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karriezaiI have never been the sort to get depressed. Ever. I'm a bit of an optimist, sometimes too much of an idealist -- I understand that the world doesn't work the way it should, but sometimes it still gets to me. I can see realistically, but that doesn't mean it doesn't upset me to see injustice, even the little things.
But for the last week or two... I think it's stress. I've always lived a pretty charmed life. I've had little problems, but I've never been stressed out by them -- I could always handle them because they weren't too serious all at once. I'm worried about college -- I'm worried I won't get money to Maryland and my parents will pressure me to go to Guilford, and when I want to go to Maryland anyway... I don't know what they'll do. It's their money. Would they tell me to pay for college on my own? I don't know. I doubt it, but I really don't know.
I got a new job. It's at Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. At first glance it was great -- hostess, the manager was nice, he seemed like the truly honest sort who won't stand for doing something wrong but is perfectly nice when you're doing what you're supposed to. But stupid naive little me coming from Starbucks, I didn't realize how shitty employment policy at other places could be. I asked for twenty hours a week (I said ten to twenty, preferably twenty), and he nodded and circled it. Then scheduled me five days the first week, including the weekend, at 26 hours. At least, in the computer it totaled to 26 hours. What he failed to tell me is that their schedule gives you the time you start work, but not the time you get off. You stay until they tell you that you can go. Raheim, the only male host, comes in at 1045 some days (at least once a week so far, but it's only been two weeks) and stays until closing at nine or ten without taking a break. They have no break policy. Not for ten minute breaks, not for meal breaks -- except when they schedule someone as 'vol', meaning they're meant to come in at open and stay until close. But sometimes they come in at open and stay until close anyway, and because they weren't scheduled as 'vol', they get no breaks.
So I'm expected to work at least an eight hour shift on both Saturday and Sunday and go to school full time and work some nights during the week. I don't fucking think so. I need some down time. At Starbucks, if I was scheduled to work Saturday and Sunday, it was a four-hour shift each day, and of course that meant I got a ten-minute break. That was fine; four hours out of my day is nothing, really. But eight hours (at least) every Saturday, and eight hours (at least) every Sunday... that won't do.
I told the manager I needed to work just four days a week and have Saturdays off. He said four days a week is fine, but "Saturday is the only day I need you!" I didn't get to go into it then, and I tried later that night, but he was locked up in his office and wouldn't see me. So I left. I was like, fuck this. Not quit, I mean, just left for the night.
I'm gonna talk to him when I get the chance... and if I can't have Saturday or Sunday off, I'm gonna have to find another job, because I'm not fucking doing this.
I'm behind on my laundry -- I haven't had time to do it. I'm trying to catch it up right now, but the only reason I have time now is because I went to school, didn't wear my Team Success shirt because it's in my backed-up dirty clothes, and ran into the principal. He told me to go to the cafeteria for in-school suspension. I was like, "Fuck that." (Not out loud, mind you.) I had to turn the corner to get to the cafeteria, so he couldn't see me... I ducked out the school entrance and went home.
And tried to call Danny. But he isn't picking up. Guess: he left his phone on vibrate when he went to sleep.
And then Danny has his own stresses and worries, and I share them because I love him, and that just adds on. He's reaching a climax. Something's going to happen at work. He's getting fired or Brandy is... or both... I don't know. I wish he'd just be transferred as a shift so it wouldn't set him back a year or more. I want to talk to Rick myself, but I'm afraid it would hurt more than help. All I can say is that it's clear Brandy has a personal grudge against Danny. She's looking for any excuse to fire him. If he was as bad a worker as she claims, he would have been fired by now, but he doesn't do anything bad enough to warrant her firing him no matter how she stretches it. I worked with them both. I'm not biased. It's not something I could explain to Rick... but when Danny was with Yuka, I distrusted him. I think it was a big-sister overprotective thing, because I thought Danny was wrong for her, he might want more from her than she was ready to give. But I never had any problem working with him. He works. He does almost everything right, although there were little quirky things like insisting we follow policy and pour steamed milk with a spoon to hold back the foam, but telling us to pop the coffee pots when they started blinking because they were good at least five hours. But I can only think of two things he ever did that were against what I'd been taught as store policy. The coffee pot thing, and the way he made shaken iced tea -- shook it up directly in the cup instead of using the tea shaking containers we have.
