
Both of these can be exciting, but most often are just scary! I’ll start with the new job, which I started this past Monday.
The job itself is really easy (just ring people up and clean up after their slobby asses in the fitting rooms), the girls I work with are outstandingly friendly and interesting, but the company itself SUCKS. Since I’m not a manager, I can maintain a certain amount of distance and can laugh at the stupid things they do, but I have a feeling that my frustrations will reach a point where I’ll either get fired for yelling at someone higher up, or I’ll just quit. Not that I’m planning on staying all that long, just for the summer.
One of the main complaints I have is that the higher ups, which include about 3 people, given the minuscule size of the company, have completely unrealistic expectations of their stores and associates. Minor mistakes are broadcast company-wide, after the offending associate is given a personal phone call and chewed out, theoretically to shame them into doing things “properly”. This is something I cannot abide and will not get drawn into. I have been in retail too long and have had enough experience as a manager to know that shaming and embarrassing your employees is not only inappropriate, but is not the best way to achieve results. These people don’t realize that there are a hundred other places these girls can work where they will actually be treated with respect. They switch that around and say that there are a hundred other girls waiting to take this job. But associate retention is important to every company. It boosts morale and productivity, and has a positive effect on customer service and retention. Happy employees = happy customers = more money. The fact that they don’t understand this makes me mad already, and I haven’t even met anyone from the “corporate” office yet.
Anyway, that’s enough ranting for now. They don’t deserve this much of my attention. Now to focus on my finals, which are happening this week. Here is my finals schedule for this week:
SUNDAY: Study, study, study
MONDAY: Do Writing Assignment #8 in Intro to East Asian Culture, do preliminary prep work for final project in Technical and Professional Writing.
TUESDAY: Work from 9:30 - 5:00; bring school stuff to work and ignore customers. Do Renaissance History essay exam after work.
WEDNESDAY: Work from 3:00-10:00; bring school stuff to work and ignore customers.
THURSDAY: Do timed final exam in Intro to East Asian Culture, finish final project for Technical and Professional Writing.
FRIDAY: Work unknown 8-hour shift (May schedule isn’t final yet). Final project and Oral Presentation Discussion are DUE - NO EXCUSES!
SATURDAY: Breathe a sigh of relief and think about the fact that I won’t have classes again until the end of August.
You see, this new job has had me scheduled for 5 days this week, meaning that I have fallen behind in my studying and preparing for finals. This means that today, my day off, will be spent panicking and juggling text books with my boyfriend, who has two of my classes and two of the same finals. Of course, here I am, procrastinating my little head off on WordPress, checking into my favorite forums, and basically doing nothing. But I will relish my day off from work and use this day to focus on my exams, I promise! Just let me check out the weather, the news, and the new posts on The Book Club Forum first…
EDIT: I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea about my new job, like I hate it or something. I’m happy to be there, and I haven’t experienced anything bad yet. But I have the feeling that some people are kind of frustrated with the company, so the things I’ve been hearing about are possibly a result of that. I’m happy to just do my job and wait and see!