Exhaustion

One of the many things that I dislike about work is those moments where it feels like I'm the only one running around with my head cut off. 

Like it's the sort of situations where it feels like I'm the only one doing anything in the store while everyone else is doing nothing.

Well.... not nothing. But like no one else is volunteering to do extra stuff. They're all doing their own thing and not making the effort to breakaway and do the extra steps.

Or else it feels like I'm the only one people call on for assistance when there's other managers in the stores that could also be helping as well. 

And that latter one is probably because I've proven myself to be the more reliable manager, but also since I have over a decade of experience in the store I tend to be the one who knows the answers.

But it is frustrating to be the one always dashing to the rescue when there's other people in the store who could be dashing to the rescue as well. 

Especially on days like today where it was a busy Saturday and we had that midday rush in the store where every department needs back up and there's at least three different complicated customer situations happening at the same time as well. 

Today probably felt a bit rougher as well because I had two managers in the store with me for a time...but it didn't feel like I had other managers with me.

My morning manager was being their typical nonhelpful self where they stop acting like a manager as soon as another manager shows up and do their best hide in the back and avoid all customer interactions via phone calls, helping in the store, or back up cashiering. Which meant that unless I specifically called them out by name to help out somewhere the morning manager was doing their best to pretend to not exist.

While my closing manager is dealing with various health related issues right now so while 'present' in the store...isn't quite present in that they need to take time off the floor, but while they are on the floor are limited in what tasks they can and can't do because of said health issues.

So it left me to do a lot of running around while it felt like everyone else was standing still. 

And most of the time I can handle it.

But it's been a week filled with similar situations where it feels like I'm the only one actually working so by today I was just...over it. So very much over it.

Hopefully I can take the day tomorrow to reset the mindset for next week....but we'll have to see.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Check Your Messages

 So. 

In the continuing saga of me wondering where my coworker's brains are at.

We've had one of those... I guess it's been about a months worth...but one of those weeks where everyone and there mom is sick. Like right around Christmas everyone started getting hit with some sort of cold/flu thing. 

Which has continued into the new year with multiple people calling out sick this week. 

Which is pertinent because one of the main requirements needed to open the store is that we need to have two people present in the morning in order to get into the building. 

But due to call outs our usual morning person who comes in with the morning manager was out sick. 

And no one else was available to come in that early. So therefore the last couple of days we needed to delay our entrance into the store a little bit until the next person was scheduled to come in. 

Which hasn't been that big of a deal because yesterday it still gave me time to get stuff done before the main store opened and such. 

And the manager today was contacted via text and warned that there was no second person available for the normal time and that they would need to come in an hour later than scheduled because of it. 

A message that's pretty cut and dry....

IF

and I say IF

said person reads their freaking text messages.

Which I get. 

Not everyone is as connected to their phones as I am. 

I get it. Many people like living disconnected from their phones.

It's probably healthy that way.

But like....if it involves work...you should still check every now and then before your shift starts to make sure you haven't missed any messages. Especially if you're a MANAGER. 

Granted....said manager could have seen the message and just....elected to ignore it. 

It wouldn't surprise me...this manager is...well...stubborn...and completely awful at communication to be honest. 

In any case.

Head Manager and I were also due to come into the store at the EXACT SAME TIME as the opening manager with the delay that was given. 

But when we arrived we discovered the morning manager was already in the store.

And doing a little research we discovered that they entered the store at their ORIGINAL SCHEDULED TIME.

They hadn't made any effort whatsoever to come in LATER like they were told to. 

Plus they broke policy by entering the store without another associate with them. 

And I'm just left shaking my head.

Like....Why?

Did you not SEE the text?

Did you see it and think "Oh I don't need to listen to this?" 

I don't get it. 

But it's another tick in the list of frustrations I have against this particular manager.....

Like....communication is kinda important in this job....and you are very much failing at it morning manager. So much failing. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

How's The Migraines?

 I had a check in appointment yesterday with the doctor. 

About my migraines.

Basically a 'how's it going?" sort of thing.

Which overall things have been pretty consistent....

With the exception of like...the last weekish or so where I've had nearly daily migraines.

But that could be attributed to multiple factors....like coming down from having so much social family/friend time from the holiday, and having to deal with a slightly increased stress load at work, and the sudden barometer changes from multiple storms coming and going, plus like just life being screwy from the holidays....

as the last time I had near constant headaches....was when my work/life/home balance got all screwy back in the summertime right around my family reunion where I too had a bunch of work stress, and family socialization and screwed up my diet and my work/life balance and yah.....

