History, Part 2

As our story continues, in between this woman, "big D," and this next piece of work, there were a few other department managers. None worthy of note, mostly because they didn't last long, and because I didn't have problems with them, other than the usual run-of-the-mill stuff you expect when you work with other people.

Our focus turns to the lovely thing they gave me next.

She seemed okay, when she was parttime and working on the floor. But then she became department manager. And she apparently did what most women do when they get to be management: she worried most about authority, never mind being able to do the job(s) at hand.

She couldn't do a schedule. Not even the break board, which is the daily accounting of who is to be where and when they are to be there. It's not hard--from 7am to 9pm certain places need to have bodies present, and those bodies are given, at the mercy of the company and you, breaks.

One of her first big moves was way back when department managers were still salary employees. In other words, department managers were expected to stay, even *gasp* past their scheduled quitting time, if there was a hole that needed filled, or a problem that needed solved.

Again, we're approaching Thanksgiving, and I'm outside at the garden register. My Sweetie had called me around 4pm to let me know he was on his way home, and he could go get the Howler from daycare. I said it had been a pretty easy day, and last I checked, I'd be out on time. It was a Wednesday, because day care closed at 5pm. So, with a end time of 4:30, I'd have just enough time to make it to get her without being charge a bajillion dollars per minute past 5pm.

As I said, it was right before the holiday, and traffic was bad, even in our podunk city, and he'd have to come across town to get her. I was already there, and it shouldn't be a problem.

Fearless Leader, as she came to be known at my house, had other arrangements made. I'd already told her I needed to be out on time, because of the day care closing time. It's now 4:35pm and I gots no coverage. I need to go! I call Fearless Leader and she says my coverage is on it's way. At 4:45pm, I still gots no coverage. I call her again, and she says, "Oh, your coverage is a no-show, and I didn't know." I tell her I now have 15 minutes to get the out of the store and get to day care, while not far away, with traffic already heavy before the holiday, I'm never gonna make it.

I call my Sweetie, explain it to him, and wait. At 4:50pm, I call Fearless Leader again. Guess who, salary and all, punched out and left? Yeppers. I asked if she had called to find coverage for me before she left. I was asked, "Coverage? For what?"

To say I was steaming mad is an understatement.

I called the Manager on Duty, and began swearing like an angry & insane dock worker. Coverage finally shows.

I left that night, so mad I could barely see. She was salary! It was suggested to me that I talk with our latest store manager, a man who'd been with us only since June or July. Uh, no. I need to keep my job.

I documented and bit my tongue.

Fearless Leader never seemed to grasp the finer points of reading a schedule, let alone actually making one. She managed on nearly every occasion, to schedule me for the time I had approved time off requests for. She managed to be always giving dirty looks, snotty answers, and shortened lunches. She couldn't grasp the concept that if I was scheduled for 7 hours of work, it meant I had an hour lunch. No matter how many times she had it explained to her. She pulled the same "no coverage" trick for me with bathroom breaks. She also liked to stack my breaks up--in an 8 hour shift, I would have my 15 minute break, my hour break, and my 2nd 15 minute break all within 3 hours. And then she'd tell me if I didn't take them as she had 'em, then I could go without.

She also liked to tell me to do things that could potentially get me fired. She also liked to send people home at close--if they were scheduled to work till :45 past the hour and I was scheduled to work until the :30 past the hour, they'd go home first. She'd send droves of cashiers out the doors and tell me I had to go help flat stack lumber or some other crummy job. I would tell her, "Okay, send a couple cashiers with me." and she'd tell me to "just go home" in a disgusted tone. In other words, she'd want me--specifically me--to go to crap work no one was asking cashiers to do, but send everyone else home. She'd pack up and leave too. And there I'd be. Just me. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not playing the "female" card here, but I do take issue with someone singling me out and demanding that I be the only casher who was going to go do those things. She'd even send the guy cashiers and loaders out the door, so it wasn't a gender thing, it was a Mumple thing.

I have no idea how I ended up on her shit list, except that she, like the other one before her, figured out pretty quickly that store-level managers would walk past her to have me handle something--customer complaint or fix a transaction, or whatever. She probably also noticed that I had the respect of managers and co-workers alike. I didn't care if they didn't like me, it only mattered that they treated me with the respect I have earned.

Anyway, she also liked to play with schedule. Once, I had no less than 4 schedules--the one posted, the one she had, the one she gave me, and the one she used to do the break boards. She expected me (no lie!) to follow whichever one struck her fancy that day. Like I could read minds. Yeah, right. She also liked to play 'round with my schedule. If I had a requested day or time off, she'd wait until I was in the middle of a transaction (drawer open, customer yapping, etc) and need an answer right this second on whether or not I could change my schedule. I learned quickly to tell her that HER needing to know this second wasn't going to get answered unless she could wait. Even then, she'd tell me one thing, then write down another. So, I got to the point where I wouldn't agree to change my schedule for any reason. Not for her, anyway. She'd keep coming and asking, and God help me if I needed a change for any reason. God! that was the end of the freaking world! But she'd tell me to write it down, and then she'd screw it up.

