I'm having some difficulty with my manager. I use the term manager loosely. The last time I saw her manage anything was, um never. I accidentally missed a manadatory inventory meeting. And you may ask, how do you accidentally miss something. Well, I have not had more than 3 shifts a month for the last 3 months. Apparently, there was a notice posted but when you don't get a shift, how are you supposed to know. She called me at the beginning of the month and said "There is a mandatory shift coming up at the end of the month and I'm scheduling people 8am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday. I will let you know more later." I checked my schedule, I wasn't scheduled for the Saturday and since I'm not available on Sunday, I didn't call for the next week's hours until Monday. Well, I go into work on Monday and two of the senior employees corner me at the punch clock and begin to question me about my whereabouts. Since they are not the manager I refused to answer them, and they wouldn't let me punch in. I began to get a little confrontational and the one senior employee who doesn't know her ass from her elbow soon found out where she could go and how to get there.
(I'm not my mother's daughter at all.) She learned that when you corner me, when I am stressed about exams, performance procedures and instruments tests that I am not the kindest person. Well, sure enough the manager calls and tells the senior employee to send me home but the senior didn't send me home because I was counting every single hawaiian lei and she didn't want to do it herself. So I didn't find out until later that I was supposed to be sent home. Had I know, I would have walked. The senior tells me that the manager will be phoning me to discuss my future at the store. My response was "Don't bullshit me, am I fired or am I being written up." She said didn't know. I waited all week and no response. By Friday, I was pissed. I called the store to ask if I had any hours for the following week and of course I didn't. She said that she would be writing me up for missing the mandatory shift. Well, I finally agreed to the write up. Then I asked her, why she was not giving my any shifts on days when I am available and giving employees with less seniority than me those shifts. Well she had the nerve to tell me that because I had a panic attack on New Year's Eve, I became unreliable, incompentent and lazy. It was so busy that day and I was the only person on cash with a line up the length of the store, you are damn right I was panicked. And you know what, I asked to be transferred to another department for 15 minutes. I didn't even stop working. I wasn't incompentent when I came in early and stayed late that day. She said I was unproductive, incompetent and unable to complete a task without direct supervision and guidance. (When she said that it was because of my panic attack, I asked again to confirm her reasoning and she stated "It's because of your panic attack that you are unreliable. She actually said it like an idiot. Thanks for the ammo you just gave me if I feel like calling the labour board.)She also said that because I changed my availability due to school, it was nearly impossible for her to schedule me. You mean to tell me that you can't find an evening shift for me on a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday when I am actually available. If I wanted to be a bitch, I could call the labour board but is it worth my time? Not in a million years. So I called today to see if I had any hours. Of course I do. I have a three hour shift on a day that is not on my availability. What am I going to do? Well find another job ASAP but until then I have a plan. I will go into work, I will politely thank her for the hours, tell her how much I appreciate her putting me on the schedule. Then I will remind her that I am unavailable on Fridays and I would appreciate it more if she could schedule me on days I can work.
I must say I hate her passionately. But I constantly remind myself that I did not choose this for a career, that's why I am in school. I find it pathetic that she takes her job this seriously and at 40-something this is her career. I find comfort in knowing full well that I am not incompetent because I would not have an 80-something average, I would not already be a college grad. At least my resume will be colorful due to my education and not because I discriminate people for something they can't control. Karma will bite her in the ass, and I suspect it in the near future when her barely legal fiance realises the mistake he has made in proposing to her. (had to put that jab in there because I am livid.)

Winter schminter

Despite the fact that the groundhog saw his stupid shadow today, and we have been promised another six weeks of winter, the weather is beautiful. The sun is shining, I can walk down the street with my coat open. And best of all, the snow is melting. I am overjoyed however, Bumble is not. He sat outside in the little banks of snow, rubbing his face and rolling all over the front lawn. I took him for a walk and instead of walking on the sidewalk like a normal dog, he ran through the snow. Every chance he had, there was a little white dog hopping and bouncing through snow. He slipped on some icy spots that still remain but that did not stop him. As he slid, he continued to run or try to run. The first time it happened, I tried to stop to see if he was hurt but he was not going to waste any time, because every second that passes, another little snowflake melts. I'm sure it breaks his little dog heart and while we feel bad for him, we can't wait for the snow to leave. Hopefully, the puppies have not inherited his love for the snow. I don't think there are a lot of people who enjoy walking their dogs in frigid temperatures. On the other hand, I hope they are not terrified of the snow the way Ruby is, she refuses to go outside when it is cold. Or she will go out for about a minute and then start hopping on 3 paws at a time because she is cold. It's quite insane looking to watch one dog do backstrokes through the snow while the other whines and cries and hops on three little paws. Maybe there will be a happy medium or maybe they will be as neurotic as their parents. For now the snow is melting, it is warm out and I couldn't be happier about it even if the groundhog predicts otherwise. Why do we listen to the opinion of a groundhog anyway,