Today I woke up to my phone ringing, after I noticed that I'd overslept again and missed work for the last two hours. Of course it was one of my managers, whom I shall call "Beria". She wanted to know where I was and when I planned to make it to work. I told her that I'd be there within an hour (though it ended up to be 70 minutes).
After I got there, my general manager, "Jughashvili", decided that I needed to meet him in the classroom (with Beria) to have a talk about my work schedule.
Of course, being invited to the classroom is like being offered a swift kick in the teeth. Though you must accept the offer, you probably won't enjoy the results of the meeting.
They told me that if I were at any other retail job, I would have been fired. (So I should be grateful to only get my teeth kicked in, right?). They said that though I must be going through a rough period in my life (with my separation and pending divorce from my wife of six years), it was inconsiderate to my fellow employees to not call at the time I'm to be at work and let the management know that I will be running late. (I tend to laugh at words like these since most of my fellow employees couldn't care less when I get there, as long as I decide to work a full day's labor, like they themselves would expect to be treated).
Also, my job performance in the past few months has been less than usual (hmmm...suicidal depression caused by divorce may effect job performance??? Never!!!). And does the old man ever really know the extant to which I do work on the job, or is it just that he notices that I may look things up on the Internet now and again, during my time on the clock? (Like no one else is at fault in these matters, and that it only happens at our place of work, and nowhere else?).
So I was offered a different schedule, to work 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., which after much consideration, I decided to accept as a possible alternative. (Perhaps I could go running in the mornings, or go sit at the local café, drink coffee and read a book?).
But now perhaps my job is on the line, (especially if they happen across this weblog, but then of course, freedom of speech is honored highly at our bookstore, if not at all bookstores).
Maybe I should just chalk it up to another horrible Monday morning? (The Boomtown Rats had a song for that). And since I'm not writing this posting on company time, they can kiss my...you know the rest of this asinine statement. I may need to buy a new alarm clock or two...I use one alarm clock and my cell phone's alarm to try to wake up with, but today, to no avail.
I've been at the bookstore now for 5 years, after having worked at another bookstore for 11 years (in another city). Should I start looking for a new job, as this one is full of stress from Jughashvili and Beria being uptight all the time and tending to make their employees nervous with there presence? And they expect me to come to them when I feel that the job is getting too stressful or that I feel that I'm being overworked. They are the last people I wish to speak to of these matters, as they are the prime cause of stress for most employees at the bookstore.
All I know is I need this job until I get another job or have some means to pay my rent and have money to eat with and take care of my needs. This bookstore has good insurance, but the pay is trifiling, as can be expected at any bookstore. Perhaps I should get out of the bookstore business entirely? But where could I go, what could I do, who would hire me? I suppose I could open my Monster account again, which I haven't looked at in over 5 years.
And it's not that I don't love the bookstore, because I do, it's just physically exhausting, and I'm not getting any younger. And working 9, 10, 11 hour days means nothing to the management.
I don't think they appreciate what I have to offer the bookstore. I think that they believe that anyone can do my job just as well as I can, even though the person who was Receiving Manager before me, left a catastrophe that took a year to clean up with all the unprocessed shipments and damaged books and short ships not called in in a timely fashion.
I probably won't get another raise for a long while, and the cost of living in a big city is rather painful, to say the least about the City of Big Shoulders. So what my next plan of attack is, I'm really unsure, let's just say that I'm going to have to keep my nose clean until I'm in the clear of this place (and probably save this posting to Drafts until I find a new job, such a pity, but this is the way businesses are run, and employees are ruined).
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