Next week, we're back to yo-yo scheduling. I was looking forward to having a steady sleep schedule, but alas, that happiness is not to be. Once again, I am going from opening to closing in the course of one week.
I can't tell if our new scheduler is trying to stress-test us, or just trying to make everyone dislike her. Most people are in the latter camp, from what I can tell.
What I find ironic is, our employer is big on everyone being healthy, and yet allows our scheduler to deny us proper, steady sleep cycles. Heck, most of the Department heads are required to have said unsteady sleep schedule.
Giving that there are many studies that have been published regarding the health benefits of steady sleep, I really have to wonder just how healthy our employer wants us to be, if they're allowing this. Then again, I've been wondering about it for a few years now. Back when I first started, I'd wondered to one of the managers why we weren't able to get steady schedules, and was told, "so customers know when to find you."
Um, what? They'd know when to find us if we were set in our hours, not the opposite! We still have people who call for a coworker, expecting them to be there at X time because, hey~! They were yesterday/last Monday/last week/ whenever, and are rather surprised to discover, no, they won't be in for another 5 hours, because they're closing. Or, that they're already gone for the day because they opened. Yup! Customers sure know when to find the person they're looking to talk to about their order!
My main concern with not having a steady sleep schedule is, if we're going from leaving work at 2:30 one day to leaving it at 10:30(pm) the next, and said person has been going to bed around 8-9pm, they wind up being shorted on sleep. If they've had enough opening shifts in a row, they might not be able to sleep past 8am on the 3rd or 4th day, when they have to work that closing shift, so they're denied sleep on both sides of that shift. Conversely, if they go from closing for awhile, they're not going to be able to fall asleep early enough to get proper rest before that opening (or mid!) shift.
If someone is not able to get enough sleep, for one reason or another, they can sometimes take drastic measures in order to fall asleep - alcohol, for one. Another is sleeping pills, and those also have side-effects to worry about, which can sometimes be worse than drinking yourself to sleep. Not getting enough rest, in addition to making someone lethargic and exhausted, can also lead to anxiety and depression, which I'm sure isn't something our employer really wants to deal with.
At the moment, the rumor mill at work is churning enough to say the store manager himself doesn't care about what our new scheduler is doing to us, so the only recourse we have is to call and report the problem. If enough of us call, we might be able to have something done.
It shouldn't take that kind of drastic action to have something corrected that should have never even been put into practice.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Plumbing "fun"
At least, this appears to be the case. In addition to screwy scheduling this week, we got to play with plumbing! And not in a fun way.
These past few weeks, Mom and I have been hearing a dripping sound (as in, leaking water) coming from the drain in the kitchen sink, but haven't seen anything. There's no leak that we can see, so we didn't know what to make of it.
We know now.
Monday night, Mom goes to get a pot out to make a hot dish, and finds a puddle of water on the bottom shelf of the cabinet. Next to the sink, where no water should logically be. So, after dinner, I take all the pots and pans out of the cabinet, and we take a look. At the puddle of water coming from soaked plaster at the back of the cabinet, and plaster dissolved in puddles of goo. We obviously have a leak somewhere, but in the wall?? Come on, now!
So, we try to take the shelf out so we can break up the wall and get at the plumbing. These cabinets are original to the house, which was built around about the 1920's. At least, that was the date on the news papers we took out of my bedroom walls when we re-did the sheet rock and insulation back when I was a kid. Regardless, these cabinets were well built. Enough so that Mom had to take a reciprocating saw to the shelf and cut it in half in order to get it out, complete with using a rubber mallet to get the pieces out. There were three-inch nails holding that shelf on, spaced every four or five inches apart. Brick shit-house? Verily.
Mom gets the shelf out, then takes the saw to the back of the cabinet - puddle of water, food particles, mold, the works. The drain pipe leading from the sink to the main assembly to take water out the house from the kitchen sink had not just one, but three holes and a major crack in it. You know the smell you get when your garbage disposal stops working and/or the sink otherwise backs up? That's what it smelled like. Instant. Migraine. Mom took the drain assembly apart, and I got to take the broken pipe out. Did you know, if you need to turn a pipe counter-clockwise, you need to have the pipe-wrench upside-down? I put it on right-side up and it wouldn't grip the pipe in the direction I was turning it. Talk about annoying!
