A Sinking Ship

It kinda feels like I'm on a sinking ship.
*exhales*
And I don't like that feeling. 

Like.
At the start of this pandemic I was pretty secure in my job.
After all, a pet store is considered to be essential. 

So therefore. We can't close. 

And yet....

As the weeks pass.
And we continue to social distance.

Our store isn't making as much money.
Which is making it difficult to keep people employed.
Because corporate keeps cutting our hours.
Forcing us to have to furlough over half of my coworkers. 

We're running on a skeleton crew right now. 
With only nine people still employed to work the main part of the store.

It's....stressful.
Because to cover the entire day we need like 6-7 people to cover the entire day. 
Which gives us only 2-3 people to switch off with. So that everyone can have two days off. 

And this week....
I was informed that corporate is no longer able to guarantee our hours.

As a full time employee I should be getting 36-40 hours a week.

And I'm only scheduled for 30 this week. 

We're already running on the bare minimum staff.
AND THEY CUT OUR HOURS FURTHER.

The only person still guaranteed their full time hours is the Head Manager because they're on salary.
The rest of us?
Nope.
I'm not even working my normal shifts currently. I'm just scheduled wherever they can fit me in so I can get as many hours as I can from what corporate has allotted to us. 

Like. Why?
We're barely able to run the store as it is.

Unless they alter the running hours of the store.
Or switch us to doing curbside pick up only and have no customers coming into the store....

It's just.
Stressful.

And I feel like...it's difficult to complain about getting less hours and running on a skeleton crew.
Because like...I still have my job right? A ton of other people have lost theirs due to the pandemic.

I just...can't comprehend how our company can't afford to keep us at our full time hours.
Like I know we're nationwide and such.

But like....surely there could be something done (like having the CEOs cut their salaries so that the workers can continue working) so that we can keep our store fully staffed. 

But no.
They're cutting more hours instead.
*exhales*

And I'm just like stressed out.
Because I thought my job was secure.
But like....it's the six managers, me, and then two other coworkers.

And I have to wonder.
How long will it be before they have to furlough me to? 
When will they decide that they can't keep us on?

Like I want to feel secure.
I want to believe that my position isn't in jeopardy.
I mean, I've been there the longest out of the employees in the store.
And like...they need people to care for the animals. Clean their cages. Feed them. And such.

So like...my position should be safe. As they need someone to care for the creatures. 

But at the same time.
I don't know.
Four of my six managers have all worked in my department at one point. 
So if push came to shove, they probably could still care for the animals.

It's just....scary.
Scary to not know if this is your last week working.
To not know if we'll be cut more hours again.
To wonder why coworker will no longer be coming into the store because they've been furloughed.

It's rough. *exhales*
I really hope that this week is the low point.
That we'll be able to get more hours back in the store. 
That we'll be able to bounce back and get more coworkers back in the store. 

Because running your staff on bare minimum and not guaranteeing their hours on top of having to worry about catching the virus from customers and dealing with grumpy/irritated customers on top of it is not ideal.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi