Tales From The Meat Department

Ohai!

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz, I wonder where them birdies iz!  (That's something my dad always says every spring.  Truth is, them birdies are hanging out in the tree in my yard.)

Mountaineer's remains a joy.   If you've ever heard the Nine Inch Nails song "Everyday is Exactly the Same"...that's my life.  Every day I go in and do the exact same thing as I did before.  This is why I miss restaurants.  But whatever, a job's a job and I don't  wanna go back to be unemployed.

That being said, have some fun stories:

1) There is unfortunately a great deal of serious illness in my family, and if something happens, my mother usually lets me know.  Before I went to work, Mum called and told me to keep my phone on me, just in case (I won't go into details of what happened, but it was bad enough that arrangements may have need to have been made on short notice.)  Lo and behold, half an hour into my shift, I received a text from her.  It wasn't serious, thank God, but she was just keeping me abreast of what was going on.  I went in the back, away from customers, so I could read and respond if necessary.  I'm not sure if ESP is a requirement to be a manager, but one materialised out of thin air behind me, grabbed my phone that I paid $80 without a word, and took off with it. I understand that personal phone use is a no-no, but Jesus, some word of warning would be nice.  I went to the front to get it back, and he stared at me with that kind of dead, broken spiritedness that most management at my store seems to possess, and droned at me that personal cell phone use is prohibited, I would get written up, et cetera.  I told him point-blank that I have a sick family member and if I have to go, I have to go, and he glared at me and gave it back, telling me that next time I need to tell management about situations like that.  I'm a private person by nature, and I don't like telling people my personal business.  I sucked it up and told my department head the next day that if he caught me texting not to yell at me because it was rather important and of a sensitive nature.

2) Now, I will stand in judgement before you, for I have done a bad thing.  I'll probably get lectured in the comments on why this thing is bad, and I totally deserve it.  What did I do?  I called in when I wasn't sick.  In my defence, I was rather ill that Monday night - the kind of ill where remaining standing is hard.  So I called in, slept and felt a bit better Tuesday, my day off.  Wednesday I was feeling wonderful.  The sun was shining, the grass was green, and my friends were frolicking.  It was a glorious day to be alive.  My co-worker texted me and told me he wanted some overtime, so if I didn't go in, he'd be glad to take my shift.  A devil and an angel appeared on my shoulders, and after some consultation, I went with my good friend Beelzebub and got on the horn to work.  The manager was annoyed, because apparently my friend (who needs to have an awesome name but I cannot think of any name awesome enough to encompass all that is awesome about this person, so his name shall be Awesomeface) had been suspended that day for reasons unrelated to this story.  So they were down a couple people, though I didn't learn about that til later and I probably wouldn't have called off had I known.  

3) CREEPY CUSTY ALERT.  Life in the meat department is boring as fuck, but this livened up my week a little.  I went outside on my break to suck down an American Spirit and just enjoy being out of the store when a customer I had just served pulled up in his big black pick-up truck.  He eyeballed me, then called "Hey honey are you waiting for me?"  I shook my head and attempted to go back to my solitary smoke, but he kept pestering me.  "You on lunch?  You hungry?  Want me to take you somewhere?  I promise I'll have you back in time, ha ha ha."  This wouldn't have been creepy if he hadn't been undressing me with his eyes like five minutes beforehand when I was selling him steak.  I went back inside, told Awesomeface, and it became a running joke for a while.  

So yeah.  Fascinating stuff, I know.

Love, kisses and I move to a new house soon!

--TheBrit

 

Comments

[The Last Archimedean]

Some people don't understand the word "no". Sorry about your creeper, Brit.

As for the taking off, I won't lecture you about it. I'm sure all of us have at one pointor another done something similar.

Hope life goes well for ya.

[Michael]

Brit, there's always a point where you just need to take a sanity day. There was even someone volunteering to cover you for it, so I don't see where the problem is on that.

[KittyKatzchen]

There's nothing wrong with taking a day off. You honestly thought you had it covered.

[Mcbobbings]

haha, in Australia, we call what you did chucking a sickie. Common practice here, it's a national past time! don't feel bad about it.

But your manager, wow. He sounds like a piece of work. You don't have to make excuses to him, if you never use your mobile at work, then he should realise that it's a one off thing, and let it slide. And, gotta love stalking customers!!!

[greenie]

I wont lecture you about calling in sick when you needed sometime off for your self. I think most of us has done so before. My boss will ask us to come in sick anyways, so I have called in saying one of my kids was sick :P

As for the phone, I think you should have let your department head know before hand; but even still it was very rude and unprofessional for that manager to take it from your hands. He could have ask you to put it away, not snatch it away from you like you were a child. That was uncalled for.

[NC Tony]

If anyone ever tried to take my cell phone away from me they'd be pulling back a bloody stump. I know I'm asking a lot here, but management should have the common courtesy to at least say something like "You know you're not supposed to use your phone at work" so that you can explain the situation, especially if it's the first time you've ever been caught using your phone at work.

As for the calling off when you're not sick, not everyone will admit to it, but everyone's done it. Plus, as far as you were concerned Awesomeface was covering for you.

As for the creeper, well, not much you can do except hope to hell that he's all talk and no action. On behalf of men everywhere I'd like to apologize for this creep. Apparently these guys get their sleazy pickup lines from pornos, where even the lamest pickup line will get a girl naked and ready to go in 5 seconds.

