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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Cranky, cranky, cranky!

I love my job. I hate my schedule.

Our December schedule was supposed to be posted on Tuesday. It was not. On Wednesday, my supervisor emailed me at home (I'm on holidays, remember) along with 4 full time people and another part timer looking for 3 volunteers for New Year's Eve.

I emailed her back with: I’m not available on the 31st. I volunteered to work over Christmas with the understanding that I wouldn’t have to work New Year’s. I also worked New Year’s last year.

To which she replied: Thank you for your email. Due to the number of shifts that need to be covered on Dec 24 & Dec 31, there will be some staff who need to work both days. I never indicated to staff that if you worked one of these days that you would be guaranteed to have the other off. Dec 31 is not a stat - it is a regular working day.

Bull shit!

I'm PART time. Ask those full time people you love so much ('cause us part timer's are the "bane of their existence" direct quote from manager) to do it. I also worked it last year. The holidays are supposed to be distributed equitably.

She only gave us the holidays to self schedule, not the whole pay period, so now she's in a pickle. NOT MY PROBLEM. The schedule wasn't posted when it was supposed to be, so I've made plans to go away with my family. Deal with it.

GRRRRRR.

Rant over and normally scheduled programming will now resume.


EDIT: OK, how sad is it that I've been online searching for computer programs that can schedule employees? And even worse, that I'm contemplating buying it myself and presenting it to my supervisor and saying, "Well, you seem to be struggling with it" and then I (of course) look like a genius (which I am, because they obviously have not sought out these options)! I've also been formulating a response. This is what I have so far:

I realize that there are shifts to cover, however, the shifts over the holidays are to be distributed evenly. When you posted the shifts for us to self schedule, you only gave us the holidays. You gave us no indication as to how many shifts full and part time staff were to sign up for. A better solution would have been to have us self schedule the entire pay period. Since that is no longer an option AND I volunteered for all of Christmas AND I am part time AND I worked last New Year's Eve AND the schedule was not posted when it was supposed to be, I have made plans out of town to celebrate the holidays with my family, I am unavailable to work on Dec. 31-Jan 2. I AM willing to be short shifted if necessary and I am available on Jan. 3 if that helps.

Does that sound OK? Comments please!

5 comments:

Amber said...

Ugh, that is SOOOOOO annoying!! I hate it when stuff like that happens. I used to work for the City of FSJ and they used to screw us around with shifts a lot!

PS: Thank you SO much for your email today! Very informative and helpful :-)

Fatinah said...

boy oh boy - I would have steam coming out of my ears!!

I certainly feel that, given you VOLUNTEERED to do Christmas and that you worked New Year's last year, you're well within your rights to make sure they understand you've made travel plans. That's my 2 cents....

You'll have to let us know how it plays out!

Laura said...

Years ago I worked in a 7/24 environment and we never had issues with Christmas as we always asked first for the volunteers for the holidays. If someone volunteered for say the 25th, there was no way we would ask them to be part of the rotation for the other holidays unless they really wanted it. (it was holiday pay)
It stinks when a manager cannot get it together and be fair to everyone.

Julie said...

I have completely the opposite problem... I hate my job, but I love my schedule! Funny how that works, huh?!?

Anywho... my suggestion would be to wait out the weekend, cool off a little and then try writing it again. The e-mail (or letter) that you have written is a little harsh & I think she may put into a "defensive" mode which could hurt your relationship with her even more -- not to mention future time off requests around holidays.

Hope this helps!!!

H-woman said...

Thanks, Julie, that's exactly what I've decided to do! I'm still seething and it's never a good idea to hit send when you'd rather hit the person!

H =)