I haven't been updating very well. Here's more on the McSaga

These are a few posts from Myspace combined into one...just to catch up on here:

1)I honestly didn't think that my job would provide as much entertainment and stress. I knew that it was going to take it's toll on my sanity slightly, but it's just getting to be too much. In the saga that I've affectionately called McLabor Laws, here is the latest development:
In the beginning, my Thursday-Friday-Saturday shifts provided no more than ten minutes for break time. Understaffing, endless late dinner rushes, and long to do lists on top of that didn't make for the law required break time that we oh so desperately needed. A couple nights ago (on one the slow nights when I always get my breaks...different manager) my manager said he needed to finish something and then he would get me my break. I was so tired from lack of sleep that I accidentally blurted out that I wasn't used to getting my breaks anyway. He stopped and asked, "wait, you don't get your breaks?" I had to explain then that on the three busiest days that I work that we don't get breaks. I also explained that it wasn't that manager's fault...we honestly don't have enough staff on those nights to get our breaks out. I told him that I was getting tired of it and for a while was thinking of going to the labor board, and he said to go to the owner first. Those of you who have been following know that I was told that the owner was part of the problem...that he wasn't going to hire anyone because it was too expensive (versus a labor lawsuit). Apparently this is what really happened: my "busy" manager told me that she was told that we had to raise our sales before we got another person. I was also told that this had been going on for years and that it was just accepted and dealt with it.
The next night my "non busy" manager was talking to me while I was eating dinner and he told me that he was told our shift was going to get written up if the day managers continue to come in and see some stuff not done. Even though several hours would have passed between graveyard and the time the second day managers come in. Of COURSE the floors are dirty at ten am...IT"S TEN AM! I leave the store at 5 am with all of my stuff done and the store is spotless. I finally broke down and told my manager that I was tired of the scapegoat bullshit and was really tempted to quit (even though I REALLY need the work and have only quit one job in my entire life). He dropped his jaw and said, "PLEASE don't quit! You are too valuable and we can't afford to lose you!" He then told me that he talked to the owner about the break/staff issue...and the owner was PISSED!! Apparently my busy manager was told something completely different, the store manager doesn't even know, and now something might actually get done about this whole thing. As for the graveyard "lazy" stigma, I'm still looking for another job and am VERY serious about quitting if the bullshit doesn't stop. I do everything on my list, and somethings TWICE. I never leave without the opening manager's OK that everything is satisfactory. When I finally got yelled at for not doing my job by a manager who NEVER works with me or hasn't seen me since she hired me, I finally got angry and told her that not only do I do my job, I do it twice. When I told her what I do and how I do it she told me that I was doing it wrong. It finally clicked that I was trained the WRONG way on how to do things, and when I explained that to the woman who yelled at me, she finally calmed down, quickly retrained me on a couple things, and said that if I ever got on trouble again for something I know I did (or didn't) do, that I had to come to her because training is most likely the issue.
So there it is. With one problem potentially solved another problem rises. I really wish that I could meet with all of the managers and have a loooong talk with them. Who knows. All I know is the stress and schedule have been messing with me, and I haven't slept in over 30 hours (with one or two hours of nap time here and there). Something's gotta give...

2)Well, now we're getting our breaks, but at the expense of my manager possibly getting fired.
What it has come down to is every explanation I offered to defend not only my work ethic and quality, but that of others, has been twisted and now the wrong people are getting in trouble, threatened with termination and getting written up (myself and the rest of my crew included), and the people I talked to, what I thought was in confidence, I found out not only don't have my back but are trying to get graveyard shift in more trouble than we already are.
What I considered a breakthrough turned into a complete and total nightmare, and now I, and my manager, might get fired for not being able to prove that we do our job and do it right...several times.
We went job hunting today, and I have a job interview with another restaurant that just opened in town. I know someone who works there and he says it's much better there than where I'm at now. Wish me luck.

3)So yesterday was my job interview at another restaurant. I'm really not trying to stay in the food business, but you do what you gotta do...and they're the only places hiring right now. It went really well and I should hear from them soon.
My manager, the one who was being threatened with the loss of her job, also got an interview at that restaurant. She and I went job hunting together when we finally told each other that we'd had it with the drama, bullshit, and the rumors that are getting us in trouble. She sent our store manager (the one who has been on vacation and hasn't seen us or our progress in weeks) a loooong email explaining and debunking a lot of the BS, and asking for clarification on our job descriptions so the BS can stop. The store manager immediately scheduled a meeting with her for the next day...when her interview was scheduled for the other restaurant.
Today was that meeting, and my manager (we'll call her Dana) was fully prepared to be fired. It turns out the store manager (we'll call her Mandy) just wanted to know why Dana's performance has been down. Dana said that part of it had to do with her kidneys shutting down and her lung sack becoming almost entirely enflamed for the past month. Not to mention having entirely brand new crew that are 95% fully trained NOW, and being understaffed and overworked. She even provided all of the sales reports from our busy nights for the past month and showed Mandy. Mandy took one look and said, "I am SO sorry! I haven't been scheduling you enough people!!!!"
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...
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FREAKIN' DUH!!!!!!!!!!


After that Dana unloaded about being accused of being lazy, doing certain tasks wrong, and everything else. As it turns out, the way that Dana has trained us to do our job and tasks is entirely correct, and anyone who has been telling us otherwise is wrong. Based on our sales and progress, we have been making this store's graveyard shift more money this year (and this month) than they have seen in a while (you're welcome, douchebags).

So the bottom line of the meeting was that Mandy believes the rumors are BS, is going to clear things up with the people throwing accusations, and is going to try and get us the staff we need to get our work done more efficiently. I'm sure she really means that since she is the store manager and has a lot at stake if she doesn't. However, part of me doesn't entirely trust that things will turn around. So I'm still on the job hunt and taking more job interviews. I'm officially done being treated like I sit on my ass..they don't pay me enough to want to stick around...even with a promotion dangling mere centimeters from my head. I don't get paid enough for this.

OK, all caught up! More to come later as tonight is my last night in McHell! So close!