Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Work Update, Tornado, Haircuts and Photos of Me.

Groan. 
I don't even want to write this post.


I'm tired off it all and just want to put it out of my mind,
but since I shared before and got such great advice
I feel like I owe you all an update.
So....guess what!
The girl who works for me in boarding
and who refused to work weekends and said she'd quit without notice if I put her on weekends?
Well, now she no longer wants to work Thursday days either.
My only day off.
Nor Friday nights.
She just wants Monday through Wednesday evenings hours.
At first I told her that I'd rather work 60 hours a week than put up with her crap.
Yep, that's exactly how I said it.
I told her that by saying she wants to work just 3 days, she's saying that she wants to quit.
I told her that it doesn't work for me
and then I said I had to leave before I said more angry things.
I went home and texted Doc's step-daughter to see if she can work some hours
and she has to get back to me.
Then I text the vet who is HR and let her know what was going on.
She said we would talk the next day because tornado sirens were going off in her area.

So, there was a Tornado!
It didn't actually hit her area but instead touched down in another town,
where my step-mom lives!
It destroyed some homes
and did major damage to most of the houses out in that little town.
It's very rural and the houses on either side of my step-mom had a lot of damage
but her house wasn't touched except for a tree.
Her insurance agent called the next day and said he had watched the storm over the Net and it went right over her house.
He had been waiting for a call, for a claim and was shocked that they were untouched.
Talk about lucky!
Their power went out but they have a generator.
No sirens went off in their little town. No warning but luckily people headed for their basements
when the sky turned ugly.
Here, it rained and then everything turned kinda yellow
I didn't edit these photos at all -

and the sky got very light

and it was 9 at night!
Then it was over.
Across the river, where I work, they said it didn't even rain.
Weather is weird.

But back to my work crap.
Right now I have her working those 3 evenings shifts
that are three hours long,
while I'm working 7.


Yes, SEVEN days a week.
although some days it's only for 5 hours....
but Fridays are double shifts.
If I didn't keep her on those nights, I'd be doing double shifts on those days too.
So until I can find someone else....
Although some of the techs have stepped up to cover afternoon hours so that I'm not there all day.

The girl says she's just burnt out and needs a break.
I didn't bother to say she just works part-time and just came off a 10 day vacation last month.
She forgets that I'm here all day long and I'm more than 2 times her age
and that I do the majority of cleaning etc. during the day
and she just has a few messes and feeding to do in the evening....
She told my niece that if I fire her, she will get unemployment.
I doubt that she could but I won't fire her,
when I find someone else, I will put her back on weekends
and Friday nights.
That should do it.
If not, then I will fire her.

Doc left for his 2 week European trip today.
I'm taking care of his 2 dogs and 2 cats.
I started to tell him about the latest with this girl
and apparently the other vet, the HR vet had filled him in 
and all he said was "Just take care of it"
I guess he just wants to leave and not be bothered.
I did mention to him that he might be surprised to see my time card when he returns.
Anyway,  blah, blah, blah.
I'm tired of thinking about it
and talking about it.
I'll just do it and not think.
What a stupid lazy girl.

I was told by some of the co-workers to put a job listing on Facebook,
(I had done that before and only got the one response from the unenthusiastic girl)
But I put it up again and I asked local people to share it so that it would reach as many people as possible.
So far the only person to "Like" the post is this stupid girl that doesn't want to work.
I feel like she "Liked" it just to make a point.
I was also told to list the job opening on the local Employ Me site.
I will have the Office Manager do that but I noticed that our big rival boarding/vet clinic competition
has a job listing for the exact same job, posted right now too.
Someone else said to list it on Craigslist.
I hadn't thought about that.
I Googled it and the brand new fancy pet boarding kennel that has "4 locations",
has a job posting on it already.
Everyone is searching for Help, I guess.

I'm trying to be positive
and I'm focusing on another perfect person to walk in and apply.
The new girl is doing Great and LOVES the job
but she's a full-time groomer and only wanted a couple of days a week.

So that's the situation.
I have some many Art plans
and I haven't shared this before but my name is going to come up in the next couple of months
for booth space.
I've been on a waiting list since last August.
Not the place downtown but the BIG place with all the traffic.
I've got to carve out Art time
and yard, house, laundry, play with my own pets time.
Oh and sleep.
So that's how it currently sits.

This stupid girl is working tomorrow.
My last full day off for a while.
I plan to go get my hair cut.
(WARNING: I'm posting photos of myself.
I hate my photos, they don't look like me
Some stranger jumps in front of the camera.)
:(

OK... I do this full circle thing with my head.
I cut it short and make it blonder
and I'm happy with it 

and then one day I stop getting it cut
and I let it grow.

It grows and grows 
and then I straighten it into a long smooth style
and then one day humidity moves in
and I stop straightening it
and turns into this huge curly mass
(this is actually a smoother day)

and then I gather it up
and put it into a wild ponytail for a while.
Then I need a change and suddenly hate my hair
I cut it all off.
Do you do that?
Go back and forth with hair styles?
Anyway, that's the update but
don't worry-


30 comments:

Connie in Hartwood said...

Here's how I see your decision regarding the employee ... is the stress of managing her work habits and her increasingly limited availability truly better than not having her there at all? If the answer to this question is yes, then you have to deal with it at least for now. If the answer is no (and it sounds to me like this is probably the case), schedule her based on her initial availability when she was hired and see if she truly does quit. If she doesn't show, you can fire her with cause. (I agree with the vet ... take care of it.)

Do you truly know why she's feeling so burned out? Have you asked?

As for having other unfilled similar job openings in the area, don't worry about them. Make YOUR job listing better than theirs. All jobs are not created equal, and some places are better to work than others. Is yours one of these? Would Dr. let you post a Help Wanted flyer at the check in desk for clients to see?

Cindi Myers said...

Connie,
Thank you SO much for this wonderful well thought out comment.
I appreciate it that you took the time to leave me such great advice.
I'm supposed to talk with Doc's step-daughter this weekend and hopefully I can rewrite the schedule and let this girl walk.
I know that she won't work it and she means it. She is spoiled and she has been given a lot of things by her family. She is probably hoping I force her hand.
She says she is burned out because she's tired of working. It's physical work and it does exhaust a person, especially when there are a lot of pets boarding.
AND she can't handle the barking. She is now irritated with the barking.
She also gets irritated it we have cats that are cranky.
Or if we have to care for pets that stay with us for the sole purpose of us to attend to their medical needs. We are a vet clinic and sometimes Doc will keep a pet at the clinic for us to care for and he will stop in frequently to take of the medical needs. She really hates that part of the job.
She has a list of things that bother her and she doesn't like any of the people who work there although she seldom has any interaction with them.
Basically, she just doesn't want to work, let alone work hard.
As far as making the job more attractive, that's hard to do. Doc isn't willing to pay too much, he thinks the job is easy, or "cush" is his term.
AND I don't want to sugar coat it too much and then have people leave after the training period because it's more than just playing with the pets.
Sometimes there are as many as 33-35 pets. So it can wear a person out.
Finally, I LOVE the idea of posting the position in the waiting room!
That's such a great idea and I will definitely be doing there.
Truly Connie, THANK YOU!
xoxoxo

tammy j said...

first. good grief but YOU are a cutie pie!
i'm thinking audrey tautou cutie pie. and especially with it short. google her for a look at yourself. only with lighter hair.

i've had a pixie cut for so long now that i couldn't do otherwise.
it's just too darned EASY. shower and go. and if it's short...
think the fabulous jean seberg... you don't have to worry about frizz.
and if it does... it's just cute. you would look super with it.

second.
thank goodness your step mom's house and herself were spared the tornado... and that the other people had the sense to take shelter... alarms or not.

third.
what a lazy sleaze that girl is. she's purposely pushing you to the limit. it's her plan. you know that.
i had one just like her once. her mother was second in command in HR.
i loved her mother. she used to come up and whisper to me...
"bear with it. i'm working on her." she meant the daughter's attitude.
she was UBER lazy and arrogant. she would just get up from her desk and stay gone for 20 or 30 minutes at a time. the rest of my crew were not allowed to do that of course. nor did i even do it!
she would arrive late in the morning... leave early and take long lunches. i was told i couldn't fire her by my own supervisor.
the girl was black. i think they were afraid of a lawsuit and she knew it.

one day she was overheard by another operator talking to a friend of hers. the person was alarmed and pushed the button to listen in to her conversation. the girl was saying that she would beat me to a pulp. that she would make a better supervisor than i ever could.
it went on and on... blah blah blah. saying how she'd like to kill me.

my employee that was listening in came to me and told me about it.
now. what to do? i went to my supervisor with the employee who just overheard the conversation. i finally got permission to let her go.
she drew unemployment of course. which was her object all along.
she goes from "job" to job doing that. what a life.
and she was a beautiful smart girl. just unbelievably lazy and with a giant chip on her shoulder.

we all breathed a sigh of relief when she was gone. i didn't even care if my (our) tax money went to pay her off for 6 months... or however long they get to draw it. it was worth it to be rid of her.
i felt sorry for her poor mother who was a real lady. and lovely.

and oddly enough... a PERFECT replacement for that girl appeared in no time!!!!
makes you wonder.
it's said that the universe doesn't like a vacuum!!!
XOXOXOXO♥ holding ONLY good thoughts for you.

CheerfulMonk said...

I'm afraid my reaction is to wonder if the job at the rival vet would have better hours. Or at least if the vet(s) there appreciated hard work more.

Good luck, and thanks for telling us what's going on.

About hair --- mine is getting quite thin so I keep it short. I cut my own, so it's not the most elegant style in the world!

Cindi Myers said...

Omg Tammy! I adore you for that compliment and I only wish I looked like her!
"Amelie" is one of my favorite movies!
No, sadly I look nothing like that. I just cut off the bottom of my big old face and didn't show my tubby body. Blah! I do need to lose some weight!
I just enjoy junk food so much! LOL!
Anyway, thank you but nope. I'm too roly poly to be a cutie pie.

and Thank You for the kind words for my step-mom. Her husband was there so she wasn't too frightened.

I agree, the lazy girl is baiting me and pushing me to fire her. Today, my last full day off (for a while), she text me a few times about one of the tech's raising their voice at her. To be honest, I wasn't surprised knowing that Doc is gone and everyone else can't stand her. I was professional and nice and just texted her back to stay calm, take a deep breath and ignore it.
I've always treated her like a daughter and she has turned to me in the past about personal things or sometimes just sent funny photos of her pets to me. I felt we had a good relationship and I always defended her against the rest of the staff who sometimes can definitely be harsh. So I guess this all adds to my complete frustration that she would suddenly start acting this way.
The fact that she has a new boyfriend probably plays a BIG factor into this all.
She brags that he's a millionaire and I've shook my head and told her that she needs to watch "Dateline".
Still, I think after today, this might do her in. It's just a matter of time until she is gone, one way or another!

I've also come to find out that my sister is dealing with a very short staff at the hospital too. She just can't find qualified people who want to work.
Your story goes to prove that this happens everywhere and for no reason except that some people are lazy and thinks the world owes them a living.
I just can NOT imagine anyone not liking you!
Jeez, what a horrible person.
I'm going to just think positive and try to get enough sleep so that I don't get sick...and hey, overtime would be a good thing to whack down that credit card balance! Hahahahaha!
Yes, I will think POSITIVE!
Thanks for your great comment!
xoxoxo

Cindi Myers said...

Jean, I thought about that at first too.
But I think if I ever leave here, I would go into something else.
What I don't know but...
Well, OK.
I'd want to just work from home. Making things.
And besides, the other vet has someone working there that I used to work with and I'd rather not deal with her again.
And the Fancy place? they pay low low wages.
Sigh, I just need to focus on the positives of this job. :/

About hair. I think mine is getting thinner too!
Seems like my hairline is more sparse or maybe it's the grey hair.
Over the years I've had almost every color and tried a lot of styles.
I cut my own bangs when it was longer but I'd be too scared to cut it short!
I must admit, that I feel much better on good hair days than bad and if I messed it up too much, I'd be depressed.
But I much prefer simple and natural to anything elegant!
XOXO

Doreen@foxdenrd said...

Goodness! You have way more crap to deal with than any one person should Cynthia! I totally want to bitch slap that girl.

