eh…
new colleague came up to me:
“so, what’s your real name?”
“excuse me? O.o”
“i mean, it can’t be cheryl right?”
“why not?”
“you are not white enough for it.”
“uhm… you don’t need to be white enough to be a christian. please go re-educate yourself thanks.”
why is it that idiots get hired for the job, and go to uni?
karma is a bitch
those 2 bitches strive to discredit me everyday. it sucks, it blows, and they sought to make it personal, and drain the soul out of me. i can try to fight, but man, it’s been a big damn fight that’s dragged on and on. so let’s win the little fights. so they didn’t do their jobs, i can finish it better than them. hah. so they yell at me for being a “fucking bitch” - but they still can’t get the stuff they need through me. hah!now, they can’t even hang around the till because only *I* and a couple of other staffs can. hahaha!
3 weeks ago, my boss hired his friend to come help him “manage” the restaurant while he’s busy commuting to and from Sydney to sort out some personal problems, as well as to handle the silly season with a capable and mature head. his friend, Gary, is a nice little soul. he’s worked in hospitality for ages, and know what he’s doing. Sans the menu and how the food should look, he definitely knows how to do everything else.
part of his other job scope here, was to retrain lazy fuck manager, and to ensure i am up to par as well (since this is my first leadership role job). at the end of the night/week, they have a couple of beers while discussing about business.
as usual, dumb bitches tried to suck his balls up, while i grimace in a corner. Gary tells me to be assertive - to which they respond with claws and absolute refusals to do what is ask of them by me - because “the old mel is so much better, why can’t you do your job”.
and then, while i strive to do what’s asked of me, i also have a tendency to forget little bits here and there. for the first time in my whole career there, i forgot to clean up the main waitress station. They came in the next day, and called up Gary in a massive bitch session that resulted in him saying to just “leave it and he will come do it”.
That ended with him calling CC into the office, where he ripped her a new asshole. she was told that she was petty, that of everyone on the floor, if he had to write up all the imperfections of everyone, she had fill up a whole book by herself.
being the smarter of the 2, she kind of got the message and then went about her ways quietly for the last 2 days. it was scary - she just suddenly turned docile. it was like she got smacked in the face with the reality that she’s not that special and well loved as she thought.
with Dumber, that was a little harder. a newbie took orders in her section because she was busy chatting in their “special corner”. Gary suggested the newbie take those orders anyways, because a customer should not be waiting for us. when dumber realised, she tried to run over and grab the orders, but was too late. so she stomped up behind newbie, and yelled “THIS SUCKS!” infront of Gary and me.
this little altercation soon climaxed to her going, “i don’t want to argue with you. if you don’t want me to work here, you can just tell me not to work here” (in all that broken engrish, she meant if he has the balls to fire her, fire her.) so Gary tried to take her “outside” again, but she ignored him 3 times.
and then, the massive “slap in the face” began, of which, somehow all that happened then was my fault AGAIN. and then she had a shock of her life when her new asshole was ripped…
because, you know, for 2 weeks now…
…
…
…
…
i have the power to fire them
need some air
so tonight, was a shit night. i like how i blog about shit nights now, it’s great for venting stuff off my chest.
i don’t get those 2 bitches, what do they hope to achieve from this job? what do they want from me?
2 weeks now, they have been doing the floor roster on days that they work in the day. these 2 weeks too, they have chucked themselves on the laziest sections, but have also asked other people to do it for them to the point where all they are doing the whole night is either stand at the front or back of the house, and yap or smile at their images in the mirror.
i don’t mind them putting me in busy sections. i love it. at the same time too, in my current role, i can’t afford them doing shit all the whole night. you’re never going to have happy, satisfied employees all the time, but when you let them watch assholes get away with being lazy cunts, you’re going to breed more assholes.
the worst thing is, i had to train someone new tonight who had no “initiative” common sense. so i literally had to watch her from a corner. when suggested that one of the 2 bitches switch sections with me, they started yelling bloody murder. one utterly ignores me, while the other decided to “teach me how to be a supervisor”.
“if you want to be a supervisor, you got to learn to run a section and be able to train a new one at the same time. last time, mel could do it and she was all right. i don’t mind helping you, but not all the whole section.”
“uhm, if i am going to be supervisor, i will do it my way, not yours.”
“then if i don’t want to help you, that’s my way and my choice.”
you mean, omg, asking you to work is your choice? why do you come to work then? eh.
and talking about the old Mel. while i was trying to come up with a slightly better idea of training people, i decided to ask the staff that trained under Mel’s wonderful 8 step program how i could better it. to my utter shock and horror - they were never really trained. just chucked a menu, told what to do with it and the sections, and then abandoned.
and that was the extent of her “training”. with people with hospitality background, or good common sense, her lack of training was totally hidden. it was with the inexperienced that it was glaring - and that’s where Kara showed up.
infront of the old staff and people she knew and respected her though, i decided not to say anything. she no longer works with us and there’s no point in being a bitch behind her. perhaps she had her reasons.
but when i was slugged tonight by Vi, i wondered how much she really knew of everyone that worked here. it shows her “intelligence”, and shows alot of her mentality. i kept quiet still though, and watched as she left me.
she didn’t think much of me as a supervisor.
she thinks she could do better than me.
she thinks mel was better than me.
and i know, i know, neither of them would ever listen to me.
carefactor?
ZERO.
it just bites a little, that they cared to suggest to the acting manager i DIDN’T WANT TO DO MY SECTION. when tonight, they were the ones that 1) didn’t want to do a busy section and 2) didn’t want to do their sections when it looked like it was getting busy. that i wasn’t good because, omg, i didn’t fit the Mel image.
The acting manager was funny though. i am sure boss had say something to him about our “great” relationship, and what he thinks of those 2. instead of taking their sides though, and doing absolutely nothing, he dragged Vi out and gave her a talking to. she stomped back in, and said everyone’s fucked up and sulked the whole night till…
i sent her home for being useless.
HAHAHAHAHA
sounds real bitchy but damn, that felt good.
especially after how she smirked and said, “boss won’t ever send me home” on saturday.
damn i am getting evil.
an inspirational weekend
it’s been a long weekend, and i guess grabbing a kitten is like a reward to myself heh :p she’s quite entertaining to watch, not to mention that fudge and her have had about 3 stand-offs now. sad to say, in this relationship, she definitely wears the pants haha.
one of the few things i strive to do when i took over the supervisory role, was to be better than the ones before me. sure, i may not be there permanently, and that’s not quite my dream career, but in my role as a supervisor, i recognized that people look up to me, or will choose to do so. admittedly, there’s a huge part of my personality that needs fine tuning, but if i can’t be true to myself how can i be honest with others, no?
i picked up a few books on management while at borders a few months ago, just for general knowledge. when you have set down and read the papers, wondering what you can do after you have graduated, you can get overwhelmed. i know i did. i got scared. i have never been in a role to “manage” people, take on so much responsibility.. can i do it?
the drawbacks of having worked in part-time jobs for so long are that i have just grown so used to being a peon. manage meetings? organised trips? what’s that? sure, i have done minor projects here and there. long term ones? with major consequences to them should i fail? i have done only one, of which there was no easy way for me to check on on a regular basis.
at the end of the day, this is perhaps one of the best training grounds i can get on how to be a better people-manager than i was before. a good place to trial and error what i learnt in school but cannot be used practically (if i ain’t holding a job).
so here’s what i picked up:
I know i mentioned this eons ago, but this is still a great book for reading upon. there are many things that i can’t do in my still-pretty-lack-luster position, but there’s also many things i can do - thanks to some of the suggestions from this book. i can choose to walk away, i can choose to fight a big losing battle OR i can fight and win the smaller battles. for example, for now, i can NOT get rid of the 2 bitches, but instead of letting them get to me too often and thereby ruining my health and life at work, i CAN live with the other people instead. because they have pretty much excluded themselves from everyone, there’s nothing more or less i can do to be either a part of them or push them into the team.
that’s something they have to choose, and they have to do on their own.
