Universal Chat Thread

[Mr EliteL]

I wished you and Shira could get vacation off, with Shira not being bothered by work most the time with that stress looing over, and you both kick back and relax with hopefully Mars there to keep you company as well. Nothing to worry about, just how can there not be a day or a period of time you can do that, it seems you very rarely get the chance. 

People nicking other people's stuff, especially if already open, really wtf. At least it was only a bottle of drink though.

Yesterday got to eat out at Harvester for my Dad's birthday. I was planning to have a big meal but because of eating so much Saturday night, I wasn't in the mood, yet still got a nice pile of food from the salad bar, ate three rolls with butter and ordered a doubled up burger, then received two extra sweetcorn cobs from my brother and Dad as they don't like it. I did manage all of that and so didn't need anything later in the day. Got to see my brother's cat finally but he went and hid, not used to other people yet. Well, when I say hid, he attempted to run upstairs but my Dad was still by the bottom of the steps, and the cat opted to hide behind a storage stand that was in the living room where we all were for the next hour.

Hoorah, stock take today at work. What fun it shall be.

[Moonface]

@Mr EliteL: I also think I just need my medication dose increased. The amount of things on my plate seems to be more than my current medication can let me handle properly. XD

As for what was stolen I wasn't fussed since I bought it and I just grabbed another off the shelf. I wasn't paying for a replacement no matter what it was.

Just got home from classes for the day and debating whether to do any homework or not. Four hours of art has kinda drained my art battery which is what my homework is based on.

[ShiraNoMai]

Sounds like you had a good time eating out, EL! Hope you and your family have been staying safe and healthy

Long classes can be especially draining. I don't blame you for opting not to do anymore classwork for the day I used to just veg out in the school lounge between classes. I'd only do more schoolwork if it was due the next class coming up in the day.

Mars is home! Took a while for him to finally settle down and relax (he's a bit... intoxicated from anesthesia) but he's currently giving behind me on the couch, with his naked belly and arm. Gotta start administering medicine to him tomorrow, and that's gonna be fun. Luckily we got liquid meds so it should be a bit easier, but he's still such a handful to deal with.

[Dragon Lord]

Man, why do days off never feel like they last long enough? I'm just like... man, I gotta go back to work tonight already... why?

It's especially bad because my desire to work at this place is draining FAST. Like, I love the paychecks, but holy crap the management at this store is so fucking incompetent that it's not even funny. We're short on overnight workers right now, and one of the ones who left wants to come back... so they decide to stick him on the EVENING SHIFT WHERE THEY ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE instead of putting him back on Overnights where we NEED the help. We're down to five overnighters. Three of us are full-time and the other two are part timers, but the two part timers have a lot of "I won't work x days" requirements for their scheduling, so we're getting super screwed. This Friday there's only going to be two of us working. Two people on a Friday night. What the fuck.

Then it turns out the Manager and one of the Assistant Managers are complete children. The other Assistant Manager is leaving, and they are treating her like complete shit because of it apparently. The other day she needed help because customers were lining up quickly, and when that happens, we're supposed to say "ICU" on our radio to let other co-workers know that we need someone to come up and hop on one of the other registers. So she called that on the radio and... no one. The Manager was sitting in the office and the other Assistant was like 20 feet away in one of the aisles stocking something. She called for help multiple times -- nothing. Eventually one of the other workers who was there went on thew radio and said, " Can anyone hear us? She's been calling for help." and the Manager replied "Yes, we can hear you. However, there's a lot of sassiness going on here today and you need to curb that right now."

???????????????????? You're the god damn MANAGER and someone is calling for help and you're just going to sit on your ass in the office instead of going out and HELPING?! Then the other Assistant Manager who just chose to ignore the lineup of customers even though he was right there. From what I've heard from day shift workers, this is a common problem with these two. Either they refuse to help or they just sit on their assess in the office all day. One of the biggest things about this company is that when the lines start to back up, you drop whatever you're doing and you go up there and help get those customers taken care of as fast as possible. For the actual Management themselves to ignore that rule is just... holy shit. They can't complain about anything not getting done at the store when they themselves don't follow the fucking rules of the company themselves. Lead by example, as they say.

Okay, sorry for the long rant. This place has just proven to be horribly shit. Only thing keeping me there are the nice paychecks. But man, they keep screwing us on overnights. Between them not putting that worker who is coming back on the overnights again or sending one of our workers to another store when we are already short ourselves. The other stores in the area NEVER send help when we need it, but our Managers make one of us go to another store when they need it, leaving our store short for the night.

