Be Careful What You Wish For

First things first: I hope you had a nice Christmas, whatever you did. I did absolutely nothing. So it was, well, a weekend. Meh. At least it was two days off.

As for work, I've been dreading the return. I managed two hours of picking a delivery and then, to my absolute glee, I was able to crack on with my online training.

I am learning all about the storage of oily fish. Thirty minutes in, I ate my lunch. Then I drank my "afternoon" coffee. I'm cold, restless and falling asleep. And there's still four hours left of my work day. 

Not really, I'd prefer to lie outside in the rain. 

I cracked and bought an energy drink. Actually I bought a box of four since I'll be at this all week, and probably another few weeks after that.

I went into my café! It was... anticlimactic. They were very pleased to see me and clearly enthusiastic to have a manager. My boss asked me to get a few things sorted and they jumped to it... but the resources needed were awol. I can't sort their overdue rotas, nor their holiday requests, partly because I'm lacking the knowledge of who in my team can do what, and partly I don't have access. Did I mention I still don't have a contract? This supermarket really is chaotic.

I've also been tasked with rearranging the dog food displays. Except I haven't been trained on where to find the correct documents to do that. I'm sure it's in the very-extensive training pile of dogshit that I haven't yet found my way through. Sigh. My pile of nonsensical technobabble jargonistic email is enormous, I've no idea which things actually involve me or matter to me personally. Dozens pile in daily, all of them are either forwarded from people somewhere up high in the food chain or are sent to every manager in the store. I am yet to understand a single email and I've just learned that a complete reset is due in my café in four days, including ordering necessary stock and cleaning and maintaining all equipment in the kitchen. I've never even been in the kitchen let alone know what's in there or how it works.

I really just want to quit and leave... work has been less physically horrible this week, as I knew it would be once Christmas was out of the way, but the more I learn about the mountain I will need to climb, the more I feel that I am not up to the task, and the less I actually feel there's any structure to teach it to me.

Sad times: My regular Olio pickup has been cancelled as they found a charity to do it instead. Bummer. I'm on the lookout for another one.

Absolutely Ideal

I come home and discover I've accidentally left the hot water system on. Great, I think, because I am exhausted and sore and this means I won't have to wait an hour for the water to heat up! So I start running my bath. And it's... stone cold. Water heater has died.

This led to me not hating today.

To be fair it is probably older than me but this is less than ideal. Nobody ever really wants to spend several hundred quid on a new system. I suppose they can at least install an energy-efficient one and put good insulation on it while they're at it. In late January, I expect. It's going to be weeks of wet cloths for me, and washing my hair in a bucket.

Work: Same. Tired, sore, bored, apprehensive about what they're going to throw at me in New Year. I just... fldfsdyjpht. Today my "project" didn't happen and I spent a lot of time working stock, but it was pleasant enough with people to chat to and an ok vibe as it's Christmas Eve.

I did an Olio pickup from Old Sister Store since I knew there would be a lot of food, and... there was a lot of food. Three bags of bread which will be ignored, 30 salads which will be ignored, a dozen ignorable sandwiches. But it did answer the question, which was, "What am I having for Christmas lunch?" and it turns out I'll be having a ham salad, chicken satay, meat pies, chili bean soup, and a cheese toastie. Or at the very least, that's what I can choose from. I also have a trifle (I can't not buy one of those), scotch eggs, pork pies, several kinds of cheese and crackers, several mini cakes, crisps, fruit, mince pies and chocolate. Also a bottle from work which was my Christmas thank you gift.

Currently watching: Labyrinth.

I Cannot Say...

...that today was good. It was only ok, which is generous. I ended up wearing jeans and my steel-capped boots, mostly because I no longer care to adhere to "office attire". My back had had QUITE enough after two hours of tinned food work. I then had to avoid The Taskmaster (otherwise known as the grocery manager) before I could be assigned to more stock work. Pain level is a 6/10 which is the best I've had since the first day.