I'm sure that makes less sense to you than to me... but basically what I'm saying is aside from two or three little quirky things, he always followed procedure and did exactly what he should. Whereas say Ron, the other shift, could do something as asinine as leaving the tills and money bag (that's $2,800) out of the safe one night where the night delivery guys could (if they were stupid enough) steal it and he wouldn't get fired. Are you kidding me? Danny got in trouble for leaving one till in a drawer on accident one night and thought he'd be fired for it. That was the week they met with Rick and decided that I would have to transfer or be terminated. So I guess Danny was saved by me getting fired, but now it's just him there.
Brandy is such a horrible manager. She doesn't have the personality for it. Danny can point out all this policy she breaks; he says that's what would get her fired. He wrote an email last night setting out all the stuff he could think of that she does wrong according to policy. He said if he sent it, one of them would be fired tomorrow. But he had to show his dad first so if he did get fired, his dad would understand why and accept it.
I think that's the wrong way to go about it. It just looks wrong. If you saw all this going wrong, why did you wait until you thought you would be fired in a matter of days to bring it all to Rick's attention? But this is one of those ways in which maybe I'm too much of an idealist. Maybe you have to do what would work in the world, not what makes more moral sense.
It seems to me his best bet would be to get Rick face-to-face without Brandy there and then just... explain the situation. To me the most important thing is that Brandy should not be allowed to fire Danny when she has such an obvious grudge against him. If Danny had never come to this store, he would never have been in this position. He wouldn't have so many write-ups that he's deemed untransferrable. If Rick would just give him the chance to work at another store, one with a more professional manager -- with a clean slate -- he would see that Danny knows his job.
Danny doesn't belong at this store. It's a store where Wilette can call him albino and whitey all she wants, but when she says "I'll see you later" and he says, "How will I find you, it's dark outside," he gets shit for it the next day. Wilette and Danny don't always get along well, but joking around like that (if I'm not mistaken) doesn't bother either of them. It was because a customer complained. Which says more about the state of racism in the world than anything, but... whatever.
Danny shouldn't be in this situation. Ron left all the tills and the money bag out of the safe. Ron let a thing of caramel melt on top of the espresso machine and all up inside, and left it all night without cleaning it up. Ron will put his own money in the money bag to make it an even $2,000 so he doesn't have to deal with the consequences of the money being off. But who's in immediate danger of being fired? Danny. I have nothing against Ron. Working with him was great. But this whole situation is fucked up.
I still remember dealing with working with Brandy. How she would insist that we mark our cups, but if she was on bar and I was on register calling back drinks, she wouldn't mark them herself. And when a customer would ask, "Hey, where's my drink?" Brandy would say, "I'm sorry, she just isn't calling her drinks back, she needs to start calling her drinks back," even though I specifically remembered calling it back to her, and often her calling it back to me! She blames anyone else in front of the customers and in front of Rick, but it's never her fault. Not that there should be blame! A real manager says, "I'm sorry, we had a mix-up, we'll fix it right away." Not, "Look at her, she did it, but I'll fix it for you."
I remember a customer telling me that I handled the rush really well, but Brandy was very rude and they were impressed with how I handled it. It was the best compliment I've ever gotten from someone I don't know. I remember a customer telling me as I handed her her drink, "I don't like that woman," and pointing at Brandy.
My mom thinks Brandy is a horrible boss, and not just from what I've said. My mom's been to Starbucks maybe five times, and she's heard other employees there complaining about Brandy.
And apparently Brandy's planning on moving and quitting Starbucks anyway, but I can't verify the truth in that.
I just... I have never loathed an individual. I've hated the way someone acts at a certain time, but I understand circumstance. Brandy, though... I loathe her as a manager and as a person. She is a big part of the reason rumors are so potent and common at that Starbucks. She tries to drag drama out of people. Yuka has told me about Brandy asking her, "Doesn't it make you mad that Jessica took Danny? I don't know what I'd do if someone took my man." Nevermind that Yuka dumped Danny... ugh.