But,m we got the drain out, and I had to stop Mom from throwing it away - we'd need it for the length. Went in to work and talked to one of the guys in plumbing. He got us the parts we needed, and told us how to make a cheap pipe tap - to get the old, broken pipe bits off the T-section of pipe it connects to. Take a pipe of the appropriate diameter, cut four strait cuts all the way through the threads and down to the solid pipe. Next, make four more cuts about 1/4-3/8" away from the first one, angled to meet the first cut at the bottom. You now have a tool to get the old flashing out, and make sure the threads of the old pipe will take the new piece. Woo.
I got to make that. Wasn't terribly difficult, since Dad has hacksaws in his workshop. It's in with the real pipe taps now, so we have it for later.
Anyway, the whole job cost us maybe $15.50, which certainly isn't bad, considering it's a plumbing job. We did have trouble getting the PVC to go in, though - we forgot, in the course of getting supplies, that the exterior 2x4 the pipe went through was just big enough to fit the pipe; with the extra part on it, it wouldn't go in, so we had to cut at the 2x4 to make it fit. We tried the reciprocating saw, and chisels, then I finally dropped out of the battle. I had gotten a migraine from the smell, and it was just getting worse and worse, until I was to the point of tears. Mom excused me to take my shower and go to bed. She and Dad finished it up, and Mom got the idea to get the 2x4 widened by using a spade-bit in the drill. This apparently worked great! She was done by the time I was done with my shower.
Luckily for me, the drain for the bath tub and the drain for the kitchen sink are not connected. I know the one for the washing machine downstairs and the kitchen sink are, as the washing machine has a water capacity greater than what our pipes can handle, and makes the kitchen sink make gurgling noises.
And believe me, once I allowed myself to acknowledge what I'd been sitting, kneeling, and lying in (gotta get the right angle for those pipes!), I really, REALLY wanted to shower. Mold, mildew, old food particles, dissolved concrete, and (most likely, given the source) e-coli bateria. Along with who-knows-what other bacteria. Apparently, if I don't pay that kind of thing any attention, and therefore don't think about it, it doesn't bother me.
The kitchen floor has since been scrubbed three times, and Mom bleached the cabinet. I hope to never have to deal with this kind of plumbing situation again, and if I ever look at a house to buy (I hope!), I shall need to ask how old the plumbing is.
Yuck.
These past few weeks, Mom and I have been hearing a dripping sound (as in, leaking water) coming from the drain in the kitchen sink, but haven't seen anything. There's no leak that we can see, so we didn't know what to make of it.
We know now.
Monday night, Mom goes to get a pot out to make a hot dish, and finds a puddle of water on the bottom shelf of the cabinet. Next to the sink, where no water should logically be. So, after dinner, I take all the pots and pans out of the cabinet, and we take a look. At the puddle of water coming from soaked plaster at the back of the cabinet, and plaster dissolved in puddles of goo. We obviously have a leak somewhere, but in the wall?? Come on, now!
So, we try to take the shelf out so we can break up the wall and get at the plumbing. These cabinets are original to the house, which was built around about the 1920's. At least, that was the date on the news papers we took out of my bedroom walls when we re-did the sheet rock and insulation back when I was a kid. Regardless, these cabinets were well built. Enough so that Mom had to take a reciprocating saw to the shelf and cut it in half in order to get it out, complete with using a rubber mallet to get the pieces out. There were three-inch nails holding that shelf on, spaced every four or five inches apart. Brick shit-house? Verily.