[Crazy Cashier]

We constantly had people texting at our store who weren't suppose to be and the managers were getting really frustrated about it.
Even if you are a private person it shouldn't be that big of a deal to say" One of my family members is really sick and it's important that I keep up to date with my phone and I'll only use it for that." If they don't usually see you with the phone when you shouldn't be then they'd be more likely to led it slide if they know why you are using it.

I don't see why your coworker didn't tell you that he didn't work/couldn't your shift though.

[Becky]

I hate the idea that employees have to disclose everything to their employers (referencing the phone story, of course). I used to work at the Big Box Guitar store. The sales manager was nosy and confidentiality was not his strong suit (then again, I don't think anything was). I knew if I told him anything, everyone would know it in a matter of a few weeks (employees and customers alike). He always acted so offended when I didn't tell him something about my personal life.

[maskedmustelid]

To be fair, if an emergency did arise, you'd have to let the manager know anyway - letting him know ahead of time does help him work out how to deal with being potentially short-staffed. It's not like you have to go into details outside of fearing that there may be a family emergency, and that you're just wanting to be prepared.

The manager's probably just annoyed that he thought he caught someone slacking off, then annoyed at being needlessly annoyed than anything.

But hey, live and learn. Sucks that it happens during the family stuff, but family making you worry can make other problems seem worse than they really are.

Personally, I'd have rationalised taking the extra sick day off as making sure that you've recovered completely for work again. The rest you couldn't have known about, and as far as you knew, you weren't going to be leaving them short-handed in this particular situation.

[Drug Store Diva]

I had approval from the store manager to carry my cell phone with me because at one time I had three family members in hospitals or nursing homes. I had one assistant who didn't like it, but I basically told her tough.

Calling in...we've all done it.

[Book Baby]

The one and ONLY time I have had my cell phone on me at work was when DH was in the hospital, a full state away. I was waiting for an update from my sons, who were with him. needed to find out if he had had a heart attack and that I needed to drive ten hours to go get him (thank GOD, no!-- he was OK). I had permission before I did this. My cell phone is put away when I am at work. PERIOD.

People who have their phones surgically attached to their hands are a pet peeve of mine.

As for calling in? No, we have NOT all done it. However, I think you were fine taking a day off. I have never, EVER called in unless I was truly sick, but that's just me.

[Humor_Me]

In a few months you can say back to your dad:

Spring sprung, fall fell,
Summer's here and it's hotter thannnn.... usual. : - )

We had a no cellphone policy at Hellgreen's, but considering that the managers were the worst offenders, we never got in trouble as long as a customer was never caught waiting. I didn't have my watch back then and the clock was never right, so I just carried my phone. I never answered it while working though, just kept track of my time so I didn't get in trouble.

I think your boss was definitely rude. I don't care how many people she caught with phones before, she is not a teacher in class taking away a radio or ipod capable of giving unfair answers. She's lucky she didn't spook me from behind and get elbowed out of reflex.

[Evie]

The few times I've need to be "on call" for personal emergencies and didn't feel like explaining private crap to the world, what I did was I kept my phone in my pocket, and if it buzzed, I said, "I need a minute," to my manager and took a couple minutes to go to the bathroom or the break room where I could be alone. No one can prevent you from peeing, and the extra few seconds it takes to tell people you'll be OOC might keep Manager Jerkface off your tail.

Also, everyone needs a personal day, especially when the job gets stressful. I know I am no good to anyone when I feel crappy and irritable and want to burst into tears at any given moment. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and take a day off.

[ClassClown]

Sick of being stuck inside on a beautiful spring day is a kind of sick, right? I say you were completely justified.

[Larry Berry]

I would have let them know about expecting an important text. Even if you want to be a private person for the most part, just to say 'Just to let you know, I may be getting an important message, that I must answer. It's of a personal matter, but I just want to let you know'.

However, the manager was a total jerk. Even if there is a policy against cellphones, taking your personal possession out of your hands, is still theft.

I had a situation once, when I was working fast food. I was expecting an important call regarding a different job that I also did part time. It was vital that I take the call and unfortunately it was going to be right around lunch rush. I told the manager and apologized beforehand. Luckily she was a cool manager. She was fine with it. She acknowledged that she knew I wasn't the type to be calling or texting normally (we did have some that that was an issue with) so she knew it was a rare situation and that I wasn't abusing the situation or anything. Luckily when the call actually came, we weren't in a huge rush, and when I said that the call came that I had to take, she actually took my spot herself, for the few minutes the call took.

[Antonis]

I've understood this leossn for some time now and it actually makes things harder in the beginning. Of course it's easier to blame someone else! The hard part for me is giving myself any slack, even though I'm aware of it. What can I say. I'm a non-stop, hysterical work in progress. Aren't we all?Adam, there is something about you raising yor eyebrow even smidge! Woo!

[Auth]

A man who never stood a chance. Very well put, Johnny. Why ppolee seem to think that a musical gift, which he deffo had, made up for his lack of any (obviously much longed-for but understandably strange) normality always yanked my chain. He was a human being, fer chrissakes! Don't Stop 'til You get Enough – f-ing great record!

[Remoon]

We are currently using reital pro 8.52. I have technical questions. The contact info, including websites for the partner we purchased from are apparently defunct. Who is your current partner in Dubai? Or where can I go to get my questions answered?

[Fabio]

Um, take it off the floor maybe? After stabbing it of cosrue.And OMG she's ADORABLE!! Methinks she and Monkey should meet. They'd look so cute together!