It's so frustrating and I'm not even working there any more. But I'm a part of it still.
There's just a lot of stuff going on right now. And I wish Danny would fucking answer the phone. ;_;
But for the last week or two... I think it's stress. I've always lived a pretty charmed life. I've had little problems, but I've never been stressed out by them -- I could always handle them because they weren't too serious all at once. I'm worried about college -- I'm worried I won't get money to Maryland and my parents will pressure me to go to Guilford, and when I want to go to Maryland anyway... I don't know what they'll do. It's their money. Would they tell me to pay for college on my own? I don't know. I doubt it, but I really don't know.
I got a new job. It's at Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. At first glance it was great -- hostess, the manager was nice, he seemed like the truly honest sort who won't stand for doing something wrong but is perfectly nice when you're doing what you're supposed to. But stupid naive little me coming from Starbucks, I didn't realize how shitty employment policy at other places could be. I asked for twenty hours a week (I said ten to twenty, preferably twenty), and he nodded and circled it. Then scheduled me five days the first week, including the weekend, at 26 hours. At least, in the computer it totaled to 26 hours. What he failed to tell me is that their schedule gives you the time you start work, but not the time you get off. You stay until they tell you that you can go. Raheim, the only male host, comes in at 1045 some days (at least once a week so far, but it's only been two weeks) and stays until closing at nine or ten without taking a break. They have no break policy. Not for ten minute breaks, not for meal breaks -- except when they schedule someone as 'vol', meaning they're meant to come in at open and stay until close. But sometimes they come in at open and stay until close anyway, and because they weren't scheduled as 'vol', they get no breaks.
So I'm expected to work at least an eight hour shift on both Saturday and Sunday and go to school full time and work some nights during the week. I don't fucking think so. I need some down time. At Starbucks, if I was scheduled to work Saturday and Sunday, it was a four-hour shift each day, and of course that meant I got a ten-minute break. That was fine; four hours out of my day is nothing, really. But eight hours (at least) every Saturday, and eight hours (at least) every Sunday... that won't do.
I told the manager I needed to work just four days a week and have Saturdays off. He said four days a week is fine, but "Saturday is the only day I need you!" I didn't get to go into it then, and I tried later that night, but he was locked up in his office and wouldn't see me. So I left. I was like, fuck this. Not quit, I mean, just left for the night.
I'm gonna talk to him when I get the chance... and if I can't have Saturday or Sunday off, I'm gonna have to find another job, because I'm not fucking doing this.
I'm behind on my laundry -- I haven't had time to do it. I'm trying to catch it up right now, but the only reason I have time now is because I went to school, didn't wear my Team Success shirt because it's in my backed-up dirty clothes, and ran into the principal. He told me to go to the cafeteria for in-school suspension. I was like, "Fuck that." (Not out loud, mind you.) I had to turn the corner to get to the cafeteria, so he couldn't see me... I ducked out the school entrance and went home.
And tried to call Danny. But he isn't picking up. Guess: he left his phone on vibrate when he went to sleep.
And then Danny has his own stresses and worries, and I share them because I love him, and that just adds on. He's reaching a climax. Something's going to happen at work. He's getting fired or Brandy is... or both... I don't know. I wish he'd just be transferred as a shift so it wouldn't set him back a year or more. I want to talk to Rick myself, but I'm afraid it would hurt more than help. All I can say is that it's clear Brandy has a personal grudge against Danny. She's looking for any excuse to fire him. If he was as bad a worker as she claims, he would have been fired by now, but he doesn't do anything bad enough to warrant her firing him no matter how she stretches it. I worked with them both. I'm not biased. It's not something I could explain to Rick... but when Danny was with Yuka, I distrusted him. I think it was a big-sister overprotective thing, because I thought Danny was wrong for her, he might want more from her than she was ready to give. But I never had any problem working with him. He works. He does almost everything right, although there were little quirky things like insisting we follow policy and pour steamed milk with a spoon to hold back the foam, but telling us to pop the coffee pots when they started blinking because they were good at least five hours. But I can only think of two things he ever did that were against what I'd been taught as store policy. The coffee pot thing, and the way he made shaken iced tea -- shook it up directly in the cup instead of using the tea shaking containers we have.