Five hours was spent on "my project", which, it turns out, isn't terrible. It is "look a list up on the pc, print that out, then walk up and down every aisle with a trolley to pick items missed by the home delivery pickers". I then need to locate the correct (heavy) crate and put the items in place. IQ required, approximately 50. It allows me to not stand still, and hey, it's something to do. Most importantly it is generally an excuse for why I can't be pulled away to do something else. It's mentally exhausting to always try to find some task to do simply to avoid being seconded elsewhere, always on guard in case they randomly assign you some shitty new pleb job, never knowing how long you are "safe" on your boring current task. And let me tell you, the entire day was boring. As boring as bat shit. This is a new low, in that I am ridiculously pleased just to have a trolley to push up and down every aisle for hours on end, and there is the prospect that this might be "my specialty" for another week.

All free from Olio.
(Poinsettia was free too, from Old Work.)

My feet, only being sore rather than in agony, decided it was ok to bulk shop on non-perishables to take advantage of the last day of the 20% off. I did manage to exhaust myself putting it all in the car, having not had the brains to either get enough boxes or bring my shopping bags... but just shy of £150 went through the till so I've saved £30. And yes, I know that spending £120 is not saving 😁 but I did it anyway, just in case I ragequit in the next few weeks and need to survive off... erm, bananas, expired milk and tiger bread? You see, I also sat down at Lunch Break #2 (don't ask) and saw a bunch of Olio items offered, and there were enough items from one person that it was worth the little detour to pick them all up. Look at my goodies! 😍 

I was even in a good enough mood to decide to treat myself for dinner. So I went with a deep-pan pizza and garlic bread, and am now stuffed, for the grand total of £1.

My interest-free period ends on one of my credit cards next month, so time to redraw from my loan to pay it out. Touch wood I'll get another interest-free offer in a few months' time to save a bit more on interest. I can afford things if not, but it'd be nice to save the extra.

Clock-Watching

I'm not even through my second week. I am bored, tired, irritated, in pain, and not enjoying this job in any way. The most irritating part of today was the fact that I forgot my watch, meaning I was not even able to clock-watch.

New boss promised me a project starting today, but new project did not start and I was given two enormous pallets of... pet food. Then the guy from pet food arrived, thanked me profusely and told me to leave the rest. Leaving me... aimless. Asking for something to do is a bad idea because it'll be heavy lifting. So I literally walked up and down each aisle tidying up and pulling cardboard off the shelf to flatten it into a trolley. I even mopped a dirty patch of floor, even though we have a cleaner.

I ate my lunch like a zombie, and went back later for a snack in the canteen just for something to do. It's open and there is nowhere quiet to sit. I'm entitled to my breaks, but when nobody else takes them, I look like I'm sitting about. Note to self: sit in the corner of my café after New Year, where nobody will see me except café staff.

The worst part is that I am pretty dang sure that this "new project" will involve 1 minute of scanning something with a device then 59 minutes of working stock (repeated ad nauseum). Still, that will be one extra minute of brain activation than I get right now.

Bring on January. I'm contemplating making my team deliberately short-staffed so that I am REQUIRED to be there to help in my own department and not anywhere else. I said I did not want a role where I'd be in a kitchen full-time; but I much prefer that to working stock on the shop floor!

Food for thought: I wonder if they'd be shocked if I quit? They're all very aware that I'm being treated like a shop-floor pleb. They probably realise I don't enjoy this work.

Related: How many years left until I can retire?

I should have stocked up on non-perishables while it's 20% off but I am just too OVER being in that building by the time my shift finally, finally ends...

Several Silly Choices

I've taken on a permanent weekly pickup for Olio, in Old Sister Store. This wasn't about socialising but equal parts thriftiness, selfishness and environmental-consciousness. Old Sister Store hasn't had a regular, reliable food collection in a long time and since I know there is usually a lot of food, I figured why not. Sadly, I'm working until 10pm on Christmas Eve so there is no chance of me collecting a BUMPER food haul from any of the stores ahead of being shut for the bank holiday. Oh well.

My last collection didn't have a single person want anything that was on offer!

