess. All the tables were dirty, the floor was trashed, and the trash can were all completely fully.
Bonnie sent the lobby guy home early to cut labor but she didn't make sure lobby was done first. That is a huge no-no.
I had to clean lobby before I could start my charts since Jackie didn't have enough people to do that - because Bonnie sent them all home.
So, I never did get back to grill to help Courtney. By the time I finished charts it was time to go home.
Okay, it's late and I need to go to bed now. I so need a vacation.
At least I have the shiny computer stuff to look forward to. ;D
I just bought a bunch of parts to build my very own computer. I've been wanting to do it for years and Tiger Direct had a cool barebones deal that I couldn't pass up.
I'm building it on the cheap of course so it won't be the smokin-est thing out there - but it will completely blow away my current system.
I'm so looking forward to putting it all together. I so hope I do it all right. I mean, I've installed pretty much all the parts before - with the exception of a motherboard - but not all at the same time or even in the same system.
So, the reason I was AWOL yesterday and today was partially because of work and partly because I was looking at lots of parts and comparing things. I almost bought some stuff last night but the price was just too high for me right now. Then I got an email today about a cool special that cut what I was going to be spending in half so I just had to go for it.
I'm also hoping to install Vista on the new system - but first I need to see if I can install XP on it one more time. I've used that disk several times now for different computers and I'm not sure if it'll let me install it again.
I would much prefer to buy an upgrade copy of Vista since it's so much cheaper but you have to already have XP installed on the same hard drive for it to work.
I could always clone my current hard drive but then I couldn't do a clean install.
Okay, now onto ranty bitchiness.
Yes, it's a work rant. Who would have figured it?Most of you know how Heather has been out because of her back. Last Saturday she had to go get a pain epidural for her back. There is a risk of paralysis with an epidural so I was worried about her going. I told her to call me as soon as she left the doctor so I knew she made it through okay.
Problem was, I was at work. I kept my cell phone on me so she could call me. See, there's this nifty feature where you can have personal ring tones so you know who it is the second the phone rings.
We aren't supposed to have our cell phones on us at work. I've had mine on me since Heather got hurt in case she had an emergency. The General Manager and the Store Manage haven't said anything about me doing this. They've both seen me take a call from Heather while at work. They've also seen me keep working as I'm dealing with the phone call.
It's pretty much like answering the phone at work. You have to answer it but you also have to keep serving customers.
Also, Heather's well being is work related since she's out right now because of her back. Work needs to be updated on her progress so they know if she needs to be out longer or not.
Okay, enough background. So last Saturday I'm running for drive thru when Heather calls me. I answer the phone since I know it's her and Bonnie and Gaby both ask me what I'm doing.
I tell them, "It's Heather" which should shut them up since they know the situation.
Thing is, it doesn't. They both start yelling at me from the grill area asking me why she's calling and keep hounding me.
I'm trying to hear what Heather has to say - and run for drive through but I'm having trouble because of them.
I tell them to hang on a sec but they won't stop yelling. In the mean time they've both stopped making food. So, the orders I was getting way to slowly anyway are now coming even more slowly because they're too worried about what I'm doing to do their freakin' jobs.
I get annoyed and I actually yelled back at them, "Guys, we don't have time for this right now! I have a full screen in drive thru and on counter and I'm not getting any food." - oh, I'm already off the phone by now too.
So Bonnie's response is, "Well, you'd be able to get food if you'd get off the phone."
Like my being on the phone effects their ability to make food.
I about went over the landing zone and after her on that one - Courtney (a guy by the way) really thought I was going to.
I was doing my job. I had 5 cars parked because they weren't doing their jobs. I had a whole counter full of people waiting on food. I kept having to go back to their grill area to drop nuggets and stuff because they weren't watching the cabinet levels.
Oh, I was so angry - still very much am.
Then Bonnie says she's telling Laura - our General Manager - on me.
She's 43 freakin' years old and she's going to tell on me.
And what's even worse is our Store Manager, Tammy, was there at the time. She was off the floor of course. She's like that a whole lot lately.
I kept yelling for her to come up and help us but nobody seems to hear me yell.
Anyway, she should have been Bonnie's first choice for telling because that's the chain of command. When Tammy finally came up I told her Heather called and that she said they couldn't do the epidural. Her break was all the way across the tail-bone so the Doctor wants to do surgery instead.
Tammy obviously knew that Heather called my cell but she didn't get on to me for answering it at all. She just told me that I needed to tell Heather to call her.
The next day Heather went in to show Tammy her X-Rays so she could see for herself how bad her back is. When she went in Gaby cornered her and yelled at her for calling me at work on my cell phone. Then she told her that Bonnie called Laura and told her about it.
In the meantime I'm at home and I wake up early - sick as a dog. I threw up lots. It was awful. So I give them 6-hours notice that I'm calling in and I'm treated like I'm making it up.
So not only am I sick, but now I'm even angrier.
Today was my first day back at work. I missed Sunday and Monday because I was sick and I was already off Tuesday and Wednesday.
Last night I had trouble sleeping because I was worried about having to work with Bonnie and Gaby. I told Heather that if Laura tried yelling at me I was going to go off. I said I'd probably still tell Bonnie and Gaby off if they even looked at me wrong.
Well, Laura didn't say a word to me about it today. Not one. I didn't really think she would but you never know.
Gaby was off today so it was just Bonnie that I had to deal with.
Bonnie was nice to me in the morning though so I thought maybe things wouldn't be so bad.
Well, that changed in a big way during lunch. I put her up front this time and Courtney and I were in the back. This way we'd have food up.
Bonnie decides that we need to cut labor - in the middle of lunch rush. She wants to send all the 1:00 people home. Now, we do have to watch labor but sending people home when we could get slammed at any second is a bad idea if you don't have all your stuff done.
