New home, New problems
Time and time again, I get stressed out simply because of outside sources. It has happened in life before, and I would have been a fool to not expect it to happen again. But this time, when it came, I was simply just expecting more.
If anyone’s been reading my blogs through, then they know that I used to work for Anchor Pointe, under Holiday Retirement and that I was transferring to a similar place here in Ottawa called CrystalView Lodge. I’ve been working there for only about two weeks, and my expectations have fallen so low that the only way for it to go is back up.
In these two weeks, management has neglected to tell me when I am working. Firstly, I thought that I would be working at dishwashing for a good long while, and so I didn’t go to check the schedule for serving. Since, nobody told me that I was starting that yet. But, apparently they HAD scheduled me(I had worked 4 dishwashing shifts in a row previous to that). That was strike number one.
Now, today was a different story, but could be told in a much similar manner. Today, originally, I wasn’t supposed to work. That’s what my schedule said. However, management thought that it would be a good idea to change the schedule and not tell me about it. So, they expected me to work this morning…and I didn’t know about it. I keep my phone off at night, and I decided to sleep in because “I wasn’t working”. So, they couldn’t reach me for that shift. They are lucky I came in to pick my schedule this afternoon, so this could get sorted out…ish.
The day before, because I didn’t know I was working, I agreed to take someone else’s shift that was working. That turned out to be a complete disaster! So, technically, I was working two people’s shifts! Any nobody else would come in when we called them up… That was strike two.
Funny thing is. When I came to pick up the schedule about 1:30 and realized that “oh shit” moment, I specifically said that, if they needed me for the 4:30 shift to get everything ready, they could simply just call me. Well. It turned to 4:30, and there was no call, so I assumed that everything was alright. At 4:45, I get a call from CrystalView, and they say “Whoops, we forgot to call you for the 4:30 shift. Can you come in now?” Guess what. Strike 3.
Holy crap! If there’s one thing in life that I absolutely hate, it is when someone doesn’t tell me things. I lost faith in people who withhold the truth from me. I can handle the truth no matter what it is…it’s when they neglect to tell me that I begin to lost my trust in them. Same goes for my workplace.
They are VERY lucky I’m a gracious person. Because, tomorrow I literally have an 8 hour shift to work. I almost felt like not doing it. And you know what? If they do give me any sort of crap like they gave me today, then I don’t want to work there any more. I know Holiday’s standards, and I know my own standards. Unfortunately, they don’t meet either.
Eeewy!! Is that a log???
Well. To day was(not) a fun day at work. For the lunch shift. We had another no-show. Brianne didn’t come in when she was supposed to. And so we(me, Emily and Chris) were working our butts off to get things done on time. We also had some help from the management, which was nice. But when we started setting, we slowed down, and got out 20 minutes late. Which is pretty good, seeing as there were only 3 of us. I hate it when that happens. I can see another person getting fired in the near future…and we can’t really take that, because there has been sooo many people leaving recently.
But that’s not all! At first, I heard that Levi quit while I was doing breakfast this morning. I thought to myself “Oh, wonderful. Now I’ve got to do desserts again.” Turns out, that’s not the case. Well…desserts needed to get done. But not by me.
I was told that I was supposed to do bathrooms. Clean them. Yea. Go ahead and puke on your screen. Apparently, that’s what the 12:30 to 3:30’s supposed to do every day. Well, that’s news to me. Nobody tells me a freaking thing. I’ve been working for 2 months at least doing desserts for the 3:30 shift. Everybody thought that was what happened. And when I mean everybody, that means THE CHEFS TOO! Totally not true. Because that was Cameron’s job before he quit. And I was doing desserts THEN. I’d come up to Rose and asked about which ice-creams to use WHILE I WAS ON THE 3:30 SHIFT. There were no problems. They saw me doing it. Even last week, I talked with Rose and asked if there were any more responsibilities for the 12:00 to 3:00 shift. She told me: “The bathrooms, but it’s already 3:30, don’t worry about it”. Because we were working short then too because Emily called in sick. Which is quite alright.
Today has just not been my day. I feel kind of abused…and forgotten about. I spend all my time working for them, and they can’t even have the courtesy to tell me a change has happened in my responsibilities. Let me remind you…I’ve always worked weekend lunches. So, it COULDN’T have happened when someone else was there.
At least now I don’t work until wednesday.
Now we’ve got to go out to dinner for my brother’s birthday, which is tomorrow. Ha. So tell me. Am I going to be able to get any homework done?
Nope.
Back to being behind.
Well, it’s come again. I’m falling behind with my schoolwork, and life in general.
Last week friday, we had a handful of tests for certain classes. And for 2 of the three I had no time to study. The only one I did have time to study for, well…the studying wasn’t very much. I almost went into that test being nervous. And I am never that way when it comes to tests, because that will only get in the way of my memory. Basically, I had to rely on my memory of the lessons. Which, fortunately, came quite easily to me. At least, I hope it did…Maybe I was writing wrong answers for everything without even noticing it.