Mom gets the shelf out, then takes the saw to the back of the cabinet - puddle of water, food particles, mold, the works. The drain pipe leading from the sink to the main assembly to take water out the house from the kitchen sink had not just one, but three holes and a major crack in it. You know the smell you get when your garbage disposal stops working and/or the sink otherwise backs up? That's what it smelled like. Instant. Migraine. Mom took the drain assembly apart, and I got to take the broken pipe out. Did you know, if you need to turn a pipe counter-clockwise, you need to have the pipe-wrench upside-down? I put it on right-side up and it wouldn't grip the pipe in the direction I was turning it. Talk about annoying!
But,m we got the drain out, and I had to stop Mom from throwing it away - we'd need it for the length. Went in to work and talked to one of the guys in plumbing. He got us the parts we needed, and told us how to make a cheap pipe tap - to get the old, broken pipe bits off the T-section of pipe it connects to. Take a pipe of the appropriate diameter, cut four strait cuts all the way through the threads and down to the solid pipe. Next, make four more cuts about 1/4-3/8" away from the first one, angled to meet the first cut at the bottom. You now have a tool to get the old flashing out, and make sure the threads of the old pipe will take the new piece. Woo.
I got to make that. Wasn't terribly difficult, since Dad has hacksaws in his workshop. It's in with the real pipe taps now, so we have it for later.
Anyway, the whole job cost us maybe $15.50, which certainly isn't bad, considering it's a plumbing job. We did have trouble getting the PVC to go in, though - we forgot, in the course of getting supplies, that the exterior 2x4 the pipe went through was just big enough to fit the pipe; with the extra part on it, it wouldn't go in, so we had to cut at the 2x4 to make it fit. We tried the reciprocating saw, and chisels, then I finally dropped out of the battle. I had gotten a migraine from the smell, and it was just getting worse and worse, until I was to the point of tears. Mom excused me to take my shower and go to bed. She and Dad finished it up, and Mom got the idea to get the 2x4 widened by using a spade-bit in the drill. This apparently worked great! She was done by the time I was done with my shower.
Luckily for me, the drain for the bath tub and the drain for the kitchen sink are not connected. I know the one for the washing machine downstairs and the kitchen sink are, as the washing machine has a water capacity greater than what our pipes can handle, and makes the kitchen sink make gurgling noises.
And believe me, once I allowed myself to acknowledge what I'd been sitting, kneeling, and lying in (gotta get the right angle for those pipes!), I really, REALLY wanted to shower. Mold, mildew, old food particles, dissolved concrete, and (most likely, given the source) e-coli bateria. Along with who-knows-what other bacteria. Apparently, if I don't pay that kind of thing any attention, and therefore don't think about it, it doesn't bother me.
The kitchen floor has since been scrubbed three times, and Mom bleached the cabinet. I hope to never have to deal with this kind of plumbing situation again, and if I ever look at a house to buy (I hope!), I shall need to ask how old the plumbing is.
Yuck.
She's out to get us, really.
We have a new scheduler at work now. She's apparently a bitter, mean woman at heart.
You tell her what you'd like for a schedule - and she takes your preferences, and smiles and nods. Then, she schedules you for the exact opposite.
For example, after she apologized to me for scheduling me for so many opening shifts, I told her to not worry about it, I like the opening shift. So, what do I get for the last two weeks?
Close, close, off, midshift, open, open, off, open, open, close, midshift, open, off, off. It's like, the yo-yo schedule of doom.
Apparently, I'm not the only one she's doing this to, either. One person reports that she told her she didn't care whether people liked there schedules, and she didn't care what their preferences are. This makes me wonder if the poor woman is already a burn-out case after being on the job for only what, two months? Regardless, she's made quite a few people unhappy.
On the plus side, my DH comes back from vacation this week, and suddenly I have a steady schedule again. I open, form Monday through Friday, with the weekend off. I find this very weird, actually; I'm not used to having the weekends off, so it kind of wigs me out.
Still, if my DH coming back form vacation is what gives me a steady work schedule, she might not be allowed to spend two weeks in Hawaii anymore!
....
She'd better come back with a tan.
You tell her what you'd like for a schedule - and she takes your preferences, and smiles and nods. Then, she schedules you for the exact opposite.
