Work Is Hell

I feel like identifying the person with the pumpkin allergy would make for a good episode of the office.

Yeah. There ain't no actual pumpkin in a pumpkin candle. I'm super curious as to how artificial pumpkin flavor triggers an allergy for actual pumpkin.

I spent the last week working with a guy trying to get his taxes done. He died yesterday, so basically he spent his last week doing his taxes.

This makes me really sad. I think taxes would be the absolutely last possible thing I would do with my last week.

There's been rumors of layoffs going around work this week. It's turned into rumors of mass layoffs. I don't know how many people work here, but losing around 20% is apparently in the realm of possibility now.

I am the youngest in my department and have the least seniority, so I have some worries. But I hope I survive. Even then, it sucks having to have a constant worry about whether or not you'll be back the following month.

It feels like I'm hanging on to my job, and need to scramble come January to find a new one before I get laid off.

I just turned in a 30 page order that I’ve been working on for weeks, which put me behind on a bunch of other stuff, and I think my brain just shut off as soon as I hit send on the email. I really need a day to recover, but I’m so behind, so I also really need to move on to the next thing right now.

I had an internal interview today. I think it went well but fingies crosses.

Man I know that feeling. Writing grants is exhausting, intellectually and emotionally (cuz, paycheck please!). I submitted one two weeks ago that was a limited word count "preproposal" to get selected to submit a full proposal. I agonized and rewrote a 3 page research plans so many times to make sure I was selling my ideas properly. I'm really enjoying just doing admin/organizational type work for a couple weeks.

On Thursday I accepted a new position (Network Operations) within the company. They graciously accepted my proposal of more money in my paycheck.

My current manager also offered me a full-time non-contract position to stay on the team. There was no more money in my paycheck with this offer.

I’m a Network Operations person starting December 9th.

backstory:  I work in a large, busy restaurant. I'm a server and I'm one of the better workers there. A few months ago we had 4 bartenders leave/move/quit all within a few weeks and management basically begged me to train as a bartender. I didn't particularly want to bartend at my restaurant (it's a huge restaurant so 90% of the drinks I make are just for servers to bring to their tables and the actual bar top isn't super busy), but I thought it would be good to get free training at a new skill so I agreed to do it. For the past couple of months I've basically gotten two bartending shifts per week, usually one that's busy (good) and one that's slow(bad), not as much as I would want because it's hard to get better when I rarely get any practice but I figured I'm new back there so of course I'm at the bottom of the totem poll again, no big deal! 


anyway, flashforward to last week. our work schedule is posted and I have serving shifts but not a single bar shift. wtf. I go to my bar manager, who transferred to our store a month ago, and ask her why I'm not on the schedule. She says she had given me two shifts so one of the other managers must have taken the shifts off my schedule, but rest assured she for sure has me scheduled this week. Sounds like complete bull shit to me because there is no reason another manager would take me off the bar schedule unless I had done something wrong and no one has said a thing to me about it. but I just say okay because telling my bar manager i think that's bull shit isn't gonna get me anywhere. I ask the server manager if she changed my schedule and she says "no why would I take bar shifts off your schedule?".


anyway, flashforward to this week, low and behold the schedule is posted and I have zero bartending shifts once again. now I am fucking pissed. the girl that trained at the exact same time as me and who I am better than, is getting bartending shifts. the guy that transferred to our restaurant one month ago is getting bartending shifts, but I have gotten zero in two weeks. so tonight I go to my AGM and ask him if he or the GM are taking my shifts off my schedule since my bar manager insists she's scheduling me and I'm ending up with nothing. he says of course they're not taking my shifts and that I'm one of the better bartenders. a bit later in my shift my bar manager comes to me and says "so Andrew (my AGM) is mad at her because he says I'm throwing other people under the bus for scheduling" which is exactly what she's doing, and she says it like I threw her under the bus by going to the AGM and getting her in trouble.... bitch, you literally told me someone was taking my shifts, why would I not ask them about it?

Anyway, I don't know if it's a drastic move but I think I'm going to meet with my GM and just tell him I no longer want to bartend (not that I'm getting shifts anyway). When they were begging me to bartend they promised that I wouldn't have to do support shifts (food running, breaking) and then continued to schedule me support shifts anyway. I mostly get schedules mid bar shifts which means I don't have the opportunity to pick up shifts in the morning or the night since I'm there for half of each shift. My manager is basically lying straight to my face about it. I have to work way harder and the money is basically the same as serving, or worse. Basically I'm over it. 

sorry for the long rant, but this is why my work is hell, thanks. 

Ugh. You know I work for the same company and I feel like they often make promises of no support shifts when you cross-train and actively work two work groups... and then schedule you anyway. I am sorry for all the lying and drama surrounding this. We often have people train for the bar and then eventually return to serving because it's not worth it for most people. You won't be in the minority. (But if you like bartending, it might be worth fighting for it and a better schedule.) Actually, Johnny basically did that, although he mentioned yesterday that he might want to start bartending again.

Working in an office for 3-4 with 2 where there's no one talking all day isn't that much better.

Small offices make it difficult. Before switching to the film industry, I never worked with more than 7 people (usually closer to 4). You're forced to socialize with people you might not ever socialized with outside that environment.