As they say: when it rains...
File this under Updates, General.
Inventory prep is getting insanely stressful. We're at the two week mark and I just can't figure out how we'll have everything ready in time. It wouldn't be so bad if my own manager didn't insist upon adding a bunch of unnecessary projects to the alreay long to-do list I have for my departments. These projects can wait until after inventory, thank you very much, but what do I know? Keeping things efficient and straightforward should be the priority and not giving into the whole, "Well, we're cleaning out the backroom anyway, so lets go ahead and completely reorganize your bins, consolidate and re-list your pallets, move your bins to another area of the warehouse entirely, and then pick three aisles in your department to completely redo for shits and giggles, just because I'm not sure I like the look of them." urge that has suddenly come over everyone. Many of these plans make sense, yes, but there isn't one of them that can't wait until after the 17th.
This is not the time to be stressing your department managers out, people, especially not over trivial shit like this. The current system is fine and will hold through inventory. It's held up for the past two and a half years our store has been open, after all, so I doubt it will suddenly fall into chaos before 7/17. Why put us days behind schedule when we're already struggling to even make the date? This is not good business strategy.
We got word on Thursday evening that the department managers will all be working at least 48 hours of overtime the week of inventory (we have to work six days instead of five), but that number will be more than likely be 52+. They just can't say that or put that on the physical schedule. And that's just the week of inventory. While no overtime is planned for the rest of this week, next week is anyone's guess. Our pay period goes from Saturday to Friday, so we should know by the weekend whether we'll be pulling extra hours for two weeks instead of just the one. I'm really hoping this isn't the case. This upcoming weekend is my weekend off and I'm going to need it desperately to make it through inventory. I had to give up my other weekend off, as it's the weekend before the 17th and we all have to work, so that means I'll be working 12 days straight before my next day off. So, yes, I need this weekend. If I don't get this weekend off, I'll end up working 15-16 days straight (like last year) and I'll be a complete and utter bitch by the end of it. Or a zombie. Or both. ;)
We did some moving this evening, but I have a lot more packing and moving to do, and a lot less time than I'd been planning. I have this week plus this weekend (if I still have it off) and any days I don't close next week to move the rest of my stuff out, clean out the apartment, and hand over the keys. I absolutely must be moved out by the 12th, as there is no way I'll be able to handle all the overtime and stress at work in addition to a move. I still have to call all my utility companies to cancel my services, as well as close my PO Box and redirect my mail back to the family house.
Tomorrow is mostly a bust, with errands to run in the city and a safety meeting to attend, but I should be able to get a bit more done in the evening. Thursday is mostly a bust too, but it shouldn't take much to complete the last of the packing and moving on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday.
Bleh. I've always hated the tedious aspects of moving.
While at the family house this evening, we got a call from my aunt down South, telling us that my grandma has really taken a turn for the worse. Her health has been failing for awhile, but the cancer is simply everywhere now and her broken leg isn't helping anything. She's blind from the stress and medications and she's down to around 90 lbs (she's a very tall woman at around 5'10, so she's nothing but skin and bones). Her doctor has taken her off all her other medications but has left her on the pain medications. They allowed her to go home and be watched over by our family in her final weeks. While there's a slim chance she could live another few months, I think we've all realized that she just doesn't have the strength to endure much more.
My dad is planning to go down there as soon as he's able, hopefully to be with her before she passes. If she does die within the next couple of weeks as they're expecting, my mother, my sister and I will fly down for the funeral. My oldest sister (the one who lives in SC) has also been told, and she's going to buy an open-date ticket so that she can fly out when she needs to.
The reason I say when it rains it pours is because all five of us are in the middle of projects/fiscals/inventory/training/etc that not only triples our stress levels but makes it very difficult to get away. My father, especially, feels this burden, but thankfully he has an understanding boss who will let him go no matter what project is waiting here. The same with my mother and sisters.
But in my case, I'm just not sure... Granted, things are better with our new store manager (I don't think I need to go back into what happened back in Oct of '05 when my dear godfather died and my job refused to give me the day of his visitation or his funeral off--I had to attend his visitation on my dinner break, and his funeral three hours before work. =/ It bothers me to this day.), given the leeway they've given other co-workers who've had deaths in the family this year, but I can't help but be nervous about management reaction. I've no doubt at least some of them will give me grief if I have to go down South right before or on the day of inventory, but this is my grandmother, damnit, and I will not allow them to guilt me into working around their schedule--not this time, anyway. Not that I really can, as we'll need to be in Arkansa, but if they'll just let me go with minimal fuss or grief, I'll be incredibly grateful. Like I said, I don't think they'll be as heartless as former managers were, but once burned...
So that's the whole of it. I'm frustrated with work, stressed about the move, and saddened about my grandmother's health--not to mention worried about my dad, who I'm so close to, and who I can tell is just about beside himself over losing his last parent. I'm resilient, though, and I'm good at taking things a day at a time so as not to be too overwhelmed. Still, I'll be relieved when everything has worked its way through...
