The word of the week is endurance.
This week is all about surviving work. Not exciting, but I have to write it down all the same... it keeps me balanced and sane.
Mostly.
Oct 24 - Worst. Monday. Ever.
Today was one of the worst Mondays I've had in my life; nobody died, but I did ever-so-briefly feel like killing a few people... or maybe just doing a little maiming. Kinda. But not really.
I worked a double today, with the second shift starting at the downtown Douglas store. I walked in, said hello to the manager... who immediately told me she was quitting.
Right then and there. With NO notice whatsoever.
After 5 seconds of shock, my Disaster Brain kicked in and I said "Okay then." She had everything ready to go for the signover, with MY name ALREADY on the papers - she rightly figured I was the ONLY person who wouldn't have run out the door screaming when she dropped the news. I can't blame her at all, as she's been pulling 60-hour weeks, like the other manager did at Cloverdale before he threw in the towel weeks ago and took leave before his sanity did.
It's a weird thing: with ALL the crap I've had to deal with over the last decade+, I am now at my BEST when poop hits the propellers. Small stuff like forgetting my keys makes me hyperventilate, but things like my house catching fire( it hasn't yet, btw )just makes me shrug and get on with life.
So really, I'm the best person to have working for this district of MMart right now, as today makes the THIRD manager to quit in 2 months. I'm one of only 5 managers left, for 8 stores, and as of today I'm managing THREE of those branches. With only 7 staff and as the only manager with more than a year's experience, I'm the only person standing between threadbare order and total chaos.
As you can imagine, it was not a good night, but I got through it and went home. I slept but didn't rest at all.
Oct 25 - Run, Run, Run, and Run Some More!
Today was all about scheduling; I spent the vast majority of my 'free' time on another double-shift day re-jigging the schedule for all 3 stores to ensure we all stayed open and nobody( except me )has to work a double. Three people have volunteered( I didn't ask them )to work 6 days a week to help out; I am humbled and helped enormously by the staff I have left working for me. They are the reason I am still sane and still working as hard as I am; if I presided over a bunch of prima donnas or lazybuns, I would have quit a year ago.
I still might. It's been really, really rough since October 3rd, when the second manager quit at Cloverdale. But seeing as I'm the only one able to hold the district together( my DM is too new to do more than just support me )then I will do what I must to ensure that nobody who works with me gets burned out.
We'll see what happens in the next week or so to me. Today I had to both open AND close, at two separate stores, as my CSR was still sick at Colwood.
There's nobody else to spare on the entire Island. Just me.
Oct 26 - Welfare Day? Didn't Kill Me
From somewhere deep within myself I summoned all my energy and positive thoughts and got through a Welfare Day today downtown.
By myself for five of those hours, instead of with 2 other people.
Unexpected help arrived when one of the new managers told our DM that she's closing her store 2 hours early and coming to help me - no arguments. I'm deeply grateful that I've set such an example that others are willing to step up to help me like that... it's the reason I'm still working as hard as I am.
I threw myself into it, standing at the counter, keeping up a happy banter with the people as I moved at a demonic yet efficient pace to mow through the vast hordes of customers lined up out the door. I cashed and cashed and cashed some more, without a single person complaining about how long it was taking or that I had messed up.
At the end of the day, I balanced to the penny. Unbelievable.
I was also achingly exhausted and having a hard time standing up. I did manage to get a meal break AND a bathroom break in there, along with a couple of CLIF bars for supplemental energy, but it was a very close thing.
I won't be able to do that again, ever, I think. I'm not young or in shape enough to try and it makes me wobbly just to think about it. But it's done.
Oct 27 - Double Shifts again and a TV Deal Done
Holy cowabungas, but I'm TIRED today... mentally and even moreso physically. Even the energy it takes to be digesting breakfast is making me woozy as I head out the door early for a 7am opening shift...
But hey, that's why I'm working a double today: all or nothing, right?
And WOW, it's a TOUGH day! Because I'm getting my TV replaced - somehow!
It went like this: open Cloverdale, move like a madman as I work alone for four hours until help arrives, transfer everything to them, laugh as the DM Twins( my new DM and his experienced helper from ON )try to bring in help... by closing another store for 2 hours! It doesn't do much save get me a lunch break so I can take the weight off my shaking legs and sit for 15 mins. Helped a bit.
Then what do I do? I JOG to Future Shop a block away to talk to Mohammed, a friend of my new DM( who worked there for 10 years! )to arrange a deal to get my wonky old TV replaced that doesn't involve me getting screwed over. I get that done in about 45 mins( half of it spent waiting, shaking and sweating from exhaustion )with a catch: I HAVE TO BRING IN MY TV TODAY in order to seal the deal, or Mohammed can't do it, even with his pull and abilities.
With no car. And nobody at home able to load it in one to drive it downtown.
With disaster staring me in the face and laughing, I punch it in the nose:
I ask if someone can GO to my house and pick up the TV for $50.00 - sold! We find a big TV guy named Matt who will do it as a break. SUCCESSS!!! I guess if you can't bring the Mountain to Mohammed, he can send someone to Bear Mountain instead!
Run and hop a bus downtown prepared to spend the entire night AGAIN at the counter... but providence is kind to me today: it sends me help! The new manager I mentioned AGAIN closed her store early to speed over to help me a little before dinner, so spent only about 3 hours at the counter alone until she arrived. I then sank into a chair in the back and 'only' spent the next 2 hours jigging the schedules into a semi-final form. It's tedious, eye-tearing work to make things work with WAY too few staff in order to keep all three stores open regular hours and not close - but I manage to pull off the impossible, being given just a little time to actually solidly work on it.
Acts of God, well... those aren't within my purview. Just the occasional miracle.