These 2 books though, gave me a real good basic idea of what i should be, how i should be and how to get there. i have always been a real blunt person, and someone who rides on the words my anger will choose. it’s not a big “woo— saaaa” event, but more of “you’re someone now, don’t ruin another person.”
one of the running themes they kept pushing were that, “managers should inspire people, not disrespect them or cower them into a corner”. it’s not in as many words, but you get the idea.
when i first returned from my 2 months hiatus (or run away from the unpleasant-ness that was work), there was a new girl there whom i have not met and whom have not met me. let’s call her kara. She was the friend of one of the girls’ working there, have a very pleasant attitude and just a general “too nice of a girl” thing.
The problem with Kara probably lied with her initial training. but as a shy person, she also lacked a bunch of confidence to walk up to customers, talk to them casually the way seasoned waitresses do, and ask the right questions. this resulted in big errors weekend after weekend, resulting in a huge yelling from the boss and her being permanently chucked into a position where she wasn’t allowed to even try and get better.
what irked me about her initially is how she seemed like she didn’t care whenever she makes mistakes. but one day, before reading the books, i told her something in anger and desperation - in 3 weeks, she has to up her act or she will stay a food and clearing person the rest of her life there. every mistake she makes, she has to tell me, and while i will sort it out, i will also make sure she isn’t repeating them.
while her face was still smiling, because i was close to her, i saw the light in her eyes went out. at that moment, i would have given anything to take back my words. and then i went home. and then i started reading the books i neglected those months back when i first bought them.
one of the case stories they have in it, talked about how excellent managers inspire people. it wasn’t quite “here you CAN do this, now go” but, it was pretty much in the way they just gave someone a project, some idea how to complete it and when to get it done, and gave that person all the freedom of choosing how to get things done. and the key words here were “trust” and “freedom”. there’s of course the doors of communication and consultation that’s left open, but the managers didn’t nitpick on them, or find out where they went wrong but how they could do it the right way.
long story short, i went back, apologised to Kara and told her i was severely stressed. if she could forgive me, i really need her help this coming christmas, to train people and to manage irate and horrible customers. then, i laid out a plan, which involve sneakily moving her out of useless sections and food and clearing, to doing some busy sections once a week. and, i also casually told her, i might need to attach new people to her so they can see what kind of attitudes we need from waitresses.
“play her strengths and give her confidence.”
she walked home sunday night, happy and perky. she managed the busiest section that night with nary a problem. AND it was her 2nd night in a row that she managed a section with NO problems. not only that, she went home 50 dollars richer.
i am not saying i did all this, because a huge part of it is her, and there were many parts where she was trained by everyone else on the floor. but watching her leave that night, my heart was bursting with pride and happiness.
struggling with my inner demons…
When i was 12, my mum was as much of a bitch as she is now to me, albeit a more physically violent one than she is today. at that point, whenever she wields a cane in my face, i cower and beg for forgiveness and to please be let off, which falls on deaf ears anyways as i get whipped into a corner.
One day though, i had enough. amidst my tears and struggles to run away from being whipped into another corner, i snapped. i shoved her, took the cane, whipped her a few times before throwing it out of the window, 10 stories into the oblivion.
that was the beginning of me being physically violent towards my mum and learning to unleash, and then restrain my anger which threatens to overwhelm me many times in my life.
since i have been in australia, i found that it was so much easier to control my anger here than back home. perhaps it’s just my mum, perhaps it’s the atmosphere here, but i don’t get agitated as much.
tonight though, was different.
Table A ordered their desserts first, and Table B had something similar. Ching was attending to table B, where else Tall Boy was doing A. We have a new guy in the kitchen who was fucking slow with everything, and did everything one at a time. When Table A’s desserts came up, i handed them to Tall Boy.
Ching immediately started whining that her table should get it first, since they already have half of the docket, and i pointed out that it’s the same as Table A - they were waiting on 1 meal too so first in, first out. at the end of it, her point is *HER* table matters more than anyone else, therefore they should get it first.
she huffed at me, and then i go, “right, so fucking take something out before you walk out.” as she and her “friend” have a tendency to just take ONLY their own customers’ meals.
“fuck you cheryl, you’re a fucking idiot.”
“so are you”
“you are a fucking bitch.”
“gratz on learning a new word.”
i am so mad. so mad. i was trembling with anger, i wanted to just reach out and unleashed and just grab her head and knock it against the wall a few times. who the FUCK cares about anger management?!?! her face can do with some re-arrangement!
i am proud to say, that i held back. i ran near her a few times, i contemplated stalking her out of work so i can slam her into the wall a few times - but i didn’t. i didn’t, and my heart’s still racing when i think of her, my head’s still raging against her existence - but i can NOT, and will NOT give in to violence.
so.
how do i do this? because, i know, it’s just waiting for that one day. that ONE DAY when i will just explode at her stupidity, her princessy manner and i will go wham! and her head will meet something hard with my help.
wearing the skirt
When boss left for the night, after my last post, he basically offered me a slightly higher amount of money every time i work the shift as a supervisor. all i have to do, when acting as a supervisor was to denote the very fact on my time sheet.
i turned up on Sunday night, feeling very physically exhausted, yet still happy - it’s the end of the week! i started planning christmas presents, what to wear to Wade’s Wedding reception and whatever else that is not related to work. Then something clicked in my head, and i walked over to find Don, who was on his last night. For some reason, he mentioned he was still “doing” our pay, emailing it out to the accountants and what not once we are closed up for the night.
“hey Don, just so you know, Boss said i am being paid extra by 4 dollars per hour on Wednesday.”
“for WHAT?!?!”
being tactical, because i know Don doesn’t like women in managerial roles, and because i am not quite sure how much boss wants him to know everything, i decided to do half the truths. “he left me to manage the restaurant as his girlfriend wasn’t feeling well.”
“oh, and so? Crip’s paid the same when he had to switch into managerial role.”
[Background story: there's another guy, Crip, on the floor who have been an absolute wonder with customers. he used to be very reliable, and very efficient. Ever since he moved in with Don though, his reliability went down and his complaints about the restaurant went up. even getting a pay rise and a "part time" managerial role couldn't satiate him.
what our boss did was, since he needs managers only once or so a week, he had came to a particular arrangement with some of the people who offered to step up (sans me, since i wasn't part of that batch). he gave them a pay rise, and that was that.
i was given a pay rise, without a proper promotion. suggestions were made as to what i could do, but he never cared to enforce it because he knew i have always done the most basic stuff anyways e.g educating the newbs.]
what was i to say? i was already planning how to spend the money so i was abit ~.~ when Don gave me that look. “well, i don’t know, Boss said i could get paid more…”
“how much more?”
“4 bucks.”
“WHAT?!!? that’s not right! that means you would be paid more than Crip!”