So I tried telling her this. That we don't need to cut our throats by sending too many people home at once. I told her that we need to make sure all the 1:00 jobs are done before we let people go.
It fell completely on deaf ears. She didn't listen to a word I said and she sent every 1:00 home before 12:30.
She even told me that I was going to finish deposit so Connie could go home. I told her that would be fine - I mean I love to get off the floor and do that - but we need to make sure things are done first and she would have to send someone back to grill to help Courtney out since that left him shorthanded and they had a break to get out in the afternoon.
She argued with me again, then sent Connie home when I hadn't counted the safe yet and took over.
See, as a security feature you have to count all the money in the safe when you take it over to make sure it has the certain amount in it. When you're in safe control you are the only manager that's allowed in it - in theory anyway.
Connie left before I took over the safe which is a huge no-no.
When I said something to Bonnie about that she said she didn't realize Laura would be upset by that.
I just looked at her like she was on crack or something. That's been a rule since the dawn of time there and she very well knows that.So, she tries rushing me back there when we're still busy and the screen is full. I told her we don't even have our 1:00 stuff done yet.
By this time Courtney is getting extremely angry. He's very upset that she's overruling us and she doesn't have the right to do that. She's the same rank as we are.
He got even more upset when he found out she was the one that was coming in the back to help him while I did deposit and charts.
While I'm doing deposit various people from the front keep coming back and venting their frustrations over the way Bonnie is acting. She's basically micromanaging the hell out of everyone and she has them all stressed out.
It's around 1:30 and she's ready to send the 2:00 people home. We don't have the 1:00 stuff done yet and she wants to send them home.
The whole store is upset by this point. She went ahead and let Tim - the lobby guy - go home without asking Jackie - who was in control of the front - if it was okay.
Courtney was apparently about ready to walk out. She was wanting to send Betty home next and they still had a break to get out up front before the 2:00 people could leave.
I ran a labor report to see where we were at and we were running 15% labor for that hour. That's really low - especially since I wasn't on the floor. That meant they were understaffed at it is so we didn't need to send anyone home.
I went up to tell Bonnie what labor was and she got all excited like it was a good thing. I tried telling her that it was too low to be sending anyone else home, especially since there were still breaks to get out and the 1:00 stuff wasn't done.
She didn't want to hear it. I tried telling her that everyone was really getting stressed out. I wanted to say - because of you - but I was trying to be diplomatic.
I went back to the back and several people came back there and told me I needed to do something about her.
Now - I don't out rank her. We didn't have a salary manager there today which ends up sucking in situations like that if someone goes all power crazy.
I knew I was going to have to do something though. Courtney and Jackie actually wanted me to send Bonnie home - even though she was off at 3:00. She was supposed to be off at 2 but Laura had asked her to stay to help cover me off the floor for charts in the afternoon - this was when Laura was at our store in the morning.
I told Betty to go up front and tell Bonnie that she (Betty) really needed her hours and to ask Bonnie if she minded going home first. I told her to say it like that so Bonnie wouldn't get mad and 'cause more of a fuss than she had already.
Well, I don't know how Betty put it to her but suddenly Bonnie came flying back and said, "So, you want me to go home?"
I told her that Betty needed her hours since she missed a few days lately and Bonnie was a high labor person so it would help labor more to send her home.
I then said, but since labor is so low for the hour and things aren't done I don't think it's a good idea to send anyone home.
Bonnie said it was fine and she'd go home. She was tired of the attitude she was getting from the grill area - that would be Courtney.
Bonnie had apparently tried to force Lorean to take her break when she wasn't ready so Courtney felt the need to stick up for her.
Bonnie really didn't like that much. Apparently they exchanged words.
Well, Bonnie left in a huff but at least it helped everyone else calm down.
I called Heather to vent and see what she thought I should do about the Bonnie situation. This is an ongoing issue with her. It really needs to stop because it's causing moral problems.
She told me to call Laura - on her cell phone - and tell her what happened. She also told me to let everyone working take a free desert home.
When I got off the phone and told them that Courtney thought I said, "Free shirt" home. I laughed at him, then Joy said that she wanted to take Courtney's shirt home.
Then everyone laughed, which totally helped break the tension. Of course that was highly inappropriate - especially since she's in her 50's and he's only 20 - but since he didn't get offended it was okay.
I really, really hate the whole snitching on another manager thing. I always think it's better to try and resolve the problem yourself rather than resort to calling Laura. People are always calling and bugging her about stuff - like me using the cell phone.
But, I tried the nice approach with Bonnie. I tried reasoning with her. If it would have been just me with the issue I would have left it but since it was everyone working at that moment I called her and told her all the crap that happened.
Laura told me that it's not the first time she's had this complaint about Bonnie. She said Tammy was supposed to talk to her about it already but either she didn't do it or it didn't work.
She told me that she will talk to her in the morning. I'm really hoping it fixes things and doesn't make them worse.
Courtney doesn't think it'll do any good. People are wanting to look for another job largely because of her.
Hell, I'm wanting another job largely because of her. I'm so sick of this crap. I like Bonnie but working with her can really suck sometimes.
Oh, I almost forgot. When I got back from taking the deposit to the bank I had to go to the bathroom before I started charts.
OMG, lobby was a mess. All the tables were dirty, the floor was trashed, and the trash can were all completely fully.
Bonnie sent the lobby guy home early to cut labor but she didn't make sure lobby was done first. That is a huge no-no.
I had to clean lobby before I could start my charts since Jackie didn't have enough people to do that - because Bonnie sent them all home.
So, I never did get back to grill to help Courtney. By the time I finished charts it was time to go home.
Okay, it's late and I need to go to bed now. I so need a vacation.
At least I have the shiny computer stuff to look forward to. ;D