But the day's not over yet! I tear out of work FAR too close to 9pm and zoom down to Future Shop to pay for and pick up my TV package. I arrive at five minutes to nine and am incredibly grateful for the escalator that carries me up to the new Uptown shop... I couldn't have made it up the stairs.
Deal done and paid for. I saved several thousand dollars. Incredible. The best part is that the massive overtime I've worked for the last 5 weeks paid for it.
I load the TV and accessories into the van, thank Mohammed again and get home so tired that it's all I can do to get things into the condo with the help of my trusty Moving Cart and then sink into bed. It says something about how TIRED I am that I'm within mere feet of a brand-new set of electronics and I can't even muster the energy to open the boxes for a peek. To sleep, dreamless again. It's a mercy/.
Oct 28 - Winding down the week with an Ambulance Call
It was quite a runaround today, with doctor's appointments in the AM and other places to be before work in the afternoon. Thankfully I was at Mill Stream, so that I was able to relax a bit and just work on the schedules - still. It's incredibly difficult to balance everything and ensure that each copy of the three stores matches the others perfectly shift-for-shift, so that nobody shows up at the wrong place and we're still covered. I almost finished today too, by the time I was ready to head home and call it a day, one that wasn't so bad.
That lasted until an hour past when I got home, when I had to call an ambulance for my mother. Just like a few weeks ago, she was having trouble breathing, so I waited outside for the ambulance in the cold and flagged them down with a flashlight. It's far too easy to miss our building, as the street numbers are not visible at night, so I wasn't taking any chances.
The paramedics took her quickly along with my father straight to Vic General, where they ushered her right in. Unlike last week when she went, when the gruff doctor on duty at Emerg sent her packing back home again far too fast saying she was fine. This time she stayed overnight, with low readings of several things in her blood - she was under constant supervision, so I went to get my dad after midnight and he drove back home, as I was almost delirious with the need for sleep by that point. Again I slept like the dead. But not the cool zombie kind; I've never had a zombie dream that I can recall.
Oct 29 - Walking Through Exhaustion
Though I've never run one, finishing a marathon is said to be the hardest part, and that's where I'm at today. Working once more at the downtown store by myself, I came in early to park about 5 blocks away, as I can't afford to park on-street nearby for over six hours downtown. Walking to the store, I arrived to see it was busy... and that my glasses case wasn't in my pocket any more! ARGH! Retracing my steps, I speedwalked( while exhausted )back the whole 1km to the parking garage, where I FOUND the case lodged next to the seat in the van. I speedwalked back to work as fast as I could and sat in the back for ten minutes to cool off and to try to regain some equilibrium, as I was totally beat by then. I wasn't out of break, just shaky and sweating... but I recovered with some water. And willpower. LOTS of both.
The rest of the day saw a lineup out the door until dinnertime, when people took a break to get ready for their Saturday Night Halloween Parties. I used that time to wisely finish off the schedules and catch up on some other work I had NO time to look at all week long - it's been THAT busy and THAT crazy trying to run three branches with 1/3 of the required staff, as I've mentioned. I was there over an hour past closing catching up, but I did all that I needed to do and headed home, getting a ride as I was half-comatose by that point.
I rallied briefly and pulled my new TV out of the box to set it up, which thankfully it did almost automatically. It's a 46" Samsung UN46D6420UF, an LED TV with wireless SMART-TV capabilities, an incredibly thin-and-light profile and an incredible screen. It's a joy to use and I hope that in the coming weeks I'll be able to explore all the features it offers. For now, I used it to softly whammy my brain with cable so that I could doze off very early...
Oct 30 - Almost 40 Straight Days Of Work
Today was my FIRST actual day off since September 20th; that's 39 days in a row( 5+ weeks! )for those of you who are counting. I am. Several of those days weren't ones spent at work... but dealing with my mom's medical crises and other crisis that meant I couldn't rest while massively stressed - my blog notes them. So it's still bad.
I woke up late-ish at 9, made myself some apple pancakes and fiddled around with my new TV / stereo setup in the morning, which was very relaxing. I went out to lunch with a friend at The Fountain Diner, where we sat outside next to a man named Jim who had a parrot called Lucky on his shoulder. Lucky was not a talkative bird, but she did come over to perch on my hand several times; definitely a people bird. Neither Jim nor Lucky did pirate impressions, but they had some good stories to tell about their experiences together over the last 9 years; a very interesting lunch indeed downtown!
The rest of my day off just had me relaxing, with some TV breaks in there ... long breaks, actually, as Ghostbusters and Monsters Vs. Aliens were both on consecutively in the afternoon. I just enjoyed the downtime and the lack of a ringing phone, as the week ahead promises to see some help arrive for work from out-of-province. I've made it through the worst so far and things will be getting better from here on in; with my massive effort and the major assistance of my dedicated co-workers, we've held the line and survived.
I'll still be leaving in January, once I've found a solid job. It has to be that way, as I can't deal with the massive imbalance of workload vs. pay levels that this company seems to be so stuck on. For all my loyalty, experience, expertise and the sacrifices I've made and suffered for for the last 5 weeks, my company deigned weeks ago to give me a raise of a dollar an hour.
One dollar. For running three massively understaffed branches.
I'm definitely leaving, and my 'superiors' can stuff it. Not that they'll notice.
I can use the rest.
Best end with good news: my mom went to the hospital today on Sunday for a checkup and CAT scan. The results? A clear bill of health in regards to clots; she has NO lingering clots left, thanks to the filter/ blood thinner combos for the last few weeks! So we can simply deal with her shortness of breath by upping the humidity in the condo as need be, and not worry about clots any more.
Which is good. We can ALL use the rest. And the stress reduction.
