Today at work ....

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, today was a interesting day at work. There has been a bird flying around the store for at least 2 days, so we played "Catch the Birdie" today.

Thankfully it was quiet enough we could do this, because it took up a large part of the day, lol.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Ok, so it's the day after Valentines Day, and I still have people coming into the store, asking to buy red roses.

1. There are never any red roses available the day after Valentines Day.
2. We are lucky to have any roses the day after Valentines Day.
3. If your coming to get flowers for someone the day after Valentines Day, thinking you will get a cheaper deal, forget it.
4. Your already in the doghouse if you forgot to get flowers for Valentines Day. (If you are of those who believe they have to get flowers for Valentines Day, or have a S.O. who believes you must.) Getting them the day after is just so pathetic.
5. The florist has just had a busy two days (the 13th and the 14th), and does not want to hear you whine that you need to get flowers because you forgot to yesterday.

We did over 7 thousand on the 13th, which actually wasn't too bad, considering it was during a snowstorm, though we did not beat last year same day because of it. (We had done 13 thousand last year on the 13th, or so I was told.)

For the 14th, we almost broke 30 thousand dollars in flowers. We came up a little less that 400 dollars short. I can't remember what we did last year but that was definitely the most I think we have ever done in sale in a day.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, today at work wasn't bad, it was the ride home that was irritating to say the least. Not just 2 blocks down the street, I saw a very large shadow cross in front of my car, and looked up, as I came to a stop at the light. A plane was flying so low, I thought it was trying to land on the road! Not sure exactly what type of plane it was, but it definitely wasn't a little single engine! Looked like it could hold up to 200 people. It dipped a moment while I was stopped, then curved back up and headed back upwards. I had to turn with the light then, and I didn't hear any explosions, so I figure that it kept flying.

Then not once, not twice, but three times on the way home I had cars cut in front of me, out of side streets, and drive up a couple of blocks, then suddenly break to have to turn off on another street, without using blinkers, and almost missing the turn, making me put my breaks on and the cars behind me, it being the rush hour home. I figure it had to be the nice day, as its been so long since we have had one, people didn't know exactly what they were experiencing and were driving in a daze or something. Maybe the sun was blinding their eyes. Either way, it really aggravates me when they have no decency to use their blinkers, and know where they are driving too. Just get out of the way of those of us who know where we are going, so we can get there.

[salamanca]

It's baseball season and the red sox are on the radio. Who cares about traffic signals when Grady Sizemore is at winged mouse.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Today at work was hell. This week so far has been. Monday we didn't get our regular work done, so it backed up to Tuesday. I got most of the stuff done on Tuesday, by doubletiming it, so going into work today, I was already tired, and not in the best of moods. So what happened today? One of the women I work with came to work and as far as I am concerned, had a cord of wood up her a**. Slamming things down, (actually on my hand at one point, as I was trying to clean something up), and just being aggravating.

She already has a problem with me because I'm "Too bossy", and hates to do what ever I tell her to do, even though when my boss Laura is out, I am technically the boss. I try to be lenient with her and let her do what she wants, but today we had 3 pallets come in, and already being backed up I asked her to fill the orchids, and a few other things. Well, she did the orchids, then decided she needed to make a vase arrangement, because she had seen it done in Winstons (a very expensive floral shop). I had already put out 9 other arrangements earlier before she came in so we really didn't need it, but I didn't say anything. I hinted again that we needed some filling done, and she gets pissed off because I am telling her what to do. So she disappears, while I continue to prep things that came in and put them out on the display.

She finally comes back and starts helping, which to me isn't help because she wants to do what I am doing, and it slows me down. So she gets pissed off at me again because she can't help me, even though I have told her of several other things that need to be done.

I know what the major problem with her is, and to me its very childish on her part, but I don't know how to talk to her without her taking me the wrong way, because she does, no matter how or what I say. The problem is that she is a "younger sister", actually the baby of her family. She is older than me, but as I am a "older sister" and have the older sister bossy ways (just natural, can't help it), she hates taking any "orders" from me, even though I have 14 plus years experience doing what I do. I've tried to show her short cuts and other ways to make working easier and quicker, I've bent over backwards trying not to "be bossy", but after today, if her attitude happens again, I may loose my cool.

