Thursday, December 10, 2009

Maybe I Am Lazy?

Ok first let me say I don't dislike the job that I have. I really do like the hours and the people and I don't mind the work but it's just too much. They said they would get me more help. They said that the other girl who works on my days off could help me. I mostly need help on Fridays. So when I looked at her schedule today I see that she is off tomorrow, and then for the next two weeks she is off Thursday and Fridays. I just asked the manager who does the schedules if she was going to be helping me on Fridays and he said yes. There was no way he could have not known she was off.

Let me tell you what is expected of me. This is mostly for Russell who does not realize how much I have to do, why it stressed me out and why my stomach hurts every day.
I go in at 4 am. I fill up the sinks and dishwasher, turn on the glazer machine, and take a bunch of racks of donuts and pastries out of the walk-in cooler and freezer. I also take out all the bread racks for when the people that do the bread come in. I start baking the donuts. There may be 2 or three racks of just donuts. Then I bake some pastry type things that go in the case, the turnover, and the cinnamon rolls. I fill up the glazing machine with glaze and dilute it until it looks right. While the baking is going on, I start glazing the things that need to be glazed. While doing those two things I clean out the self-serve case where those individual donuts and pastries are. I dump all the day old stuff in the trash and just recently they said I have to fill out a productivity sheet for those items. I wash the case out and make sure there are boxes, bags and paper tissues for the customers. I take all the trays that those things were on and put them in the dishwasher. Meanwhile, still baking and glazing. Then I take all the stuff off the shelves with that day's date and leave it for the woman who puts it on the reduced rack or sends it to the food bank. I get the trays out of the dishwasher. I line them with brown tissue papers. I put 18 different items (1 tray each) in the case. Some are baked and dipped, some are glazed and a couple we just take out of boxes off the shelves. I am supposed to have the case all filled by 5:30 am. So it gets to be that time and usually I have it done and for the next 15 minutes I start doing the boxes. Some are 6 count, some are 12 count. There are various types of donuts, apple fritters, bismarks, and many more! I usually do the dipped ones first so the glazed ones can set. I try to take my break at 5:45 am until 6:00 am so that I can have from 6 to 7 am to finish up all the boxes. When I'm on my break it feels so good to sit down that I don't want to get back up. But I do. I work like a mad woman and try to get everything dipped and boxed before 7. I sometimes come close but then I never get the turnovers and cinnamon rolls out till almost 8. The turnovers have to have icing on them every other day so there are always some iced ones on the shelves. The cinnamon rolls have to have cream cheese icing on some, and cinnamon rolls on the others. Now that it's Christmas time, I have to decorate (with cake decorating stuff) christmas tree and snowmen donuts.
Ok, then it gets to be clean up time. I have to take the glazing machine apart and spray if all off and clean it and put it together. The glazing rack that the glazed things go on is all covered with glaze and I take that to the back area of the bakery and spray that off. All the shelves that go on the racks are put in the dishwasher. I have to clean out the bowls that the dipping glazes go in (they are in the metal thing with hot water under it) and add new glazes to it. There are 4 different types. I have to clean up the whole area. Then I put the machine together. By now it's probably around 9:15 to 9:30. I go home for lunch. It feels good to take off my shoes and sit down for awhile!
Ok, then back to work. I only have 2 1/2 hours left. I get out all the racks for the next day. I go into the walk in cooler and get out all the boxes I need. I usually have to make 3 trips in. Today I filled up about 7 racks with 10-15 shelves each. Since tomorrow is Friday I have to make extra donuts for the associates. That is 12 dozen extra and there is this senior citizen raffle thing that they have in Subway (inside the store) and we have to give them 5 dozen various donuts. I just realized that I forgot to lay them out. No problem, I will do it in the morning since I have so little to do! After everything is laid out and put in the freezer and cooler, I wash the floor in my area by dumping a big bucket of soapy water on it and using a scrubby broom type thing. Before I go I have to make sure the case still has enough in it and there are still boxes and bags there. If not, I have to take some boxes off the shelf and add them to the case.
When boxes of freight come in for my area, I have to go put that in the freezer. They have a small ladder in there and I about kill myself trying to get up to the top shelf and feel very unsafe. It's about 10 below zero in the freezer so staying in there any length of time makes me freeze to death. Oh yeah, I forgot the want me to order what I need but I don't have the time to do it.
Now I was actually getting all this done until they added in the seasonal items that I have to decorate by hand and the extra paperwork I have to fill out. They keep finding more and more for me to do, but do they give me more time? No.
Speaking of time, they are very strict about getting no overtime. Last week they tried to say I was more than an hour over. I knew that I was not. I argued with two different people over this but did they believe me? No. They made me leave 30 minutes early that Friday and guess what? I was 30 minutes under for the week. This week they tried to pull that same crap. Well that was kinda funny since I went home early on Monday because of being sick....two hours early. So somehow.....I worked 3 hours extra? I did get it straightened out after I went to the office and had them pull it up on the computer. And what did I see? I am two hours under just like I should be.
One thing I have found out is that I'm pretty good at multi-tasking. I just need an extra person like they said they would get but after today, I know they won't get anyone. So the way I see it is that I can either stay stressed out and maybe get more stressed or find something else to do.

