Dear worm,

You disgust me. Your slimy trail through my bookstore may never be completely washed away and I hope you are ashamed of yourself.

I had $200 in my wallet, and I know it was there when I went to lunch. I had plans for that money, asshole. Even if I didn't, you can rest assured I worked harder for it than you have ever worked in your life. I'm going out of town tomorrow, and you damn near ruined that for me.

And what about **? He relied on his cellphone, as all of us do. He had to cancel that phone. He's brand new and now he sees the store as a place where no one can trust anyone. Hell of a way to start a new job.

Same story for DD, who was just learning to like the place. She's an old friend of mine, and I feel as if I let her down for telling her it was a great group of coworkers.

You asshole. You pigfucker. You bastard child of a possum and a rat. I hope they catch you soon.

By the way, JQ and I have filled out police reports and have told the managers everything we know. I can assure you that DD will do the same.

You may not have realized it, but just about everyone at the store has befriended the police officers who provide security in the store. They are great guys. We would all happily tell them anything we find out. And if you continue to be as stupid as you have been, we will figure out who you are.

Oh, and a great big fuck you for the security measures that have already been taken and everything else that we will have to deal with. If this leads to a witch hunt, I will make you regret it if I catch you.

Do us all a favor and turn yourself in and GO AWAY!

No love what-so-fucking-ever,

This Daydreamer

cross posted to co_workers_suck

I have written before about the new cafe lead who managed to piss everyone off, usually within a couple of hours of meeting them. Remember me getting out the virtual popcorn to watch the show as her time at B&N came to an explosive end?

She's gone!

I told OS that she should have made sure Crazy Girl stayed another two weeks because I had $20 riding on it. She wasn't the only one who laughed.

A small part of me feels sorry for her, but she has a lot to learn about working with people. And I'm not about to allow someone who makes everyone unhappy to stay at the store without my speaking up about it. Sure enough, M asked me if I had experienced any of her antics. I'm lucky enough that I had escaped that. I simply told him that others had warned me against spending any time with her. I think the managers are still gathering evidence against her in case she wants to make a legal fuss about her dismissal.

She won't have any support form anyone working at the store.

I don't know many details about her last day, other than the fact that she stomped out of the store and slammed the door behind her, and that all of the door combinations were changed yesterday. I hope to learn more soon.

I wish her luck and I hope she finds the right place for her.

And I hope that place is far away from me.

Meanwhile, I had to close tonight with NS, the manager I moved away from when I went back to my old section. Getting the money settled was a real chore, only partly because she hasn't followed the lead of the other managers in counting all the tills herself. It seems that there are certain cashiers who are having a hard time putting the bills and coins in the right slots. This meant that we were really late getting out of there.

And I didn't mind.

We spent much of the time joking around with each other - at one point, I was doubled over and nearly in tears after she yelled "WELLPAYBACK'SABITCH" at me. You had to be there. Eventually we got everything settled and went home, and we were in a good mood when we left. I think I was right when I decided we would get along better not working together in my zone. Now I just have to deal with OS' tendency to freak out over situations that are well in hand.

I can deal with this.

I miss my old supervisor at work. He has a great sense of humor, and was always happy to let me do my job without a lot of meddling. Work was more fun when he was in the building than when he wasn't there.

Then he transfered.

*sigh*

I have been dealing with his replacement for a few weeks now. She is, well, not quite the same.

I recognize that we have a new store manager now. I noticed when the old one left and I realized when the new one came in. I have spoken to the new GM a number of times and he seems like a nice guy. I also know that, when someone new is in charge, things change. I was fully aware that some of these changes would affect my job, and it turns out that I was right to expect that.

The former GM focussed on completing as much of our zonework as we could. This meant that we had to short something. In my case, I was not paying as much attention to some of the details like dusting and shelf labels. The message I continually got was that the dusting could be done by the other booksellers when things were slow, and that the shelf labels could be replaced when there was time.

The new GM is big on details. He wants everything perfectly dusted. He wants the shelf labels replaced as soon as they show any signs of wear. He is pushing through some of the displays that former managers had felt we didn't really have the space for. Getting everything done is less important to him than making sure that everything is perfectly done.

None of this is bad, in my opinion. Just different. I am more than willing to change with the new expectations. Just tell me what needs to be done, and I'll do it.

My new supervisor didn't quite get that.

Every meeting I had with her left me wanting to tear my hair out. She implied that I was doing a bad job because I was working to the old standards rather than the new. She didn't see that, when she told me what was now expected, I got it and I didn't need to be lectured on it endlessly. If the words "TPS memos" and "cover sheets" make you wince, then you know what the conversations were like. Nothing I said seemed to get through to her.

The supervisor I had before the guy who left sat in on the last meeting, and apparently spoke with the GM on my behalf.

The GM called me in for a meeting very soon afterwards. He feels that the new lead, who happens to work in Old Supervisor's section, is in over her head and would do better starting with a simpler zone (like mine). He asked me if I would be willing to switch. If the room had been bigger, I would have done cartweels.

He also emphasized that he felt I was doing an outstanding job and that he was glad that I was so willing to change with the new expectations.

I was really trying to keep an open mind about NS. She is new, and she really doesn't know me that well. OS told me after that meeting that she really thinks that NS is a nice person, and that she will do a lot better as time goes on.

But I feel so much happier knowing that I won't be dealing with NS as a direct supervisor any more.

I hadn't realized how much this was bothering me until I learned it wouldn't be a problem anymore.

A couple of short laughs from the bookselling world:

A couple of people walked up to the desk together and one of the guys asked if we had any copies of a book entitled The Elements of Murder. The other one turned to him and said "Dude, what are you reading that for?" He seemed a bit freaked out. The one asking for the book shrugged and said something about how it looked interesting. After I found the book and handed it it to the first guy (yay bookseller standards) the other one muttered "I think he's lost it. I think he's completely lost it." It did look like a pretty macabre title.

Someone asked me "Do you have Animal House oopsImeanFarm." She had to laugh at herself for that one. But, hey, they're practically the same thing, right?

This last one bothered me. A woman asked me if we had any books on learning Arabic. No, that's not at all what bothered me. As I walked her to the section, she told me "My son is in high school and he's thinking of taking it and I want to convince him it's too hard. I want him to take Latin." What? First off, if he's in high school, he has a pretty good idea of what he is capable of learning. Second, there is a tremendous demand for people who speak Arabic. He could practically write his own paycheck. Third, why shouldn't he challenge himself? Fourth, get off his case and let him learn what he wants. Grumble.