Amazing how routine helps to keep you from getting migraines.

In any case.

Even with the outlying causes explained away.

I did bring up the fact that even though I have seen a major decrease in migraines....I am still getting migraines.

and with using the Nurtec as a guide...since I can only get 8 pills a month through my insurance....I've been having between 5-8 migraines a month....

Which like 1-2 of those tend to be on the 5-6 pain scale while the rest are on the 1-2 irritating level of pain which would be negligible and not worth taking the Nurtec at all except if I don't take the Nurtec then the stupid 1-2 level migraines will last for DAYS on end if I don't take something to stop them. 

So yah. Compared to the pain scale of 11 that I was experiencing.

Everything has calmed down significantly from near daily headaches/migraines to 5-8 a month.

But still ....a handful a month is still probably a handful too many. 

So for the next month we've decided to try upping my dosage of topiramate another step. Since I was taking the lowest recommended dose. We decided to bump it up a step to see if that will help get my migraines down to like maybe 1 a month. Hopefully. We'll see. 

So far it's not boding well since I kinda woke up with a migraine today after taking the increased dose.

But it is the first day. Gotta give the stuff time to kick in.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Does Priority Mean To You?

 One of my weaknesses as a manager that I've been working to overcome has been the ....well it should be simple...but the simple matter of delegation.

The process of dividing out tasks to my team so that I'm not the one trying to get everything done by myself. 

I struggle with this though.

Because it often feels like I could have done it much easier and much faster if I'd done it by myself.

Especially in the sort of situations where I DO end up having to do the task by myself after all. 

And it's especially frustrating when I give out tasks to others only to see them not get done.

And it's hard to know if they weren't done because the person didn't want to do them or they didn't have time to do them or some other factor prevented them from completing them. 

But like....coinciding with yesterday in "give a person a specific task and timeframe to get the truck done" it continued on into today.

Where I left my opening manager with a list of tasks that needed to be done.

Which amounted to like 3 things.

1. Open the store.

2. Finish the truck and clean up 

3. Do the required scans to check inventory.

and like a side project was "Hey give the cashiers this project to build so that I can finish this reset a different day. " 

And I get a message at the end of opening manager's shift. 

Hey there's still a bit of truck left and scans weren't done.

Which -_- not unexpected because it was a larger truck and we're still getting back into the groove of having one truck a day. But like....how could you not get truck done when you had EIGHT HOURS to do truck?

Okay more like SIX HOURS to do truck because the opening tasks can take a couple of hours.

And granted it's been a 'sick' week where we've had a bunch of people calling out for not feeling well, which was the case today as well so I get there having to be a bit of breakaway. 

but at the same time....I'd been hoping to have a bit more of truck done. 

But also it turns out that the task I set the opening manager to set the cashiers to do?

Didn't get done either. 

And I don't know if it was because the cashier was like "Nah I don't wanna" or if the morning manager didn't COMMUNICATE that this was a task that needed to be done and therefore the cashier didn't know it needed to be done.

In any case.

I get in touch with the closing manager to be like "Hey finish the truck and then do the scans if you have time but truck is the priority." because we're supposed to have truck done within 24 hours of it arriving. 

And also had the closing manager get the closing cashier started on the task that the morning cashier should have been working on. 

In any case.

Closer to the end of the night when the closing manager needs to be switching gears to start the closing tasks I get a text of "Hey we're still working truck but I got half the scans done!" 

And I'm just.....face palming.

Because TRUCK SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FOCUS.

How hard is it to get through everyone's skulls that truck should have been done first?!

Like scans can be pushed off to a different day if needed. Truck? Not so much. 

And granted I'm sure that closing manager did some of the scans for a bit of those happy endorphins of "I completed a task" but at the same time. WHAT ABOUT THE TRUCK!

Sooo yah it's left me a bit frustrated to have multiple people ignoring the 'truck first' priority and just like....do their own thing. 

Especially when that means that I have even more on my plate for tomorrow when I go into work because now I have to fit in the rest of whatever didn't get done today with what has to be done tomorrow. 

So yah.

Frustrations all around.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Why Can't You Go Faster?

 There's a certain amount of frustration that occurs when things don't go to plan. 

Especially when it's over little things that shouldn't have caused the plan to derail and yet caused the plan to derail.

Like today with our truck.

After the last few months of us having trucks twice a week to account for the holiday demands...this week was the first week of us having just one truck again.

Which means instead of having around a dozen pallets to work ....we now have twice that many. 

