It is only just into September ( in fact this all started on August Bank Holiday - 31st August ), but all the picnic stuff and disposable BBQ's have been removed from sale ..... and are being replaced by tins of sweets, crackers and advent calendars ... yes, the Christmas stuff is here !!. I know that we usually start receiving Christmas stock into store about this time of year, but this is the earliest I remember it actually being put out for sale. The children hadn't even returned to school yet before we started ! The run up to the festive season is definitely beginning earlier and earlier each year ..... ( Quite ironic really, but since all the summer stuff has been packed away, the weather has taken a turn for the better .... looks like we are going to have a bit of an "Indian summer" ... and we are being asked if we have any BBQ's etc. left.... * ho hum * .... ;-) ) .
Anyway, other than Christmas starting in August .... not too much has happened or changed at the Fun Factory in the last few weeks. Tony has started to settle in as Big Chief, doing what most of them do when they arrive here - trying to put their own stamp on the place. Small things have been changed around, 'new' and 'brilliant' ideas have been thrown around to 'help' us work better ( i.e. faster ) - most which have been heard before in one way or another - a few toes have been stepped upon ( one or two people have left ... but to be honest, I think they were going to leave anyway ) ... the usual experiences there are when we get a new manager. Yes, Tony has a lot of plans for the store .... which he is slowly beginning to realise might not work because we have not got the staff to put them into action !! He has seen at first hand how busy we can get, and I think he is starting to understand that even when everyone is in , the store is working with a skeleton staff ... there is only just enough people in to run the store. It only takes a few people to be on holiday or phone in sick, and we get into difficulties....welcome to the reality of working at Eastney Co-op ! .
I do feel just a little sorry for him - he has been on his own, without much back-up, for the last 4-6 weeks. Michelle (our deputy manager) has been either on holiday or signed off sick (with a fractured foot - ouch!) for that period of time. He has had some help - John (otherwise known as management's little helper ... ) and others are always around - but he had only been here about two weeks before this happened ... oh well, C'est la vie, as they say ...... It hasn't stopped him going to managers meeting or briefings though - hence all the 'new' ideas.
As for me, I'm just plodding along, trying not to get too fed up with it all. I have my new little plan and system of working to use ... which feels a lot like what I used to do a while ago under another manager , but was told to change in a previous shake-up ..... I have my continuing battle with the waste, I have the confusion of establishing what my actual status here is ( totally invisible, all too visible, just the baker, an actual team-leader .... normally some combination of the first 3 , but almost NEVER the fourth !), I have the prospect of the return of our rodent friends ( there is evidence of them around, they have been seen elsewhere in the store ... and I thought I saw something last week - I hoping I'm mistaken, or else here comes another near-nervous breakdown ) .... it is just fun, fun, fun all the way ! NOT ! .... as I said, I just plod on. Someday I might just do something right ... (like leave !) ... but for now, I'm just clinging on to the job for as long as possible ... like it or not, I still need the wage ... depressing but true at the moment.
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