Again with the Rules

Thursday 26 May 2011

Continuing on from my last past - I greatly dislike my boss Nora for what boils down to two simple reasons.

The first one, is that she contradicts herself a lot.  When you start a new job, you expect to get a run down of the general rules (smoking area is over there, breaks are at these times, no eating at your desk etc).

Here are just a few of The Rules that Nora impressed upon me as being all but Law at the Shop.

1)  You must not sit down whilst on the shop floor.  You must be standing ready for the customers as they enter the shop.

Funny how Nora often parks her backside on a chair whilst on the shop floor, either perusing the Internet or doing something with the till.  Meanwhile, I have to stay on my feet all day.

2)  You must not have drinks on the shop floor.

Again, strange how a cup of coffee mysteriously migrates onto the shop floor whenever Nora has a drink.  I have to keep my bottle of water in the staff area.

3)  At the end of the day, the till must be set to zero, otherwise the takings from yesterday get added to the next days takings.  This makes cashing up a pain.

Both Nora and Billy are guilty of doing this.  When Nora did it, she looked at the till the next day and proclaimed sternly "The till wasn't set to zero yesterday!"  Well, that was your fault since you cashed up yesterday - so kindly don't use a tone that somehow implies that you are not at fault; just accept you made a mistake.   What annoyed me most was that she swanned off home an hour early, sickly smile on her face, "You'll be alright cashing up won't you, WG??" as she sped out the door.  Gee, thanks, I'll sort out the mess you created then, shall I?

4)  You must greet each customer promptly with a warm smile and engage them in conversation to determine their needs.

OK, nothing wrong with good customer service in those terms. But Nora constantly changes her mind as to what is acceptable - if a customer wants to be left alone to browse, she respects their wishes and leaves them be.  If a customer I speak to wants to be left alone, she'll be questioning me as to what they want, implying that I ought to get back over there and talk to them.  They want to be left alone for goodness sake!  Regardless of whether I approach a customer promptly or leave them be for a few moments while they look around, Nora implies that it's wrong, whilst doing the exact same thing herself.

5)  You must be here a minimum of 15 minutes prior to the Shop opening time.

Anyone who had at least a skim through of my previous post will know that that rule doesn't appear to apply to her own son.  And even on days that Nora and I are to work together, she is never here when I arrive, quite often she doesn't appear until nearly 11am.  As mentioned above, she'll leave when it suits her as well.  I seem to be the only member of staff that consistently arrives 'on time' and stays after the Shop closes to clean and cash up. 


The other thing that makes Nora an unpleasant person to work for is the way she speaks to me.  We all want to be spoken to with a bit of respect.  It's not asking much, is it?   Yet Nora doesn't talk to me in a way that isn't condescending or patronising.   I don't lack for intelligence, but the way I learn best is to make notes and to practice things over and over to commit knowledge to memory.   I bring a notepad to take notes on how to do things but Nora is utterly perplexed as to why I can't remember absolutely everything she tells me - and only ever tells me once.  If I ask a question to clarify something, her expression is one of mild confusion and disdain that again I don't have the brilliant memory she does.

I'm impressed by her memory; she appears to have the entire stock committed to memory along with each individual product code.   However, her expectation that I'm going to memorise everything as easily as she does is unrealistic.  I just don't pick things up that fast.  I'm being made to feel stupid and I hate her for it.

The job itself would be perfectly fine were it not for her attitude.  It is purely because of her that I'm continuing to search for another job with such urgency.

No one deserves to be made to feel inferior or stupid for not learning things 'quickly enough'.  Nor be made to feel that whatever you do is wrong or not good enough.

However, the icing on the cake is this - unless it's directed at a customer who has made a purchase, Nora does make use of the words 'thank you'.

I have an appointment tomorrow with an agency that may have something available in an office for me.  Keep your fingers crossed for me because I want to get out of this place!
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