"It must be so relaxing to work in a bookstore and read all the time."
Inventory is coming up on Sunday. It'll be our first time attempting an inventory count with IBIDie, with new machines and procedures. I've done what prep I can: talked through the process with our tech support staff, tested the machines, charged their batteries, and walked through each step as far as I can without actually initializing the inventory process.
I'm a little nervous about it, but I can't really guess at what problems may come up until we muddle through the first time. Yesterday, I made the mistake of saying as much to the bosses, who immediately turned aggressive. One insisted I should be doing more to prepare, and the other countered that she was sure I was coming in the next day (my day off) to do exactly that. When I replied that no, I wasn't planning to come in because there wasn't anything else I could do, they just stared.
"How can you not come in? It's not as if we ask it all the time. Inventory is only once a year, and the least you should do is prepare for it properly."
This comment really got under my skin. Officially, I'm only supposed to work four days a week; that's what I negotiated instead of a pay raise last year. It hasn't actually worked out that way. Due to "once a year" events like inventory and Educator's Night and off-site marquee authors, not to mention in-store weekend author events, tech support, employees calling out sick, payroll deadlines, and just keeping up with the store's communication has me working in the store on weekends at least once a month, and several hours each week off-the-clock from home.
I'm the only one expected to work this much and this hard - to the vast majority of the staff, this is just a fun side gig to help fund a fondness for reading. There's no drive to try new things or hustle. It makes the job unsustainable. My pleas to hire some sort of assistant manager to help with the workload fall on deaf ears even as the owners continue to step back from the business. I'm not sure they even realize how much they've let go, but they can't even operate the cash registers anymore. I'm just exhausted all the time, and at the end of the day it's still not enough and for what? What am I really getting out of this?
First, we get through inventory.
Then, maybe I need to sit down and really think about what this bookseller thing really means. I love this store and this field, but I don't know if I can keep doing this job.
I'm a little nervous about it, but I can't really guess at what problems may come up until we muddle through the first time. Yesterday, I made the mistake of saying as much to the bosses, who immediately turned aggressive. One insisted I should be doing more to prepare, and the other countered that she was sure I was coming in the next day (my day off) to do exactly that. When I replied that no, I wasn't planning to come in because there wasn't anything else I could do, they just stared.
"How can you not come in? It's not as if we ask it all the time. Inventory is only once a year, and the least you should do is prepare for it properly."
This comment really got under my skin. Officially, I'm only supposed to work four days a week; that's what I negotiated instead of a pay raise last year. It hasn't actually worked out that way. Due to "once a year" events like inventory and Educator's Night and off-site marquee authors, not to mention in-store weekend author events, tech support, employees calling out sick, payroll deadlines, and just keeping up with the store's communication has me working in the store on weekends at least once a month, and several hours each week off-the-clock from home.
I'm the only one expected to work this much and this hard - to the vast majority of the staff, this is just a fun side gig to help fund a fondness for reading. There's no drive to try new things or hustle. It makes the job unsustainable. My pleas to hire some sort of assistant manager to help with the workload fall on deaf ears even as the owners continue to step back from the business. I'm not sure they even realize how much they've let go, but they can't even operate the cash registers anymore. I'm just exhausted all the time, and at the end of the day it's still not enough and for what? What am I really getting out of this?
First, we get through inventory.
Then, maybe I need to sit down and really think about what this bookseller thing really means. I love this store and this field, but I don't know if I can keep doing this job.