Deja Vu

Well, quick update on that potential job I mentioned last week.  Apparently, interviews are being held this Friday.  I work Fridays, and it's difficult for me to get the day off at short notice.

I've asked if I could be seen on Thursday instead, but this all feels horribly familar to the last interview offer I had!

So I shall be phoning up again tomorrow to find out if they can see me another day.  Here's hoping.
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Letting things go

I'm having a clear out.  Well, more specifically, I'm continuing a clear out that I started when I began reading The Everyday Minimalist.

I find her blog both interesting and insightful. :)   I'm not an overly tidy person and I'm attempting to break my habit of hoarding things I no longer need or use.

Over the past few months I've recycled so much paper, donated lots of things to charity and I'm gradually improving my living space whilst being more restrained in my spending. (Not that I was ever a big spender, but I give things more consideration before purchasing them now.)

I'm cleaning out one drawer today and I've found my penny whistle (you might know it as a tin whistle) plus the tutorial Cd's and books.  The receipt for the whistle is also here.  I purchased it in November 2004.  I really wanted to learn an instrument and this one held great appeal.  Over 6 years later, have I made any progress in learning it?  Can I play anything with a degree of accuracy and tunefulness??

Nope!

It's been sat on a shelf, then shoved in a drawer only to surface on the odd occasion over the years with me thinking 'I must get back to learning this!'   For all my good intentions, it's never happened.  So this time I've pulled it out of the drawer it's going straight into a bag to go to the nearest charity shop.

There's no point in hoarding a lovely instrument and books when someone else could be getting some use out of them.

Also going is a pair of denim-looking sandals I bought at least a few years ago but have never worn, ("The weather will get better then I can wear them!) , a pink frilly top I bought in a sale about four years ago ("I'll find something to wear with it one day!") and a book on massage ("Maybe I'll train up to be a masseuse!")

All of these I've hung onto for ages; they're simply taking up space and not being used.  Begone with thee!

I always feel better after clearing things out. :)
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Again with the Rules

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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One rule for one ...

Ever find yourself thinking that your boss or someone above you in the work place pecking order is taking advantage?   Perhaps they're taking advantage of their position, bending the rules, or simply leaving you to clear up their messes?

I'm finding that this kind of crap is a regular occurrence at the Shop.

I should know from previous experience that working in a place where there are family members is usually a no-no.  Nora is of course in charge, and she employs her son, Billy, for a few days a week.

Now, I like Billy. He's a nice enough young lad - however, I don't appreciate that whenever he and I are to work together I always get to work on time (minimum of 15 minutes before the Shop opens, usually I'm there earlier to dodge the traffic) whilst he turns up at around 10am or later.  (Always smelling of cigarettes, so I suspect he's taking his time over a fag before he arrives as well.)  Just what time does he get here on days when he is working on his own?  Does he mysteriously get here earlier to open up on time, or is it OK with Nora if the Shop opens late?  And if he can get here on time, why doesn't he do that all the time?

Then at the end of the day, he always asks if it's OK for him to go early to catch a train home - otherwise he'll have to wait maybe 20 minutes for the next one.

Part of me wants to tell him 'tough' - 20 minutes is not that long, and I don't like being left to clean and cash up while you make a run for it!   I'd like to leave on time too you know!   He certainly won't be allowed to do that in most other jobs - you stay until the end of the working day, not nip off early all the time.

Besides, if he were to stay and help me clean up, then cash up properly, then we could both leave at a reasonable time - he walks to the train station and will be there in good time for the next train instead of hanging around.

Instead, I'm left trying to do everything in a rush because hey, I'd like to go home too!

Is it selfish of me to want him to stay behind?   He arrives late and leaves early.  And the past two days that he has worked alone, I've come in the next day to find that the cashing up has not been properly and I have to re-do it before I can do anything else.

Does Nora say anything about it?  Does she support me when I inform her that Billy isn't cashing up correctly?   Of course not. 

