Retail Hell - The Management Game

[darkhavens]

I don't mention RL stuff here that often, but I feel a need to vent, so brace yourselves.

For those who don't know, I live in a tiny ancient town (first settled 500BC) on the edge of Dartmoor in England - Hound of the Baskervilles country. I work in one of the two small grocery stores in town. I have worked there for 7.5 years, mainly because it's 2 minutes walk from my home and I don't drive so employment opportunities are limited.

In those 7.5 years I have had 6 'permanent' managers and have lost count of the temporary trolls who have passed through. I was hoping that the latest one, Simon, would be here for a while. He has a family, a mortgage, is stable, cheerful, honest, a good worker, etc etc.

He also had a hernia, which was operated on during the last week of July, and has been recovering ever since. He was due back next week.

Today I get in to work to find a sign on the notice board - Simon is no longer the manager. The position will be advertised in the press and until then, we are to struggle on as we have been doing for the past weeks. That is to say badly. Note the complete lack of explanation as to why Simon is no longer manager.

I hate breaking in new managers. They screw up the ordering, try to mess with my shifts, and always come up with 'new' ideas that I've already seen fail over and over again.

So, here's waiting for manager #7 to show up. This one has to be a keeper, right?

Comments

[literati.livejournal.com]

Oh, no!

You really liked him. :(

::cool manager vibes::



::smish::

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

I really did like him! He worked hard, he took instruction well, he was trainable!

As for Alan... yeah, well, you know my feelings on that score. I swear, one day, I will kill that man with his own precious biro. :D

[anyasbuttmonkey.livejournal.com]

I detect a note of cynicism in your post. Are you suggesting this seventh manager won't be the in it for the long haul?

How comes you ain't the boss already? Come to think of it, if the town isn't that small, how comes you ain't mayor?! You could totally rule those small-town communities. Eventually, you could spread your wing over the whole of the south west... eventually the entire south coast. Then you'd have the manpower to take on the fascists in Westminster...

Just a thought.

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

I detect a note of cynicism in your post. Are you suggesting this seventh manager won't be the in it for the long haul?

Me? Cynical? Perish the thought!

Every time we lose a manager customers keep saying I should take the job on - I've been here long enough to know what to do. And I could probably do it too, but having seen how Gilletts treat their management, I wouldn't take it on for twice the money. Plus, looking at the average 'life span' of a manager here, I'd be unemployed inside a year. :/

The Town Hall is directly opposite my living room windows, so I could practically roll out of bed and stage a coup, if I had the energy or the inclination. But once I have control of a bunch of pig and cow and sheep farmers, what do I do with them?

First order of business would be to electronically tag all the teenagers in town and put them under curfew. Evil little scrotes. That move alone would probably get me elected to Parliament and then there'd be no stopping me! :D

[anyasbuttmonkey.livejournal.com]

Well, Teh Blair is resigning, allegedly... as long as you don't mind being associated with "New" Labour, there's your in right there!

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Ah, but if I was going for the image Blair has apparently adopted, I'd have to be campaigning on a 'tag the little bastards in the womb!' platform. :D

[anyasbuttmonkey.livejournal.com]

You say that like it's a bad thing. Curious.

;)

[kitty-poker1.livejournal.com]

Well, that sucks monkey balls, to coin a phrase. *g*

So, you don't get the courtesy of being told that Simon isn't coming back, never mind why? No telling what's happened to the poor bastard. If the company is as useless as it sounds, it could be that he's found something else during his time off recuperating from the op.

New managers always want to reinvent the wheel. Worse, they want to imprint their own personality. Assuming they have one.

Bitter? What makes you think that?

I feel for you, hon, I really do. The next one will hopefully be a keeper. It's about time you had a break and the odds are in your favour. Prediction courtesy of William Hill.

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Gilletts don't do courtesy - not to their managers and certainly not to their slave labour.

I wouldn't blame him if he had found something better, and the timing makes me think that that might be the case, otherwise WTF? he's been off for five weeks, he's due back next week and they suddenly decide to get rid? Very odd.

Still sucky though. Thanks! *smooch*

[ruric.livejournal.com]

Dude - 7.5 years? Why aren't you the manager?

*pauses - thinks - recalls year spent working in retail hell*

Oh Yeah. Stupid question!

