Oh The Joys Of Working Again!!

So the reason I haven't been on here in so long is because I have started working again. I work for one of the largest furniture stores in all of Alaska. We just recently opened our new "mega" store, "super" store, whatever you wanna call it. It's a $22 million building with over 120,000 square feet, a massive warehouse in the back, an awesome repair shop and a very large clearance center on the side. We've got a two story waterfall that runs down the wall behind our extremely large fireplace.

As with the opening of any new serious expansion as we've had recently, there are going to be quite a few kinks that need to be worked out. A few bumps in the road that need to be smoothed over.

Unfortunately for me, I seem to be stuck in the bumpiest section of this highway.

Ever since the grand opening 3 weeks ago, the procedures for my particular job have changed so many times that I feel as if I've been turning cart-wheels. I'm a little dizzy still, and it seems like everyday there is some new turn, or twist that I never saw coming.

It seems like everything in the store is running smoothly with the exception of my department. All of the complaints that have been coming in from everyone has been for the people in my department. I swear that the next time I hear someone complaining about how the cashiers are not doing their jobs, or they keep screwing up things, I am going to point out how everyone in the damn building knows the procedures for their jobs, with the exception of the cashiers. Everyday something new has changed. One day we are keeping the receipts in our tills, the next we are putting them all together in one envelope, the next we are stapeling them onto the invoices. One day we are printing all the delivery receipts to the warehouse, the next we aren't sending any at all, then two days later we sending only certain ones. One day we are throwing all the quote sheets away (or shredding them as it is), the next we are stapeling (God I hope that I'm spelling that right!) them all to the invoices. Or like not knowing anything about MTO's because no one told us, and then next thing we know we are getting yelled at because we aren't doing them. It just seems like every 5 minutes they are changing the procedure on something else.

I started off 3 weeks ago completely confident that I knew the job, that I was doing a good job, and that I was appreciated. Now, I don't know. My head is spinning from all the meetings, being told one thing and then treated a completely different way. I find myself second guessing myself now, and I try so hard to stay out of the office politics, to stay out of all the "bitch-fests" that go on when people step outside for a smoke break. Unfortunately, because I've found myself caught in the middle of this massive whirlpool, even though I'm trying to fight against the spin, I find that I'm getting sucked in closer and closer to center of it all. It really sucks being where I'm at, because we are the middle man between the warehouse and the sales floor. If a customer has a bad experiance with their sales person, we are the ones who have to take the brunt of that resentment.

All I wanted was to start a job for a good company and work my way up. When I sat down and talked with the person I am supposed to talk to about advancing, I feel like I basically got a door slammed in my face. Granted, it wasn't exactly the best time for me to talk to that person, and I feel like an ass for not realizing it at the time, but I have basically given up. Thrown my hands in the air and said "What are ya gonna do?" and shrugged my shoulders of the situation. I'll give it some time though, because I don't have that nagging feeling that this is a dead end job like all the others that I've had.

Please don't get me wrong, it is a great company. We haven't even had the new store open for a whole month yet, so all I can do is give it time. But I've already made up my mind that if things haven't drastically changed within 6 months, it's going to be time to say goodbye. Especially after the past two meetings that we've had. Being told that I'm basically the second person in charge, but that I have absolutely no authority to make sure the other cashiers are doing their jobs seems a little crass to me. Then being told that if we put in too many day off requests, that we will get written up, and then today being told that if we even laugh too loud we will be written up. (They say that children laugh more than one hundred times a day, and that if adults would just learn to lighten up a little and laugh more, they would be a lot healthier. Try working for the same company that I do!)

I like a lot of the people that I work with. And I mean a LOT of the people, which is so rare. The people I don't really like, I have become a pro at dealing with them. I have to say that I am honestly proud of myself in the way that I have managed to cope with a lot of the crap that two years ago would have prompted me to quit. I have stuck with it, through the ups and downs so far, and I don't plan on quitting. I HAVE to keep this job. Not for financial reasons, but because I want to go to college and the only way I can get it paid for is to prove that I can actually keep a job. That and I honestly feel a lot more mature than I did two years ago. It's like I woke up one morning and realized how important work history actually is. (I think that happened the day after I realized that the number of places that I could actually apply for jobs at has drastically reduced since I've already worked most places that don't require some sort of college degree.)

Well, I'm a bit worn out right now from so much stress over the past week, I am going to log off and turn my attention to my screaming toddler, who by the way, has become a proffesional tantrum thrower! He can hang with the big boys (2 year olds) and make them seem like newborns, let me tell you!