[CupcakeDolly]

There's one person who got their job at the hotel because they're a friend of my roommate, and I told them that we were hiring. She's nice and all, but she's turned into such a pain that nobody wants to work with her anymore.

Housekeeping is a difficult job - nobody actually wants to do it, you pretty much only do it if you're desperate, which it seemed like she was, so you'd think she would handle the position with a little humility. But no. As soon as she was hired she began vying for my night laundry position, which I had already been promised months before. She began telling us what to do and how to do it when she'd only had a few days of training. After only about a week she was attempting to manipulate us into doing all of her work for her - she would work on maybe half of her assigned rooms (if even that) while taking several fifteen to thirty minute breaks in between, and then when we were done with our rooms she would tell us (not ask, TELL) that she was ready for us to come help her finish up. Now, it used to be the hotel's policy to have all of the housekeepers help each other out so that we all finished and went home at the same time, but because we ended up staying two to three hours longer after we'd done all of our work just to help her finish the bulk of her assigned rooms, that policy has since changed. Her laziness was single-handedly responsible for changing rules that had been in place for years before I'd even started working there.

Thankfully she only works on weekends now so I don't have to do housekeeping with her anymore, but because I do night laundry on weekends I now have to clean up her ridiculous messes. My suspicions about her cutting corners in the hotel turned out to be true, it seems, because I'll usually find several neatly folded sheets and towels in the dirty laundry bins (which means that she's been throwing them in there to make it seem like she switched out the dirty linens in the rooms. Gross.)

On top of all of that, my boss discovered that she had been posting nasty things about all of us on facebook WHILE SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING, which would have been automatic grounds for termination had we not needed housekeepers so badly. We're not allowed to carry our phones with us anymore because of that, which means that I don't get to listen to music while I work anymore, or... know what time it is.

So yeah. That's my thing.

[Den]

Ugh. What a jerkfaced thing to do. *sympathy hugs*

[CupcakeDolly]

-Hugs back- ^-^
I really didn't mean to rant like that. I guess it was just way past time to vent about it!

[Salone]

This person sounds like they suuuuuuuuuck.

Oh uh, Tonight's Drink, Granny's Surprise
1 ounce Sour Apple Vodka,
1 ounce Sour Apple Pucker,
Top with lemonade.


Seasonals. Hate seasonal employees. You train 'em, you invest in 'em, and they ditch you on the one day of the year you brought them on for. I had a girl do that to me at Gamestop, back in the day. I ended up working a Black Friday open to close because of her. It was that day that I died on the inside.

[CupcakeDolly]

I did seasonal jobs two years in a row. Luckily I wasn't brought on during the morning hours of black friday for either one, but I also think that was partially the reason I was let go from both positions. I'm positive that I could have proven how valuable I was if they'd seen how awesome I do under that much pressure.

[Salone]

That's odd. That's usually when we want them there. Black Friday is when you decide if a seasonal is worth hanging on to and they get to cut their teeth on a hell week. Really surprised you weren't brought on for it!

[Den]

I did the seasonal thing from October of last year to early January this year. Black Friday suuuuuuucked. 'Course it sucked working in a call center for Toys R Us, too, but on the sales floor itself? Nine new layers of hell.

Reason I quit at the store, even though I liked working there (t'was a Hancock Fabrics), was that our upper management (DM and higher) refused to give anyone hours. I went from 20-24 hours a week during peak to 4 if I was lucky. 4 hours was just enough for me to afford gas each week to get to work. When one is homeless and living out of one's car, minimum wage and minimal hours are not a good combination.

[CupcakeDolly]

Ugh! Four hours? If I only got that many hours, I'd be able to pay... My cell phone bill. And that's about it. =/
I feel like some companies do that on purpose, to goad their employees into quitting instead of being fired (because you can't get severance pay or unemployment if you quit). The first store I did seasonal work for just stopped scheduling me altogether, so I just never contacted them again. It's sleazy and cowardly.
At least Target had the decency to let me know that they were letting me go.

Edit: I rhymed! >w<

[Den]

One of the things I liked about Hancock Fabrics was that my manager was understanding when I came in on one of my (many) days off to tell her that I'd found a new job that I'd be full time at.

