Wednesday, June 30, 2004

I have to say I'm setting a rather bad precedent with Molly. It's not like it's anything that bad, but I'm sure it's not exactly helping me win her over like I'd hope. I mean, aside from the fact that I can't make a quick, solid decision or put thoughts into adequate words, I have to go and take things a step further down the path of futility.

I ask well-meaning questions poorly. How do you do that? Well, in my case, instead of asking a question such as "where do you like to be rubbed" with the intention of finding out, well, where she likes to be rubbed, I ask "how" instead of "where."

It makes a difference. Sit and ask both variations of that question and you'll see why I've been ridiculed for it, even with the best intentions.

I'm starting to make this sort of thing a habit too. Not exactly the kind of thing that's going to win her over and decide that she knows me enough to date me. I can't do anything the easy way though. I have to make things difficult, even though she does like me.

All that said, the last couple of times with her have been a lot of fun. I'm starting to find my comfort zone with her and have actually made her laugh a few times, even though I've been burned a few times by some comments she's made. The girl will scorch you if you aren't careful, something I've had to try and adjust to.

She's such a kick-ass girl. I really can't stress that enough. I mean, it's great that she's as attractive as she is, but it's her personality that has really been winning me over. She has a sense of humor that I've never seen in a girl before, so I've had to get used to that as well.

She's also very observant and remembers things. That makes me feel kind of inferior at times, but it's nothing major if only because I'm not that observant and sometimes I think she's trying to get me to be moreso than I've been. It's just another one of those things that I need to work on a little bit.

This weekend should be a fun one, at least on Saturday. We're supposed to go bowling at around 11 with a bunch of my friends from work, but before that, I'm hoping to take her to see fireworks, especially since she's working on the fourth at night. I really want to be able to sit and watch fireworks with her. I think it would be a pretty perfect way to start the night and just seems like it would be really nice and relaxing to do.

I do like this girl a lot if you haven't been able to tell. She's the perfect combination of personality and looks, something that you don't find very often. She continues to impress me with how she carries herself.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and try to avoid anymore stupid questions or comments. I don't need the help.

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I don't normally worry about work when I'm not there. Hell, I rarely think about the place when I'm not there. But right now, it is on my mind. There's a bit of a backstory to what's going on, so bear with me as I try to explain why things are the way they are.

It goes back to last summer. Roberta, one of the senior techs we have, decided to take two weeks of vacation in a row, a big no-no unless you have permission. One of those weeks was on the same week that Peggy was going, an even bigger no-no. Simply put, she shouldn't have been allowed to do it. All Keith had to do was say no.

He didn't.

He claimed a small victory by getting a compromise. Roberta was only going to take one week. Guess which week she took? The same one as Peggy. Keith did nothing, everyone was pissed, and to top it off, Roberta hurt her hip while off. Can we say medical leave?

It was her second one in three years, one that occurred because she was allowed to do something that she shouldn't have been able to do. Needless to say, there was a lot of anger towards both her and Keith. Time went by though, and we eventually forgot about Roberta.

At least until she came knocking at the door to come back off of leave. Again, Keith said it wasn't going to happen. One problem though: she was entitled to come back simply because she was on leave. You can't lose your job in a union environment due to medical leave.

This created a huge mess since we'd be way over budget on hours, plus we'd have to fit her back into the day shift, which was relatively full (and there was no way in hell I was going to give up my dayshift).

Well, she came back, we fit her in, and she's basically gone back to doing what she always did: practically nothing. She doesn't answer phones, doesn't get the drive-thru when she's scheduled for it, and takes forever to fill a script, which really shouldn't take too long.

All this does is make everyone else's job tougher. People who aren't supposed to answer the phones (we have specific jobs to do during the day) have to answer because she won't do it. We constantly fall behind filling because she can't keep up, and what's being done about it?

Nothing.

As is usual for Keith, he's sitting on his hands. In fact, I found out yesterday that he's blaming everyone else for it. What's that all about? How is it our fault that she doesn't do her job? We do what we're supposed to do. He can't pin this on everyone else.

Bottom line is Keith is a chicken-shit. He doesn't want to do anything and hope it goes away. Except this isn't going to go away. She was like this before her leave and isn't going to change. Is he expecting this to just kind of clean itself up and disappear? If he is he's in for a rude awakening.

I have no problem going above his head if he isn't going to take care of it. It probably won't do anything, but I'm not about to let all this build up and stress everyone else out. Lord knows Peggy's about to have another meltdown and that's the last thing we need. Peg may complain a lot, but she's probably our fastest filler during the day.

It's just not fair to everyone else and it's especially not fair that Keith's going to sit on his hands and not do a damn thing. But then again, I guess that's why the company's not so hot on him anymore.

When they hired him, they envisioned him being the next pharmacy supervisor or maybe district manager. Instead, I don't think they even want him around anymore. Sure, he's great with the customers, but he's terrible with his employees. He has yet to handle a situation where it didn't blow up in his face and make things worse.

He has at least four people pissed at him that they can't get the hours that he promised him (thanks to Roberta), others who are pissed at him because he can't take care of a situation like he promises or should, and others who just find him annoying as hell.

Now he's talking about cutting hours again. Where's he going to cut? Does he expect people to stay in this store with things going the way they are? I know I don't want to, but there really isn't any other choice for me right now. I don't know where else I could work where I'd have the freedom that I've had here.

I have a feeling things are going to come to a head in a little while and I don't think I don't want to be around when it happens. Somebody's going to be gone by the end of the summer.

What can I do though?

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