Pugsley has passed his MOT without costing me anything extra. But he's not in good shape under the surface, has some structural rust happening which would need welding in a year or two, and it's probably best that I sell him while he has some value left.

Very Christmassy.

While waiting for said MOT I foolishly wandered into a charity shop, "just to see". Famous last words. But I did come away with what might be my ideal Christmas jumper so I am quite pleased. Isn't he cute? I also bought a completely frivolous set of mini battery lights for 50p. Then I got home and realised I don't have a place to use them 😆

Also, my work had a yellow-stickered scented candle for £1.50 so I picked it up and had a sniff and OMIGOD IT'S DIVINE. I then scooped up the whole lot (13 of them) and was about to buy them all when my colleague reminded me that the 20% colleague discount deal was about to start. He has kindly stashed them for me and I'll buy them tomorrow. Speaking of which, I must stock up on... um... well I don't know yet. But something. Loo roll, maybe coffee, and whatever else I need regularly which isn't likely to turn up for free. Probably stuff like hand soap, dish liquid and so on.

Dinner: barbecue chicken pasta (free). Also several pastries, which I should have left alone.

Dead Feet

From being on them, the entire day. This is not what I signed up for. Even though I rebelled and wore my old comfy trainers today, I'm now in agony. I was pulled away from my Awesome Buddy and ended up doing nine hours of heavy wine work today, and I am Not. Impressed. 

Another manager remarked that café managers tend to get dragged all over the shop "because there isn't much to do in the café". She herself spent all day working fruit and vegetable cages. And I see my lovely buddy manager spending all day stocking the display tables and promotion racks with crates and crates of warehouse products. This is work that the general store staff could be doing at a much lower pay grade. I don't get it. If it's for Christmas rush, fine, but if this is the answer to "what the managers do when they aren't at a desk" then I am not sure it's what I want.

It's a waiting game to find out.

Free food from my Olio collection: Not much. Pastries, veg sausages, pasta salad, bread. And not much interest from anyone else, either, which is unsurprising. Still, it's a few meals at least.

Spenderella Cut It Up One Time

Having a new job is costing me money. Mainly I'm soothe-spending all the awkwardness and not-quite-comfortable-ness that's par for the course when you embark on something new. Sigh.

Good: I have resisted buying any Christmas garb. Work has given me a lovely warm Christmas top.

Bad: I'm cold at work in my office trousers and I bought some thick tights to go underneath. £5

Good: Today I used a travel cup from home to take an iced coffee into work and it was refreshing in mid-afternoon when I was flagging (hours of online training take a toll on the brain).

Good/Bad: My Ikea flavoured water bottle is too big and awkward for work, so I bought two smaller bottles. £8.

Good/Bad: Being rota'd as that day's duty manager is going to mean "on feet all day", so I've decided I will buy all-black trainers. Quite frankly I have done my time waking up still in pain during my last job, so office-type shoes can do one. I will probably also need dedicated trainer-style steel-capped shoes for when I'm actually in the kitchen of my cafe, but I think work will pay for those.

Good/Bad: So far I haven't spent on new running trainers yet OR a new gym membership... erm... I am hoping that after New Year I'll get to carve out time for the gym and a yoga class every week.

Good: I resisted buying new lunch boxes. (What is this - why am I patting myself on the back for not spending? Not spending should be normal!)

Bad: I'm buying food. This shouldn't be a sin, but I also feel like I'm eating a lot, too. I somehow feel like I need umpteen snack items or I'm missing out? Also chocolate. Whatever. At least having All The Snacks means I'm not buying meal deals. ££

Bad: I haven't got my staff discount in place yet and I've started spending anyway...

Bad: A whole barbecue chicken was bought today, when my freezer is most-assuredly not empty of protein. I'm justifying it by saying that I ate it with freebie veg. And the chicken was at least reduced. £3.72

My last post was pretty negative so on balance I really should note that everyone seems nice. My shadowee for this week is awesome, so there's that.

Time Flies.

It only seems like a month ago that they did the fire test but here we are again with the bi-annual check. Plenty of jumping out of my seat each time! And the roof work continues.

