Dedicated employee, or glutton for punishment?

I tend to fancy myself a mild mannered guy who's always out to make a friend, and when doing a job, to do it to the best of my ability, mosty typically putting myself out or even going into harms way just to finish something. But today....

I am a member of management at one of my local Hardee's restaraunts, and am "The evening manager". Four nights a week, sometimes five, I will be there, 10-12 hours each day. Thing is, with this store, it's in a "lower income" end of town, so we don't really get very busy... by the standards of those higher up the corporate ladder. Most times it's myself running the front counter, AND the drive thru simultaneously, while I have one (1) guy making the food, and that's considered a full staff. Okay, for most folks that would be considered crazy for a fast food joint, especially one that makes everything "to order", but for me and my Mad Skillz, it's no problem. I am considered by most there to be "The Cool Manager" (every place has one), being that I am usually laid back, and professional at the same time.

I have been with the company for 5 1/4 years now, and have done what I can to make sure that when I do a job that it is done completely, done fast, and done right. However there are these times where I almost think that these people might consider me superman. There have been many MANY times where they've called upon me and I would drop whatever I may have been doing, or cancel whatever I may have had planned, just to go up there and fix their problem. Heck, I even agreed to work a day last month.... which was my 25th birthday. I don't consider myself to have a fanatical devotion or anything, but with the current job market the way it is, I haven't even been able to snag a job at Walmart.

Last fall I moved with my wife as well as my Mother-in-Law into a house clear on the opposite end of town, a big 5 bedroom deal, pretty sweet. I was unable to get a transfer from my current store, to the one closest, even though I feel that there was room at the closer store for me. I'm now driving an average of 22.7 miles round trip in stop and go traffic every day that I work. This is problem #1.

Problem #2. As you can probably tell by my username, I am a member of the LDS church. However, not too long after changing to this username from the former 'Dominas Prime', I began to be scheduled to work on every sunday, therefore unable to attend at all. I have since been to 1/2 (one half) of a church service in the past 1 1/4 years, because on that sunday, I was scheduled in a little later, so I had to leave church early to go to work. As a result, my overall attitude and demeanor has changed, I get angrier easier, and I've developed quite a many habits that I'd rather not disclose, none of which I am particularly proud of.

Problem #3. Not all of my compatriots (ooh, there's a $10.00 word) tend to pull their own weight or share in responsibility when I'm not there, thus I end up having to pick up the slack and take care of things that should've been long since out of the way. For example, here recently I have been the only one (management or crewmember) that mops or scrubs the floor. I have also been the only one charged with maintaining the charbroiler (great big flaming metal thing) and it's maintenance and upkeep which is actually a charge given to all members of management.

Problem #4. Today. Everything started out so nicely today. I woke up, took a shower, got my uniform on for the day, had a decent breakfast, and a pleasant drive to work with my newly burned Megaman 1-6 Soundtrack. It was looking to be a great day, I even went in 1 1/2 hours early, so that I could get most of the main stuff done and out of the way before my shift started and everyone from 1st shift ran for the doors. Everything went according to plan, everything was cleaned, stocked, customers were taken care of, and I was preparing to take over for my shift. Only one hour and twenty four minutes later did my good mood end. It was then that I realized that my cook (only other person working that shift besides myself) who I thought had just went to the bathroom, had actually walked out and left without my knowledge. I only found out when I started to have my late afternoon dinner rush begin. He had been in there 15-20 minutes, so I went in to check on him, only to find that all stall doors were open, and that the room was completely vacant. I then looked out the window in the employee parking to find mine was the only car. It was then that my good mood and pleasant demeanor abruptly ended.

Problem #5. Over the course of 5 1/4 years, and even one promotion, I've managed to move up the pay chain a grand total of $2.90 over what I made when first hired, which at the time was minimum wage. Is it any wonder why my collection has dwindled down to less than 80 from 568 in recent years.