She quit asking me to change my schedule when I started telling her SHE needed to write it down (faint fake smile, "I know I'll just write it down wrong") and then tell her that she needed to date it and sign it. Boy, she didn't like that one! But she started not fucking it up.

Then she decided to go back to the ol' weekly schedule. She ignored my time off requests, and she ignored my availability for a year. A WHOLE YEAR! No matter how many times I told her, no matter how many time anyone else told her. (btw, anytime the Head Cheese or Frodo would try to talk to her, she'd CRY, and they'd fall for it.) Finally, my vacation was due. I had time off requests for two weeks before my vacation, and for my vacation. She screwed up the time off before my vacation. I had learned to NOT go to her, and just go to Frodo. So he apparently went to her to have her fix it and since I had asked about my vacation...

She calls me, and asks me specifically about my vacation. Now, keeping in mind that she was so piss poor at doing the scheduling she had to have a special planner just for time off requests and availability (not just mine.) I can't tell you how many times she tried to tell me that if it wasn't in her book, I wasn't going to get it. I can't tell you how many times I carried those approved sheets with me for just such an occasion. I clarify my vacation for her. When that schedule came out, I wrote it down and put it on my calendar at home, then didn't think about it.

We left, of course, to visit the in laws for our vacation. I came home early because I had also planned to have the Toad's senior portraits done that week. I looked at the calendar when I got home and realized there was a mistake somewhere. Asssuming that it was my mistake, I head to the store to get my schedule copied down correctly. I didn't copy it wrong, I really was on the schedule to work that weekend. I stomped to the front desk, asked the MOD to get the time off request folder, checked that they did, indeed, have those nifty little papers. They did. I was taken off those days.

I waited, and the crap continued. Every time I thwarted her, she got pissy with me. Every time, I kept my ranting to one person--the Go-To Guy, aka Frodo. He was relatively useless. He inspired a good many rants here, too.

Finally, the day came when I could bear it no longer. She screwed up my availability AGAIN. I told her the schedule was wrong, she naturally got pissy with me. She also stated, "I did not know that." and I, of course, at my limit, snapped, "I've told you myself EVERY MONTH for a YEAR. Why don't you know it?"

Ah. She went to the HR person and asked about my availability. HR didn't check the right one, and told her, "No, that's not there." I went and checked with HR myself. HR did check the correct one that time, and let her know. I spilled my guts to HR at that point. She asked if I had all of this written down, knowing full well that I did. When I got back to my register, there was a pissy little note from Fearless Leader about my availability. Ah.

So, in the end, my documenting this insanity has gotten me a few things: my sanity. I can think there's a pattern, but until I actually write it out, I just THINK there's one. Writing it out lets OTHERS see it as well. It's also saved my job.

Whenever things get ugly, I've got dates, times, and my penchant for writing has also allowed me to remember and write down what's said.

It's also allowed me to learn from my own mistakes--I learned the first time to go to one (possibly two) managers each and every time. Even if I have to wait until I can. To approach the situation from the POV of "What am I doing that's adding to this problem?" It helps cover my own behind, but it also doesn't scream that I'm looking for a fight.

Fearless Leader is also the one who wanted to ring out her own purchases on my log in. She just don't learn.

Lately though, I'm getting a low-grade vibe from another woman manager. Like she just can't quite bring herself to treat me totally with respect, but she can't quite bring herself into an all-out problem with me. I could really do without her snippy tone, and her telling me off when there's a problem with my schedule, like availability, or if something comes up like the Howler's musical thing and the first grade conferences. If I could convince the school to give me a month's notice, I'm sure nobody would approve those time off requests right now, anyway. But that's a different story, and since it's not even close to having an ending yet, you'll have to wait on it.

Oh, and the purpose of this? The cumulative effect of all this? I'm hyper sensitive to break and scheduling snafus. I'm hyper sensitive to whenever my end of shift needs aren't met. I'm hyper sensitive to pissy attitude and snotty comments from women managers.

And for the record, I'm not "sharp," "rough," or "mean" like I've been told I am. I'm actually quite mellow and easy going now. The fact that I find most people to be insufferably boring and stupid is not my fault--most people I work with are insufferably boring and stupid.

I wish I was allowed to wear a huge button that read, "I wouldn't be so mean if you weren't so stupid."

I'll also give a dollar to anyone who comes up with a plausible theory for why these women seem to glom onto me this way.