MY LIFE - NOVEMBER

Monday, November 20, 2000

I'm exhausted right now. There's no other way to describe how tired I am other than to say I'm exhausted. 14 hours of work will do that to you, despite a few breaks in the action from time to time. I spent eight plus hours at my old store in covering Debbie's vacation, then I worked at my store in Berea until 11pm. It was slow at the old store, but it wasn't slow at my store by any comparison.

We were at 640 scripts when I left so it's safe to say that's probably going to be close to the final tally. I'd say about 200 or more were between 5:30 and 10. That's four and a half hours. In eight hours at my old store, we did 161 scripts. It's a world of difference, especially when you put together the phones and everything else that goes on, like the drive-thru.

We were doing about 50-60 an hour when I got there and I was warned by Steve and Paul that it was busy. Steve also told me, or rather seemed to reinforce, that I need to help where ever help might be needed. I thought it was odd he was telling me this, but I'm pretty sure I know where it came from. I'm sure Linda's been complaining about me like she complains about everyone else even though I do try to cover as much as possible when I'm working.

She is the last person who should be talking about that sort of thing though since she doesn't like to answer the phone even when everyone else is occupied by something else and she doesn't ever cover drive-thru when she's typing or filling unless she absolutely has to. If I'm typing and she's filling, I end up having to get drive-thru, and it's the same when I'm filling and she's typing. It does not matter where I am or what I'm doing compared to her. I still end up getting it.

Her complaints are petty though and I'm not going to worry about it since she's not my problem. As far as I'm concerned, I'm doing what I have to do and she's not always doing enough to help. One thing that's really bothered me, and is something I'm going to bring up next chance I get, is when she's standing around, talking about her personal life and ignoring everything else that goes on. If someone comes through drive-thru, she continues to talk and someone else like me ends up having to drop what I'm doing and get it.

That is not right and I will not continue to put up with it. I will ask that she be disciplined when she does that because no one should have to drop what they're doing to get drive-thru or register if she's just standing around talking about her personal life. It pisses me off and I know others aren't happy with it, but for some reason, they put up with it. I'll make it clear to Steve if he wants me to stick around, he'd better do something about her when she does that.

I don't like to put anyone in that position, but this is getting stupid now. I'm very tolerant of things that I deal with, but I'm getting tired of this now. If I'm getting tired of it, it's becoming a big problem because I put up with a lot. Something needs to be done about that and soon, otherwise it will continue to get worse at the store.

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I have one more long day this week before I get any kind of break, so this isn't going to be much longer than this. I'm just flat out tired right now and I'm barely awake as I write this. I hate writing short entries, but there really isn't any choice in the matter because I can't stay awake much longer. It's already after midnight and I have to get up at 7am again tomorrow.

I won't complain about this though because I agreed to it. Steve asked me if I was willing to work the extra hours and I said I was, so there's no reason for me to complain about it. I wasn't forced to work any more than I was originally scheduled. But that's another difference between me and Paul and Linda at my store.

They've been complaining about how many hours they work a week and how they work all this extra time. I wouldn't normally have a problem with that except that they agreed to work it. They can't be made to work any more than 40 hours a week, 8 hours a day. The union doesn't allow it. Yet they act like there's no other choice so they complain profusely about how many hours they work.

It bothers me for that sole reason though. They agreed to it. I don't complain about my hours because I agreed to everything I'm working this week. It's not like Steve told me he'd fire me if I didn't work extra. I felt compelled to work the extra shifts because I wanted to help my store out as much as possible. I feel that little bit of compassion for my job and the people I work with. I don't want them stuck short-handed at any point during the week, even though I'm already working at my old store filling in.

But this complaining is getting old. I'm even getting sick of myself because I sound like I'm complaining, which is probably the truth. However, I cannot be quiet with this going on. Plus I'm tired, so my patience and tolerance are a lot lower than usual.

It's silly though. If you agree to it, just shut up and do what you agreed to do.