So there I am for the next 85-90 minutes by myself handling orders in both the dining room and the drive thru, and making the orders as well. All the while, I'm trying to do what I can until I can catch the dining room empty. Only then can I shut off the inside lights and lock the doors until I can call around to find someone else to come in. FYI, absolute minimum staff deployment is two, mainly for safety reasons, and one of the two is to be management. So logically, I couldn't have people in the building if I'm the only one working, heaven forbid that I had gotten robbed or worse. So meanwhile, I try calling around for about the next 50 minutes, and finally someone manages to answer the phone. It was my coworker and my own personal friend on the side, TFW's own SOUNDCASTER, who came to my rescue, although under heavy protest. Fortunately once he arrived we were able to straighten the place back up and restock and were able to open just short of three hours after the first guy originally walked out. Afterall, being that I was by myself, I didn't have much chance to break away and restock things, or to clean up after myself when I made a mess (and there were very many of those).Unfortunately I missed out on most of my evening sales because of this one guy. And on another negative note, I came within 1-2 seconds of swearing to a customer for the first (and what could've been the last had he heard me) time. The customer was in Drive Thru and had yelled some profanity to me during this solo act of mine, to which I repeated the same thing back to him. Fortunately, however, I had just let go of the "talk" button prior to this so it wasn't actually heard by anyone other than myself, as I was the only one inside the store at this point as the last of the customers in the Dining Room had left just minutes before, quite the close call. This was one of the last two customers before I was able to shut off all the lights and begin my employee search.

It was after this that It dawned on me what I had done. Something such as this was so out of character for me that I was godsmacked that I had done such a thing, even an hour after it had happened. I try to go out of my way to be professional, and to not let things like that get to me. I'm there to make and sell food, then go home and get paid, that's it. Something like this shouldn't have affected me as much as this did. And now that I've had time to think about it, it has occured to me that my demeanor, attitude, and overall personality has changed. I'm quicker to anger than I've ever been. I have developed a few habits that I had never had before. And to top it all off, I'm now the only person in my household that doesn't go to any kind of church.

Not unlike my favorite transformer Computron, I have reached a conclusion. That conclusion is that next time I see my general manager, I am going to demand that I no longer work Sundays at all, period. Considering all that I do, and the lengths I tend to go, and the hoops I jump through, I don't think that it's too much to ask. Besides, I think that It will help me to regain my overall composure and cheerful attitude. It may not be much, but considering I haven't found a better job/carreer just yet, I'm not left with many options.

Rant Over.



Have any of you ever had jobs as insane as this?

Get another job if you can. That's too much shit to put up with.

Wow that sucks, really really sucks....but one word of advice, dont "Demand" any thing of your boss. "Demanding" that he do something is akin to saying "Hey f*cktard, your doing this or else." and usally its "or else" that happens.

again, local job market sucks. Pfizer pharmaceuticals (another $10.00 word, w00t) just closed their local plant, and we've managed to grow a 2ND Super Walmart.
Thing is, with me doing what I've been doing, I'm just about in a position where I think I can have them eating out of my hand. You see, yes, they could let me go if they don't like me, or like what I want. However, if they depend on me too heavily to such a degree where alot of the stuff won't get done unless I'm there, then they risk losing me, they may have to give me what I want. Of course I could be wrong too.

Any local restaurants you could serve at? I used to serve and I made pretty good money.

thing is, I'd like to try to get out of foodservice/retail altogether if I can. I'm 6'1 230 lbs, so I'd like to think that a Factory or Warehouse job would be ideal.

5 and a half years? and after reading your wall of text. you shuold ask your boss about not working sundays. but if the worst could happen, apply for something else.

dedicated employee or glutton for punishment?
answer is C: all of the above.

Originally Posted by Toxicon MetalRyde FTW.

MetalRyde;im too lazy to mute. plus hearing them cry makes me happy. FUSION CANNON POW!

Mechafire;Cries and screams are music to my ears. ZOMG MR is Soundwave!

Hardees....mmmmmmmm....


Yeah, I'd try to get Sundays off. And take a vacation too...

Find another job if things comes to worse.

A job at a factory or a warehouse sounds good.

This, more than anything.

And while on vacation I suggest trying your luck at a casino, getting rip-roaring drunk, smoking a big fat cigar, and strapping your dog to the roof of your station wagon for the duration of the road trip.

Okay, maybe not the last one.