For example, after she apologized to me for scheduling me for so many opening shifts, I told her to not worry about it, I like the opening shift. So, what do I get for the last two weeks?
Close, close, off, midshift, open, open, off, open, open, close, midshift, open, off, off. It's like, the yo-yo schedule of doom.
Apparently, I'm not the only one she's doing this to, either. One person reports that she told her she didn't care whether people liked there schedules, and she didn't care what their preferences are. This makes me wonder if the poor woman is already a burn-out case after being on the job for only what, two months? Regardless, she's made quite a few people unhappy.
On the plus side, my DH comes back from vacation this week, and suddenly I have a steady schedule again. I open, form Monday through Friday, with the weekend off. I find this very weird, actually; I'm not used to having the weekends off, so it kind of wigs me out.
Still, if my DH coming back form vacation is what gives me a steady work schedule, she might not be allowed to spend two weeks in Hawaii anymore!
....
She'd better come back with a tan.
Friday, May 14, 2010
WLM, you're officially in "creepy program" status.
Okay, I don't normally use WLM chat. (Windows Live Messenger, for those who don't know.) Point of fact, I have had it for a few years now, but took a long break from using it, mainly because I'd used it to talk with certain people, who mainly were not on when I was, so I stopped using it. For about a year.
Now an online friend (who I have met IRL) introduced me to one of his online friends, a girl who lives about 2 hours North of me (which contrasts nicely with the one who lives two hours South of me; is it too much to ask to have a friend in the same city as myself? *laughs*). She uses WLM pretty exclusively. So, I'm back on the program.
And one of the first things I notice is that this program is now offering suggestions to people! Some of which are very creepy.
Yeah, we have two heterosexual females chatting with each other using this program, and it's asking us to find out what our future baby will would like.
O_o
This makes me wonder just what the programmers think people are mainly using their chat program for. Do that many people really use WLM chat for make-out sessions that the programmers think a baby breeding program would be great, regardless of the supposed genders of the people doing the chatting? What happens when you have five people in a group chat?
Currently, it's asking me how old I'll look, which isn't -quite- so creepy, but still not something I'm going to ask it to find out for me.
Now an online friend (who I have met IRL) introduced me to one of his online friends, a girl who lives about 2 hours North of me (which contrasts nicely with the one who lives two hours South of me; is it too much to ask to have a friend in the same city as myself? *laughs*). She uses WLM pretty exclusively. So, I'm back on the program.
And one of the first things I notice is that this program is now offering suggestions to people! Some of which are very creepy.
Yeah, we have two heterosexual females chatting with each other using this program, and it's asking us to find out what our future baby will would like.
O_o
This makes me wonder just what the programmers think people are mainly using their chat program for. Do that many people really use WLM chat for make-out sessions that the programmers think a baby breeding program would be great, regardless of the supposed genders of the people doing the chatting? What happens when you have five people in a group chat?
Currently, it's asking me how old I'll look, which isn't -quite- so creepy, but still not something I'm going to ask it to find out for me.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Monthly Update - April
Good times and bad times.
Pages written: 8
Pages typed: 4
Weigh-in: 193.5 pounds
I gained half a pound this month. Boo~! :P Better than I could have done, though. I need to reinstate the exercise, as I have been slacking off on that. I still have 53.5 pounds to go before I meet my goal, and barely 7 months to meet it in. So, I need to lose about 8 pounds a month if I'm going to meet my goal. This isn't too bad, and definitely doable.
In the meantime, I have a to-do list for the day, so I need to get back to it. :)
Pages written: 8
Pages typed: 4
Weigh-in: 193.5 pounds
I gained half a pound this month. Boo~! :P Better than I could have done, though. I need to reinstate the exercise, as I have been slacking off on that. I still have 53.5 pounds to go before I meet my goal, and barely 7 months to meet it in. So, I need to lose about 8 pounds a month if I'm going to meet my goal. This isn't too bad, and definitely doable.
In the meantime, I have a to-do list for the day, so I need to get back to it. :)
Saturday, May 1, 2010
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