Perpetual Ruminations

Sunday

Wow, it's a lot later than I intended. Another long work day, but not as long as my twelve hour Saturdays. Only nine hours and forty-five minutes today. I also did not have to get up at three in the morning, and I did get a bit more sleep last night. Also, it wasn't as busy as it has been; yard traffic came in spurts. We would be busy and going steady for a while, then it would drop to almost no one for a bit before the next group would move through. So, not as much running today as yesterday or the last few Sundays.

By the time I got home it was after six, and I still needed to get some work done. Before any more work, however, I needed food. I had picked up some oysters when we went shopping, for oyster stew. Rhonda does not care for oysters at all, even the smell disagrees with her, so tonight was a good night to whip up a small batch of oyster stew, since she was working for a few more hours. It turned out great, and I enjoyed a hot dinner while I logged into  My Fitness Pal, and logged for the day; I should add that I have been sloughing off in there and not logging any food intake or exercise, just making a comment or two to keep my counter active. After making a couple of comments in there, I did a quick look in Facebook, then set to working on some schedules.

I had to do a few, because I'm uncertain of my workforce for next week. If we do not hire anyone tomorrow, we will finish the current schedule, which runs through to Saturday. Then, we would go onto a four person schedule, and that required quite a few changes for everyone. But, if we do hire someone tomorrow, hopefully we can start them training on Thursday and Friday, which requires some changes to the current schedule. I also had to do the next two week schedule for four people, and one for five, if we have someone trained. That made four schedules to work out, then print. Done!

Now, it's just a matter of working a twelve hour day, then doing a couple interviews and getting some information so I can decided who to hire. Rhonda will be assisting me, and since it's our anniversary, we can discuss our choices over a nice dinner. Not quite the plans I had for our anniversary. Not that I had planned anything out in detail, but I had thoughts of camping for the three days we would have had off. Rhonda loves to go camping, so this is a nice way for us to get away and celebrate and enjoy our wonderful relationship. I had also made a switch to the schedule so we would work together for the afternoon, then have the night off together.

We still do, but it will be a bit later before we have work done, with the interviews. But, we have Tuesday and Wednesday off to enjoy. Thursday we may start training, so Rhonda will have to work four hours, from ten till two in the afternoon. I will go in, but will not be on the clock to assist and do paperwork. We will still have the afternoon and evening to enjoy. Friday will also be messed up a bit, since Rhonda will go in at eight instead of eleven with me, for training again, but we will still be going in together, and I will find something to do until my shift starts.

Not quite the week we had tentatively planned, but that's typical for our job. Actually, it's not the job, it's employees. I have been there for two years and three months now, and will have been the supervisor for two years in August. In that time, this is been typical for trying to plan time off. Again, it's not so much the job as it is employees. There just has always been one or two that need constant supervision or they screw things up, and they also can not be depended on to pull their own shifts, let alone fill in so a person can take a day off here and there.

Right now, we have one of the best crews yet, but there is one guard who has a problem getting to work on time and can no longer work an opening shift. He also seems to need someone watching over his shoulder all the time. Then, there's the other guard who needed a second chance. My first impulse was not just no, but, "Hell No!"

But, I gave her a chance to speak her case. She had made a lot of changes in her life and wanted a second chance. I could depend on her and she would work through the summer, until February at the earliest, possibly even longer, depending on how things were looking at that time. But, for sure until February. Three weeks after she started she put in notice of resigning. At that point, she would have made five weeks of work. I reckon I should have listened to the impulse. But, we needed to get someone hired fast, and she knew the job. Also, we did not have any promising applicants at that time.

Now, she's gone August first. Yes, I let her stay on even after this disappointing. We had not hired anyone yet, and it kept our hours the same for the month of July. So, it was as much for us as for her. Now, however, I have narrowed it down to three people, and will interview two of them tomorrow. The other person stopped by at work, so I talked to him then. I will still have to do an interview for file at the office, if we are going to hire him. I can squeeze his in one day this week if needed. So, we have choices, and now it's just a matter of seeing who will work out the best.

Also, if the other guard continues to have problems, we will have some choices in replacing him. I will, of course, inform him of this. Not to be cruel, but to give him the opportunity to get his crap all together in one pile, and do the job right. He's good for filling in, and does an acceptable job, but that's about it, barely acceptable. He has improved some, and I think with a little effort, I can get him to perform well enough to keep his job. But, the final choice is his, and his alone.

Well, three a.m. come to early, so I better get to bed and get a few hours of sleep.