Which means that I needed all hands on deck to try and get truck out and done as quickly as possible.

Which I warned various associates about. The "Hey, we're back to one truck a week which means we have nearly two dozen pallets that need to be worked TODAY so I need you working QUICKLY so that we can get this done fast!" 

And I hasn't passed my attention that the moment I say "Hey, I need you finishing quickly so I can put you to work elsewhere....." often seems to cause my coworkers to move SLOWER. 

Which is, to me, an obvious sign of "oh I don't want to do that job so if I take my time here I will be able to avoid doing that other job there." 

And like I get it. I get not wanting to do certain tasks.

But when I'm on a deadline and I tell you to move quicker, I really mean MOVE QUICKER. 

Like my petcare was doing really well today in getting done fast...like they were actually on track to be done on time today...and then they got to the fish wall and it took them like THREE HOURS to do like a  HALF HOUR job. 

It's just.....frustrating.

And I'm quickly losing my patience and understanding with it. Because like I've told them a million times the expectations and they're failing at the expectations and I don't know how to get it through everyone's skulls that they should make the priorities and a priority.

So yah.

Frustrations today.

So much frustrations. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Why Are You Like This?

 There's a certain frustration that follows when people can't follow directions. 

And really, it's probably part of the reason why I didn't post for a couple of months. 

Because a lot has been happening at work that was and has been stressful. 

And when I'm stressed out and don't really want to face my thoughts....I don't write. Because writing is how I process my thoughts. 

In any case. 

Part of that current frustration involves one of my fellow managers.

Who was my equal position wise, but I just recently jumped up to a higher manager position putting me over them in the tier of managers. 

And this manager... did not take the news well when they found out.

Which was a bit of a ??? moment for both myself and the head manager.

Because this management position has been open for months because for various stupid reasons it took forever to get through the interview process and to get approved to get bumped up to a higher position what with all the recent management changeovers work decided to do earlier last year. 

In any case. 

We had no idea this manager was interested in the open position.

Because they NEVER ASKED ABOUT IT. 

The closest to bringing it up was a complaint of "when is this position going to be filled?!" to which my head manager had responded "when I get applications and interview them then I'll fill the position" because with the new process we actually have to do the whole official apply online procedure and get interviewed and such rather than the old way where it was more of a 'here's quick interview click click your position is now changed!" 

In any case. Beyond that one singular comment this manager did not bring up wanting the open position AT ALL. 

And we kinda figured it would be a position that they would NOT want to apply for anyways because 

1. That position requires the manager to close once a week. Which this manager does not like closing and 2. Requires that you cannot work before a certain time. And this manager would much rather work early morning shifts...which the open position does not do early mornings unless there is no one else available. 

Plus this manager is just frankly...unqualified for the position because it's over a much larger aspect of the store that requires communication and organization and being comfortable in petcare as well as being comfortable with working the inventory in the store. 

So all in all not a good fit.

And yet. 

They were upset that they were never 'told' that the position was open. 

Like....pretty sure the manager LEAVING was the official opening, but also like they had asked WHEN we were getting the position filled and head manager had said "WHEN I GET APPLICATIONS" 

Like that had to be clear enough???

In any case.

The main frustration from this manager comes from the fact that they Cannot. Do. Their. Freaking. Job. or Follow. Freaking. Directions.

Like I am doing my best to communicate and to keep open channels so I can make sure the store is being run properly on my side, but this manager is refusing to play ball without some serious teeth pulling. 

I tell them to text me what tasks are left and they don't.

I give them a list of tasks that should be completed in a single shift.

And they don't complete them.

And more and more it's like "can we leave you alone to actually be a manager or do you need to be held by the hand and watched the entire time.' because we keep finding things and we're like ??? "how long have you been doing that for?" 

Like yesterday when I discovered there was a potential issue with the registers and when I asked "Were any of the registers off this morning?" to this manager expecting to hear "yah register # was short" and instead got "Yah all of them were off." 

When I knew head manager had closed the night before and therefore the registers should not be SHORT ANY MONEY beyond the maybe potential ONE register due to a different manager error a couple of days previously....

Only to have head manager RECOUNT all the tills and discover that no. NONE of them were short. They were ALL ON.

Which meant this manager had managed to MISCOUNT MULTIPLE TILLS and DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT to anyone until I had asked.

Makes me wonder just how often the tills are off when they open when they're actually on. It's just.....

It's just been so frustrating dealing with this manager.

And I can't tell if they're doing it on purpose because they're unhappy with me being the manager over them....or if they were really this incompetent the entire time.