“erm, and so?”
and then the unspoken “thing” floated between us. i know he thinks Crip’s so much better, as much as he think this new guy was so much better than any girl on the floor. because we are female. so i don’t deserve more?
even if it wasn’t about gender (but Don being Don… that’s hardly likely), the fact is i am older than Crip by a good 2 years at least, and i have worked since i was 11. that pretty much gave me enough reasons to earn more than most on the floor, Don included, especially since Don doesn’t even appear to have enough of a menu knowledge!
at the end of the conversation, plus a couple of people standing up for me, he still refused to write it in for me as part of my pay. sure, it’s a measly 20 bucks at the most, and sure, i will never have to deal with him handling my pay or treating the girls in a derogatory manner again.
but, hell as if i wouldn’t rant and rave about it.
supervising from the deep end
i have been afraid to lead, because i thought i would be a bad leader. i had anger management issues when i was younger, and sometimes they threaten to surface every few days. i cannot tell you how many times i have to restrain myself from punching the 2 bitches out, if not for being outright bitches, but also for being outright stalkers - checking my pay up, checking my hours up.
So Wednesday came along, and i held my breath in trepidation. in my hope that i would be good, if not excel at managing the restaurant, i think i freaked. my boss was meant to train me from one corner, but his missus had a mental break down, so he left me alone - with the WHOLE restaurant.
he trusted *ME* with it.
i think i fell over myself feeling honored, and then tried to keep up.
the phones wouldn’t stop ringing.
people kept coming in.
the grills broke, and they could only cook 5 steaks at a time, instead of 15.
meals wait became 40 minutes, totally unacceptable on a wednesday night with nary a soul.
i switched back into formal english (and perhaps a little “olde” english) without realising it, and customers (uni students, might i add) suddenly couldn’t understand me very well.
a table walked out, because they expected to have their meals out, and eaten within 40 mins, which was impossible with the broken grill.
one of the bitches couldn’t keep up with the pace of people.
in a span of 45 minutes, we did 100 people up our arse, and i was reeling over between managing the door, seating people down, clearing tables, resetting tables and ensuring every other customer is happy or trying to resolve the complaints.
at the end of the night, i couldn’t see the good side (trust me to find all the bad stuff in my work), and could only see that i screwed up and had someone walked out. all i could manage at that point, was hoping that my boss wouldn’t fire me on the spot.
and he thought i did well. he suggested some ways i could have handled parts of the situation, but beyond that, he thought everyone did well.
so much for freaking out. and guess what? i didn’t blew up at anyone for being stupid. hooray - one step towards being better 
rules behind supervising
so, i am now officially promoted (instead of being whispered behind the curtains) because Don QUIT. yes, he finally quit, after bragging about how he’s got offered a job here, a possibility there, he’s made it. now, there use to be some good to him. but in the months since he got the role of “store manager”, about all he manages is the air and the porn magazines in the back office.
this week will mark the last week of his existence here, and he’s gone.
so what did boss do? he came to me and complained about how no one wants to step up. by now, if no one notices, my boss doesn’t have the balls to go, “here, do this for me if not i will throw shit at you”. he complains and hints real subtly, and i usually go around pretending i am very dense.
i am not stupid, neither am i inconsiderate either. the role of being a supervisor is best for someone who can be a full timer, who is a matured and who has experience before. i am, at best, a part timer and have barely any maturity because i choose not to.
however, i am sick of him hiring crazies in desperation, and so i said i won’t mind being a part-time supervisor till he can get something tight going - with a reliable person.
so what makes a leader, a supervisor?
first up in his books - don’t talk about the 2 bitches, ever. so what did i do? but continued to work on what i read months ago in a management book - get along with all types.
i will have to say, my efforts are paying off slightly. i have discovered both girls are… really just girls who didn’t and wasn’t given the chance to grow up. as such, their world’s still pretty sheltered. every thing’s about them. in my constant, “let’s try and talk to them once a day about something not work related”, i think i broke the ice between us. for the first time since they started working here, they waved bye at me when they left for the night.
hell, i even found a common talking point - ANIME!! albeit, i need to re-learn all my animes in their chinese titles.
secondly, i guess my past experiences in retail comes in real handy. With Don gone, a whole heap of accounts, rostering and stock takes falls back on Boss’s shoulders. after a few show-and-tell, he realizes i actually know what he’s talking about, and as such, there was no need for me to learn much more beyond passwords and the Australian procedures of banking in money (throw money into the hole rather than having 3 bodyguards protect you all the way to the bank vault).
the essential skills behind supervising though, isn’t knowing how things are to be done, but being able to pull everything off subtly and deftly. i have to learn to work with all these different personalities, and also make them work together when we need them to. i have to understand that i sometimes have to be an ass for things to mesh out.
i am scared to screw up, but then again, if someone else does screw up, it is also my fault now.
the buck stops at me.
somehow, that feels strangely awesome lol!!
exams next wednesday, and i am all work. can’t wait.
snowed under
i am sorry i haven’t been around. since i “fired” someone, school’s stress level has been upped, plus since i was sick, i felt like i was out of the loop with school.
suffice to say, i still feel like shit, and it’s been a good 5 weeks or something since i fell ill. the reasoning, behind all that, was that i reacted badly to the antibiotics. it wiped my stomach clean, and i am currently pretty sensitive to everything, mostly milk. that constitutes like half of my drinks, as i love my daily hot chocolate and ice tea - not to mention the hazard of working in a restaurant where i have very easy access to great coffees.
work
It hasn’t been great, at all. when i finally was able to get back to work properly (aka being able to work the whole weekend without feeling like death has suddenly punched me in the stomach), i had a talk with boss about my intended salary that he promised.
granted i was sick for literally 4 weeks in a row, and most times, i couldn’t work a day out of the proposed 4 working days. however, i have worked there for 2 whole years now, and i would say my performance is at least 80% satisfactory and 100% all heart. why 80%? coz when i started, i was a dumb shit and had a phobia of working in hospitality.
in that little conversation, however, he pretty much said since i wasn’t there, he wouldn’t and couldn’t start me on that proposed salary - it just wasn’t going to be fair to him. i can see where he was coming from, but at the same time, the way he put it out to me (language and etc), sounds like i have to prove to him too that i can work like i “proposed” to.
excuse me, but i have been there and worked my ass off, especially last christmas season when he promptly decided he could fire just about everyone, and i could learn to handle 3 sections. i don’t see why i need to prove more to him than i already have gone over and above for him.
furthermore, when i asked him about my pay, he claimed that he already told me. and discussed it. uh, no? then he said he could put me back on the “old pay loading” - which again sounds like he’s going to lower my pay.
considering how he’s paying the bitches more now, complete with the holiday pay, i am not about to let him lower my pay.
then, 2 weeks ago, something stupid happened. i have always suspected the bitches of stealing my tips, and everyone else’s. but, i have no solid proof, and besides, since i am so obviously biased against them, few people care to believe me. so i decided to give them the benefit of doubt.
then, a customer waved me over one night, and said that they found those 2 bitches behaving suspiciously, and wanted to make sure i got my tips. see, after leaving the tab on their table, since we were short staffed, i helped to clear every section’s plates and took out meals. when customers were ready to pay, i was serving other tables too. i did get my tips, all 10 bux worth, and so i mentioned it casually to them the amount i received.
and they were like, “omg, nooo, we gave you 20! we saw her putting it into her pocket.”
trying to be nice, i approached the manager to say that there might have been a mistake, please talk to bitch1 about it. he did absolutly nothing, other than perhaps giving her a warning or something. i finally had enough, and went to ask her nicely, “a customer gave me 20 bux. you only gave me 10, is everything all right?”
and she CLAIMED she thought a customer wouldn’t tip me 20 bux, and left the cash in the till.
at the end of the night, the till was short THIRTY dollars.
and when told about that, what did boss say? “well if some girls are too lazy to attend to their customers, to go the extra step, i believe that the person at the till, who has taken the extra time out to serve their customers, should get some tips too.”
uhm. no. not when all they are doing is fucking stand at the till all night, and did no service, no cleaning.
then he shrugged, and go “what can i do? that’s their attitudes. i can’t change that.”
guess i will be job hunting soon. that’s something *I* can change.
school
i don’t really want to talk about it. but, i am stressed, seriously considering changing degrees or quitting altogether, and just taking a time out.
games
well. considering all my time at work, i have hardly time to play many games. however, i did get Tom Clancy’s Rainbow six. the sad thing? my pc’s obsolete for it. i am guessing for most new games now and in the future, my pc will be too old to play them.
i was thinking of upgrading my pc over christmas, so… friends, any presents? that would be helpful. not the whole pc, just parts of it.
meanwhile, on WoW, i finally switched servers. it’s a bittersweet experience i guess, since i have grown so fond of everyone i knew on the server, and it is going to be awkward to start all over again in terms of relationships. but logging on to chat in town…. i think i do enough of that on lineage 2 previously to not want that experience.
i don’t get it though. why ask me to join you when you will not be playing with me at all =/. having to pug even for raids just get too sad.