I mentioned to Andira, the other girl that also works with us today, about her slamming the bucket on my hand, and Andira told her she needed to apologize. She came and told me that she didn't even know I was cleaning the area that she had slammed the bucket down on, but I don't believe her, because I was wiping up the area and she saw me doing it.
So she was pissed after that and wouldn't talk to me or Andira, and continued to slam things around. So the day progressed, and I went out to check the outdoors area, which had a bucket of water that had been left out in the rain the day before, so was full and heavy. Instead of dumping it out and having customers walk over it and track up the store, I thought I would take it into the store and dump it out in our sink. I no sooner had it on the cart, walked into the building, and it hit a bump at the door, and at least 5 gallons of water landed in my shoes and the entrance of the store. That was the final straw of the day. I cleaned it up the best as was possible, had a wet floor sign put up, and went back to my work station, told Andira I was leaving, and said goodbye to both of the women, though the pissed off one didn't say anything to me, but started slamming more buckets around, and with that I left, totally stressed out from the last 3 days. I almost don't want to go back tomorrow, but I will, I need to pay my bills.

[Lady Grace]

Why is this woman allowed to be employed?

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, she is a great person with people, most of the time, and sells the products. That is her best quality, but she really has issues about who can tell her what to do. My boss Laura is "The boss" so she can tell her what to do, but she has problems with me, because she thinks we are "on par" work wise, so she should be able to do what she wants instead of what I want her to do when I have to play the boss. Mostly like I said, its that "Big Sister, Little Sister" tension. She just isn't very good in getting jobs done. She flights from job to job without finishing them (which really bothers me and Andira, as we work well together because when we start a job we finish it.) We have limited space to work in too, and she tends to spread out and take up the whole area, not allowing us to have space to work, if she starts first. She really can't work without taking up twice as much space and taking twice as long, when it comes to prep work, so we always try to get her to do other stuff, and she gets pissed off at us thinking we don't want her to help us, or work with us, which in a way has gotten true, because she has gotten worse, as time has passed, and we can't get her to listen to us to try to straighten it out.
I know this is going to cause some worse problems in the near future.

[salamanca]

You have a handful of options to deal with this. 1- let it continue and make the job toxic enough that one of you quits or goes insane. (listed for completeness not for a suggested plan). 2- quit caring what she gets done, do your own job and pin the stuff that fails to get done on the person not doing the job until it piles up enough that you get a new employee to have issues with. (sort of underhanded and passive aggressive but it doesn't rock the boat hard) 3- establish the official chain of command and follow it. If you ARE officially listed as the "manager" for the department, put your foot down and give the orders and reprimand when they are not followed. If you are NOT officially in a superior position and only senior in terms of having been there longer, QUIT GIVING ORDERS. 4- take the hardest and worst jobs yourself and do them first. If you have already taken the nastiest job they hate to do, they can not complain about any task that lets them avoid that job. 5- make the guy above you the common enemy. (in general not specific) If you make it "US vs. Them", your team will rally to show up the boss. But you have to play this one light heartedly or else somebody eventually rats you out for "badmouthing the boss". 6- quit thinking it's about sibling order. Most employees fail to respect management in any form because they are working a job they deem "beneath them". This gets amplified when the employee has to do menial tasks. Somebody took this job to make pretty arrangements and resents the aspects that are not that part of the job (stocking, paperwork, lifting, etc). So find the reward part of the job and use it as a carrot to get your menial tasks completed.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

I decided to tell the boss, because it is not good behavior. So it is out of my hands now.

[Sister Sonya]

Laura, Dave has provided an exhaustive list of options, all of which make sense depending upon your overall situation. As you know your manager and co-worker-from-hell best, you ordinarily should apply your best remedy/remedies to the problem.

However, speaking as a former employee and a manager at a government agency dealing with employment and unemployment for 43+ years, you should apply your job wishes to your job situation with your own job circumstances in mind.

1) You always need to consider if you might be in any physical danger.

2) What are the Personnel Rules at your job, the ones that a labor lawyer for you or for your employer would present at an Administrative Hearing, or at your case in court, if you are suspended or fired?

You need to have your boss, or your company's legal representative, explain, in writing, just what the position at your job entails. What specifically are your supervisory/managerial duties? If appropriate, your boss should make each of these duties crystal clear... so that you can testify truthfully at any job proceeding.