They say the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence, and this job is proving that very well. Aside from my paychecks being like $400-$500 higher and having insurance, nothing else about this job is proving to be any better than the last one. If I could get the same pay from the old job, I'd probably be willing to go back despite the lack of insurance (would just go through the state for that). It'd be less driving and much less of a headache.

[Moonface]

I would not have someone tell me on the phone/radio that I need to curb my "sassiness" when that person needs to curb their laziness. Reminds me when I got pulled up for having an attitude because I told a manager where to get off when he told me I was going to be staying for 12 hours because he failed to inform me of x thing that needed to be dealt with at 5am and then he got a bollocking from the store manager who came in at 12pm and saw that x thing wasn't done. Don't get testy that someone is questioning your incompetence when we all know those managers would be ripping people a new asshole in a heartbeat if the roles were reversed.

My job is the same though. Too many cases of no one actually practicing what they preach and then wondering why everyone basically does whatever the hell they see fit to do. Luckily none of that directly affects me because I can just go in, do my thing, and leave without having to be concerned about someone else causing me a problem. The most I'll get is leadership asking me to help them on something then I have to explain I won't because whenever I ask for help they refuse to give me any. That sort of stuff goes both ways for me and if I do it and discover that it isn't going to be reciprocated then I'm not going to take time away from my tasks in future to do it again.

It sucks that for you though it directly affects you and you're not doing a task where you can just get on with it and ignore whatever fires the lazy management is causing elsewhere. I doubt they'll ever care unless someone above them deals with it though, since if anyone opts to leave they know there's probably a line of people who would be waiting to fill the spot and they sound the sort to happily fill it with whoever and not actually care about how competent they are or even bother to train them. Assuming they actually refill the spot in the first place mind you. XD


Ugh, I've been doing homework for the last two hours and questioning heavily why I signed myself up for these art classes. It's just so utterly tedious and annoying. x.x

[Dragon Lord]

The worst part is that nobody wants to work any more, so there are no people lined up to take the spot of people who quit. Which is why we're short on overnight shift right now. Minnesota kept extending unemployment benefits during COVID over and over again to the point where most people, especially younger people (20-25) just want the Government to keep forking over money to them so they don't have to go out and get jobs.

[Moonface]

I don't see why anyone would spend time doing physical labour for roughly the same pay as not working at all and having the extra free time. Either that or people will just find jobs that pay well and have good conditions, which is probably why most service industry jobs around me are lacking workers because nothing about that is worth sticking with anymore, especially with how foul people have become over Covid. Even if the government wasn't giving anything out that wouldn't necessarily mean a bad job would get workers so long as there are better opportunities available. If my job only paid me minimum wage or very close to it I'd have left it long ago for something better.

[ShiraNoMai]

^^^^ Literally this, though that reminds me of how badly the /antiwork subreddit fucked up over the past day or so with that god awful interview on the worst possible platform. Might as well have led a sheep to a wolf's den. I see most of the honorable folk from that subreddit moved to /workreform because that's more of the sentiment anyway.

[Moonface]

Yeah, work reform is a better name for what most people actually want to see. People are just against working in shit standards rather than against working at all.

I hope anyone who reads this is doing well today (or whenever you read it). I'm still doing homework and such, which I hope to be finished with before 6pm my time because I don't really want to spend more time on this crap.

[Mr EliteL]

We've had three deputy managers already since our long-running deputy left, although it's partly from changing them about but still, the latest one on his first day came to me and told me to fill bananas when my department looked like shit, I was the only one on there for the day, and was planning to do that very thing after I had filled an area that had been bare for hours. I didn't know who he was at first and was tempted to respond in a certain manner, but decided against it. Dang it none of the three of them really help(ed) that much. Old deputy would've gladly filled the banana hammock and rotated stock at least. Although I'll give it to them that weren't as bad as the managers above. Yeesh. We also had the flip side of having brand new workers doing jack, and they're all gone after two months, not left by choice too.

Hope you get that work done, Moony. I can bet I'd dislike whatever it is you have to do for homework. At least you're trying to get out the way, I would've been procrastinating until like 8PM or something, or if it required a substantial bit of time...just after dinner.

Got my booster today, feeling fine but night will prove how well I'll be for tomorrow. Hope I won't be like my second dose as I had to phone in for the next day off. Intend to go in, a little later than usual if I have to take the time to get out of bed, unless I'm really bad. Shouldn't be as my arm doesn't ache as much when I move it into a high position.