OH. and the crazy arse person on the server that scares the fuck out of me?
i told him i got a new boyfriend, and he went all emo. “you don’t love me anymore, so i am transferring servers.”
i never loved you before, how the fuck do i stop loving you? if you so need to get laid, i think there’s some 50cents hookers too. i mean, you’re so rich and all. i mean, wtf, fly me to tasmania so you can get a good holiday fuck? wth.
oh yes, by the way, i am definitely a chick. i only told you i was a transgender because i needed to get you off my back. unfortunately, it not only didn’t make u do what i hoped u had do, aka stop being a dumbass stalker, you seemed to grew verbally abusive. you’re absolutely mental. chicks are humans too. we are all different, we have emotions, and we think. loving to suck a cock does NOT make one a chick. ok?
further more, stop thinking you are all that great please. the reasons why your own guild don’t ask you to do much raids or anything else is because they think you aren’t that good. just because you are all decked out in purples doesn’t change that fact, so stop bullying people who are new to the game and are under geared - they are so much better than you.
oh yeah, that feels SO good.
is that even allowed?
remember, a few weeks ago, my boss said he will give me a pay rise? and then a possible other pay rise (into a salary)?
well, the 2nd pay rise didn’t happen. he kept saying he will do this and that in 2 weeks, but none of that happened and things cropped up too (his grandmother passed away, and then i was sick). however, when i got sick, i wanted to clear my holiday pay to ease up my finances abit.
let me explain this a little: when i first got into the company, there was no such thing as casual rates. perhaps, it was so that they can’t pay us penalty rates over weekends since they might be a little cheap arse, although i have no clue if it was compulsory that penalty rates are compulsory for casual rates. we were all part timers.
when our new boss took over, he tried to introduce higher, but casual rates - no mention of a penalty either. this also meant our holiday pay was cleared. it seemed, though, everyone voted out of it since at that point in time, there were many girls who worked more than enough hours to justify keeping the holiday pay. i am not quite sure how it’s calculated either, but let’s just say for my 20 hours a week, i get 1.1 hour of holiday pay.
this pay can be withdrawn in cash if we don’t use it - which is mostly what happens.
but… ever since he mentioned the pay rise, i’ve hardly checked my pay slips. i am that dumb and trusting because you know, my boss seems like a great guy.
but because i have been sick, and might be financially tight, i thought of clearing my holiday pay to ease it up. except, when i open my payslip, it reads: “rates: casual” and my holiday pay line was gone. GONE!?!? when waifie asked him where’s my holiday pay… he said i don’t get it as a casual.
furthermore, i am sure i had some holiday pay leftover from the few weeks before i got a pay rise - it seemed they were all erased.
there was no questions asked, no contract - nothing. is that even allowed!??!
i am kind of disappointed, the 2 lazy chinese bitches get paid slightly less than me (30 cents?) and still get paid holiday pay, and are going to withdraw all that for a christmas present to themselves. where else i, who slogged it out, am going to have to slog more for my own christmas present?
being sick
every time i fall sick, it feels like some form of revelation befell me. sometimes it’s about the stupidity of certain individuals, sometimes my own, sometimes both, sometimes just about the hilarity of life in general.
i am currently sick with something that feels like the reverse cycle of a flu. first, throw up. then, cough. then, runny nose. w000… something new. /sarcasm
Due to me being sick, i couldn’t work for a whole week. in my opinion, when i first felt nauseous, i still thought “SCORE! i don’t get to see dumb and dumber tonight!” but now, i wish i can get out of this hole. it’s a wonder though, what people say behind you, thinking you wouldn’t hear it.
“she’s just faking it, we all have to work.”
“yeah, she’s going out tonight or something.”
“fucking bludger.”
no, seriously, you guys said that? i mean, sure i didn’t break my leg and landed in the hospital. but guys, this is not christmas. you know, as well as everyone else i have ever worked for, if i have to, i work through my sickness. we are also in a food and beverage industry - we HANDLE FOOD! surely you don’t want to spread shit around to customers?
some people are just so retarded, eh?
Sitting at home does have it’s advantages though. i have been catching up with some friends over msn. but sometimes, it just astounds me the amount of information they are willing to tell/ask me.
guy friend, “i seem to have problems cumming recently. i cum too fast! i can’t keep my girlfriend coz of that, how?“Â —> dude…. >.> do i want to know?!!?
female friend, ” my left boob seems smaller than my right boob you know. maybe i should get it surgically done? i have already made myself double eyelids.. hehe! ” -.-;; normally, boobs are just a little bit smaller, one from the other. surgery might make the difference bigger, no?
and heaps more. i guess i love the information drawn LOL…..
finally, some news. i think, fudge’s finally toilet trained. but in the most retarded way. he’s come to realise that the entire living room is for his taking. but his hutch?
that’s his toilet.
anger management vs human management
When i was young, i had get angry real quick for no real reasons. some people attribute it to jealousy, attention-whoring, others just thought it was a phase that i will grow out of. it started with small verbal attacks on my mum, which soon escalated to physical biting, throwing and physically fighting back. it’s bad, i know, but when i raged, i forget that fighting can hurt (although there will always be a part of me that will have to tell you “she deserves it”).
which is why when i get possible leadership roles, i get real scared. i have not known how to guide, lead or request with a gentle hand, and often, i think with my heart rather than with my head. through that, i lost many a possible role as a prefect, councilor, supervisor and more. in fact, i had willingly find excuses for my bosses just so i don’t get the role.
so fast forward to now, i am asked to lead and watch over these girls at work and i fear. i don’t want to sound like a bitch, or scare some of them off because i CAN lose it at times. of course, another part of me also questions, “why can’t they just do as they are told?” it’s not a hard job, but i need cooperation and i am not getting any from certain parties and that can break the whole night.
triumphantly, my first night guiding everyone went smoothly. the second, not so. i can blame anyone and everyone, but as someone have said
1) take responsibility for mistakes
2) it’s a great quality to able to get along with anyone.
50%… i am getting there. i will get there and i will get there without hitting anyone. *pats self*
trying to be the better person… again!
i don’t think i am too sorry that i haven’t updated in like…. 12 days. i am alive, tired, exhausted, but terribly alive, so don’t worry.
It’s just been a mad cap 2 weeks or so, more so at work than at school, for after all, there’s fewer people i am emotionally attached to in class than at work. Wait, frankly, i only really know ONE person in all of my classes. so not too much excitement there either.
