My manager's stupidity continues...

"Rainbow" (rainbeaux) 11/10/2014 at 14:11 • Filed to: None

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So, on Saturday I was scheduled to come in at 7:30PM. This was on the schedule I had gotten the previous Saturday, so naturally, I made my plans for the week around it. Said plans included going into downtown Atlanta at 10:00 with a group of friends, and staying until around 6:00 or so. At 9:45, I had just pulled into the parking lot where we were going to meet, and my phone started ringing. It was the guy working the mid-shift of my job, telling me that I need to come in at 3:30. Well, that's not happening. I tell him I'm spending the day downtown and the earliest I could come in would be 6:30. I overhear him tell my manager, who happens to be standing around with him, that I'm downtown right now. She tells him to ask me why, and he does. Okay, NO. That's extremely unprofessional. It doesn't matter if I'm there for the birth of my child or if I'm getting wasted at a strip club. It's no one's business but my own, and as far as I'm aware, it's not even legal for her to pry into my personal life like that. But anyway, I told the guy I was doing volunteer work, hoping that would get them to lay off, but then I hear my manager say "Well this takes priority, so tell him that he's getting written up if he doesn't come in."

Needless to say, I arrived at 7:30. So far I haven't heard from anyone about my horrible crime of using the schedule correctly, but damn. Today, I actually got a text telling me to come in at 3. Not asking, but demanding. Even though I actually could make it this time, I'm not going in until 5. That's what my schedule says, and I'm not coming in early until they realize that they can't force me to.

JGrabowMSt > Rainbow 11/10/2014 at 14:19

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Sounds like food service/restaurant job?

I honestly don't know why 1) I ever bothered working a job like that and 2) what took me so long to quit retail.

I feel for you. Stick it to the man. Extra hours are nice, but when you take them too readily, the managers or other employees will abuse it.

I work a lot of extra hours myself, but my boss doesn't usually ask, and never demands. It's all about the environment.

Good luck!

SOCdriver > JGrabowMSt 11/10/2014 at 14:25

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That is how it was for me in IT until I started doing consulting and Contract work. Now the parameters of work are set at the start of a contract or job and they are followed until completion. I have not heard anyone tell me on Friday "Be here Saturday at 8am." since starting this a couple years ago.

E92M3 > Rainbow 11/10/2014 at 14:29

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Notice the day before would be nice. I wouldn't make it a habit of ignoring their requests though.

Rainbow > E92M3 11/10/2014 at 14:33

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Yeah, I used to come in whenever they asked, because they would actually ask. Now, though, since I'm not expecting to stay for the rest of the year, I'm just going to hope they start being polite again.

JGrabowMSt > SOCdriver 11/10/2014 at 14:34

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I have a number of self-entitled clients that try to pull this, however more often than not, the situation is not something I can rush anyway, or they end up changing their mind after hearing the cost (most commonly the former though).

That said, much like the OP, when a schedule is made, I will follow it. Especially if I'm not liking the job anyway.

Rainbow > JGrabowMSt 11/10/2014 at 14:40

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It's actually a gas station, which would be awesome if I worked under someone else. Since we're part of a grocery store, there's only ever one person working out at the pumps at a time, and I can adjust the thermostat to my own comfort, which can be as low as 50 if I wanted. Plus people only ever come to the window to buy cigarettes, so I spend most of my time just playing Yahtzee on my phone. Definitely an easy job, made difficult by a manager who likes to try new ideas before even thinking about them and why they make no sense.

Klaus Schmoll > Rainbow 11/10/2014 at 14:41

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I'd try talking to her. Avoid direct blame, twist it more like a "help me to become a professional, punctual and reliable employee". Tell her that you plan your life around your working hours, the charity thing was a good idea, maybe even invent a grandmother, you and your family are taking turns to take care of. Or just get a better job.

SOCdriver > JGrabowMSt 11/10/2014 at 14:50

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I have had a couple clients like that, one I was happy to help because they were happy to pay for it. The clients were nice but very demanding, they had just enough knowledge to understand that they could get a faster time frame when they needed to move up the schedule but were very happy to pay for it.

