New Job

My first three days back in employment have been entertaining. Actually maybe entertaining isn’t really the right word to describe my time so far working for one of the countries oldest department store.

Entertaining would imply I have experienced some of the following emotions or feelings; charm, cheer, delight, enjoyment, fun, pleasantness, relaxation, when in fact I’ve experienced more of these; disgust, awfulness, disagreement, horror, nausea, objection, outrage, repugnance and overall feelings of yuck!

It’s a culture thing I think, it’s just the old-fashioned 'Are You Being Served?' work environment/ethics that turns my stomach, and my hip into a pain centre.

So the first thing giving me a problem is the lack of flexibility of working hours. There is NO room for manoeuvre. You start at 8.30, have one hour for lunch and leave, not before 5.30. You can only leave early if you have prior permission from your manager. Anyone who actually knows me will know I’m not a morning person and the wake up time for this time schedule means my alarm is set for 0645. This is not good, I've already forgotton to put in earrings and clean my teeth. In previous roles I have had understanding managers that have realised I do not need to be treated like a child to get my work done. I do the hours, effectively but at a slighter later time. This has meant they haven’t seen me in before 9.30 unless I actually have a meeting to attend and if I am at an early meeting I'm not sat there like a zombie nursing a massive cup of caffine.

An unforseen problem with the start time is the travel issues. The trains at that time in the morning are chockers. I have had to stand on every trip so far, bar one. OK it sucks that the train system here is woefully under capacity, but for me having to stand on a moving train that lurches and stutters means footing can be lost and results is sudden and forceful pressure put on my hip. Today this showed itself in a shooting pain from my hip to my knee and through my groin, resulting in a limp that I haven’t had for over three years. Continuing to limp is the start of pain throughout my body and general extreme grumpiness. Lack of sleep will only compound this issue. By having flexible work hours I can get a seat and not have hip issues. Makes for an all round happier interaction for everyone involved.

Here's the other thing…a little scheme for head office staff so they can share the shop floor experience and see what the sales staff deal with on a day to day basis. It involves giving time as an information person standing at the top or bottom of escalators and assisting customer with enquiries. I’m sorry, but I know what shop staff goes through. I’ve done my time in retail and I left it because on a whole, customers are wankers and they are rarely right. I’ve been lucky so far and been ‘allocated’ weekday slots but weekends could be assigned. You’ll find me manning an escalator for the last three trading hours on Christmas Eve.

Don’t get me started on the no paper towels in the bathrooms or the not allowed on the shop floor during work hours or if your bag is bigger than a pea you have to leave it in an open area by the staff entrance or the no bins under desk policies…

All that said…the projects and people I’m going to be working with/on until I get the flock out of there, look like they could be interesting.