Tax returns came in (omg finally!) and i got bestowed with $1100. It’s a lot more than what i expected, since last year i was told i only got $2700 due to some massive error by my ex manager. So after that, and through many discussions with my colleagues, i simply assumed i was going to have about $200-$300 from tax returns. Oh, it’s still good money, i have shit loads of bills to pay, like a proper out-in-the-wild grown-up should have, it’s just wasn’t going to be enough for me to play with.
The first things i got though, was:
A proper dinner
Debt Free, Cashed up and Laughing (a book)
now, i don’t know why, but i have been buying business management books, and i already reserved another one for me to buy after i have paid all my bills and know i am debt-free. i have considered, through all these, that perhaps i should have studied business management after all. i am just so suddenly interested in it, and these days, it makes more sense than politics is. obviously, i did study business management before, just not in these details and not in such a “light reading” manner.
aside from the “No Asshole Rule” book, after reading up some other books on how to handle bitchy people, i decided to try and:
1) work less with dumb and dumber
2) care less about dumb and dumber
3) try and get along with dumb and dumber.
The first 2 is pretty easy, considering that my boss is allowing me to pick and choose whenever i want to work. The third one though, stumped me. how do i try and get along with 2 horrible personalities that i absolutly abhor? snooty, snobby, lashing out to snub me into a corner… aside from the “practical joke gone wrong” and me telling them rather sharply, because i had no time for their nonsense, to actually do their work right - i really had no clue why else they would be such assholes towards me.
Further more, because people had stand up for me and defend me, it finally blew up into them calling our boss and having him defend them against everyone. 1 for them, 0 for the rest of the company. Him saying that he will tolerate “a few of their indiscretions” because they are “my best waitresses” not only killed whatever love anyone has left for him, but also for the place. 1 girl outright quit, another was so glad she’s leaving she threw a huge party (not that she wasn’t about to, but now there was more reason for a large arse party).
So one day, Waifie pulled them aside. “why do you hate cheryl so much? what’s your problem with her?”
“we have no problem. no problem at all. she just doesn’t talk to us.”
“yeah right, you give her such a hard time every day, no wonder she doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“you are only saying that because you like her.”
oh no, it’s wrong to like someone, everyone must love dumb and dumber…
but, i read one of the books, and it said, “it’s a rare ability to get along with people of ALL types”. infact, it wasn’t one, but plenty of books really. i groan, and moan. This maybe a part-time job hey, but it’s also where i am regularly, seeing the same people regularly. Something’s gotta give so everyone’s life is so much easier. i have got to be the better person, if they won’t.
So where no one would go, i go. I had clean up the plates, *I* ask them if they want to go to parties… and.. i don’t know what they think. they have been touching me familiarly by the arm, apologising for things. they.. asked me if i wanted cake last night, and even CUT IT for me and SERVE IT UP TO ME because i won’t eat it before i finish work.
maybe i will get hit by a car today?
dancing around everything
oh wait, i haven’t updated in ages! zomg! gomenasai!
i have been real busy, school, work and what not. möe fucked me around too much, and i decided it wasn’t good enough that i was already there for like… 4 weeks? and no one still know when i was going to work, what my pay rates were like and the official stance about pay is. we are not talking about the grunts - the managers themselves had no clue. unless i complain and raise a heckle about it, i don’t get more shifts.
it is not my job to complain EVERY WEEK so i get more shifts.
i sat down with old boss. we talked out our differences, what he can do for me and what he can’t, what i expected and what my reactions will be. so i am back at old dinky place, with few benefits, slightly more pay, but with the familiar shit.
i know, i shouldn’t be back. it’s like asking for more. but after 3 places, 2 of which dick me around more than they should be considering their reputation, i rather the old familiar shit than not knowing which truck will hit my face.
it is funny though, everyone’s reaction when they know i was here to stay for good (till graduation). the bitches had been enquiring as to when i was going to leave. apparently when i was gone, they were lording over everyone. not that they are any better now, but there are some things that were, simply put, and still are MY territory. they may have fucked my manager, but unfortunately i have seniority over his little ass. i can walk out whenever i want, and i can have shifts whenever i like. it is only out of sheer human respect that i tell James anything.
Mel decided to quit her supervisory role, because of Don. Don and Cookie hates her to the core, and so they went out of their way to irritate and annoy her, not to mention leaving hundreds of things on her plate. i can understand why though - she was good BEFORE she became a supervisor. then, she suddenly decided she was better than everyone else. came in out of uniform, decide whenever she will be a supervisor and when she will not be. in short, she was just a more conceited version of Don.
And because old boss is really trying to improve the place, between our talks, and because of various other issues, Cook was fired. no, it’s obviously not because of me, but amongst the improvements he mentioned was Cook leaving. don’t get me wrong, i don’t hate cook to the point i wanted him gone. he’s terrible immature and full of himself sometimes, but i can handle it.
a few months ago, cook and boss had a falling out. to make long stories short, boss isn’t perfect, he made mistakes and cook called him out on it as much as boss called cook on his shit. boss said ok, he will change and he hopes cook does. 2 months down the road, cook not only stayed the same (nothing is his fault remember?), he stalked down this guy from the headquarters and complained about boss.
not only that, Don and Big Boy, another sous chef, called up headquarters and rat on boss being not around as much. Boss had his own reasons why he wasn’t around - it was personal and not anyone’s business to know really. he had to be there for his family, and the HQ had no qualms about it. infact, HQ were the first ones who suggests to boss perhaps he should fire Cook as his first choice of actions when he buys over the business.
there were many other things anyways, but boss had enough of Cook’s immaturity and manner of “sorting matters” out, which was to basically yell at boss. and so… cook’s fired.
personally though, i strongly believe cook manufactured the whole situation, but i won’t comment further on it.
and then…
i think i will eat him thanks!
a little bit of this, a little bit of that…
oh hey, school started today (for me anyways).
i meant to mention this for a while now, but it kept slipping my mind to post it on *THIS* site too. so, to make a long story short:
I kind of lost the job i had with the new restaurant in town due to the fact that i went home the week they started training.
I trialled at an italian restaurant somewhere near town.
At the same time, i trialled for one of the top restaurants in town, but… the manager was a douche (to simplify things), who couldn’t be bothered to check my resume.
I got hired by above italian restaurant.
It’s the 2nd week that i have been hired by möe restaurant. So far, when i work, it’s been a great experience. Everyone’s nice and unassuming, fully cooperative, friendly and willing to help/teach. there’s absolutly no “cookie” behavior - no one yells at each other, or hurls abuse. infact, even when the CO-OWNER was unhappy with someone, he says it in a nice, but firm manner.
the only problem i have is that the other co-owner on the floor keeps forgetting to schedule me. so even though i am in my third week soonish, i am still dancing on 2 shifts a week. i have a pile of bills to pay, so i put down my ego, called up my ex-boss, and asked for some jobs for 2 - 3 weeks.
i know, i really shouldn’t, but you know, right now, bills > what’s right. =/
I am doing international political communication, identity politics and public policies and a couple of other courses this semester (to summarise the titles anyways. they are related!) The semester looks good: i literally have half days on tuesdays and thursdays, and wednesdays ends at about 6 or so. looks real good haha.
For my first class today, it was international political communication with emma and her “cute” lecturer that she kept going on about.
and i finally realised why. our classroom is a miniature lecture room of sorts. it seats approximately 34 people. Firstly, she got lost. Then, when she finally found the room, she looked at me, and asked, “are you sure it’s this room!?!? how do you know?!?! OH MY GOD! IT’S SO CUTE! I AM HAVING IT!”
it’s like shopping with a 5 years old for a pet lol…
and you know, how powerpoint program looks while in editting mode? it looks like a normal word processor, with a page in the middle and grey sides? She was giving her presentation that way the WHOLE TIME.
finally, out of irritation at her “it looks terrible! but it looks good on the computer!”, i asked why wouldn’t she run it as a slideshow/full screen.
