Battle Armor

Friday arrived, and I debated back and forth:  to call out sick? or go to work?

I pondered it long and hard, and in the end, decided that I wasn't going to let Asshat Elvis win.  So I had an idea: because I work in the back, not on the floor, I usually wear jeans and said required polo shirt.  So I decided to put on black dress pants, my white embroidered polo and the vest required when working on the floor.  It was like wearing armor!  and I felt ready for battle.

It didn't take 15 minutes before he's asking if I'm expecting visitors because I'm in full dress.  "Nope" I said with a smile, and walked out.  I made lots of errands during my workday, just to stay out of harm's way.  And because I'd logged 40 hours by 12:30, I left then.  Luckily I had turned in keys without him being able to see me, so maybe he thought I went to lunch.  Frankly, I don't give a sh*t what he thought, I don't report to him.  Maybe he'll start thinking I had an interview elsewhere!?!

Turns out, he went running his mouth at lunchtime again - to the same gal - and told her that I was the reason another male coworker didn't get a manager level promotion.  Luckily, I know this guy didn't want to be a manager, still doesn't.  But hearing someone speaking these lies about me -- people who don't know me might believe him!  He says things with such authority.

Where does an A$$ get all this BS?  I swear he makes things up, just to stir up trouble.  And now that I'm on the receiving end of it all, I'm beginning to wonder if this type of gossip has been going on a long time and it's been coloring how upper management has been seeing me?  And this time around, maybe people are tired of his same BS and are speaking out.  Because they're coming up and telling me things ......


And here we're at another Monday,
and the beginning of another week of ....
who knows what.

For me, I think my headphones are coming with me,
play a few tunes so I can ignore some of the gossip
that is running rampant -
sort of the what I don't know, doesn't hurt as much??

Him. Or Me.

I.  Am.  So.  Mad!

Yes, it's work related.

I have a co-worker.  Technically I am the supervisor.  But I've been fighting an unseen battle with this person for six years now.  There is always something .... Maybe he's one of those who always has to stir the pot, keep things agitated.  But he's also the one who just sits back after stirring the pot and sympathizes with whomever comes crying about the issue.

It looks like I'm the new current target.

Two summers ago he targeted two co-workers, one a part time female cashier and another male co-worker.  He was convinced these two (who didn't know each other) came to his apartment building and killed his tomato plants.  He went so far as to call the police on them!  The female was so distraught she changed her days off so she would work fewer days when he was on the schedule.  The male worker left the company shortly after all of this.  He harassed this cashier in such a sneaky way that there would be no witnesses (he said, she said) and she refused to write up a complaint because she was scared to death he would retaliate.

Today, he told one of the girls who I supervise that three years ago, I called her a bitch.  Three years ago?????  **smfh**    He was coached back in March for violating company standards, and he's been fighting it ever since.  Which means that because he's taken things to higher management, anything he does, he cannot be coached for in the meantime.  He steals time, and I log it with management so they can catch him on camera.  He's even been caught sleeping at his 'desk'.  And yes, he still has a job.

My job is to supervise him.  He's been performing the same routines, the same job functions for six years now.  Just how much supervision does he need for these daily routines????  And yet, he has gone to management, and now to higher ups complaining about me, saying he needs someone who is a real supervisor.  It is my job to audit his work, and when I find errors, in the past, I would just have a discussion with him, teach and train how to do the job correctly, and leave it at that.  But after 6 years, he is still making the same kinds of errors.   I still leave him notes and the product that has the error, but I also put it in an email to him and to our management team re: his mistakes.  Because if he tries to refute the errors I have found, it becomes another he said, she said.




I'm very frustrated.

I think I've reached my breaking point.

Him or me.

Vacations: Go for it!

Vacations:  What is it about a vacation that makes things seem better?  Because it takes effort to take a vacation - packing, planning, and if you're "Mom" in a family, there's a lot of pressure on you to get all the meal plans in place as well! 

I just returned from a long weekend at my mom's house, the same house I grew up in.  They've been in the house 50+ years, so it has a long family history.  And even though going there always means some kind of "honey do" list, it still feels like a vacation!  Mom's nearly 80, Dad's been gone for nearly 3 years now, and frankly, he did everything around the house.  He was Mr. FixIt.  And if he didn't know how to fix it, he took it apart and could usually find a way to fix it.  Those kinds of males seem to be fewer these days.  And maybe that's because fewer things these days are mechanical and able to take apart and put back together.   

I'm lucky, my son takes after me and my dad:  we all have the ability to figure out mechanical things.  I brought him with on this trip so that he could be the muscle behind some of the jobs mom needed to have done.  We had him trimming trees, hanging Christmas lights and figuring out how to reset some of the warning dash lights in her car.   :)   All in all, a very successful and busy vacation, but that's how it goes.  You gotta take care of family!  (Just don't get me started about the 4 grandsons who actually live close by ... and don't help!)



Being gone from work was a relief, but at the same time, a hateful part of going on vacation.  There is always so much going on in a BigBox store, that finding a good time to get away -- let's face it, there IS no good time.  Coming back is the worst; as usual there were changes made while I was away.  And I didn't get to have any input on the changes.  My helper, Elvis, was called into the office for whatever reason (I don't give a rats ass at this point) but whatever he did/said got ME pulled into the same office for a confab.  "Would I be OK with a sit-down conversation with the store manager, the HR manager and him?"  "NOPE".  They wanted more of an explanation, but it wasn't easy to nail it down to one or two things, and it was time to go home.  Why is it that management always wants to have these convos at the end of a work day????  If I stay over, I accumulate overtime hours, and then have to take an extra long lunch the next day ...... blech.  Not sure where all this is going to go, and I'm not happy about any of it.  I'm tired of him spreading gossip about me, about others.  It's the main reason why I don't have conversations with him at all.  Maybe this is a huge sign that I should be moving on.   :/ 

Only time will tell.

If you can't get away for a week long vacation, or a long weekend,
sometimes just one day can make all the difference in the world! 
Go for it!

Conversation. Nope.

It's early morning, time for work.  I'm standing in my work area, ready to begin, sorting a few carts worth of stuff into their proper locations.  Elvis marches up and begins talking at me about the football game last night between the 49ers and the AzCardinals.  Guess the Cardinals won in overtime, but he's got this smug tone in his voice as if HE won the game, and MY 49ers lost. 

I didn't answer him back;  I'm not watching football this year.  At that same moment, another coworker walked up and said "Good morning" to me.  So I said "Good morning" back to her.  And Elvis doesn't miss a beat as he begins to spew his personal viewpoint:  "Oh, you get a 'good morning'.  Guess it's Ignore Elvis week, or more like months, since it's been going on so long."

At this point, there's nothing I can say to make things right.  Even saying "Good Morning" at this point would a) make his point and b) make him feel superior in every way.  It would also suck me in to his level of narcissistic behavior.  It's been on-going for a really long time, and frankly, I'm sick of it. 

I've decided that other than relaying pertinent information related to work, or a polite "good morning" when the situation warrants, I'm not discussing any personal information with him.  Because it gets thrown in my face at a later date, or worse, used as a point of interest for him to try to have conversations with me.  Nope.  NaDa.  Not happening.