Another time I had this horrible client I did a 90/50 (90 days/50 hours a week) contract with. I had nothing else lined up at the time as my two companies that got me started folded. I undercut my pricing just to get to work a figured that worse case it was just 90 days. Many did they try and push as much an hour from me as possible and at the same time had me doing Saturdays and Sundays when they could. They would ask for me to take a Wednesday off and work a Sunday, sometimes I think out of spite or hate. When the 90 days was up I had already finished the project, documented and put them on a path of self reliance. The client turned around and asked if I would stay on full time at 50% of my pay under the same terms I had with the contract. Also no benefits. Eff that, never been happier to fire a client.

JGrabowMSt > SOCdriver 11/10/2014 at 15:01

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Yep. I had a client apparently call all weekend (I have no work cell, and do not check messages over the weekends) where this guy wanted support instantly to switch his computer. I finally convince him to bring it in, and after talking to him, and then calling his son to verify what I was actually doing with the computer, it turns out I wouldn't have been able to do anything for him anyway.

He depends on a parallel printer for a dos program that functions through a virtual machine. I have no idea what for, but I do know that for a virtual machine to interact with a parallel printer like that (because the program didn't support USB printers), it would need an IRQ, so a PCI card is out of the question entirely. I did enough tech support work regarding audio hardware that wouldn't function correctly because of how new computers handle IRQs, so I knew this would be trouble anyway. Good thing he came to me, because I really don't think any other shop in my area (and certainly not best buy or staples) would have been able to correctly handle this situation. I don't even think my co-worker would have known what to do.

I have another job that's been ongoing for several months because the computer is about 15 years old, and relies on an ISA card to relay information for a lithium ion battery tester. I need to be able to move the entire system to Windows XP in order to allow at least a USB flash drive to be used with it to transfer the data off. I got the hardware, but can't get the software to work correctly. Turns out the guy finally got tech support to give him an old version of the software that is supposed to work on XP, and he gave me access to that, so I should be able to get that job out the door soon.

Both clients have accepted that the jobs are not overnight or even a couple hours, because their needs are incredibly different from most of my clients (home support). Luckily, they calm down significantly when they realize that I can figure it out, and I'm not scratching my head trying to guess how it was initially set up. The one thing that scares me is these clients getting attached, because if I make the decision to leave computer support, I certainly don't want them calling me all the time to troubleshoot their systems. My co-worker does not have the experience to know what to do, and because we work in different "sections" of the business, he doesn't see most of my work anyway.

McMike > Rainbow 11/10/2014 at 15:10

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I managed hundreds of hourly employees scattered across seven stores for almost 15 years. Believe me, scheduling is the hardest part of the business. People call in sick, people quit with no notice, people screw up their own schedule and we often have to scramble around desperate to find someone to fill in.

They can ask, beg, call, and plead with you to come in. If you want to tell them what you're doing, then that's fine. If you don't, then just tell them you made other plans for today, and that you can/can't be there by XX o'clock.

Sounds like you have a shitty manager that has some boundary issues. Or they were just really, really desperate. He needs to honor the schedule he writes, just as you do. The extra hour you offered is a gift, and he should appreciate it.

Pro Tip: Never lie about what you're doing unless you're willing to back it up if asked about it.

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > Rainbow 11/10/2014 at 15:24

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Dude, I once had a manager call me to come in ON MY DAY OFF, while I was out having lunch with some buddies. Wait, it gets better. I show up, work and at the end of my shift he tells me how he had to fight the urge to send me home/write me up because I came in "reeking of beer." MF'er you called me in on my day off...while I was in the middle of drinking a beer. What was I supposed to do?

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Rainbow 11/10/2014 at 15:53

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My old manager did that to me in my last week of working for them. My schedule was such that I had Tuesday and Wednesday off...Friday was to be my last day. I called out sick Monday because I wanted a 3 day weekend, and he told me to count on working Tuesday and Wednesday. I showed up Thursday knowing the worst he could do was tell me to leave two days early. Managers like that are awful.

Chairman Kaga > Rainbow 11/12/2014 at 17:15

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Friend of mine got fired for not coming in, off the schedule of course, on the night he was giving his thesis oral defense. He wouldn't have gotten his MA if he'd missed this event for which he'd been planning the previous six months. He wasn't even on the schedule for the entire previous week in order to prepare. Manager was just throwing his weight around because College Boy thought he was hot shit.

Said manager now works at Chili's. Friend is an account executive with GSD&M. Do the math on how that worked out.