Been a while...
Well it's 9.15am, Sunday morning and I've been up since about 6am. Good ol' bakers hours. Not much happening lately apart from work, sleep, work, sleep and a little food in there somewhere too. It occurred to me yesterday how much my job is actually taking out of me and one of the main reason for it doing so. Matt, one of the 1st year apprentices. He's a good kid, has a shitload of potential as a baker, but is so hung up on his personal problems that he drags down the whole moral of the bakery when he goes off on one of his little tantrums, which is almost daily, and while I'm tryin to run a store, fix whatever he's fucked up, keep an eye on 2 other 1st years and what I'm doing I'm just fucked! Then when I've got Ken in, my second in charge, it's not much better. Ken's been baking for about 18 years so I find it very difficult to tell him what to do. Not because he wont listen, but because he's so much more experienced then me it just doesn't seem right to be telling him what to do, but that's something I'm slowly getting over coz I'm gettin pretty fed up with his shit. Don't get me wrong, I love working with Ken, I love having someone of his qualification around, but when that person has no more love in his job and does everything he can to get out as soon as possible, then I start to get a tad annoyed. I've been pretty placid about him since I've been manager coz he lost his wife and step-daughter a few months ago (his wife died suddenly and his step-daughters real father took her away the day Kerry died) so he's been in a bit of a head fuck state. Henry (my boss) has been at me about Ken and how he's not happy with him either. Henry and Ken have worked together for about 8-9 years both as workmates, then as boss/employee when Henry bought his first store and since Kerry's death, Henry and Shana (his wife) have done a shit load to help in out, including paying off $3000 worth of bills for him so he wouldn't loose his house. But the way Ken goes about himself and the job, it's like he couldn't care less what Henry and Shana, nor anyone else has done for him. I duno if he was like this befor Kerry died coz I only met him once beforhand, but I get the impression he was.
The final straw for me was about 2 weeks ago when he came into work for a late shift sick as a dog. He'd been throwing up all night, then all day at work he was ducking out to the toilet every 10 minutes. So I did my bit to help him out and ended up doing a 12 hour shift to help him out and give him a lif home (he doesn't drive coz he lost his licence for drink driving), and towards the end I had a fucking pounding headache which last all through the next day. Then a few days later I had a 5am-1pm shift and Ken had 2am-10am. It was Saturday too so a pretty busy day and I figured that Ken would hang around and help me out and get a lift home with me so I could get out on time since the next day it was just the two of us and I wouldn't get out till late otherwise. Also, considering that I'd helped him out the other day when he was sick... Well come 12.30pm and in walks Kate (an old employee) to pick up Ken. So I'm left with half a bakery to clean and everything to bake off and he walks out the door.
Sure you may be thinking "well, he had a long day ahead of him tomorrow too" but I know that if Kate were to have walked in at 10am when Ken was ment to finish he would've walked out the door and left everything for me. The only reason he stayed and kept working was coz he was waiting for Kate, not to help me out. I've told both Henry and Shana that I dont want him there for his shitty attitude and the effect he has on the apprentices (giving them his bad habits) and both of them are ready to fire him.
Funny thing is though, as much as I'm complaining about this shit, it just motivates me more to get this place up and running like Broady and let some of the pressure of Henry and Shana. Henry's burning out with the workload of running 3 stores and Shana told me the other day she wants to sell and go back to one store.
Meh, I'm sick of typing now. Later yo.
The final straw for me was about 2 weeks ago when he came into work for a late shift sick as a dog. He'd been throwing up all night, then all day at work he was ducking out to the toilet every 10 minutes. So I did my bit to help him out and ended up doing a 12 hour shift to help him out and give him a lif home (he doesn't drive coz he lost his licence for drink driving), and towards the end I had a fucking pounding headache which last all through the next day. Then a few days later I had a 5am-1pm shift and Ken had 2am-10am. It was Saturday too so a pretty busy day and I figured that Ken would hang around and help me out and get a lift home with me so I could get out on time since the next day it was just the two of us and I wouldn't get out till late otherwise. Also, considering that I'd helped him out the other day when he was sick... Well come 12.30pm and in walks Kate (an old employee) to pick up Ken. So I'm left with half a bakery to clean and everything to bake off and he walks out the door.
Sure you may be thinking "well, he had a long day ahead of him tomorrow too" but I know that if Kate were to have walked in at 10am when Ken was ment to finish he would've walked out the door and left everything for me. The only reason he stayed and kept working was coz he was waiting for Kate, not to help me out. I've told both Henry and Shana that I dont want him there for his shitty attitude and the effect he has on the apprentices (giving them his bad habits) and both of them are ready to fire him.
Funny thing is though, as much as I'm complaining about this shit, it just motivates me more to get this place up and running like Broady and let some of the pressure of Henry and Shana. Henry's burning out with the workload of running 3 stores and Shana told me the other day she wants to sell and go back to one store.
Meh, I'm sick of typing now. Later yo.