Changes have been going on at the Fun Factory in the last few months. Firstly, I am not longer in the bakery all day long . There has been a rethink at Head Office about the In-Store Bakeries they run, and it has been decided that the way the are staffed needs to be changed. They want fresh goods avaliable later into the day, but this cannot be done by having one person in the bakery all day - this would mean someone doing more than 10/11 hours a day. It has decided that we must have one person in the morning ( 6am to 11am ), then a second person for the afternoon/evening (working 2pm to 5pm). This means a change to my working day, but not a change to my hours luckily ( still working full time hours .... cannot afford to lose any hours ). I now do the morning shift in the bakery , although I haven't managed to finish at 11am yet .... more like 12 or 1pm. Someone else ( Zoe ) is working in the section during the afternoon/evening shift. I now work on the shopfloor during the rest of my working day, completing price and date checks for the store. So what do I think about this change .... not much really ! All this change just so the customers can have warm bread for ONE hour more ... Zoe hadn't really worked on the section before ( and she has just returned to work from maternity leave,so is suffering a bit from Baby Brain) so she isn't very fast when she really needs to be ... the waste figures are going up and not down as they-who-must-be-obeyed want and I am the one getting stick over it ... I'm not achieving what they want from me, in regards to the price/date checks, because I am spending time telling Zoe what to do or covering her shift because she has gone sick ... no, I'm not sure their plan is working very well. But this is what they want, so I just have to get on with it and try and make it work .... it is not helping my state of mind much though - the Darkness has returned at regular intervals .....
The other change is that, after most of the year without one, we now have a deputy manager again - and like Tony, our manager, it is someone who has been here in the past. His name is Mark, and he was last here about five years ago as a team leader/ trainee manager. I get on with him fairly OK, but he is a complete wind-up merchant .... he just loves taking the p*** out of people .... and I am a major target. He has always been like this, as far as I can remember, but unlike in the past, I'm more likely ( and able ) to fight back .... think he is starting to realise that now !. He has taken over responsiblity for the Fresh / Chilled food side of the store, which is not a bad thing ( ..... I think that department has changed hands at least 3 times in the last 4 months ), but also means he oversees things in the ISB. I have already been told ( by him ) that he managed to improve sales/waste on the section in one of his last stores in less than a month, and expects to do the same here .... we will see. I have heard the same kind of thing from countless people in the last eight years .... lets see if Mark can succeed where so many others failed .... only time will tell. I do believe he is beginning to realise it isn't as easy as he thought though ......
So, there have been changes at the Fun Factory, but much is unchanged. Life goes on much as it always has there .... and I still get very fed up with it all. This is the longest I have ever been at one store/location ... and I am getting itchy feet. Really need to get away before I do something I might regret .....or I go totally bonkers !! Who knows, the waste problem might just be solved .... by me leaving ! All this is just words at the moment .... but it might be time to talk less and act more ..... we will see !