I'm sure that makes less sense to you than to me... but basically what I'm saying is aside from two or three little quirky things, he always followed procedure and did exactly what he should. Whereas say Ron, the other shift, could do something as asinine as leaving the tills and money bag (that's $2,800) out of the safe one night where the night delivery guys could (if they were stupid enough) steal it and he wouldn't get fired. Are you kidding me? Danny got in trouble for leaving one till in a drawer on accident one night and thought he'd be fired for it. That was the week they met with Rick and decided that I would have to transfer or be terminated. So I guess Danny was saved by me getting fired, but now it's just him there.
Brandy is such a horrible manager. She doesn't have the personality for it. Danny can point out all this policy she breaks; he says that's what would get her fired. He wrote an email last night setting out all the stuff he could think of that she does wrong according to policy. He said if he sent it, one of them would be fired tomorrow. But he had to show his dad first so if he did get fired, his dad would understand why and accept it.
I think that's the wrong way to go about it. It just looks wrong. If you saw all this going wrong, why did you wait until you thought you would be fired in a matter of days to bring it all to Rick's attention? But this is one of those ways in which maybe I'm too much of an idealist. Maybe you have to do what would work in the world, not what makes more moral sense.
It seems to me his best bet would be to get Rick face-to-face without Brandy there and then just... explain the situation. To me the most important thing is that Brandy should not be allowed to fire Danny when she has such an obvious grudge against him. If Danny had never come to this store, he would never have been in this position. He wouldn't have so many write-ups that he's deemed untransferrable. If Rick would just give him the chance to work at another store, one with a more professional manager -- with a clean slate -- he would see that Danny knows his job.
Danny doesn't belong at this store. It's a store where Wilette can call him albino and whitey all she wants, but when she says "I'll see you later" and he says, "How will I find you, it's dark outside," he gets shit for it the next day. Wilette and Danny don't always get along well, but joking around like that (if I'm not mistaken) doesn't bother either of them. It was because a customer complained. Which says more about the state of racism in the world than anything, but... whatever.
Danny shouldn't be in this situation. Ron left all the tills and the money bag out of the safe. Ron let a thing of caramel melt on top of the espresso machine and all up inside, and left it all night without cleaning it up. Ron will put his own money in the money bag to make it an even $2,000 so he doesn't have to deal with the consequences of the money being off. But who's in immediate danger of being fired? Danny. I have nothing against Ron. Working with him was great. But this whole situation is fucked up.
I still remember dealing with working with Brandy. How she would insist that we mark our cups, but if she was on bar and I was on register calling back drinks, she wouldn't mark them herself. And when a customer would ask, "Hey, where's my drink?" Brandy would say, "I'm sorry, she just isn't calling her drinks back, she needs to start calling her drinks back," even though I specifically remembered calling it back to her, and often her calling it back to me! She blames anyone else in front of the customers and in front of Rick, but it's never her fault. Not that there should be blame! A real manager says, "I'm sorry, we had a mix-up, we'll fix it right away." Not, "Look at her, she did it, but I'll fix it for you."
I remember a customer telling me that I handled the rush really well, but Brandy was very rude and they were impressed with how I handled it. It was the best compliment I've ever gotten from someone I don't know. I remember a customer telling me as I handed her her drink, "I don't like that woman," and pointing at Brandy.
My mom thinks Brandy is a horrible boss, and not just from what I've said. My mom's been to Starbucks maybe five times, and she's heard other employees there complaining about Brandy.
And apparently Brandy's planning on moving and quitting Starbucks anyway, but I can't verify the truth in that.
I just... I have never loathed an individual. I've hated the way someone acts at a certain time, but I understand circumstance. Brandy, though... I loathe her as a manager and as a person. She is a big part of the reason rumors are so potent and common at that Starbucks. She tries to drag drama out of people. Yuka has told me about Brandy asking her, "Doesn't it make you mad that Jessica took Danny? I don't know what I'd do if someone took my man." Nevermind that Yuka dumped Danny... ugh.
It's so frustrating and I'm not even working there any more. But I'm a part of it still.
There's just a lot of stuff going on right now. And I wish Danny would fucking answer the phone. ;_;
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