I was going to suggest craigslist too, and so what if another company has an ad. Few companies are the only ones on Craigslist, so go for it. One word of advice, make sure everything is documented. Under the circumstances, she wouldn't get unemployment anyway, but for sure she would apply and documentation will just streamline the process of denial.

Anonymous said...

Hi Cynthia!

Believe it or not, this is my third attempt to post a comment. I have been trying to do too many things at one time and I keep deleting the comment instead of posting it. Ugh!!! You would think I haven't been using computers for most of my life now. LOL!

A big belated Happy Birthday to Ghost. He looks like a gorgeous cat. He looks a lot like a cat I am taking care of for a friend right now except that this cat has one spot of gray right on top of his head. It's really cute -- it looks like a poorly fitted toupe. You are so sweet to actually remember and acknowledge your pets' birthdays. I don't even know the birth dates of most of my animals. The local shelter where I adopted them didn't have very extensive histories of any of my animals.

I can totally sympathize with your current work woes. As I have mentioned before, I supervise a lot of college students and I've had a few bad experiences. Fortunately for me, I work at a big university where there are always students looking for a job -- so, it is not that hard to fill vacancies. We also pay $10 an hour and that's a pretty good salary on our campus. Most campus jobs pay minimum wage.

Right now, in fact, my biggest work "challenge" is my boss. He is an incredibly incompetent jerk. He's been in his position for 5 years now and I just cannot understand why he hasn't been let go yet. I keep hearing rumors that he's been interviewing for other jobs at other schools and I keep praying that he finds something else so that he will leave SOON. Until this guy came along, I didn't understand what people meant when they talked about "stress at work" because I have always loved what I do and it has never really seemed like "work". But having a boss who thinks his job is to deride and demean his employees is stressful. I don't know what's worse -- having bad employees or having a bad boss. I guess that with bad employees, you at least have some level of control over the situation UNLESS you're not supported in your decisions by the people above you.

Anyway, I hope your situation improves very soon. (And I have to say that I absolutely love the frames on your glasses. They are so cute!) I have the same problem with hair that is a little too wavy. At this time of the year, I keep having to pull it up into a pony tail or a bun because the heat and humidity make it unbearable to wear it loose. And it's so annoying to spend 20 minutes curling it with a curling iron in the morning only to have the curls last about 30 minutes once I step outside. I sometimes envy the fact that men can shave their heads bald and still be considered attractive. (I'm not particularly attracted to bald men, but to each his own.)

By the way, I loved the Hyperbole and a Half illustrations in this post -- I've been a huge fan of hers for years.

~Grace

Cindi Myers said...

Doreen,
I have a headache thinking about this.
I came in today and this was her last morning shift and I do the late one.
(Next week it will be a double shift for me.)
Anyway, I asked if she could at least work the morning shift on Thursdays and I could have the new girl at night and the techs covering the afternoon and she sighed and said "Could you ask Doc's step-daughter first?" and then she mumbled something about moving to Missouri.
I asked the Office Staff who supposed to take care of things like this, to put an ad in the paper and they were concerned that it would cost money.......
And they reluctantly put one on Craigslist.
They are worried about posting a sign up front for Help.
They think I will get too many "characters"!
I asked them to just do it.
Jeez, I got it coming from all sides. I suppose I will have to make up something myself and override their thoughts on the topic.
And you are so right about documentation!
Thank you!
xoxo

Cindi Myers said...

Grace,
To be honest, I receive emails from work about my pet's birthdays!
It's in our computer system for all clients.
LOL!
It's an email birthday card that is sent or I'd forget too.
Except for Blue's birthday. That I always plan for and bring a treat to work in his honor.
When I adopt a rescue and I don't have any idea of the birthday, I usually make it for Valentines Day of that year or on my own birthday! LOL!
You should see my email IN box on those days!
Ghost is a sweetie, I adore him. He and Harry are my most favorite cats but don't tell the others!