So what do you think? Is this an extreme amount of work for one person?

9 comments:

  1. Wow! That does seem to be an awful lot of juggling with things at any rate - multi-tasking isn't much fun when its the chaotic form you are doing.

    It sounds like the "higher ups" aren't doing their end of things very well.

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  2. Hey Barb. That certainly sounds like a lot, but I have grown used to looking at life from a different perspective.

    If we take on major tasks in our lives, its because in our higher self we wanted to challenge ourselves, to see if we can stretch our capabilities. I know that may sound absurd and you might ask why would we take on such burdens, but to me that makes more sense than just fruitless suffering. Everything we do has a purpose whether we are conscious of it or otherwise.

    And you know, the funny thing about suffering and hard work is that we tend to reap the (spiritual) benefits of it later. This truth was known to the medieval Churchmen though IMHO they took the suffering part (with self-flagellation, etc) a little too far!!

    Take care and be well

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  3. Way too much responsibility; I wouldn't trade with you, no way, no how. I'd rather worry about getting clubbed over the head--there's not much multi-tasking in that.

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  4. I think they should get someone in to help out. That's a lot of work to expect one person to do on their own in that amount of time. Even if they just had someone in to sort the paperworrk, and a temp in to do the extra bits being done because of it being the holidays, that would help I'm sure!

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  5. I am so tired reading this, I think I need to go back to bed! I knew you worked hard, but golly!

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  6. WOW!! That is alot of work for one person. I couldnt do it so koodos to you:)

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  7. OMG! I really feel for you. Totally understand. More companies are micromanaging these days and thats more work for 1 person which is sad. I work in the grocery business and things have become more tense with customers.. hang in there love.

    -Paul

    http://www.mostlygrocery.com

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  8. Sad to say--but back when I was healthy--that sounds like my kind of job. Multitasking and constantly moving--blink and your day is done. Altho--with everything you described, it is hard to know if all of that is even possible for one person to finish in the time allotted. Management is usually NOT good at figuring out the actual REAL time needed. And they don't sound like they are very organized--look at the time card thing! I like to have my days fly by and would rather be busy than not, but not being able to finish what is asked of me no matter how hard I try--that is just crazy making! Because I not only want to finish, but I want to do it well, too. I have been in some jobs like that in the past--where you always feel behind the whole day. I used to work thru my breaks--what a dummy! My sympathies are with you, girl! I really, really hope that it dies down a bit after Christmas and becomes more manageable again.

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  9. Oh my God! I am tired just reading it. I haven't been blogging much lately and have missed out. I thought you were working at WalMart?? Did you change jobs? This is just too much for one person. Good way to burn out employees.

    Other than the hard work-how are you doing? I had son and girlfriend in for Thanksgiving. Been busy. Would love to hear from you.

    My gmail address is donnettalee@gmail.com
    Write to me if you ever get a free moment! Hubby and I head back to FL mid January and are hopefully going to sell out down there and be in OK permanently. Cross your fingers! D

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