If you like your job, and want to keep working there, it is in your interest to get your situation clarified by the one(s) making the employment decisions.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

To follow up on this, I had to work with her again today. Before she came in, I called my boss Laura and told her about the incident yesterday, and I also told our overhead boss, Kevin, who is the boss of the Produce department, which we are a part of.
She came in today, sweet as sugar, acting like nothing had happened yesterday. Well, both Kevin and Laura talked to her, so she came up to me before I left and ask me if we were ok.
I was like "?". I told her, I was not the one that had the attitude, and had just been trying to either keep quite and work, or just do my own thing because no matter what I seemed to do, she was pissed off at me. She looked at me like she didn't believe me, and we left it like that.
Meanwhile I talked again with my boss Laura, who told me that things were hopefully settled right now, but if it happened again, the woman would be rescheduled so she wouldn't be working with me. She also said that it wasn't just me that the woman has issues with, seems like she has issues with my fellow workers and if she continued doing what she does, would end up getting scheduled to work by herself, if not fired. So we'll see where it goes from here.

[salamanca]

Ok, that behavoir just set off my super-manager sense. DO NOT TAKE DIRECT APPROACH WITH HER ON ANYTHING. Do NOT (I repeat, NOT) give her orders to do stuff, anything remotely boss like or initiate conversations about your standing with each other. If she asks if you two are ok, just answer "Yes". There is no way she cannot be aware you were involved in the recent call to the office but by refusing to acknowledge her own behavior when asking you about it means she is not going to be level headed about it in the future. If she had problems with others here, she also had them at past jobs. This is an employee that either gets left in the midnight shift or gets fired before long. If you give her a target, she can take you with her. SO DO NOT GIVE HER ANYTHING TO BLAME YOU FOR. (around here it's called "30-something going on 14" because they should be mature enough to not behave like a petulant teen).

[Sister Sonya]

To follow up on what Dave said:

1) You always need to consider if you might be in any physical danger.

[Lady Grace]

This is a situation that calls for PURIFYING FLAME~!!!!!

[salamanca]

No purifying flame!. It's about using tact, and civility and waiting out the time when the other person opts to ignore their social skills. In a corporate owned business like retail, you have to learn to work inside the system and do what needs done they way they want it done. Protect yourself with documentation of all issues. Let little things slide (particularly if management brings them to you or are acutely aware of them) and save your complaints for when they are really vital. If you gripe everyday, you get tuned out. If you get too aggressive in your complaints, you look like someone with a grudge. Retail likes employees that do not have issues with customers, do their own job, don't have attendence issues, don't create problems with the other staff, manage their own work without supervision, are fast enough to create free time to help their co-workers, and do so without being asked. And it's pretty much in that order.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Things at work are still about the same, but had to tell of what my landlord has done.

I mentioned a bit back, that we had a tree break off at just above the roots, and was leaning on another tree, which is the only reason it didn't fall and crash into the back fence and into the neighbors yard, as it was a good sized tree, easily over 30 feet long. So I had called my landlord, who was down in Florida at the time, and told him about it, and the need to have it taken down. He comes back up here to Massachusetts, looks at it and tells me it's nothing, that he shouldn't have to worry about it. Well, I told him that I would be worried if the limb the tree was resting against would break, it could cause damage to either the fence and neighbors yard/house, or depending on if it got pushed by a big wind, it could fall towards our house. He did have it taken down a day or two later, but what I am writing about is the "Free Firewood" sign he put out in front of the house. I had to laugh when I saw that because the "free firewood" are logs about 6 feet long and about two feet round, so they are not an easy piece of wood to put into a truck to take with you.

He really amazes me sometimes, in the ways he thinks he is getting out of things easy, and that people will just come and take them away "as is".
His best bet is that someone wanting to play with their chainsaw "may" come and grab a log or two, but I see it as too much effort for too little reward, for a bit of firewood.

