Perpetual Ruminations

Sunday

Today is starting out great. It's Sunday, so I didn't have to get up at three but got to sleep in until six instead. Normally it would have been five, but Rhonda hit the snooze and then got up, but let me sleep in a bit later. She took the dogs out and then got us coffee and came in and woke me. It wasn't quite six when I got up, but close enough. It was cloudy and cool out, with some light rain here and there, just a wonderful morning.

Rhonda opened today, so along with getting up later, I didn't have to go in early, either. Normally we have been riding together and I spend a few hours working from the vehicle or go into Target and work, using their WiFi. But, today she suggested I just drive in later. What a great idea, something we couldn't do before because the van was not running right. But now, it's doing great and seems to be fixed.

So, I worked on a project for work and finished it, then looked around quick online before logging in here. I was thinking of doing my entry later, because I also get done work early today. That's the other nice thing for the today. I don't start until eleven and then I get done at three -- sweet! Of course, there is a cost, and it is not having much time off this week. I have one person who quit and another who wants some time off this week and next. To manage, I ended up having to pick up one of his days, and with the person who quit, lost another of mine. So, this week I get one day off, on Thursday.

Hopefully this shortage on help will end soon, and Rhonda and I can get our schedule back to where it was. We had it figured pretty good for the summer, more hours for both of us, and lots of days off together. We wanted to make up for last spring, summer, and fall, when we didn't have hardly any days off together. In fact, we had hardly any days off at all, and those we did get off, we had to take separate days instead of the same days. I think we had three days off together, but it may have been four.

We are wanting to do some camping this year and to get our bicycles out and start riding again. We did great a few years ago and did some awesome bike trips, one of them an all day trip from home into Watertown, then over to the lake. After a nice break to eat and swim, we took yet another route home, and in the end put on just over fifty miles. Some of the others were twenty to thirty mile trips, and a lot of ten mile rides. We would look online, using Google maps, pick a destination and route, then pack up our gear and head out. It was fun, healthy, and we seen some wonderful scenery along the rides.

Last year, we just did not have time for anything. We worked, and when I wasn't working on site, I was working off site. A lot of time from home, a lot of time interviewing and hiring new people, time training them, and time trying to get things working right. We had a lot of problems, but ended up getting rid of the entire crew that was there when I was hired. No, I didn't have to can any of them, they came to realize that things were going to be done right and they either needed to shape up or ship out. The majority of them shipped out. One person did get sick with a serious condition, and had to take a lot of time off. But, he was also causing some problems and I was about to confront him on a list of problems he needed to correct.

He was my supervisor when I got hired, so I knew it wasn't going to go over well, but it had to be done. The very day I was going to talk to him, he told me he was sick and needed to take a day off. I knew it was serious by his reaction to the news he got from his doctor, so I provided him the day off and he called me later and told me it was cancer and he would not be able to work for a long time. He then told me he wanted to give his two week notice and quit. Sure I agreed, problems solved. I didn't hear anything more from him for a long time, but this spring he showed up, doing good. He had lost a lot of weight and his hair was just starting to grow back, but the cancer was in remission and he was looking for his old job back. Fortunate for him, it had been filled a year before, when he quit.

That's the way it went, the ones I was ready to fire quit first, another got sick, and yet another opted to resign rather than be terminated. They were gone and I had lots of openings to fill. We ended up with a pretty good crew, but one person just did not take his job as a serious position. If the weather was bad he would make no attempt at getting to work, and if he was at work he would need to take off early. I can understand this if the weather is actually bad, but it wasn't that bad, I know because I drove in to fill in for him. He took another job and quit this spring. I know the place he works now will not tolerate him not coming in. Unless they call for a snow day or close do to severe weather, your expected to be to your shift on time. I wonder if he will manage or not?

I also have another person who needs to put more effort into his job. He does pretty good but needs some training and some attitude adjustments. He's not a bad kid, he just doesn't put the effort into the job that he should. Hopefully, working with him and putting a little extra time into him will get him to shape up and do the job right. Then we just need to hire one more good person and we will have all our positions filled and a good crew, again.