Tuesday, Feb. 08, 2005 - 1:00 p.m.

I'm only one person, and hey, I may be ambidextrous, but I still only have two hands...

I'm having one of those days. I'm kinda in a crappy mood right now. Everything is fine on the surface, but its just some nagging little voice in the back of my mind that keeps telling me to get off my ass, do what needs to be done, and get it over with. I don't have A LOT of things to do, but the few things I need to be doing, I'm just putting off. I've always been in charge, always telling people what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, and I'm getting sick of it. I've been in management since I was 19 years old, and at first, it was the only way I could stand having a job... I hate authority. And I'm not a bad manager either, considering I'm a General Manager, I work right along side all my kids, on my hands and knees cleaning drains and scrubbing walls and on the line making food.(I've even been told by customers they didn't believe I was the manager because I was working the line and turned around to help them with their "complaint or problem") I'm of the opinion, that if I'm not willing to do it myself, how could I possibly ask a 16 year old kid to do it and get any respect from them. But I need a break... I just don't like it anymore. And the first thing I tell people when I hire them is, if you wake up one morning and hate your job and can't fathom going into work, QUIT. It will only make you happier in the long run. Now, I need to follow my own advice.

I have a meeting with the Owner's daughter tomorrow... and its gonna be a long day!! Her words were something along the lines of: TB Corporate is not happy with us, the store isn't being run properly. She said some other stuff, but all I heard was: "You suck and can't even do this right, that's why I have to come down there and fix it all". I'm curious as to when it went from "Gold" rated store (90% or higher on inspections) to "the store isn't being run properly." Oh, I know, when TB Corporate changed all the policy and procedure 5 months after we had every one trained and set up, and then did not communicate this knowledge down the chain of command. (actually the shit stream, because shit always travels down stream. And right now, I feel like I'm swimming in it.)

I keep being told, we'll find you some more management help, we'll do this, we'll do that... But it never gets done. They aren't willing to pay the wage people expect, when it comes to a job like this. One interview I sat in on, a lady expected an astronomical amount of money as an Asst. Manager, even I had to laugh. I knew full well, that the owner would never go for her demands. She wanted only week days, and only Monday through Friday... The owner is this 70 year old Jewish New Yorker, and he has some very old fashioned views on business and employees. I MUST work Friday nights, Saturday nights, and all day Sunday, because those are the busiest times. I called out sick, one time, and had my shift covered by another manager, but when he found out, he ranted all day about how I don't get sick days because I'm salary. I ended up calling him in the midst of throwing up and coughing out my lungs, and just said "You called me?" with a barely recognizable voice, because I was so ill. I cannot schedule anyone over 40 hours a week, because he refuses to pay overtime, but I have to work over 50 hours to warrent my salary. (Which I never really do anyway.) He is possibly the cheapest man I have ever met, and we've had problems from TB Corporate since the day we opened, as far as, not having all the required training materials and TB related items in the store. Its like pulling teeth to get this man to buy anything. His daughter always says, get what you need, just don't let him know. But he always knows, and I'm the one that gets yelled at. For instance, we are required to have monthly crew meetings (TB Corporate would encourage more than just one meeting a month, but its hard enough to get one in, let alone three or four) and the owner's daughter knew that we were, because I send her the schedule every week. I had a meeting scheduled on January 30th, so we could go over our last inspection, and correct the problems that we were marked off on. And I had to do all the paperwork and print outs for this meeting at home, on my home computer (because I don't have anything at the store, I don't even have a desk at the store) so I knew I wasn't going to be done with all of it by 1:00pm, when I scheduled myself in, so I called the manager running the shift, and told her I still had a couple hours of printing to do, so I would be in around 4pm. (which I was, by the way, I'm very good at accessing time frames) But the owner called, and FREAKED out that I wasn't there. Called my house screaming and yelling (and yes, he screams and yells) about my not being there. When I tried to explain that I was trying to finish up the paperwork for this meeting, he went off all over again about not needed to have meetings and I should be in the store, that its really busy and I'm expected to be there when its busy like that... But to be honest with you, I wasn't angry with him, I was angry with his daughter. She knew we had a meeting scheduled, and she knew we'd been having meetings all along, but she never told him. So once again, I'm the one that gets yelled at. (and my mother wonders why I smoke so much) Speaking of my mother, she told me she hates my job possibly more than I do, because she sees (or rather reads) what it does to me sometimes.

Just another little story about the owner, which I will never forget as long as I live... About two years ago, when we were still The Pretzel Bakery/Cookie Jar Shop, the District Manager (who I've mentioned in earlier entries) met one of the old employees from when the Pretzel Bakery was just its own little store. (This might get confusing, sorry, Pretzel Bakery and the Cookie Jar were, at one time, separate shops, but the owner of the Pretzel Bakery bought out the Cookie Jar and merged the two stores into one.) So the District Manager knew this girl had previous managerial experience at Pretzel Bakery and asked her if she'd consider taking her job back. This girl's response: "I wouldn't work for that man again, even if he paid me $80,000 a year!" Sums it up nicely, don't you think?