There's definitely a case of nepotism going on here - she allowed him to close the Shop over half an hour early one day because of a music gig he was attending that evening.  And yet she won't allow me to leave on a Friday evening even a few minutes after closing when I have a class to teach back in my home town - I'll admit it's not a big deal, I can still get there in good time most days but why is Billy given such leeway and I'm not?

To be frank though, Billy is not that bad in the grand scheme of things.

Nora, however, is much worse ...

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All the Pretty Things

For those of you who are wondering - this is the sort of thing I sell at the Shop.

I sell jewellery.  Not at a large well-known jewellers, it's more of an independant shop.  I previously worked at a well known company selling the same kind of thing, but I left partly because there was little opportunity to progress in the company and primarily because of the endless targets we had to meet.

I remember as I left that job thinking to myself - "I'm never working in a shop again!"

Alas, needs must.  I need an income whilst I continue my search for a full time job, so I'm back to putting up with rude and uppity customers, and a boss who keeps on about targets as if the recession never happened!

It's not ideal but I have to keep telling myself it won't be forever.
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Disappointing

I think it's safe to say that any hope of getting an interview arranged has long since gone.

Despite phoning and emailing to try and arrange a date, I have either been brushed off with 'I'll find out and call you back' or else simply getting no reply to my email.

I find that extremely rude and frustrating.   Obviously, the interviews will have taken place by now so there's no point in continuing trying to get an answer.  It's such a shame the timing coincided with my covering Nora's sick leave but that couldn't be helped.

What annoys me most is no one got back to me to say, sorry we can't do any other days, if you can't make this date then unfortunately there's nothing we can do.  Would it seriously have taken more than a few minutes to call / email me back to say so?   You invite me to interview, then ignore me.  I can understand (to some extent) not replying to every single person who applied - but what about the people you've shortlisted??   I doubt you shortlist more than a handful, so is it honestly such a hassle for you to get back in touch with me?

Perhaps I should be glad not to be working for them after all, if they're that rude.
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Last Minute

It's 5pm.  I'm just tidying up a bit before I go and lock the door.  Just as I grab the keys, a man walks in.

"When do you close?"

I'll assume he didn't notice the large clear signage that gives our opening and closing times which is right by the door.

"We're actually closed now; we close at 5." I politely inform him.

"Am I keeping you?  Do you not want customers?" he basically glares at me.

Erm, what?  You ask if we're closed, and we are.  Of course you'll be keeping me if you want to look around and buy something now.  And as far as wanting customers goes - yes, we want customers, but I'd rather they don't waltz in just after we close.

Let's face it:

1)  We've been open for 8 hours.  Could you not have come by just a little earlier instead of beyond the last minute?

2) I've been on my feet pretty much all day.  I maybe got to sit down for 10 minutes over the course of the day.   I ate my lunch on the go and only about half of it because I've been so busy.   Pardon me if I'm not that impressed with someone holding me up when I'm tired and want to go home on time.

He then wants some assistance in purchasing a gift for a young woman that he knows very little about - no idea what sort of thing she might like, no idea of favoured colours nor style.  Not the faintest idea.  Yet he looks at me as if I'm going to immediately present him with the perfect thing.

After running through the general questions to determine sod all about what he wants, I suggest he have a look around to see if anything jumps out at him.  He sort of grunts and does just that whilst I try to finish clearing up and getting ready to cash up. (Which I obviously can't do until he leaves.)

Thankfully he doesn't take too long, picking something fairly plain but stylish - put it through the till, boxed it up, wrapped it up nicely and handed it over with a smile.

There's barely a grunt of thanks and he stalks out.

Charming.

Is it wrong to tell a customer to leave because you're closed?  Is it rude for the public to insist on being served when a shop is closed?   From a business point of view I can understand staying open for them, but surely from a common sense point of view shouldn't customers make sure they come to the shop in plenty of time?
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