The long walk to the Parking Lot

I'd mentioned a while back that we had a Department Supervisor who had some serious attendance issues and that some serious steps were going to be taken.  Well, they were taken yesterday.  The single mother of two children is now unemployed.  And that sounds terrible because you only want to think of the children, and it would be if it were a bolt out of the blue.  However, if someone has repeatedly sat you down and said "you need to be on time," you can't regularly show up 40 minutes late for your shift.  If you're scheduled for 0900 you can't call in at 0845 and say "I read my schedule wrong, I'll be in at 1130."  When management sits you down to coach you once every 2 months on serious attendance issues, you should take those 'write-ups' to heart.  Being a single of mother of two doesn't give you Carte Blanche to make up your own attendance rules; rather it gives you the responsibility to make sure you are following the rules.  And, it's even worse when you frequently use those two children as an excuse for your tardiness.  You know?

Let's be honest here, we would all love to have a job where we can set our own hours and still get paid well.  Believe me, it be great if on some nice sunny, spring morning I decided to call the store and say "hey, it's beautiful out so I've decided to go for a 20 mile ride on my bike, I'll probably be in around 1100."  Well, that ain't going to happen any time soon.  If I did, I too would soon be taking that long walk to the parking lot with a pink slip in my hand.

Dealing with Splinters

And so we're moving into day two of hard core inventory prep.  I got some sleep last night, tonight I'll get little.  Not that it's all work and no play - last night there was some humor.  You see I was one of several people measuring molding since it's inventoried by the foot.  And the manager from that department was working with us and she was very gung-ho, even though she's way behind in her prep work, which means every one else is helping her catch up.  She was so serious in her ambition to get things done, saying "I'll stay until 4 in the morning if I need to," myself and two of the other managers helping her catch up just smiled to ourselves.  You see, this manager is going to be terminated.  That's right, fired.  And not just because of her shitty performance.  Nope.  She's been coached many times on her inability to show up on time.  This is a weekly occurrence.  The paperwork is already filed.  They just need to sit her down and hand her the tissues.  This is life.  It's called responsibility.  Sadly, she will not be missed, and that's a shame.
Anyway, while measuring her trim and molding last night, (now doesn't that sound kinky) I managed to get 4 splinters.

Three teeny weenie ones and one that was about not so teeny.  The kitchen manager told me I should be wearing gloves, but I pretty much shrugged off the comment.  You see, there are ways of getting rid of splinters.  Sometimes they work themselves out.  Sometimes you need to use a tweezers to provide a little incentive.  Occasionally you need to use a sharper tool.   Either way, it's not that difficult to remove them.  Like the manager who feels she can set her own schedule.  No matter what type of splinter you're dealing with, they are usually problems that are easily fixed.