Well, I have made no progress. None. Not one stinking bit. But only because I’ve been working like crazy ever since I got back from San Antonio.
Last night was just about the final straw. My boss let me off early (which I thought was wierd) and it turns out that he changed the schedule without telling me, so in the middle of a movie CG and I had gone to see, his brother Hassan (an asst mgr) calls me and starts having a conipption fit over the phone because I"m not there when I’m supposed to be. It turns out they changed my schedule from a 10-4 pm to 10-2 and 5-??? (it just said myname-5 nothing else). My boss SAW me yesterday and had the opportunity to say something like 'hey we changed the schedule. Is this still OK for you?" or whatever. But he didn’t bother, which pisses me off no end.
I had a similar problem once. I did retail sales, comission based. Working more hours did not mean I would make more money.
I didn’t mind helping out if we were short-handed, but anything over 30 hours was a waste of my time. I was getting scheduled for 48 hours per week. Finally, I told my manager that I was done working outside of my availability. If he needed someone to cover, he could ask me, but don’t bet the farm on it.
We had some initial problems, because he thought he could just brush me off. So, I took the scorched-earth approach. Every week, I made a photocopy of the posted schedule. A few days later, after he made revisions, I would copy that schedule. I would then make a chart with my availability and staple all three together, leaving it in our General Manager’s mailbox, with a note that I was NOT going to be present, along with some “helpful” suggestions (i.e. hire someone else, talk to other employees about covering, offer hourly wage to people who work outside availability). The problem was that we had just hired someone who said they had one availability on their application, but when he started working, he changed it right away. Hiring him blew our hiring budget for the year.
Just remember, persistence pays off. If it’s a problem that occurrs on a weekly basis, mention it every week. Save the ‘fix my schedule or I walk/I’ll call the labor board/ other threat’ for a last resort. Watch for problems, and bring them up ASAP. If the schedule should be posted on Saturday morning, bring it up on Saturday morning. If you get an ambiguous response (we don’t have it yet, it will be up soon), ask when soon is. If soon is ‘later in the afternoon’, make sure to ask about it later in the afternoon.
If for some reason persistence does not pay off, look for employment elsewhere. If your boss thinks that you have an attitude problem because you want a consistent schedule and regular breaks, screw him.
TVS–I am trying to make the best of a bad, nay, HELLISH, situation right now. I am simply exploring what my options are in case I need to go this route. He’s never said I had an attitude problem (yet…thank god…because I tend to play the meek, weak little non-Spanish speaking white chick at work just to keep the peace) and I am looking, desperately, for other employment. It’s just that with my pitiful resume, it’s hard to find a decent job around here.