Friday...not a good day.

How was your Friday? Pretty good? Mine. Not so good. As of this writing, Saturday morning looking forward to an evening shift ( well not really looking forward to it ), the holiday weekend is upon us. Saturday should be a busy one with temperatures approaching 90. But getting back to Friday, It was fairly busy. I was there in charge of the department. Getting this ill trained crew to do things in proper order is a challenge in itself. I had to make sure that things were being done in proper order. You'd think some of these cement heads would know this by now. Anyway my day usually begins with culling all the refrigerated cases for items who have hit their expiration date and so on then it's on to breaking down the daily delivery pallets. So let's cut to the part where I've broken everything down and wheeled it back to my department. Time is passing quickly and I have to keep in mind that all the people have to get their breaks so I shut myself in the deli chest to put things away. It's cold but peaceful with only the sound of the whirring refrigeration fans. Suddenly the door flies open and one of the women working outside says with a wild look on her face says, "ONE DOWN!"
One down? What is she talking about? Are they playing football in the deli? Did she mean 1st down? I go out and see the top of her head as she is down on one knee.
"What do you mean one down? Where's Cat?" (A nickname for one of the young ladies who works here.) She stands and emphatically points to the floor. My vision is blocked by several tables. I go around and see Cat lying on the floor. She the pages the store manager who arrives quickly. He calls the fire department. who arrive pretty quickly as well. Meanwhile, while hoping that Cat is all right, I figure we will probably have to work one person short. At least we have somebody coming in at 12:30. 

Let me fill you in on this 12:30 person. Her father is a vice president in my company. She used to be a department manager in another store (Gee I wonder how she became a department manager at the age of 20?) and decided that she didn't like that. The next day she was transferred to my store. She was no longer a manager but somehow she got the best schedule of everybody including her direct manager and myself. In at 7 out at 3. And unlike any other full time employee she is not required to work a night...until this week because another person is off for a few days. She starts a half hour early (because she can) which really ticks me off. I can say nothing because neither my manager or the store manager will grow a pair and tell her that she is required to work under the same set of rules as anybody else. Most likely because they fear her daddy.

Now back to our story. As Cat is lying on the floor being tended to by the women who yelled "ONE DOWN!" there are 5 people in front of the deli counter. At this point all I could do is try and wait on them. I grab the first customer and cut some cheese for her. I go to weigh it up and discover there are no labels in the machine. I go to the next scale and discover there is no information in it at all. It seems like these fabulous new wireless scales, who's virtues were being extolled by the tech who installed them, have been very unreliable as this is not the first time this has happened. All the scales are empty. In the meantime daddies little girl starts work a half hour early on her own. I can see her little scheme already. Start early, skip your supper break and go home early. It is afterall Memorial day weekend. And the nerve of her manager scheduling her a night particularly on a long holiday weekend. She is there for about a half hour when the incident with Cat happened. She suddenly announces, "I can't deal with this! I need some air!" She goes down to the deli chest and closes herself in. Normally when someone needs air they go outside, not into a big refridgerator. About a minute later she bolts out of the chest and leaves the store never to be seen again. I am trying to deal with the customers, working around three firemen, the store manager and another employee. Meanwhile daddies little girl is nowhere to be found leaving her hoodie and tiara behind. I asked the store manager if he could find out what's going on with her majesty as I may find myself two people down going into a holiday weekend. It turns out she has some issues going on in her life. Well who doesn't? I suspect this is all a load of el toro poo poo. What happened? Were the maid and butler using the tennis courts again? Oh Lordy! No wonder she had the Blues!

Getting back to Cat. It turns out, as I had suspected, she hadn't eaten since noon the day before and didn't go to sleep until 3 in the morning. She ended up sitting down for a bit and having something to eat, She then finished up her shift though at one point later in the afternoon she did break down crying right in the middle of dealing with a customer. I suspect a lot of this emotion had to do with embarrassment. I told her to go sit down for a bit and collect herself though this left me covering both the deli counter and the fish counter because the seafood manager, in a rare display of company unity, decided she was going to lunch. Thanks for all your help. This is after I broke down her delivery because she couldn't leave her counter. Of course she does this quite often without telling us anyway, leaving us to cover her sorry ass. 

Long story short, the evening crew had arrived. It was 4 p.m. I was tired and hungry. I had just worked 8 straight hours, though I did sneek a break in about 2:30 because I was thirsty and just wanted to sit down in my car for a few minutes and just get away. This too was not without incident. As I sat there three sparrows landed on my drivers side mirror. Though this was kind of cute I shut the window three quarters of the way up just in case they decided they wanted to investigate the interior of my car. They soon left. About two minutes later another sparrow lands on the passenger side window. Before I could roll the window up it takes a dump on the mirror and leaves. I could only laugh. It was either that or cry.

So hows your day going?
I have to prepare for work in a couple of hours and then I am off for nine days. Five of which will be spent on Martha's Vineyard. The weather looks pretty good and I can't wait to get the hell out out of that store. One final note. When one of my coworkers paged the store manager she meant to say, (changing names here) "Joe Blow to the deli department a.s.a.p. (as soon as possible). Instead it went over the p.a. as "Joe Blow to the deli department, a sap ."

I'm outta here.