Pass the salt, please.

Last night, I had to close, and man, was it eventful. But aside from the crazies that are always coming in, I'm going to sound off a bit about my unsatisfied self.

Corporate just took over scheduling around, 3 or 4 weeks ago. Basically, now my manager puts my availability in the computer, along with my productivity ranking, and the computer spits out a schedule. This doesn't work for several reasons. Mostly, it understaffs the stores. Now, most of my fellow soft-liners and I have decided that corporate took over scheduling in order to cut operating costs. Less people on the clock, more money in the pocket of the 'mart. The problem, is that now, we're not getting our work done.

Last night, for example. Usually, there are at least 3, sometimes 4 people, in softlines each night, and at least 2 of them stay until 10 PM when the store closes. Last night, there were 2 of us, and Keri (name changed), the other girl working with me, was closing manager. So not only did she have to straighten ladieswear, but she also had to answer all the management calls and walk around the store to make sure everyone else was getting their shit done. I was also informed when I came in that our District Manager was coming in the next morning, which meant everything had to look damn near perfect.

Now, I'll confess something here. It didn't look anywhere near perfect. In fact, it looked like someone kinda messed with it to give it the appearance of nice, but didn't actually straighten very well. Cuz that exactly what I did. When I have to put out drops for a total of 2 hours of my 5-hour shift, that leaves me with about 2.5 to actually straighten, once you factor in having to help customers in jewelry, layaway, and the fastest break known to man. So, in that 2.5 hours (which, really, was probably less) I straightened menswear, boyswear, girlswear, infants, fashion accessories, hosiery, cosmetics, shoes, and part of swimwear. Keri didn't get finished with ladieswear.

So yeah, DM was in this morning and probably gave my boss a talkin-to for the store looking like poo, but if anyone says anything to me, I might lose my composure. I've been very good about not losing it at work, but one reprimand for not doing my job well enough, and I'll smash their damn computer and tell them to schedule some more foxtrottin' people if they want the store to look nice. 2 people to straighten over half the store in under 3 hours? I don't think so.

I would like to clarify, that I'm not upset about the store not looking nice. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. I'm not on the KMart Career Path, so I'm not looking to show that I take pride in my store. But I do take pride in performing the duties of my job well. I also take pride in not stressing out. And they're doing nothing but causing their employees, and the managers, stress, because somehow, they expect the store to continue to operate at its normal level with half the workforce on the clock.

I don't like being rushed, and I don't like leaving parts of my job unfinished. And I really don't like people who ask me one question, but expect me to understand a meaning that they didn't state.

Like this lady:
She comes up to my while I'm working, tells me that she's just changed to a new billfold [and I care WHY?] and doesn't have the receipt for a shirt [which she described in great detail--again, unimportant] she recently bought. Wanted to know if she could return it. I told her we will not accept any returns without a receipt. She responds, very condescendingly, "I know that, honey. I just don't have it on me." [You didn't tell me you didn't have ON YOU, you told me you didn't have it, period. "I don't have my receipt" to me means, "I don't have my receipt" not "I don't have my receipt on me right this millisecond"] I tell her she has 30 days from the date of purchase to return the item with receipt. She leaves.

I HATE BEING CALLED HONEY. I may look younger than you (she looked to be about her late 30's or so), but I'm not a child. And I am certainly not YOUR child. So don't fucking call me HONEY. You don't know me from Eve, you do not get to use terms of endearment on me. Also, another note, I hate this just as much when I'm at a restaurant and the waitress calls me any form of honey, dear, sweetie, anything. Unprofessional, rude, and inappropriate. If you must call me something, call me ma'am. Or simply making eye contact and saying, "And what can I get for you?" is better.

Man, I'm salty today.