“what? what’s that?”
*blinks* “slideshow? powerpoint is well known for that?”
and after showing her the slideshow button, it turns out SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN TEACHING POWERPOINTS THAT WAY!
oh. my. god. rofl… and all this time, i have been itching and aching, stopping my geeky self from running to the computer and 1) clean up her entire folder, and 2) click the slideshow button.
yeps, school’s in.
been busy again
let me tell you something: it’s a relief to be able to work again. True, it takes up precious time, but hell, the last couple of months have been just one of those where i felt utterly useless. besides rushing home and attempting to do good, i felt i have done nothing else productive.
the last few days have been spent at work, doing on the job verbal training, and some interviews. When i did my trial run on tuesday, it felt terribly awkward at first. Every time, when i start in a new job, i always felt out of place, and terrified of being in the way. i know i have done this job before, to the point where it should be a no-brainer as to what i should do as a newbie. however, i do get stumped, i do become a little stupefied, and i guess that does turn some people off.
It’s like, you hired someone with such glorious experiences written all over her resume, and her TRIAL shift, she just stands there and look on. yup, that’s me.
Funnily, i believe my current assistant manager realised that it needs to be a little tight/ busy/ etc for me to truly be able to “trial”. as such, he sent a girl home when he thought it was going to be a quiet night. 30 minutes later, i believe he somewhat regretted that. The crowd on tuesday nights decided to turn up late, and all at once. we had over 100 people roaring through the doors, both for takeaways and eat-ins.
For a tuesday night, that is so NOT quiet haha… and when people came through, my adrenalin started pumping, and everything just went on auto-pilot. it’s like this beautiful rush just hit me in the guts, and i was gleaming and beaming at every guest that came through and sat down.
thank god, i thought i was going to cry of boredom too.
To cap it all off, the crew were nice, friendly and accomodating. they were really encouraging, and supportive, no matter how much mistakes i make (such as, you know, bringing the wrong food to the wrong table).
i think, the biggest present had to be… COOKIE.
!!!
i walked out the door, to serve an order of 6 coffees. And there was Cook, sitting there, giggling like a little school girl at me in the dark. i guess i can’t escape him, can i? 
and funnily, it was comforting to see his face, a familiarity in a cloud of awkwardness.
and we kept talking…
First things first. Since i quit my job, i popped by the book shop. a book that caught my eyes a few weeks ago, that i thought “nar… things aren’t that bad yet”, grabbed my eyes again. and i bought it. It’s called “the no asshole rule” and it’s by Bob Sutton. it was put under the management books section, and i highly recommend it. it will not magically change your life, or build a great world, but it’s a good start to it, trust me. it made me laugh, thought and cried. it described alot of things that happened at my old workplace - and i wish i have all the money in the world to buy the entire company a book each, and send a couple more to the headquarters for a good measure.
The second thing i want to talk about, was the things the book made me realised. although superficially, i know the effects of having assholes in the workplace (or in my case, bitches), it did not occur how hard hit i was till… i realised i have cried 3 days in a row over the “loss” of what used to be a great workplace, and.. i didn’t mention this to anyone i think.
i went to an interview a few days ago, and was instantly going off in my head about how wrong the place looks. Tables were uncleaned, there were only 2 girls on, and one was hiding at the back doing her stuff while the owner was just standing around waiting for me to arrive for an interview. Part ways through the interview, he said some things that sparked alot of it off in me, so it’s really more me than him. He started saying some stuff that Don said to me while hiring me a year and a half ago.
“we are all about teamwork, and having fun. we want you to fit in, and if your personality clashes, if anything happens, we want you to talk to us.”
i suddenly stiffened up, and acted like a douchebag for the rest of the interview. by the time i realised what i was doing, i was out of the door, trying so hard to breathe and not weep because i was so angry.
the poor guy looked and sounded genuine, but those words, those “scenario”, if you can call it that, drove me nuts.
So i went home, sat down, chat with myself (i do that often, not going crazy) and laid down the rule i will not let myself get out of control again like that. but neither am i ever letting myself be gotten to like that. ever. no asshole is EVER getting to me.
thirdly, this morning, one of the ads i applied to replied. it was a recruitment agency, that specially recruits for hospitality industry jobs. Funnily, the agency was helping to recruit for the same company i was going to interview for today. we laughed about it, i promise to mention his name and agency during the interview and i was off.
housemate mentioned that it’s probably a very good sign. companies usually give them an idea of what type of employees they want. the fact that both the actual company and agency responded to my resume signifies that i have something in there that appealed to them. Furthermore, the guy offered that if this interview fails, he will find me another job elsewhere - he’s got tonnes lined up.
The Interview:
It went better than i expected. He brought me into the still-in-works restaurant, and tried to indicate to me, amongst the mess, where everything would be. The kitchen will be open-view, so public can see what the chefs are doing, for the most part anyways. This means, i have less chances of meeting a Cookie-like personality (aka abuse at all angles), at least not infront of customers.
There will be a 3 week intensive training, whereby i will be taught wine knowledge, food knowledge, customer service (THEIR WAY), food tasting, wine tasting and etc. i was so excited i didn’t ask if i would be paid though. but if i am going for a 3 weeks training, i am expecting to be paid. if i don’t though, i am fine with it. i am gaining so much more out of their training than i ever would have if i had stayed on with my ex company.
I warned him about my international student visa limitations, and he’s fine with it. he doesn’t want to hurt my studies, and at any rate, to allow people to meld into the company, he’s starting every one on a part time basis.
with regards to the restaurant, it’s a family business. it would never be franchised, to ensure quality and keeping true to the nature of the restaurant. Which means, the people i would interact with are the ultimate bosses. They are very professional in the way the handle the business, and yet wanted things to be casual all the time. The way their restaurant is built up, it’s meant to welcome anyone and everyone. so they have a meal for almost every level of eating (if you want to put it that way).
It starts with like, a 5 dollar beer, and ends all the way up to a 500 dollar wine. you get the idea.
Uniforms are partially provided, and it’s a t-shirt <3 <3 <3. but most importantly… i am getting paid approximately 18 bux an hour (a 4 dollar difference from my ex job), with a loyalty bonus every 3rd and 6th month, with a possibility of promotion.
HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!!!!!
Despite the fact that he didn’t outrightly told me i would be hired, the way he told everything to me, the lay out, the expectations, the trainings etc, it sound like i pretty much clinched the job. he needs to clear up my references before he would officially confirm with me (YAYYYY!??!?! PLS PLS PLS).
now, the only thing that can ruin this would be 1) some people comes along with more flexible working hours than me and/or 2) i left Don as a reference and he decides to be a cunt. long story short, he can get pretty personal some times, and while this is not my fault, some chick just dumped him for another guy. so he’s not exactly in the best of moods.
wish me luck!
i got woken up this morning by the mobile going schizophrenic at me. I had a real long day yesterday, both from reading and from playing WOW with my housemate. To be honest, i am getting quite fine with the game now - i am a sucker for storylined quests. i am still not very interested in it enough to consider hardcore levelling.
At any rate, school first - and also work since i desperately needed the money.
So i tumbled out of bed, a little grumpy, and whoever it was had hung up by then. I had been hoping for some form of calls from some restaurants or something over the past week. Since it’s been so quiet though, i was not that hopeful. And then, it could be dad or boss trying to get me. not so hopeful on it being boss either.
It was a number that was unknown to me, according to my phone.
