Last Wednesday, "Dumb-Ass Rehire" called in sick about an hour and a half before her scheduled shift. Mind you, she was working the evening shift—on at 5 pm—and presumably had been sick all day. Now, I know these children have a tendency to sleep until noon, but, still…
When I asked her what was wrong, her reply was, "I don’t know." What a great answer! Not, "I’ve been throwing up since last night," or "I have a fever of 102," or even "My throat hurts so bad I can’t swallow." Just, "I don’t know."
Here is a girl who, two months ago to the day, called in to tell me she wouldn’t be able to work her shift because she had homework to do (she dropped the class after a week and a half…) Here is a girl who quit with no notice last January; called me the morning of her shift and told me her life was a shambles and she needed to move too far away to work. Here is a girl who came back to me three months later begging for her job back. So I, like a sap, took her back. Bad move on my part. Oh well.
After four months of struggling to make her into an adequate employee, I had had it up to my eyeballs. And she just happened to lame out on me the day I was making next week’s schedule. Bad move on her part.
My labor has been totally out of control this summer, partly because I have been making use of some fortuitous over-staffing to give myself a bit of a breather. I’ve been able to step back, gather my wits about me, and get some administrative stuff done that has needed doing for, oh, about two years. But the economy being what it is, I knew I would have to make some changes soon. I was hoping to cut the staff through natural "back-to-school" attrition. Well, "Dumb-Ass Rehire" wasn’t going back to school, but I cut her back to two days on next week’s schedule anyhow. Reasoning that when you start cutting, you cut the dead wood first.
This apparently didn’t set well with "D-A R", because she called me fifteen minutes before she was supposed to be at work today and said, "I quit!"
Fine. Saves me the trouble of having to fire your sorry ass.
We slogged through an unusually busy day (of course) without her. With a little help from the intrepid husband, dishwasher extraordinaire.
Much as this little episode does solve more problems than it creates, it still left me with some more of that negative energy to work out when I got home from work
I re-arranged my living room.
A few more café disasters and I will have caught up on all my neglected housework…
She may have been so stoned that she could have had a passel of ferrets in her shorts and not noticed, which is a scary image on its own. What's really scary is that if she isn't old enough to vote she soon will be. And if she actually gets her butt in gear and registers God knows who or what she'd do with that precious ballot. boggles the mind.
ReplyDeleteJackie
Jackie said it well- D.A.R. (and I don't mean Daughters of the American Revolution) is among the "New Youth"- I think technology has a lot to do with their current state. I am so glad that there are still a lot of good kids left who have been taught respect, work ethics, and morals. Watch out for the winter staffing, we lost our shirts (actually houses) by trying to be good to staff and keeping them all on in winter. Oh, the memories, I do not envy you in many ways. I glad your making a success of the Cafe but care for yourself and hubby too! Dannelle
ReplyDeleteSand and funny at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI meant sad and funny! lol.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of sounding like a really old fart...I don't understand the whole mentality. Earlier this spring, I was unable to locate one of the younger employees we've hired. I thought she was just away from her desk (and she WAS), but didn't give it a second thought, until my boss and a couple of other people also couldn't track her down. Eventually, she resurfaced, and I asked her later where she'd been. "Oh," she said, "I went bra shopping". Bra shopping!!! In the middle of a workday?!?!? And for what it's worth, we are not locate anywhere near any retail establishments. I have to say, this person is usually a good worker, and yet it would never have occurred to me to even think about going shopping for lingerie in the middle of a workday.
ReplyDeleteSo many kids grow up getting let off the hook for ANYTHING that they have no concept of commitment or responsibility. Obviously her parents weren't "mean" enough. You're better off without her.
ReplyDelete