My first day of work was both awesome and a complete anti-climax. I'm shadowing people for the time being. I'm not correctly set up in the system just yet and my contract is not even done. I've then had two days off as my "weekend". It's been decided that I'll learn the "duty manager" stuff first, so I'll have about three weeks of just general managing the shop floor. The "awesome" part is not having any real responsibility or pressure until new year. 😊 

I'm both relieved and a bit ergh. I'm surprised by how much shop floor work I'll need to do which isn't in the cafe. I don't have my own office, all the PCs are shared and it seems they spend very little time on them. Someone also told me that they never take their breaks. This got to me in my last job, the "working extra time without pay" thing.

The staff canteen area is cold, clinical and impersonal, nowhere to put my own coffee mug, my own teabags. My handbag is an annoyance to stash in the manager's office (which doesn't get locked). There's not a proper way to store things cold (tiny fridge shared by 200+ staff) although I did see there's a micro and a toaster available. I think I've even got to pay for coffee and tea, although my shadowee did give me a latte for nothing today and didn't seem to pay for his own. Maybe I'm overreacting in finding it all a bit odd. Or maybe, you know, I'd hoped to actually see inside my cafe and meet a couple of my 21 staff? 

I think my real fear is related to being on my feet. The only thing you can do if you're not in an office is be on your feet. I don't want to work on my feet nine hours a day. I was hoping I had graduated out of that.

Time will tell.

I will give it a few months and see how I feel.

Not Much

So I did the Olio collection at my old work on Saturday night. I was hoping to get a good whack of salad and maybe some fruit (since that's the best you can hope for most of the time). There wasn't much in the way of salad, just a million bags of carrot batons, which really don't keep and look sad and depressed before they're even out of date.

But I've decided to grant the salad my forgiveness because omidog the sheer amount of everything else. I can only keep 10% and I still ended up with pears, kiwifruit, lemons, the aforementioned carrots, a tray of roasting veg, baby potatoes, mixed peppers, tzatziki, one solitary salad (yay!), a whole lettuce, bread rolls, a tiger baton, salmon fishcakes, chicken kievs, bangers & mash, more mash, sandwiches, pastries, milk and sausages.

I'm still amazed that there was any protein there at all let alone so much of it. It's a good thing I've been eating out of my freezer lately and had space.

Note to self, say yes to Olio on a Saturday night at Old Work. And I think I'll change my mind and consider committing to a regular slot nearby at sister store. If I can get one decent collection like that per fortnight, I can probably avoid shopping. Crazy.

Actual Proper Dinner

Omelette, corn on the cob, green beans, radishes and sage & onion stuffing.

The only thing which was remotely in-date was the double cream that I threw into the omelette to use it up. Still, it's all tasty and perfectly edible. I only discovered that you can cook radishes this week. Not sure I would call them amazing but they count as a cooked vegetable and it's less food going into the bin (sadly about half were beyond salvation... but then again, they were free).

I'm off to do the Olio collection tonight as a one-off to cover for someone who usually does my old store. Will be nice to say hello to my old colleagues and fingers crossed I get some fruit and veg to fill up my fridge again, since it's now looking pretty bare.

Have spent some time rearranging my mountains of crap, ahem, my worldly belongings. I own too much stuff. I really need to figure out what isn't worth keeping!

I Splashed Out

Today I spent £47.10 in charity shops, on "office" suitable clothing. I already own a serviceable pair of black trousers and nice black shoes, so that's something, but since I haven't had an office job in a long time I was struggling to put any outfits together for next week.

I have come home with nine tops and four cardigans, some of which can be mixed and matched. We won't mention the two cardigans I bought which are a little bit too small... ahem, they can go in the "aspirational" pile. Anyway, by my reckoning I now have 12 outfits which I can rotate.

I found a nice mechanic to replace my car horn and he only charged me £24, which was a great deal considering it was rusted and corroded and needed rewiring. Glad I got that sorted out before my MOT (which is coming up in three weeks).

Big spender: 10p on two table knives! (How do knives go missing?)