Just to be sure it wasn’t a random, i listened to the voicemail he left.
it was one of the places i wanted to work in! the irony behind this restaurant was, i just happened to read the newspapers that eventful saturday. One of the guys in the kitchen was reading the jobs classifieds infront of me just before work started that bad saturday. Flipping through, i thought how coincidental - when i walked past the new restaurant’s place in civic, i was wondering when it would open and how good the food might be. from their website though, they seem like a great lot, complete with great food and slightly more variety of food than where i was working.
and it looks like fine dining, so hopefully less immaturity and wannabes.
he wants me to go down for a face-to-face interview, as well as to show me around the almost completed restaurant. they get the keys this friday, and hopefully training should start soon. but otherwise… interviews and a sit down chat.
it sounds hopeful, but i don’t want to think i will definitely be there just yet. i mean, so many different things can happen during the interview, plus i don’t have good wine knowledge since i don’t drink at all so it’s twice as hard for me to understand the concept behind wines complementing the foods.
but i want to get this job so bad! so… wish me luck!
a few announcements
i should have updated you guys earlier, but yer i have been busy.
First off, on the job side, i had housemate gone in to talk to them right? and Boss was supposed to call. however, he didn’t call. I could call back, but i am no longer interested in the job. and to put it real bluntly, if i had mattered to him as much as he seems to make it, then he would have called right when he said he would, not a day later, not 10 days later. not ever later.
Secondly, i went to ask for a job at the franchise 15 minutes down the bus line. That’s where ex boss and ex manager is working now, and i need a job to give me the money at least, while i hunt for a job i prefer. i do have bills to pay after all.
however, it seemed that new boss had made things ugly before when Aly and Ems quit, and joined the other franchise. He accused them of poaching staffs and threatened all kinds of bullshit. Whilst this may not be true, and can be easily deflected, old boss prefers to maintain a good relationship with new boss, because they are essentially in the “family” of this franchise.
in essence, before they hire me, they want me to ask permission from new boss. I am not about to do that, it has gotten ugly before, it will get ugly again. besides, i only intend to work in 2nd franchise for a couple of months max - why get myself in the gutters over 2 months worth of work?
i took it as a sign from God that it’s time for me to move on from this franchise.
Thirdly, i haven’t received a call from any of the places i have applied to yet. i will start doing call backs in a couple of days, but i am not very hopeful. not because i am pessimistic, i just believe that a lot of the places i have applied to at the moment have been rather too busy to look at my resume. it is, after all, mothers’ day week.
Finally, this is more for shadow-chan and gang. because of all these, and other financial needs, i am unable to pay for my lineage 2 subscription at least for a while. all this time, jake’s been helping, but i really can’t expect him to pay for my stuff forever. he’s got his own commitments.
yer, so after june 2nd or something, i will be gone off l2, but i will be around!
and that’s it for now. wish me luck with jobs!
so what?
So housemate went in today, and basically helped me do a few things:
1) return his precious $20
2) tell them i am not coming back.
He sat down and have a long talk with him, and basically felt that my boss was really shocked. in my boss’s opinion, whatever i chose to do during the “Jen’s incident” was “nothing” and shouldn’t be concerning me too much, because it was “over”. It was just that he had used that incident, and some of the events i have talked about, e.g that the staff got distracted over Jen and her boyfriend’s arrival, as a catalyst to give the managers a last chance to buck up or someone will be losing their job.
with that, he went and told Don why he’s doing what he was doing, changing passwords and stuff, and told him to pass it down to the supervisors as well. and that it was “unfortunate” that over the weekend, Don was not particularly doing his job, pissed Mel off by “doing absolutly nothing over 2 hours before i arrived” and so, in a sense, she cracked on me.
in other words, i was the punching bag for 2 semi-related incidents, for 3 people (Don covered up his passwords while glaring at me) because i was easy access. although, i wish i can point out fully to him that mel’s lying. Mel had always come and whinge to me when she’s upset with something, managers or else. so, to belittle me… i would say is something else altogether. and for 2 days in a row? doing all her office politics and shit?
housemate said boss said he will call me, and try and work things out with me. he trusts me “entirely” and doesn’t want me to leave, and is willing to let me take a break and clear my head for the week, if i have to.
i am not going back. i am not quite a punching bag, understanding as i maybe.
so… life goes on
perhaps i shouldn’t have walked in, with my feelings and health still raw from saturday night. however, i have never really viewed work as a place of threat, much less pain. sure i was not fired, but the entire atmosphere has gone tight and hostile - against me.
with that, i started sunday night, a typically quiet night. Since we can hold three plates, i simply assumed that our most esteemed supervisor would be diligent enough to hold three plates. she does “forget” sometimes, or just ignore to check the pass, where else on most occassions, i would care. There were no more than 3 tables of customers at that point in time, perhaps a possible fourth, but it wouldn’t have warrant a huge need to ensure the pass is entirely clear of food.
So when the bell went off, Mel came out of the pass with one plate in her hands, and so i stood off to a side to see who i would be working with that night, to lighten my mood. Other than the pure need for money to pay rent, i didn’t even feel like i should be there.
“there IS FOOD on the PASS!” she went off at me, in a very weird attempt to keep her voice, and disgusted tone, down.
“sorry?”
“THERE IS FOOD ON THE PASS!!!!”
“oh, i assumed you took it.”
“you could have checked! don’t you know how to check?”
“hey, we can take three plates…”
“YOU DIDN’T CHECK” her face screwed up in this i-am-in-pain-coz-i-am-talking-to-an-idiot look.
something in me snapped. it’s a small matter, but she made it sound like i killed her family, and behaved as if she doesn’t already do this every single night. “i am not an idiot, mel.”
i can’t hold it in. it hurts. the behaviours, the treatments, the attitudes. i don’t deserve this. i went to the toilet, but that made me felt worse. i was so sick to the stomach from having to deal with this, to believe this. I cried, and i couldn’t stop it.
and that’s when i realised: i really can’t stay any longer, hey. They have:
1) broken all their promises to me, ranging from pay rise to a better working environment
2) used me as a punching bag because they are frustrated with the various aspects of business that failed them
3) required me to work 3 people’s job, stay on so that everyone can go out for a birthday party - with not so much as thanks or query.
4) get upset and insinuate that i lie whenever i have been sick, or fell sick.
5) pour more work on me, when i go back after taking sick leaves.
basically, they have failed and disappointed me, and here i was waiting for it to get better, when i can see that it is going the exact opposite direction.
i got up, cried a bit more, and walked out. Don asked me why, i only told him the mel incident because he is not the right person, nor was i in a good condition to talk any longer. again, he threw me his false promises of, “omg i am so pissed off with her, she’s got a lot of talking coming etc” and just started smoking his frustrations away.
Going home, lying in bed, waking up, the surreal reality of how shit the company’s been to me descended like a pile of rocks. every time i stopped doing something, i think about his last words to me, “people fuck around with (me) sometimes, you know, i just had to be sure.” and it felt like someone slapped my face or punched me in the stomach, and i dry heaved.
I don’t know why, but it felt like a break up, and felt like my heart’s been ripped into a million pieces. i feel like running and hiding, but exams are round the corner and i have got bills to pay, rent to afford.
i mean, i know, every work place has its own politics, and mine is definitely not above that. but surely, for someone like boss, i thought he was so much better than that. i thought, wow, he’s a great boss. to put your entire faith into someone’s abilities, and to be chucked into a corner like that… wow.
I have experienced this before, and i thought i never had to again, so… guess i got proven wrong again.
a “monumental” mistake
Friday night, we were not very busy. we did all right in terms of breaking even, but it was not as busy as a friday night should be, and just when it was all almost ending, Jen walked through the doors.
