Working Vacation

I'm not really doing anything exciting. There's always some small part of me that insists I should do something while on vacation and feels guilty if I don't. A very small part, mind you.

I've been reading a lot. And doing chores: laundry, dishes, cleaning my room, whatnot. I've also been to two xmas parties for work (one for just our store and one for all the managers in the company). Both were very mild, potluck affairs. No dancing on tables or anything.

Julia and I are supposed to go to Trader Joe's in Ann Arbor tomorrow to finish up our xmas shopping. However, it seems that the weather gods are going to take a big cold crap on our plans with several inches of snow and sleet. So we'll see.

Occupational Mutterings

So, um, they've finally decided to admit that the country is in a recession, has been since last December in fact. The first thing I said when I read that was "Well DuUUuuh!" Not mature, but not admitting your economic woes isn't really either. National unemployment is up to something like 6.7%. And while we hate to see anyone profit from this sort of thing, an employer might not be amiss to say that they have a larger pool of applicants to choose from and that said applicants might be of better quality.

Yeah, if it were true. We have seen more applications off and on, but if anything they are, for the most part, worse than the normal 'tards drifting through. It seems that the only people mooching around for jobs here in the BG are the dross. I find this all vexing as we are currently understaffed, not drastically, but a half dozen noobs would really round out the crew nicely. Our turn over is pretty high too, although, I believe it is still below industry averages. We've made a few good hires (the HotGuy, my protege, and the nice girl who doesn't work a whole lot of hours), but we still need more, especially since one of our managers has (finally, thank the gods) been transferred to another store.

Then there are those of the rank who need a firm planting of the Boot to their asses. They whine about not getting enough hours. They whine about having to come in. The whine about having to stay for the entire shift. They whine about whatever position they are on. They won't do anything correctly even it is easier to do it that way. If you correct them they whine that you're being mean. They bitch at each other constantly. They whine if you make them help each other. They all thing that they are the only person doing any work and/or doing their work correctly. You just wish you could tell them to shape up because there are ten people off the street willing to take their job, but you can't because while there are people willing to take their job they are the ones who put things about stealing from past jobs on their applications or have been fired from other locations in the company (in the last couple months, like we weren't going to know) or tell you, during the interview, about the operation their kid needed on his privates or just show up "here for work" and they've never had an interview and nobody knows who they are.

So when my guys are running around all night, throwing things, singing and swearing at the top of their lungs, hiding in the equipment, drawing unicorns on their checklists, demanding I google the Captain Planet theme song lyrics for them, chasing each other, making puppets out of product, concocting asinine reasons why they should not have to do their work properly or at all, but not because they aren't going to, but because if they're breathing they are arguing with me, and being so ridiculous you just want to shake them, and then one of them wonders to the others why I put up with them and haven't fired them so hard their grandkids will be unemployed I just don't have it in me to tell them it's because they are my best employees because in spite of all of the shenanigans they get their work done and, for the most part, do it well.