*hugs*

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Hee! As I said to anyasbuttmonkey, every time we lose a manager customers keep saying I should take the job on - I've been here long enough to know what to do. And I could probably do it too, but having seen how Gilletts treat their management, I wouldn't take it on for twice the money. Plus, looking at the average 'life span' of a manager here, I'd be unemployed inside a year. :/

Thanks. {{hugs}}

[tabaqui]

Dude.
*500 BC*
Jayzus.
That is so cool.
:)

*pet pet*

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Isn't it mind-boggling? The area was settled because of all the tin, which was mined as far back as Roman times.

A potted history of Ashbucket (http://www.ashburton.org/history.htm). *g*

[tabaqui]

*squeeeee*!!
I know, i'm a total dork.
:)

Here, recipricol history except no cool pictures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolla,_Missouri

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

1800s? Your town's still in diapers! Hee! And, dude, people tell tales about your town being named after 'good-for-nothing hunting dog'? BWAH!

You're on route #66! Cool!

On the top Ashburton photo you can see my place of work and the building opposite where I live. The Rose and Crown pub is now my workplace, Spar, and the little bell tower in the middle of the pic sits on top of the town hall which is right across the road from my flat. :D

[tabaqui]

Ooooh, neat.
*goes to look*

I'm totally geeking out on this. I luff history and seeing where people live.

Yis, Route 66, getcher memorabilia at the Mule Trading Post!

I like hunting dog over Ralaigh, NC but ah well.
:)

[katbcoll.livejournal.com]

So, here's waiting for manager #7 to show up. This one has to be a keeper, right?
Dude, I'll cross my toes and hope!

*laughs* I saw that Tabaqui got excited about the age of the town (and wow *mind boggles*... that is old), but I gotta say, I squeed over the Hound of the Baskervilles comment. *laughs* It was the first "non-kid" book I read (I was 8).

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

A few years ago it was the 100th anniversary or something of the Hound of the Baskervilles. The official fanclub arranged a coach trip to Dartmoor and the coaches pulled up outside our shop one summer Sunday after noon and disgorged Americans, Japanse, Germans, Danish, Italian - and others that I never got a chance to identify. They were all wearing something to identify them as part of the tour - official fan club caps, sweatshirts, teeshirts, enamel pins, etc. There were even a couple of people in deerstalker hats and others carrying Meerschaum pipes.

It was totally unexpected and highly entertaining. And very very busy. They were all so excited to be in Sherlock Holmes country. *g*

[katbcoll.livejournal.com]

*cracks up* I'd have loved to have watched the tourists!

[batmanvinnie.livejournal.com]

Aw, that sucks. *hugs* Maybe your next manager will be cool. Good luck!
And wow, that is an old town! Any ghosts? Or you know, legends of ghosts?

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hope #7 is a keep, I really do. Thanks!

Oh, we can do better than ghosts - we have a murderous little water sprite called Kutty Dyer who lives under a bridge in town (I can see it from my window) and is said to have a fondness for naughty children and drunks. If they wander over the bridge after nightfall, he cuts their throats and drinks their blood. :D

I was told of the legend within a week of moving to town, proving that it's still an active tale and not simply an old legend. *g*

There's also Jay's Grave, just outside of town. Quoting from the Ashbucket website:

It is believed that she committed suicide after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. In keeping with tradition she had to be buried at the nearest crossroads rather than in the consecrated ground of a parish church cemetery.

In 1860, James Bryant, a road mender, discovered bones in a rough grave and it was at first supposed they were that of an animal. When it was discovered they were from a young woman, his wife vaguely remembered a story told to her by her own mother about an orphan girl who hanged herself. The bones were reburied in their present position and to this day fresh flowers appear daily on her grave, creating their own mystery, as nobody knows who does this caring deed.

I have no idea if the flowers really do appear daily, but it's a lovely thought.

For other local legends you could check out this link (http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/) - there are oodles!

[batmanvinnie.livejournal.com]

*spazzes out*
Oh my god! That is so freakin' awesome! My Dad is Danish and knows all these stories from the small island he's from about a lot of young girls who, if pregnant out of wedlock, would kill themselves. Which is kinda ironic because now Denmark is way liberal and they sell wedding dresses with matching baptism gowns for the baby.

But thats cool! Man, I have to visit England (not just London).
I think for a definative answer on ghosts, they should ask Royal Family members. Because they are raised in old houses where lots of people died.
Um, okay, 'nough rambling.
Bye!

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Damn!! ain't that always the way?!

*Sends hugs and sympathy...*

*Keeps fingers crossed for you*

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Thanks!

I have received news that we are getting a temporary replacement who is ex-army, and, having dated a couple of that particular breed, I am braced for just about anything from total psycho to raving loony. *g*

We shall have to see.