10 days straight, no thanks just complaints

The BBQ Pit
1

The husband/wife owners of the furniture store I work at are on vacation. They have taken our finisher with them. They have done this on the week that I have a $40,000 delivery and a $20,000 pickup. The finishers is in a state of chaos, and my storage portable has been packed to its tits holding these two orders. On top of these two huge orders I have the regular deliveries and pickups to arrange. Without the owners there to help out I have worked… well, loading the truck this morning would be my 11th day straight at work. Oh, yeah, I’ve been sick since last Saturday.

Although I have been at work each day since Feb. 1st, I haven’t spent every single day there for the whole 8 hours. I’ve come in late and left early a few days. This has been because, obviously, I’m sick and already working more than anybody else. I figure this is fair. (I’ll come in at 10:00 if I worked 13.5 hours the day previous. I don’t fucking care. Neither does anybody else except the insane control General Manager.)

Yesterday, the store’s General Manager asks when she starts her shift (I’ve already been there since 7:30 loading two different trucks) if I’m about to go home. “No, unfortunately, I still have paperwork to do,” I respond. “Fine. But before you leave we need to chat.” I know this isn’t going to be a friendly chat, you know how you can just tell.

So, anyway, I do my work and finally get ready to leave around noon. She takes me into her office and after some pleasantries begins with, “I feel like you’ve been leaving me out of the loop. I am the General Manager here, I know more than you and need to know what you’re doing. I am in charge of staff. When you need staff to do something for yourself, you come through me. I’ve been noticing more and more of this recently.”

Honestly, I just starred at her blinking. No response, nothing, I just sat there emotionless with a dumb/exhausted look on my face, blinking. Her examples included, and were limited to, me giving a “do-to” list to a co-worker, for another co-worker, instead of giving it to her to give to him. Second example was that I took a phone call, where the caller ask specifically for the owners, and told them nobody at the store could answer their question. The first example, she is right, I should have given the list to her. I apologized for that. The second? hun? I should direct all phone calls to people not there to HER?! The only thing that could account for the “I’ve been noticing more and more of this” is the fact that I’ve been liberal with my hour works. She likes routine and people doing things her way.

I didn’t lose it when she was saying this. I thought about it. I really did. I really thought like telling her that after Monday the law requires I receive 48 hours OFF work and that she could drive the truck to do the required pickups, dropoffs, and also co-ordinate the weeks deliveries. Instead, I just sat there. Half of my sitting was pure exhaustion. Half of it was disbelief. I’ve just worked 10 days straight and she is giving me a verbal warning?! No, “thanks for the extra effort this week Spezza! Those two orders would never have been complete unless you put in the extra hours. Thank you. Oh, by the way, do you mind confirming things with me. I’m feeling left out of the game plan here. Also, I know you normally don’t deal with store staff, but remember I am in charge of staff and would like all things go through me. Thanks.”

I haven’t decided if when I see her again to accuse her of leaving me out of the loop, or just to drop the matter. (In four months she has never told me of a single delivery coming into my storage area. Never told me when leather is being delivered. I found out she just writes in on a calendar. Never told me about a mattress delivery. Never told me of a decor delivery.) The smart thing is to drop the matter. I’ve never been known to do the smart thing, however, when a stupid boss pisses me off. I fear my career in the furniture business is about to be finished.

2

10 days straight? I thought this was another Ted Haggard thread :stuck_out_tongue:

3

Damn. Beaten to the joke by 8 minutes.

4

Spezza, you seem to be working off an excluded middle model–drop the issue or blow up at the GM. How soon are the owners returning and what is your relationship with them? If they are not there to mediate, are you sure that if you scheduled a meeting with the GM (who has only been there four months) you could not possibly work toward an agreement of procedures that would make both of you more comfortable?

Yeah, she sounds like either a control freak or an oblivious pointy-haired boss. OTOH, she might simply be someone who is feeling her way into a new position and needs to get some more (polite, measured) feedback on her own knowledge and practices.

It may be hopeless and I hope you find a better job after you “agree” to terminate the relationship, but you might want to consider having a calmer discussion after you have had a full night’s sleep and a day off.

5

My first reaction was to tell you to give her exactly what she wants and gloat silently while you watch her drown in all of the updates and phonecalls, but I don’t think that would be productive.

If you want to keep this job and keep it running smoothly, you’ve got to figure out what it is that she really wants. Is she feeling left out, or feeling like you’ve stripped her of her precious authority? If that’s the case, simply stopping by her office and mentioning a problem that she can solve would probably help. (It’d give her the feeling that she’s contributing and making valuable decisions.)

In other words, throw her a bone and let her feel like she’s in charge, even if you’re actually doing all the work. It’ll cut into your productivity for a while, but let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and assume once she sees what a good job you’re doing at delegating, she’ll want to step out as “middle man.”

Someone I know had an issue with the hours thing. He’s on salary and some of his co-workers had accused him of not putting in enough hours because he would go home when he was tired or not feeling well, sometimes at unusual times. So, this person said, “Fine, put me back on the clock.” I’ve wondered what his accusers’ reactions were when they discovered that the payroll records showed he was putting in an average of 55 hours a week. Perhaps you need to see to it that she somehow discovers your time sheets, or just bluntly ask her if you need to write down these extra hours or if you should just put the amount you’re being paid for doing. (Of course, you’re always supposed to record your hours-- this is just to point them out to her.)

6

I would find where on the web my state published the labor laws, and the night before my legally mandated 48 hours off, I would leave a printout of it, with the relevant passages highlighted with a copy of your timesheet somewhere where she would find it, but not until the next morning.

Along with it would be an EXTREMELY polite note apologizing for not keeping her abreast of important items, and letting her know that you are well aware that the LAST thing she would want to have happen would be to have the company break state labor laws on her watch, so, See ya Thursday!

7

What scotandrsn said.

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At first I was agreeing that this seems nutty but thinking about it, there could be some reason behind it. The call wasn’t for just any old person not there, it was for the OWNERS. Maybe the owners had left the GM specific instructions on people calling and asking for them. She did hint that perhaps with the “I am the General Manager here, I know more than you” thing.

I think you should follow tomndebb’s advice and just calmly hash out what needs hashing out. If you need to talk over the regularity of your routine, that would be a good opportunity to bring up the fact that you need to take your legally mandated time off. That’s not just some frivolity. It also might show Mrs “I’m in charge of staff” to appreciate your efforts a little more. Good luck.