for the entirety of last week (may 29-june 4) i was on the first of my guaranteed (for now) two week paid vacations. and i actually went somewhere this year. but i didn't leave until wednsday the first. and i am also the one who does the end of month inventory count at work. that entails counting all the paper, food, and condiments that are used basically everyday at the restaurant. in other words, i came in on my vacation to help out when i did not have to. work by the way knew that i was not leaving until wednsday but logistically it worked out better for me to take the week, but not come back until tuesday. monday night if it was an extreme emergency. before i left, i checked my schedule for the week i came back. my first day was tuesday 4pm-close (roughly 1230 am). keep this in mind.
so me and my college roomie/co-driver/friend i've known since middle school and i go drive off on vacation, a 2-day travel for a 3 day race weekend at historic watkins glen international. there was a one day stopover in cleveland going to and coming back from the track. we had a good time, although my legs were sore from the standing around done most of the time. we only stayed in one part of the track that had grandstands, that would be the grandstands at turn 10, the final left turn before the pit straight. most of our stay we hung out at the bus stop inner loop which has no permanent structure. the problems didn't start until we were coming back home. from cleveland specifically.
i wake up at about 830 in the morning on my own (ie no alarm). we hit the road at around 1020. at 1030 i get a call from work asking me to come in and close that night. so to recap so far, on my last official day of vacation i have been asked to come in and close. i say i can get there by 5 traffic notwithstanding. cleveland is about 5 hours from louisville. they say 6, i say no problem. because of construction in ohio and in gallatin county, kentucky (specifically the i-71 south interchange from i-75 which required a detour a bit further south on 75 on a righteous twisty driving road i would love to drive on again) i didn't get home until 540. and because of where my roomie lives, it was easier for us to go to my house, transfer his stuff to my car, drop off the rental car and then drive to his house. which is 20 minutes away in ideal traffic. we didn't leave the rental place until 6 or so because there was only one functional computer terminal. when we got back on the road it was 610. then we hit the traffic of people going home from work in jefferson county to the only major non interstate road to spencer county where my guy lives. it just happens to be 2 lanes and over a bridge. the state will never widen that road, and not because it has no money. widening that road helps louisville, and the state can't help louisville in any way at all because the state hates louisville. but i digress.
while stuck in traffic i get a call from work that they have no receipt paper left (did i forget to mention i also do the truck orders too? aparantly work forgot that i would not be doing truck orders on vacation. we get trucks on mondays and fridays. so no one had ordered tape paper by sunday for delivery on monday. the day was currently at the time MONDAY.) so after i drop off my friend, i go to one of our other stores, get 10 rolls, get gas for my own car, and go to work. i finally show up at somewhere around 730.
make note- i have NOT returned home yet for the second time to unpack or anything. i have a second set of clothes i keep in the trunk for emergencies. i show up to work in brown cargo pants, brown/black running shoes and work shirt. me having to come in on short notice like that is a jerk move. but this is the definition of a dick move.
i look at my schedule thinking i come in tomorrow at 4 and do what it said previously. i look at the crew schedule so i know who is there that monday night and who would be that tuesday night, when i see they have me scheduled for 8 AM the next day. so i call to get a clarification of my schedule. the info i get: i come in tomorrow morning, i need to be there by 9, off wednsday, work thursday, friday, and saturday. why so early today?
the managers were going to holiday world. they were meeting up at work at 9. and by managers, i mean four midday managers, two managers in training, and 4 crew people. all of which work primarily between 11 a and 3 p. and school had let out thursday.
everyone who worked today primarily worked 2nd shift, but they went through lunch with not a whole lot of lunchtime experienced help available with one manager on site when it would be busy simply because school had just let out. i knew that it would be busy during lunch the first few weeks simply because school had let out. and it was not raining. i was dead man walking.
i was quadruply upset:
1. i was working a morning directly after closing. i ask for 12 hours between shifts and i ask not to work mornings. the fog doesn't lift for me until 11am, even if i wake up at 7 for a 9 am shift when i go to bed at 11pm the previous night. i don't do mornings. and it was very busy when i walked in at 930 today.
2. i was managing alone during lunch. we NEVER have one manager during lunch. the only time only one manager is needed for lunch is when there is 5 inches of snow on the ground with the other restaurants in the area still open.
3. i worked a day i didn't really have to while on official vacation and i work 5 days when i get back, not 4. and especally after running a midday shift pretty much by myself with key people not really used to the pace of lunchtime rushes. today was not their fault. i told them as much and they could see the problems of today without me having to say anything to them.
4. the thing that makes me the most mad, i wasn't asked if i wanted to go to holiday world. i would have declined, because i don't really do amusement parks, but the fact that i was not asked this year (and i wasn't asked last year or the year before, but i went 3 years ago) pisses me off the most. i wasn't asked before i went on vacation, i had no idea they were leaving the day after i got back from vacation and one of the people who went was supposed to work that day during the time i needed this person and this person was a literal last-second addition to the travelling group who did not leave until 1130 am or so.
actually, this isn't the definition of a dick move, it is rather the definition of a take a crap on you move. i got not much sleep last night, got fried during the day working 2 or 3 positions at a time and i still haven't unpacked yet, simply because i have no energy for it now. maybe tomorrow.