We used to pay slightly above minimum wage but now if they have some experience, we will do 10 dollars, but still.. no takers. :(

I'm sorry about your Boss. I had one like that who was bi-polar at the Shelter when I worked there as Office Manager. He was crazy.
He'd single out a female employee and pick on them and document every little thing and then if they didn't quit, he'd fired them.
In the 2 1/2 years that I worked there, he got rid of 15 women.
Finally it was my turn but I had documented everything so I was able to at least leave with a 2 weeks severance pay. Still the drop in income almost destroyed me.
Then I got hired here.
To be honest, Doc used to be very very mean to me and yell about insane things. He was going through a bad marriage and ultimately a divorce and looking back, I think he took his anger out on me.
I should have left then, but I didn't.
Now that we get along, mostly, and we are in this new building and things are so much nicer and I'm not that far from retirement, I'm not leaving. (Unless I can find a way out with Art.)

Thanks about my glasses. I have a few pair. Those are my Cat Eye ones and my favorite. I did get my hair cut yesterday and now I don't know why I didn't do it earlier. It feels so much better off my neck and it's healthy!
(Until I color it! LOL!)
Yes, not fair that men can look attractive BALD.
Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't.
I'm not a big fan of facial hair but I do like the bald with the mustache and trimmed beard look.
Mostly I like the George Clooney look. Haha! Grey hair and all.

Hyperbole and a Half. Yep, AMAZING.
and finally, Thank you SO MUCH for trying THREE times!
xoxoxoxox

Anonymous said...

OMG!!! Your old boss sounds like my current one. He is especially nasty to the women -- our department has turned into this revolving door of people. Some of whom don't last for even 6 months! It baffles me that nobody above him sees that and wonders why there is so much turn over in staff. I can only assume that they just don't care.

This guy is definitely crazy too. I'm convinced he should be on some sort of medication.

Yeah, I agree -- there is definitely nothing wrong with George Clooney.

Christer. said...

It works very different in Your work place than in any over here. It is the owners/ boss problem if more staff is needed, not a problem for any employee. So if I had Your problems I would just tell the boss/ owner to get more people or do the job him- or herself :-) You really shouldn't need to worry about that at all unless You get richly paid for employing people too and I get a feeling You aren't richly paid to do so :-)

I'm pretty sure a job like that would get loads of applications here, so many people wants to work with animals and especially when there are few jobs around as it is. Most people wouldn't care about what hours they would work unless they have smallchildren in the faimly.

I do hope things get solved soon! I'm useless when it comes to hair styles, I just shave my hair totally off when it gets too long :-)

Have a great day!
Christer.

Cindi Myers said...

Grace,
Unfortunately at my old job, they didn't care as long as he took care of the financial part of the business.
Finally though, after I left, they caught him embezzling!
So they did get rid of him! YAH!
Good Luck with your current monster.
It's not easy, I know that. :(
xoxo

Cindi Myers said...

Christer,
Nope, Doc, the boss says I'm the manager so handle it.
And I definitely do NOT make big money (but I will if I put in some overtime)
although not being able to enjoy life isn't worth the extra cash.
Sigh. I'm so tired of it.

I think people around here are just lazy.
They don't want to work hard. I have not met many people who do.
They just want a job where they can sit on their butts and look at their phones. :(

Yes, you men are lucky. You can just shave your head and no one thinks anything of it. It's even become very trendy!
Not fair! LOL!
:p

Christer. said...

By the way, is it really legal to work seven days a week? It is so illegal here that Your boss would have to pay huge fines, even if he didn't know about it. Our law says You must have at least 8 hours sleep every night (and some extra time to have breakfast and to get to work of course) and then You must have a certain amount of hours in a row to rest every week, doesn't have to be a weekend though, it can be anytime in the week.

Cindi Myers said...

Christer!
I just looked up the laws and it said that even if you only work until noon one day and then come in at noon the next, that is not considered a day off.
It said that by law, a person is allowed one day of rest.
THANK YOU!!!!
I will be showing this to the HR vet on Monday.
Truly, I might be the manager but I'm sick of worrying about this.
I need to figure some more things out, like my life.
I can't continue in limbo like this.
I finally got them to put an ad on Craigslist and we already have one on the vet clinic website and Facebook.
But still, I'm taking a day off.
Thank you!

Cynthia Springer said...

My husband cuts my hair, always has. He gets it done during the TV commercials. My hair is curl/frizz. Maybe more frizz than curl, so whatever happens is OK.

Our daughter could have paid her college cost with her $3 haircuts. Her roommates sent her outside--so much hair in the room. (warm Santa Barbara CA). The birds made nests with the hair. She started cutting hair in 4th grade. I heard her brother tell someone going out the door, " Don't worry. It'll grow back". :D

Cindi Myers said...