[Salone]

Gamestop was dirty like that. We would hire like 4 or 5 seasonals, only give them about 5 hours a week, and then just not schedule them. So instead of having one or two reliable seasonals who got hours and time to gain experience and know things (all we needed), we had a bunch of flakes who had no reason to come to a job that didn't pay anything and and when they did they didn't know shit. It's stupid dirty practices like that that turn me inside out, but I just left a place a few months ago that fired someone because we had 'too many women' and they wanted more guys. So yeah, someone got fired for being a woman. Legality aside, some of your small businesses are even worse than a corporate setting.

[Den]

if I could've just gotten a steady 20-30 hours a week, I would've been more than happy to stay on as back room stocker. I liked opening boxes, organizing merchandise and making the back room all nice and tidy. I was good at it, and I always got the weekly truck shipment sorted and out onto the floor within 1-2 shifts (four hours each. If I'd've had 8 hour shifts, i could've gotten it done in one shift, with time left over to try and sort other stuff. I was that fast and good, within a few weeks of starting). Sadly, our corporate sucked, and after Christmas, as I said, my hours went from enough to afford a full tank of gas and money for the laundromat, with money for the occasional fast food treat (I love me oreo mcflurries) to only having enough for half to three-quarters of a tank of gas each week.

Sometime, if I can get a new job soon and can get some money saved up, I'm gonna go down to my store and see if my manager's still there, and if my coworkers're there... I'll bake them cookies, too.

[Salone]

Tonight's drink: A lot of them.

By the time I finish writing this, my birthday will probably be over.

Anyway, today is my birthday. I generally hate my birthday, as it is so close (or sometimes falls on) to Thanksgiving and Black Friday that it is overshadowed, or I have to shove any plans I may have for it out of the way. I've spent quite a few years of it working 12+ hour shifts in retail hell, or disappointing family members by choosing what part of the family I spend Thanksgiving and also my birthday with. This year though, was most likely the pits. Worked my ass of, then went home and had a few drinks, alone, in the dark while listening to old records.

Who else has a shitty birth date eh? Or, tell me about a crap birthday.

[Den]

*has cranberry juice and vodka. Will have Moscato d' Asti later*

All the booze in the world wouldn't make my brother less of an ass.

[CupcakeDolly]

Originally Posted by Salone

Who else has a shitty birth date eh? Or, tell me about a crap birthday.

Exactly one week before Christmas. In my family it's never usually celebrated the day of, it kind of gets mixed in with the Christmas celebration/pushed back until a weekend afterwards sometime.

I really don't mind that much though. Presents are nice, but I don't feel as if my family or friends are obligated to spoil me around the wallet-breakingest time of year. I just use it as an excuse to spend the day pampering myself in whatever way I choose. Lately it's all about getting spectacularly drunk, and calling in sick to work the next day. A lot of my employers have been very understanding about my tradition.

Originally Posted by AutobotDen

All the booze in the world wouldn't make my brother less of an ass.

What sort of assery is going down over there?

[Den]

Originally Posted by CupcakeDolly

What sort of assery is going down over there?

well, for starters, before he fixed what he did, he put a password on the modem so I couldn't get online to job-hunt, and then he came upstairs and had the nerve to lecture me and say i was just using being an introvert as an excuse not to socialize, and that anxiety and depression are excuses.

Every year, he and I get into some sort of argument or fight, because he just can't grasp that he's the reason I don't come downstairs to hang out with the family for very long, and that Mom and Dad are okay with me keeping to myself for the most part, because I don't do stupid stuff like try to hurt myself or hide drugs (I'm too broke to afford drugs anyway), and it's generally more peaceful when I can just chill and do my own thing. One year, back when I lived in a city about an hour away, he upset me to the point that I packed up and drove home in the middle of the night.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

This morning's drink: Coffee. With milk and sugar. Not as fancy as last night's "Dark Chocolate Delight" tea, but kind of need it right now.

On mental issues: I've heard the nasty stories about mental health care, and I've always just thought myself lucky to have always been with good people, but I wonder now if some of that is because of my physical health history, too. Except for some time when I was going to community services, all the times I've been talking to social workers and psychologists, psychiatrists, etc, have been in conjunction with some other health issue. When I went to a walk-in clinic to get more anti-depressants, while I was detailing my health history, he actually said "wow, you need these." Maybe my physical problems somehow justify the mental ones in the eyes of other people?

On seasonals: yeah, I was *that* person. I worked at a party store as a Halloween employee and ended up missing Halloween due to stomach problems. In my defense though, they did find gastric problems and a tumour showed up a few months later.