Perpetual Ruminations

Thursday

Not much time for writing today, and kind of a messed up start to the week. Actually, our work week starts on Sunday, but since Rhonda and I work weekends and have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, it's kind of like having Thursday for the start of the next working week. I know, it gets a bit confusing at times, a work week that starts on Sunday, but a working week that starts on Thursday. Almost as bad as having the weekend in the middle of the week.

This week was already messed up, since I have one person on vacation this week. But, it started out with him only needing Thursday through  Monday off. He is traveling with a bunch of his family to Florida for a week, and they had a flight plan for Thursday. But, I found out on Sunday, they had upped the date of departure to Wednesday. The flight was still Thursday morning, but they wanted to head out earlier on Wednesday, get rooms and then fly out on Thursday, instead of driving straight over and afrriving an hour or two before the flight.

So, at the last minute we had to adjust his time off to include Wednesday. I had already picked up Monday so another person could have a couple days off before picking up this person's hours. That gave me one extra day to work this week, but I still had two off with Rhonda, my wife. Then, with the change, I needed to schedule someone to work Wednesday evening to closing for him. I worked opening, the other guard worked afternoons, so Rhonda had to pick up Wednesday evening.

Nothing too serious to adjust, but it messed up our sleeping cycle and we didn't get to bed until midnight. Then, I was up at three, and of course Rhonda was up with me. She went back to bed after I left since she did not have to get ready to go in to work until later in the morning. I was up and off, no problem, but I was pretty tired. So, after Rhonda got to work, I drove straight home, ate a light lunch, and went to bed for a much needed nap.

This was expected, and I got up a little after four, logged online to check a few things and do my weekly reports. I also checked my phone and seen I had a voice message. I was left at 4:44 this afternoon, and I didn't hear the phone because the ringer was still turned down form work. (we cannot have phones or other electronics at work, so I turn my cell off while I'm working, but I keep it with since I often need to contact the office or other guards during my shift. I just take a break and do my phone calls then turn it back to mute and return to work)

The message was from the guy who was supposed to go in and relieve Rhonda. His shift starts at 4:50 in the afternoon, just six minutes later than his call. It stated that he had found a new job and he quit. Nice notice! Even so, I knew it was a matter of time before he would get fired, since he just could not be responsible enough to follow dress code or get to work on time. But, it did leave me in a bad position.

This time of year we have one person on for each shift, so if someone quits, we are short and don't have anyone to cover their shift. Also, I had one person out of state on vacation, and another person is out of the area after his shift on Wednesday. He can make adjustments, but needs to know in advance to change his schedule. That leaves me two people that can fill in, myself and my wife, Rhonda. I had worked my shift and Rhonda was now done with hers. I was about to dress and go back in, but decided to make a few calls before I left.

I called the person who quit, to have him turn in his equipment, and biting my tongue, I didn't say anything about how he really screwed things up. I told him I understood, and just needed him to turn in his stuff, and that I would be going back in to close. I also told him it was good timing, because had he notified me sooner, I would have had to cancel the other person vacation. Of course, he didn't want that to happen since the other person was kind of his chum.

As it turned out, he appreciated my understanding and agreed to work the rest of the week which will get us out of the worse part of the mess. next week I will have the vacationing person back and we can cover all the bases with one person gone, but it means only one day off, and no days off with my wife.

Of course, by the time things got worked out, it was already getting late in the evening and my day was shot. But at least i didn't have to go back in. Tomorrow is going to be another tiring day, I work mornings, then after work I have to drive to the county seat and do some business, and apply for a permit to carry concealed. Then, hopefully I have enough time and energy left to spend a bit of time in here.

I also have to start looking through job applicants and doing interviews, and hopefully get someone hired soon, since I will lose another person in April. It seems like I just get into a routine that gives me a bit of time, and then it all goes to crap on me and I'm right back to working six days a week and spending a great deal of my off time looking for help.

Now, it's off to bed, two hours late...