Jen was this girl that we had up until new year’s. In the middle of summer, she got a day job since we don’t really get paid much at the restaurant but she loved working with us. because she seemed to be getting a little proud of something, the kitchen were complaining that she was making mistakes that she had never used to do because she just assumes the kitchen can just “do it” - and being condescending towards them of course. As much shit that she gave them, you should know now, the kitchen gave as much back plus more.
I never quite knew what happened when Jen chose to quit. All i know was, she came in during lunch service one day, said she couldn’t take the abuse from the kitchen anymore and wanted to quit, and if that’s ok. I have vaguely heard about her asking for all her holiday pay, which i was not happy about since all the girls who have quit so far have gotten it, but that’s all i knew about the entire affair. i am not one to pry much with regards to that side of the business. It’s the least of my concerns, or so i thought.
So when she came in last night, i was quite glad. Despite her behaviour towards the end, Jen’s a likeable person, compared to some of the ferals we have had in the last couple of months, both as customers and as colleagues. Marie, who knew a little about her and seemed to be familiar with her boyfriend, got all ecstatic and jumped all over the place.
In course of all that, i noticed a really unhappy boss in the corner, conferring with Don and basically pointing at us at the till when Jen’s paying for her food. So i hurried Marie along, “some customers want to pay. Serve them or hurry up, marie.” I was off work already, but you know - work’s important to me, boss’s important to me. I don’t like him to be unhappy nor Marie to ignore customers.
“yes but, i need to find Mel.”
“what for?” i asked, in a quick tone to push some sense of urgency into her. Jen offered to send me home too, so it be REALLY NICE to get out of there quick.
“To do the discount things.”
now, i have my own password to give discounts, take things off because i am a senior staff, and because boss “trusts” me. Over the last couple of months, the “trust” he supposedly have in me is quite debatable, so i hold that password as a sign that he really does trust me because his actions often speak otherwise. besides that, because it’s so hard to get the managers (coz they are lazing somewhere), the supervisors only works 15 hours a week and not necessarily when i am working - it’s vital that there’s someone on the floor who can do changes when someone makes a mistake, or when cards don’t swipe and so on.
I trust Marie by now, because she’s more mature than how she behaves sometimes, and that’s a good thing. So without asking, i just gave the discounts on to the computer and we left.
Then waifie came home and told me the hell that broke loose: boss is all levels of upset with me because *I* gave them the discount and he apparently hated Jen. he *HAD* to leave early because he was so raging mad at me he was shaking.
Then the nightmare that was yesterday started. I went in early because we were doing some promotion that i was getting paid extra for. It required me to wear a real hot suit. i quickly tried to apologise to him, and explained everything to him, even though i have NO REAL CLUE how wrong, or big a mistake it was to him. seriously, his managers and supervisors give disounts to randoms (that they don’t even know!) all the time, it was something i thought he had brush off after a while. And, in comparison to alot of mistakes that have occurred, it was only 20 dollars and something that if he’s so unhappy about i could and would have paid him back.
I got railed at infront of all the staff, at how i broke his trust in me when he had left me complete independence at work and have given me so much authority and stuff and i totally ruined it for him. “why would i give someone, who basically told me to fuck off and left when i needed her the most, 20 bux worth of food?” but he was like, “it’s over now, forget it, i don’t want to talk about it anymore.” and i thought that was that.
night fell, and i finally caught on that he deleted my password - i had no more access to correcting people’s mistakes. i had to wait for Don to finish whatever he was doing to come and help me get rid of a mistake. And, Don this time took the extra step of covering up his hands when he input his password - ALL of the senior staff’s passwords have changed coz of me.
When i went to the till to sort out a bill, which is part of my job to do, i caught boss standing behind me watching and, felt like, waiting. I gave my customers their changed a moved aside for him to use the till, thinking he needed it. “oh no, i don’t need it, just that you know, some people fuck around with (me) too much and i just have to be sure.”
because i was busy, i didn’t take notice of those words until i had to sit down. By then, what felt like an asthma was coming up, fully caught up and i started thinking what i should do to get home - then realised his insinuation somehow. The hot suit had made me feel sick, and now i feel like shit, i had to emotionally feel like shit too. awesome, brain, you work at an exceedingly good speed.
Regardless, i felt it was my duty to finish my job, at least for the bookings, since it’s so busy. i felt my duties should not be hampered by my personal health, emotions or theirs. Customers are the ones that will speak for you at the end of the day, if you are being mistreated (although it lays in his hands what he does with the complaints). again, my job. so i clung on till i knew the absolute last booking i had had arrived and ordered, and then i went to ask to go home. Matt gave me an ugly look and shrug, and said i could go home, whatever.
i tried to tell her what’s happening so no one would ignore my customers, but gave the essential lowdown - they have all ordered, just be sure to bring their food out. the whole night, she’s been ignoring me, giving me a snotty real ugly look, and just basically being rude. Amidst all my explanation, she was completely looking like she don’t give a fuck, nor is she listening. grabbed my note pad out of my hands and ripped off the pages of orders that i took and walked off.
And then, after i left, she went up to waifie and said her hands are tied, mistakes occurr because THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MY SECTION. apparently, i left without saying anything to anyone.
it hurts.
and it’s because of ONE 20 dollar mistake.
someone please look at my resume and hire me.
anyone.
a few choices
Now that i have some Australian workng experience under my belt, the next move for me is going to be just that bit easier. I have worked at my present place for about a year and a half now, and considering the turnover rate, that’s a pretty good period of time in my opinion.
I have just emailed off a resume to a company that i highly wish to work in. It is not because of how good or bad i have heard the company itself is. on the contrary, it is the brand they are selling that is drawing me to it. if i get that, i think i had be in 7th heaven
However, i have to consider that i have to support myself here still. so, whilst i have already sent off ONE resume, i am going to be printing out more and walking around the mall and just handing them out. stupid printer’s ink dried up on me though /kicks.
the only thing troubling me is the location. With it being such a nice central location, i am bound to meet dumb and dumber again as my customers. while i can control myself to a certain extent, i can’t vouch that they will not be the ultimate nightmare customers. Colleagues had assured me that if they give me trouble wherever i go, they will give them twice the shit back at work.
but i really don’t want my new establishment to be tainted by their very presence. ugh.
Why the sudden rampage to look for a new job after pushing it off for so long?
i think last night was a perfect case of why i should be going. I love to work, i love to help anyone out if i can. You just have to ask me. Mel’s baby sister decided she was going to have an early birthday party. They asked everyone on the floor, except me, to go, since i don’t usually like to go out too late.
it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? i don’t get any more cheap transport after 11.
and instead of working things out with me, mel decided to just approach boss, saying that possibly everyone else is going for the party except me. between the 2 of them, and even though i was “promised” a staff to help me to close, i found myself closing alone.
and despite the fact that the party is held at Mel’s home, everyone was still hanging around after work for an hour - giggling and drinking while watching me close alone and juggling the last 2 lot of customers just because “cheryl will have no problems doing it.”
no i don’t have a problem closing. i don’t mind closing by myself if everyone had a need to go. i don’t mind bossing a manager and a boss around to help me close if i have to - if they even know the process and needs of closing themselves.
i have a BIG issue with people just taking it from granted i will just do it. that i can stay on as long as is needed - even though i already stated 11 is the last bus. That it is all right is I slog while they party infront of me just because they don’t feel like working tonight.
The party wasn’t even planned. Mel’s sister has no friends outside of work. It was a last minute thing so she could have people celebrate her birthday with her. so how important could that be?
