The Vegetable -- A Petty Stir Continues

Today was the first encounter to work with Black Olive since our incident on Saturday. We didn't say much to each other, just what we had to in order to get by. I think it's childish the way she's acting toward me, giving me the cold shoulder. It's interesting that she rather be right, then seek the truth.

I've always tried to get along with everyone in order to keep the peace; avoiding confrontation, apologizing for no wrong doing. There are tire marks all over me. I'm not going to lay in the street anymore.

The Buzz

I'm so high right now, that I have great confidence that I can learn to play a song on my man-magnet guitar. The song is called "It Doesn't Matter". I just need to contact my boyfriend to get the chords. He's sleeping now, he'll be up in a couple of hours. Damn, my high will be gone by then.

The Mouse Trap

A short horror film gets a review.

King of Big & Small quotes: "This much-anticipated summer action thriller left me in the dark--literally. I questioned the director's choice to shoot the beginning of the film in the dark. But I then realized the artistic genius behind it. The shaky camera, the barely visible interior of the house, and the co-star's "Get 'em, get 'em" all peaked my curiosity and kept me from getting up out of my seat and leaving the theater.

Chloe's choice to torture, instead of kill, the creepy antagonist, lead me to wonder if perhaps there wasn't some evil lurking inside her, especially after hearing her menacing growls.

Toward the end of the movie, the frantic screams of the co-star, along with the Blair Witch style of filming, made the price of admission worth it. The ending was brilliant and left it wide open for "The Mouse Trap, Part Two."

All in all, a good movie."

http://www.youtube.com/user/thedebcard

The Vegetable - A Petty Stir

Black Olive acted unprofessionally on Saturday, June 27, 2009. She yelled at me and accused me of lying and an employee overheard her yelling at me.

It was 4:50pm. I just got back from lunch and needed to do some paperwork for EOW business update to send to Beet. Black Olive commented I was just now getting on the computer. Yea, I said, I just got back from lunch. She said I went to lunch at 4pm. I said no, I went to lunch at 4:15pm. She started yelling at me and said I was lying. I told her I was telling the truth. She walked away and said she didn't want to talk about it.

Lettuce over heard Black Olive yelling at me. Lettuce and I went to lunch at the same time. I had to retrace my steps. I wondered, maybe I did go to lunch at 4pm instead of 4:15pm. (but even if I did, what the fuck is the big deal of 15 minutes??) I spoke with Lettuce and she confirmed that we went to lunch at the same time and that we went at 4:15pm. I asked Lettuce to confirm that with Black Olive, but Black Olive didn't want to listen to Lettuce and told her that this was between the Black Olive (her) and the Olive's Pit (me). With further investigation, I looked through the media and noticed that I did a transaction at 3:59pm. So if I did go to lunch at 4pm, then I would have had to excuse myself and quickly leave my customer, without any small talk and not properly bagging her purchase, jump/run 75 feet to get to the back room, and not wait for Tomato to come out on the floor. And that just did not happen.

4pm, 4:15pm. So what! I didn't take an extra 15 minutes, but so what if i did. I work 10 hour shifts+ with only a 30 minute lunch break. The point is, Black Olive yelled at me, accused me of lying, and Lettuce overheard her yelling at me. Black Olive acted unprofessionally and had no right to yell at me. I did nothing wrong. I value honesty and integrity in all parts of my life, and that includes the workplace.

Black Olive will probably tell Beet that I took a 45 minute lunch and lied about it. Even though I have a witness, I'm sure it will get twisted around and I'll get in trouble.

Wasteful Windows

I'm obsessed with this job abuse bullshit. Well if you figure why, lets do the math. I spend 50 to 55 hours a week there, that includes the 30 minute lunch breaks. Add 5 hours of drive time per week. Getting ready, another 5 hours. Listening to vmails at home, 1 hour. Thinking and stressing about it, 5 hours on average workday and an 8 hour shift on off days. Talking about it, 3 hours a day, 21 hours/week. Documentation, 10 hours a week. Sleep time is tricky. Sometimes I don't sleep that well, I worry about the bad day I just had. So lets say 2 hours a night on average, 14/week. Dreaming/nightmares, another mystery. Sometimes I dream about this fucking mess. So, lets just add 15 minutes a night on average, 4.45 hours/week. If you add all that up, it's 156 hours and 45 minutes a week that I spend on this crap in my system. Well, there's only 168 hours in a week. That gives me 11 hours and 15 minutes a week that I think of something else.