I’ve just been exhausted the past week or so, and it’s affecting my mood. I’ve been so negative towards everything, especially in my thoughts. And when I see assignments passing by me, and I know that it’s just not possible to do everything that I need to to keep on top of life, my future dreams, and my homework…well, it’s just depressing.
I don’t know. Things just haven’t been turning out for the better in my life. And I’ll admit, that I just might be a little depressed from it all. I’ve always had the mentality that being positive all the time, or just joking about everything, would be enough to keep me happier. But I just can’t keep that mentality anymore.
What also doesn’t help, is when people don’t show up at work. We had another case of that, and this time, I don’t really know the reason behind it. Simply put, we had NO dishwasher on friday. And NO dishwasher, means UTTER CHAOS! We were all scrambling all day to finish our work and the dishwasher’s work(which none of us really knew how to do). I was there till 8:30 that night. Luckily for them, my social life has all but vanished since I’ve been working there. Another reason for my feeling horrible.
I just want to sleep. But there can’t be any sleep for me, because there’s just too much to do. Why do I have to work full time and a half, and still be expected to get through with everything else in my life?
Coming Up Short?
For those of you who know me: This post isn’t about me being a shrimp =P.
Well, work’s been going nice recently. Besides a few broken plates today, it’s just been smooth sailing. I tell you…it’s hard to navigate in that kitchen…the trolleys JUST fit.
We had a meeting last week Wednesday, telling us that Reba has now taken a full-time position and is in charge of us. She tells us something, we do it. I think she’ll do a great job. She’s quite reasonable. They also pointed out some things that we should be doing a little better. Nothing too serious.
But, today while I was going about my usual rounds on the 2:30 – 3:30 shift of doing desserts, I discovered something new. Apparently, I’m not supposed to be doing them anymore. Instead, it’s the new dishwasher’s job. Ron. I can understand that, seeing as this and last week we were working on desserts together.
It’s nice that they tell me this…I wish they woulda told me at 2:30 so I coulda gone home earlier =P. I asked the managers-in-training about it. They didn’t know. I also asked Jan, a co-manager, and she also didn’t know. But she assured me that if Paul was the one to tell me this, it was true. And I trust Paul.
But what’s also strange is the fact that I had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off this week(previous), and that I don’t have any shifts on those days the coming week. I like to believe that they’re being considerate of the fact that I’m going off to France in a week, and are giving me the time to prepare. If so, I’ve gotta thank them ^^.
But, if I don’t have my regular shifts when I come back…I’m gonna wonder. I don’t want to have three days off like that. I’d rather work at least one of them. So…if my schedule is like that, I’ll just mention to them that I want either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday as a work day.
And again, Ernesto didn’t show up for work today. I wonder what his story will be for today. lol. But we were good. We still had 4 people(the new guy, Chris, was training for lunch today. He’s actually really good. I gotta talk to him more.) We were still done by 2:30.
So…I’ll see if my schedule changes next week, and decide on what to do from there.
Thanks for readin ^^
Family Day
Many of you non-Canadians might not know this. But officially this year, Canada has gotten a new holiday, called Family Day. It’s on Febuary the 18th, and is intended to bring families closer together…plus, because there is SUCH a long stretchbetween Christmas and March Break.
But from what I’ve heard on the radio, only about 60 % of the entire workforce gets this holiday. My parents aren’t involved in that 60 %. They are, unfortunately, part of the 40 % that work.
I, too, just found out today that I am also part of the 40 % of people that work on Family Day. And to think…Mondays are supposed to be my day off. I’m not entirely happy about that…but I think we get extra pay for working it. But, what I really wanted to do on this day was finish that art test I need to do to get into St. Clair College in Windsor.
So much for that idea…
I just wanna know…when am I ever going to get a day to myself??
More than a Pet Peeve
Alright. Officially, today was so far my worst work day yet. And trust me, I’ve had some pretty bad work days so far, and it’s only my first 5 weeks at my job.
To get straight to the point, one of the employees didn’t show up for work today. He’s a guy that entered training about a week or two ago. So, basically, there were only THREE of us on shift tonight. And to put that in the words of the other employees who’ve been working there longer than me…”Three is hell”. I can understand why.
Usually, we split the rows between the four of us(if we have more, the other guy tags along on row 4). But today we had to split between three. Which is insane. I had to take the longest row(row 4) for the first time ever. And it was a chore.
There were people asking for fulls and halves of the main meal, then fulls and halves of the alternate meal. (Main was some sort of noodle thing with a complicated word, and deli sandwiches was the alternate.) But what was the most confusing was this: Some wanted relish, mustard, mayo, cranberry sauce, and anything else you could possibly imagine today. Plus, it took TWO guys to get the relish bucket open. At the same time.
In the end, we got out nearly an hour late. Which was a surprise to me. I thought it would take a whole lot longer than that with only having the three of us.
But at least it’s over now. I got a paycheck of 260 bucks. So…a hefty one alright. Now we just have to wait for tomorrow to come by. A double-shift, and I’m doing desserts again. That’ll be fun!!