[Karo]

That sounds awful NIght Lord I hope people will start filling up the shift that need actual employees soon, but I am honestly kinda surprised this whole "The Great Resignation" happened during a pandemic. I tend to agree with Moony and Nikki with the whole if you have a better offer and your being treated like shit I can understand why some people might resign or go do something they find more meaningful with their time if their was no threat to their livelihood.

I heard about that antiwork reddi thing and I was amazed that anyone in their right mind would go onto fox news for an "interview" for a "movement" that really wasn't a movement. Getting together to get better working rights and unionizing is a good thing, but it wasn't organized at all considering the very different pages the people were on. It was a pure trainwreck!

I hope it might spur on a group to actually get organized and demands better pay and benefits for workers and really I don't think anyone really want to "abolish work" cause work comes in all shapes and sizes, now of course some work isn't equal at all. If your using your body all day your obviously working harder than someone at a desk job but of course both are workers and deserve respect. I hope everyone finds a job they can take pride in and get respected even the filthy peasants that work McDonalds.

Good luck with your booster EL!

[Moonface]

I am honestly kinda surprised this whole "The Great Resignation" happened during a pandemic. I tend to agree with Moony and Nikki with the whole if you have a better offer and your being treated like shit I can understand why some people might resign or go do something they find more meaningful with their time if their was no threat to their livelihood.

A lot of people chose to retire during Covid, likely for their own safety given their age and that vaccines and such weren't available for at least a year into it and we didn't even know how long it would be before they even came along. Then add in those who simply died, and that opened a lot of spaces on the job market. All those openings meant there was a lot of choice for people who were job hunting and if anything better opened up, someone would take it and leave their current position behind. If that position isn't great, such as in service industries, then trying to entice people into that slot instead of other jobs that are more appealing is very difficult. I know my store is struggling to hire people, because compared to somewhere like Costco our starting wage is a lot lower and so is our maximum, and if there are other stores on that same page then why would someone pick us over them? Same that some people actually preferred working from home instead of at an office, and if their job was going to force them back to an office but they saw another job that had roughly the same perks and pay but allowed for remote work, it's very enticing to switch to the job that caters to your needs better. Granted, those jobs probably don't struggle as much to hire people because the job itself isn't dealing a bad hand, it just isn't working out for someone due to preferences, but my point is how even in good fields, there can still be reasons to leave one good job for another good job. Covid also showed a lot of people just how uncaring their employers are, and that too can turn people off. My store is full of people who dislike how the company claims they can't give us any pandemic pay yet made record profits during Covid, and are still telling us to make more money and push ourselves harder. When the people who are dealing with the pandemic and shortages first hand are being shafted by the guy who just sits in an office away from the public and is receiving a fatter bonus and dishing out empty words while also making a point about record profits, it'll rub most people the wrong way I'd imagine.

It's a lot of things that all came together under the right conditions, and it's unfortunately muddied a lot by painting all of it with the brush that people just don't want to work at all, and while there are people who will just do nothing for money, I bet certain stores would be having staff shortages even if there hadn't been a single stimulus cheque handed out because those aren't the reason people noticed a certain company is just a crock of shit to work for. The openings of better opportunities is the reason for that.

[Karo]

Honestly I didn't really think about retirement and the whole death opening space in the job market. That is actually really sad with the death things. I think your right about it not just all being shit jobs if there is a demand for workers and another company is hiring that more suits your needs why wouldn't you take the better offer for you? From what I hear in the past there was this idea of job loyalty but I think it gotten to the point where workers realized companies treat them like they are easily replaced so why shouldn't the worker replace their job just as easily if a better one comes along?

Also Moony will you be jumping ship to Costco if an opening becomes available?

[Moonface]

I wouldn't jump to Costco solely because at least where I am now will give me shifts I want and like. It's the same reason why I didn't even transfer to a store within the same company that's nearer to my house; I can't be guaranteed to get the same things I get as the store I already work at, so I would rather do the drive and keep the security I have. Costco would pay me more but it means nothing if the hours are bad for me.

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah while you're in college, the flexibility of time should be paramount to anything else as school is the priority. It'd be nice, but yeah, things you wouldn't know without asking.

Speaking of looking for better employment, I should get on to looking. And possibly redo my portfolio site. It is so boring in comparison to what I saw come through the door at my work the other day