[salamanca]

2 foot wide logs that came out of a tree 30 feet high... One of those measurements is not right. But around here, chopping those into moveable pieces and tossing them in a truck is not very much work for free wood unless it's not very much wood or the middle is rotted out. Sounds like about 5-10 minutes of sawing and 10 of loading. Not much effort if it will heat your house for a day for free.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

The logs are about 6 feet long or so, but I can barely wrap my arms around the width, so I was figuring about 2 feet round or so, and they are big and heavy (at least from my point of view), and it was only half the tree, as it was a split one, one that had forked off young, so there are 2 trunks, and the right side fell.


So, back to work and after....

We are having a 2 week sale at work right now, on NY Sirloin steaks, at $3.99 a pound. Then on top of that, it's team member appreciation week, so we got a 40% more off with a coupon, so got a great deal.
Then tonight on the way home, I came around a turn, and right in front of me were 3 deer! I stopped quickly and thought I was good, when suddenly a fourth deer leaped out in front of the car. I hit it, and knocked it off it's feet, but it got right back up and ran away, so I hope it's ok. I wasn't able to stop, as another car was coming up behind me, so I checked my car when I got home. Couldn't see any blood or any dents on the car, so hopefully the deer is ok, though its hard to know if it had any internal damage happened to it. I feel so bad about hitting it.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Ok full confession time, I only read about half of Laura's post yesterday, so when she mentioned hitting a deer at gaming, I was completely surprised. But now that I know, she, the deer, and her car are all ok, all I can say is

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, my car is ok, and I'm ok, but still not sure about the deer.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Today while at work, my landlord called, wanting to know when I was going to be home, as he had to talk to me.
Well, I had been working late, catching up on a couple of things, but was on my way out, so told him I'd be home in about an hour.
So I get home, and he wanted to make sure I knew how to re-light the water heater should it go out again, like it has a couple of times while he was gone. He is getting ready to head back to Florida, and wanted to catch up on a couple of things. One thing he told me was that he was going to have to raise my rent, so it's going up another $25.00, which isn't bad, but then he said that he has plans to sell the house, since it's too far away from Florida to do the up-keep on it, and he would rather stay in Florida. He said he doesn't know how long it will take to sell the house, but said he was going to try to see if I could still rent out the apartment when the new owner took over.

In a way, I was kinda expecting something like this. He has been staying more and more down in Florida, and I know he would eventually sell the house. He actually offered me to move into a "mother-in-laws" house he has in Florida, on his property, and rent it out from him. Told him it was a nice gesture, but, I really don't want to live in Florida, too many bugs, and hurricanes. Not to mention alligators and sinkholes.
So I guess I'll probably need to move again someday in the future, depending on who buys the house and what rent they put on the apartment, if I can afford it or not.

[Black Jack Rackham]

On a lark I checked Zillow.com for that place you're always pointing out Laura. They're currently asking 270k for the place and almost 9 acres. That's real good. Monthly mortgage is just over 1k a month (1,042 again according to Zillow). Maybe it's time to think about buying...

[Rebecca Iavelli]

I know Mark, I checked it out again recently too, but its still too high for me. With 2 take home checks a month from work, I probably clear $1500-$1600, give or take here and there, depending on overtime and other things, so that doesn't make for a very much margin for other things besides the house. I will need to get a new car in the next year or so, will have to pay bills, and any other thing that may come up unexpected. Then I also wouldn't be able to go to the cons anymore either.

[cpugs]

Laura, your math is correct if you are the sole occupant. What revenues could you generate by renting out the rest of the house????

[Rebecca Iavelli]

That is a good question Charlie. I really don't know, not having seen the house in person, except on the outside, so not sure. I know that it is mentioned that the 3rd floor is unheated, so if I was to (or able to get it), I would have to have that fixed, before it is usable. They have some pictures of it on line, but not very good ones from my opinion, except the kitchen living room and dining area. Its a 1900 era house, with some upgrades, built in bookshelves and pantry (which I LOVE!), hardwood flooring, a 2 door seperate garage, and a million of trees, so not really much land, and its on a lake, though its hard to see the lake through the trees in the back yard area, from what I can tell by driving by. I know the kitchen is located on the basement floor, and looks to have some nice storage area, and low ceilings, which I would not have any problems with, lol.

Should actually stop and see if it is open tomorrow, when I go to Mark's, and see if I can see the inside, to check the size of the bedroom/s.

http://www.trulia.com/property/1042221770-63-Union-St-Norfolk-MA-02056#photo-1