Inventory prep is getting insanely stressful. We're at the two week mark and I just can't figure out how we'll have everything ready in time. It wouldn't be so bad if my own manager didn't insist upon adding a bunch of unnecessary projects to the alreay long to-do list I have for my departments. These projects can wait until after inventory, thank you very much, but what do I know? Keeping things efficient and straightforward should be the priority and not giving into the whole, "Well, we're cleaning out the backroom anyway, so lets go ahead and completely reorganize your bins, consolidate and re-list your pallets, move your bins to another area of the warehouse entirely, and then pick three aisles in your department to completely redo for shits and giggles, just because I'm not sure I like the look of them." urge that has suddenly come over everyone. Many of these plans make sense, yes, but there isn't one of them that can't wait until after the 17th.
This is not the time to be stressing your department managers out, people, especially not over trivial shit like this. The current system is fine and will hold through inventory. It's held up for the past two and a half years our store has been open, after all, so I doubt it will suddenly fall into chaos before 7/17. Why put us days behind schedule when we're already struggling to even make the date? This is not good business strategy.
We got word on Thursday evening that the department managers will all be working at least 48 hours of overtime the week of inventory (we have to work six days instead of five), but that number will be more than likely be 52+. They just can't say that or put that on the physical schedule. And that's just the week of inventory. While no overtime is planned for the rest of this week, next week is anyone's guess. Our pay period goes from Saturday to Friday, so we should know by the weekend whether we'll be pulling extra hours for two weeks instead of just the one. I'm really hoping this isn't the case. This upcoming weekend is my weekend off and I'm going to need it desperately to make it through inventory. I had to give up my other weekend off, as it's the weekend before the 17th and we all have to work, so that means I'll be working 12 days straight before my next day off. So, yes, I need this weekend. If I don't get this weekend off, I'll end up working 15-16 days straight (like last year) and I'll be a complete and utter bitch by the end of it. Or a zombie. Or both. ;)
We did some moving this evening, but I have a lot more packing and moving to do, and a lot less time than I'd been planning. I have this week plus this weekend (if I still have it off) and any days I don't close next week to move the rest of my stuff out, clean out the apartment, and hand over the keys. I absolutely must be moved out by the 12th, as there is no way I'll be able to handle all the overtime and stress at work in addition to a move. I still have to call all my utility companies to cancel my services, as well as close my PO Box and redirect my mail back to the family house.
Tomorrow is mostly a bust, with errands to run in the city and a safety meeting to attend, but I should be able to get a bit more done in the evening. Thursday is mostly a bust too, but it shouldn't take much to complete the last of the packing and moving on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday.
Bleh. I've always hated the tedious aspects of moving.
While at the family house this evening, we got a call from my aunt down South, telling us that my grandma has really taken a turn for the worse. Her health has been failing for awhile, but the cancer is simply everywhere now and her broken leg isn't helping anything. She's blind from the stress and medications and she's down to around 90 lbs (she's a very tall woman at around 5'10, so she's nothing but skin and bones). Her doctor has taken her off all her other medications but has left her on the pain medications. They allowed her to go home and be watched over by our family in her final weeks. While there's a slim chance she could live another few months, I think we've all realized that she just doesn't have the strength to endure much more.
My dad is planning to go down there as soon as he's able, hopefully to be with her before she passes. If she does die within the next couple of weeks as they're expecting, my mother, my sister and I will fly down for the funeral. My oldest sister (the one who lives in SC) has also been told, and she's going to buy an open-date ticket so that she can fly out when she needs to.
The reason I say when it rains it pours is because all five of us are in the middle of projects/fiscals/inventory/training/etc that not only triples our stress levels but makes it very difficult to get away. My father, especially, feels this burden, but thankfully he has an understanding boss who will let him go no matter what project is waiting here. The same with my mother and sisters.
But in my case, I'm just not sure... Granted, things are better with our new store manager (I don't think I need to go back into what happened back in Oct of '05 when my dear godfather died and my job refused to give me the day of his visitation or his funeral off--I had to attend his visitation on my dinner break, and his funeral three hours before work. =/ It bothers me to this day.), given the leeway they've given other co-workers who've had deaths in the family this year, but I can't help but be nervous about management reaction. I've no doubt at least some of them will give me grief if I have to go down South right before or on the day of inventory, but this is my grandmother, damnit, and I will not allow them to guilt me into working around their schedule--not this time, anyway. Not that I really can, as we'll need to be in Arkansa, but if they'll just let me go with minimal fuss or grief, I'll be incredibly grateful. Like I said, I don't think they'll be as heartless as former managers were, but once burned...
So that's the whole of it. I'm frustrated with work, stressed about the move, and saddened about my grandmother's health--not to mention worried about my dad, who I'm so close to, and who I can tell is just about beside himself over losing his last parent. I'm resilient, though, and I'm good at taking things a day at a time so as not to be too overwhelmed. Still, I'll be relieved when everything has worked its way through...