Tuesday, April 3, 2012

A Few New Storylines

Guess who's still alive!

It's me.

Anyway, I know my last few posts were kind of boring & mentioned how I was just kind of at the end of my rope as far as stuff going on in my life. The depression & anxiety were completely taking over & making me completely worthless. I still struggle with that for sure, but it's improved greatly. For one thing, I started taking a new anti-depressant. The one I had been initially prescribed a few months ago prevented me from sleeping & actually caused me to become so emotionally numb that I began cutting, which I had never done before. Luckily I was smart enough to not do it in a visible place & instead used a safety pin on the inside of my thighs. Anyway, I obviously got prescribed a new medication. However, this one makes me really nauseous & messes up my sleep as well. If anything, I think just pushing through & relying on my inner strength is what has made the difference. And even though you readers may not be Christians, reading the Bible has helped as well. So there's that.

So on another note, my new career/school venture I'm wanting to pursue is to become a crime scene investigator. It's appealing to me because I could use my attention to detail (being anal retentive) for good. I also wouldn't have to interact with living people a whole lot which is a humongous plus in my book. Now I just need to find a school.

However, what I initially came here to write about is something that has come completely out of nowhere. Of the 3 storylines I'm writing about in this post, this is probably the most entertaining, as well as the most sudden. You see, my job has started a new policy effective yesterday that any time two or more shift supervisors are working at the same time, only one of them gets paid as a shift supervisor. The rest get paid $1 less as a team member. This happens when the store manager is there as well, even if he's just in the back doing admin stuff. When I found out I flipped. The main reason for this is because when I was hired, I was told I would be making a certain amount because of my customer service experience. That ended up not happening, but whatever. Then I got my yearly raise of $0.50. Then I got my promotion which was $1. All of that is well & good, except for the fact that all of the newer team members have been hired at a wage that was much higher than I was (different management). THAT means that when I'm forced to be a team member, I'm making less than every single new team member, despite the fact that I've been there for a year & a half & most of the staff we have now has been there about 3 months. We are all majorly pissed because it's like we're being punished for doing our jobs well. Even yesterday I had to clock in as a team member for 15 minutes because the manager was there for a little bit after me. I said to him, & I quote, "This is so fucking stupid." I'm classy & respectful.

Anyway, since I fancy myself an activist & am kind of spiteful, I called corporate to get a better understanding of their logic on this. The woman I spoke to (who I've talked to before) said that it was to allow shift supervisors to work more hours as team members, since it will cut back on shift supervisor overlap. Since our manager has been trying to be helpful to all of the new people he's hired by hiring them at a higher wage than the last managers did, it's screwed over his shift supervisor team. However, the HR lady said that we aren't required to work as team members. But that just means we'll have less hours total. So either way, we're screwed.

I was all gung-ho about finding a new job so I started a search today. Using a connection, I applied to be a part-time bank teller. I might also apply to some independent coffee shops &, as a last resort, Starbucks. 

Depending on what happens with a new job, I might quit Caribou. I also might stay & just work a few shifts a week as a way to get some extra cash. It all depends on where I get a new job, the hours, how much I make, & how some other issues at work end up playing out.

I should update more to prevent these really long posts.