Rock Relates

"I got myself a career, not a job. If you got a career, don't talk to anyone who has a job. They don't want to talk to anyone who is happy in their career. I had a job back in the day and was only given a 30 minute lunch break...."

Chris Rock said something like that in one of his funny stand-up routines.

Job Abuse - Documentation

Company Work Guidelines: 42 -45 hours a week.

Thursday, 5/28/09: After being back to work for 2 weeks, Beat pulls me in the office and gives me 3 verbal warnings.
1. Being in the office. --But Beat gives me tasks that require office time.
2. Not communicating being in the office. -- Well I did communicate with the manager on duty. But Beat said I still get a verbal warning because I didn't communicate it with the part-time employee.
3. Using poor judgement, I should have communicated sooner about the special napkin supply issue. I communicated to Beat at 3:30pm, Friday, about running low on special napkins, but I was too late, she had already left the restaurant.

Saturday 6/6/09: Switched shifts with another manager for next week's Thursday, 6/11/09 so each manager would have 2 night shifts each (to be fair) and communicated the switch with Beat. (Thinking if it was a problem, she would tell me since it was communicated to her 5 days in advance.)

Tuesday 6/9/09: Given a new task at 6pm as I was walking out the door at end of shift. I stayed 2 hours extra in order to complete the task, with working a total of 11 hours with only 1 30 minute lunch break.

Wednesday, 6/10/09: Told to do schedules for month to be completed today. Not allowed enough office time to do it. Worked total 10.50 hours with 1 30 minute lunch break.

Beat tells me that I used poor judgement by switching shifts and that I am not a team player and that I am only out for myself. I told her if I wasn't a team player, I wouldn't have stayed late in order to complete the late unorganized tasks that were given at the end of my shift the day before. She said that is expected of me.

Beat falsely accuses me of retaliating against another employee. She said she could fire me on the spot.

Retaliate definition: (verb) pay someone back, hit back, strike back, reciprocate, take revenge, get back at someone, get even with the score, get your own back wreak vengeance, exact retribution, give as good as you get, take an eye for an eye, make reprisal, give a taste of his or her own medicine, give tit for tat, return like for like

I did not do any of that. I communicated with the employee to let them know reasons why I was in the office and that the manager on duty knew I was in the office.

Beat tells me that she has seen no improvement with communication and using good judgement.

Sunday, 6/14/09: Worked 10am to 10pm, with 1 15 minute break only.

The Vegetable -- End of the Rope

I switched shifts with another manager in order make shifts fair to two nights each. She had 1 night and I had 3. The beet tells me that I am only after myself and I'm not a team player.

One recent example of me not being a team player:
--After working 9 hours and at the end of my shift, we get a message to complete several tasks. I stayed 2 hours later than my shift in order to get the task done.

Murder At The Bend

Body and guts found in hallway of the above shotgun apartment. Head missing.

Suspects:
1 black male, thin and tall.
2 colored females, with 1 average-looking and the other obese.

The black male, middle-class upbringing, appears to be dominate and overpowering. He's strong & athletic. The average-looking female came from a broken home and was abandoned as a youngster. She appears to be nervous, but quick on her feet. The obese female was picked up in Treme. She was living rough on the streets for years. All 3 have a history of violent killings.

Witnesses aren't talking and keeping low profile.

Giant is afraid of going barefooted. Especially in the dark.

Testing Time

The Eager Beaver almost made me late for a job interview. I have a ritual just about every day after a shower. 3 times before I go to work and however many times when I'm not working. Now periods get in the way. This morning I went for a 4th and realized that time was running away from me. I needed to get across town near Kenner and only had 20 minutes to get there. I knew if I showed up late, I would have no chance. Well thank god for all the recent layoffs and slump economy. There was no traffic and I'm zoomed in there 2 minutes before the interview.