Cynthia,
Whoa, you are Lucky to have your own personal hair stylist!
LOL!
I did get my haircut! I went to Great Clips. there's a woman there that is so great. I only paid $13 (and a tip of course) and I'm super happy with it.
I have friends and family who pay BIG bucks for haircuts and color and etc.
Tonight I'm coloring it myself, a different, more blonde color but I've researched it on the Internet and I have Positive feelings about it and the box of color cost only $7.00! My co-worker spends more than $100. to get hers colored!
Just insane. Oh well!
And like your son said, (if I mess it up) "It will grow back!"
Thanks for commenting!
xo

Christer. said...

I did think it was a bit odd that You were working seven days and not having at least one day off but one never knows about laws in different countries. I really hope this is solwed fast, You need it to be!

Cynthia Springer said...

You are so delightful. I put you on my docket with three others I've followed for years. 'See ya later alligator.' Uh Oh. I'm revealing my age with that expression. :D

Cindi Myers said...

Christer,
Thanks again for pointing that out.
I will make sure I point it out to HR.
She will probably say something that will upset me but I will stick to my guns.
I'm hoping it's solved fast too because today I really thought I was losing it.
I started crying and I said to a couple of my co-workers that maybe it was time for me to look for a new job.
:(

Cindi Myers said...

Oh Cynthia! That is so sweet of you.
I feel honored to be on your list.
After awhile crocodile!
LOL!
xoxo

Cynthia Springer said...

bikehikebabe says:
See ya soon, you big baboon.

btw I have a Gravatar picture that goes with bikehikebabe. I don't know how to get it to here.

Cindi Myers said...

Cynthia!
You are bikehikebabe!
I know exactly what your Gravatar photo looks like because I love your beautiful hair!
Is it white? I went blonder, hoping for a blonde white to go with my grey.
Yep, I LOVE your hair and to now know your husband cuts it?!?!?
I'm very envious.
Sorry I can't be much help with your Gravatar. I think it's a Wordpress thing and I barely understand Blogger although I think Blogger is all linked to Google.
I think.
Anyway, hopefully it will appear some day!
:D :D :D

Cynthia Springer said...

P.S. My daughter says her haircuts were not $3, but $5 & later went up to $8.

Cindi Myers said...

Cynthia,
I bet she could have charged $10 easily!
:)
LOL!

leslie said...

wow. i am behind on my reading, clearly.

lazy girl: reminds me of everything i've heard lately about people not our age who act "entitled." it's a different world out there.

craigslist: funny. pretty much all the job openings in the bay area are on craigslist.

hair: i used to pay too much money. then i clued in and found a cheap-but-good hairdresser in my last city. here i keep going to one person at supercuts. she's great. last time she finally talked me into going back to layers, asked me why i keep fighting the curl. usually i grow it out, hate it, cut it off, hate it, grow it out… but this time i'm actually ok with it.

you: funny, i didn't picture you looking at all like that. but you are so cute.

work: do they have any idea how lucky they are to have you?

xo.

Cindi Myers said...

Leslie,
Thanks for commenting!
Yes, it seems like no one who is younger than the Baby Boomer Era or so, has a work ethic anymore.
:(
The Midwest is always behind (except for Chicago) and people are just starting to do Craigslist as a regular thing now.
My hair, I WAS happy the first few days but with the rain and humidity here, I'm looking like a fuzzy Q-tip head right now.
A girl at work just said she's growing her hair out and coloring it to look like Ariel the Mermaid.
I said I'm just trying to stop my hair from looking like Bozo the clown.
Me, Hmm. I wonder what your vision was? but then again, I'm sort of afraid to ask! LOL!
Truly, the photos are deceiving. I showed just enough to show my hair but not enough to frighten people.
And work? they just don't care.
I just have to realize that and deal with it or move on.
Thanks again!
xoxo

Vicki said...

I think you're beautiful - inside and out XXX

Cindi Myers said...

Vicki!!!!
You are returning just as I'm leaving for a bit?

Thank you for the kind words.
The photos though don't show the whole story! Lol!
Xoxoxo