Like I'm guessing it's more of the latter. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of the former because I'm quite open in trying to talk with and communicate with my coworkers and fellow managers. This manager? You can work a week with them and hear maybe 5 words.

So yah.

It's been a frustrating couple of months. 

Especially with the holiday crazy on top of it. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

All The Noise Noise Noise

 It's probably the lack of great sleep the last couple of nights. Like...New Years Eve I kept getting woken up by people texting me early in the morning and then last night I went to bed late and had an early shift...but like.....today was a day of feeling overstimulated. 

Which I'm saying is probably due to the lack of proper sleep allowing my brain to properly rest.

Because for the most part....being at work had the mostly normal amount of stimulation in the store. The occasional customer deciding to be annoying with the squeaky toys. The random string of multiple phone calls in a row. The cashier being chatty on the radios randomly. 

It's all noise that I'm pretty used to.

But today it just...was getting to be a bit too much.

And I think it was because of the wild birds stuck in our store.

As you see, we have two of them currently.

Because we keep our pallets outside in a little padlock area. And in the fall time, birds like to hang out in them. And if you're not careful...you can accidentally bring the birds inside the store when bringing the pallets back in the store to load in on the truck we send them back to the DC on....and let them loose. 

Which is what happened earlier this fall.

One of my managers didn't make sure there weren't birds in the pallets before bringing them in.

And now we have two wild birds once again loose in the store for the winter.

Because they won't fly out until the spring.

Because even though we've had like no snow whatsoever this year. The inside of the store is still warmer than the outside. So the birds, with free food and free water and no predators...are quite content to hang out. 

Which overall isn't that big of a deal.....when they're quiet.

But the last few days at least one if not both birds have gotten super vocal. Singing and chirping for ages above us.

And it's LOUD. And constant. And doesn't STOP. 

And apparently is just one straw too many for me when I haven't had enough sleep and have been dealing with work related stress for the week. 

Because I was sooooo overstimulated with the birds today. Sooo overstimulated.

I literally wanted to find something to throw at the birds just to get them to shut up so I could have some quiet for a bit because the noise was tensing me up. 

And I'm grateful that I don't have to be at work for the next few days so that I can hopefully get enough restful sleep and time away from people and socialization needs that I can unwind, relax, get my zen back and not be overstimulated when I get back to work.

Because I do not need the migraine thank you very much.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

2026 Decisions

 I came across a post a couple of days ago that said something like "There's literally no rules saying your New Years resolutions can't be for evil." 

Which at the time I thought was funny and I was like "what would I do if I made an evil resolution?" which honestly I couldn't think of anything that i wanted to do. 

But like.

The thought did keep crossing my mind today that some people DID wake up and choose violence on the first day of the new year.

Metaphorical violence in my case. Though I've seen plenty of news stories about actual violence. 

But like.

It's New Years Day right?

The day after New Years Eve.

The night where people STAY UP LATE to party. Like until at least midnight but more likely until at least 1am people are staying up if they've ventured out anywhere. 

Me. I was home by 1 am because I had to work today. So even though I was out until midnight with family and friends. I was being careful to give myself enough time to get home that I would still be able to get enough sleep to be fine at work this morning. 

And you would THINK that knowing that people stayed up late that the next day no one would really be in contact until like...later in the day.

Like bare earliest would be the typical 9 am time frame. 

AND YET. 

I got woken up multiple times before my alarm went off by people TEXTING ME. 

And some of them I could forgive. Like older relatives who get up at the crack of dawn or friends in other time zones who may have forgotten the time difference. 

But I had like SIX different people texting all before 9 am. 

The one text I was most annoyed by though was my freaking guy manager.

Who I had told on TUESDAY to text me on WEDNESDAY what he'd gotten done during his shift so I could continue on with projects and know what got completed and what didn't. 

Did he text me Wednesday?

No, he decided that it was best to text me at SIX IN THE MORNING on NEW YEARS DAY. 

Like the morning after everyone has PARTIED ALL NIGHT AND SHOULD BE SLEEPING IN. 

Yes. I had to work. But dude. CHECK THE SCHEDULE And SEE THE TIME I WORK. 

I wasn't in the store until 9. You could have texted me much closer to that time.

Like granted we're usually in the store about 7 am. But like it's a HOLIDAY the hours are DIFFERENT TODAY. 

So yah.

I was irritated.

Like dude WHY. 

*exhales*

So yah. Apparently some people did wake up today and decide to be inconsiderate to others and their sleep schedules. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi