Weekend Job Update

So, I mentioned on a New Year's blog entry that I am a part-time employee at this place on the weekends, and have been there now for almost eleven years (March will make it officially 11, technically, if I am still there).

This is a nice, clean place, with mostly friendly people. It is a place of business, and on the weekends, it's generally quiet. A few years ago, when I worked in a school, and when my son was even younger, still a baby, or beginning to be a toddler, this was almost my quiet refuge. Back then, I had a schedule that I believe was ideal for the amount of hours that I worked. Friday overnights, and then Sundays, 11am until 11pm.

The twelve hour shifts were cool, so long as you knew that your whole day was committed to the place. It was decent money. And the overnight shift on Friday was pretty cool. Usually, it was quiet. I could listen to music, catch up on personal things, read a book, whatever. Most of the time, it was quiet enough that I would almost just be hanging out, surfing the internet, or even watching movies on DVD. Yes, that kind of a job. And I would get out at 7am, and go home to crash for a few hours. Maybe by around 10:30 or 11am, or even noon if I was particularly tired, I would get up and go about my day, knowing that I had not slept so much that it would adversely affect my night's sleep later on. Again, it was ideal!

Then, on Super Bowl weekend in 2008 (when the Giants upended the previously unbeaten Patriots), things changed. My schedule changed, and I now worked both Saturday and Sunday, twelve hours. It was exhausting, and i was nervous about it. A new company had come in, and the hiring process in December was very strange, and everyone felt unsettled. The new boss was a Class A asshole, frankly (please excuse my language, but he really was). He was strict with the men to such a ridiculous level, scrutinizing every little thing, down to a fault. But with women, he was...well, different. Very flirty, always smiling. I wanted to call someone, to let them know how this guy was. it was absurd! He told everyone there that they did not need to listen to the holdover supervisors (which included me), because they had "nothing to say about this site". We banged heads a couple of times, although I stuck with the job responsibilities, strictly, and did not back down. Gave him no openings, tried not to make any mistakes for him to exploit. Within four months, he had gotten in an apparently serious argument with an employee there during the weekdays, and was banned from the site that day.

Things improved after that, but that was a sign of things to come. It would take time, but things would grow worse, ultimately.

But in the meantime, there was a period of a few years of relative calm. Things seemed to improve. I got used to the extra hours on the weekends, that effectively killed my weekends. But, if I really wanted to do something, I could take time out. This was done for vacations, as well as specific plans. It was not ideal, perhaps, but it was workable. I coped.

Then, on November of 2011, things changed once again. Once again, it was for the worse.

The manager had screwed up, and she had allowed an incriminating trail of paperwork. It was a whole big thing, but long story short, the new management held everyone of us accountable for not having gone forward to talk to them and reveal all of this to them. Never mind that such an action would have cost us our job.

Changes were made, and the weekend crew lost the twelve hour shifts, as these were reduced to eight hour shifts. That gave me more freedom, true - but it also meant a significant reduction in pay. We're talking 1/3 less in salary- each weekend, each month, each year. And the crackdown phase was only beginning. Every weekend, with few exceptions, there were emails where managers (by this point, the manager positions were beginning to seem like revolving door positions, so numerous were the different managers) would crack the whip and warn all of us about policies that were broken and such, because a few of the employees had apparently broken them. For a while, it seemed that we would get several such emails every single weekend, and it was annoying.

Two years went by like this, and we made our adjustments. But then, a new manager came.

This guy wanted to remove part-time employees. He had a history of doing so at his other sites, and was intent on doing so here. He met with resistance early on, and so was stalled from being able to do it for a little while. But later, he would use this time to justify his desired ends, claiming that in that time, he had observed that our work force was divided, not a cohesive unit. There were the full-timers on the weekdays, and the part-timers on the weekends, and according to him, they did not work together, as one whole working unit.

Now, mind you (and this is not a minor point), he had never met anyone on the weekend shift when he put these claims on paper. One of our guys had seen him come into the office, but he literally had not said a word to anyone the entire time. No, I am not exaggerating - not a single word. He's not the most personable guy, to say the least.

In any case, right around Christmastime, he began the process of letting the part-timers on the weekends go. Guys that had been there for years, almost a decade in one case, were gone. Simply taken off the schedule, and not even notified with a phone call. Just not on the schedule any longer. When they called this manager, they were told to turn everything work related in, and literally, clear out your lockers.

One guy was given the courtesy of a phone call, on a Friday evening. This was before his overnight shift on Friday night to Saturday morning. He was called, and told he was fired. Then, maybe about an hour later, he was asked if he would come in to work that shift after all, as they had not managed to find anyone to work it. But, he would have to turn everything in immediately after the shift ended. That is still a source of anger among the entire workforce now, and serves as a glaring example of the complete lack of professionalism.

And now, only the supervisors are left from the part-time crew. We are gradually being replaced, and they are now officially training new guys as supervisors. Most everyone involved figures we have maybe a few weeks left, if that.

I am trying to remain positive. Indeed, I am thankful for having worked there eleven years, which is far and away the longest I have worked at any one place, in my nearly forty years of existence. It was a great gig for a part-time job. A decent salary at a pleasant place, and I have made some good friends there. In fact, I still like my fellow coworkers. And I want to remind myself that I have plenty to be grateful for.

That said, there is no denying that the old enthusiasm, when I would literally look forward to my overnight Fridays into Saturday shift, is long gone. Now, when the time comes for me to head over there, it is with a sense of dread. The work environment is just miserable. Morale is lower here and now than any other place I have worked at - and I can assure you that that is saying something, because I'll admit to having worked some miserable jobs in my day!

In any case, I'm still there (for now!). Everyone has their opinion about what we should do. People have called superiors, as well as other people in position of power. Some have met them in person, and some have written letters. I intend to write a letter myself, and started to this past week, although I got sidetracked when one of the other supervisors did so himself. Still, I will write that letter, and send it off soon.

One guy, my main coworker, can often be aggressive and angry, and he was yelling that what we (the supervisors) needed to do was to just stop showing up. these new supervisors that have no experience, let them test the waters while still unproven. Don't give them the time to replace you, he says.

Easy for him to say. He doesn't have a child to feed and house. It might feel undignified to work in such an environment, I totally agree. But, it's still money, and none of us are exactly rich. We need that money. Also, so long as we have a job there, there's still a fighting chance. Seems to me that organizing some massive call-off would be giving them exactly what they want: an excuse for their itchy trigger fingers.

What to do? Hell, if you, the reader, have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions. I don't know. Just trying to hang on, trying to keep m chin up and hold myself with dignity, and not grovel or moan or anything. Wanted to talk about it a bit here, because sometimes, writing things can be therapeutic, and this has been weighing on me for quite some time now (since November, when this new manager arrived).

It may be that the end is near. I just want to hang on until hopefully at least Super Bowl weekend. If you know me, or have followed my blogs, you know that I am a big fan of the Super Bowl, and even remember every Super Bowl score, and can describe more or less what happened in every Super Bowl contest. You might think I take off each year, but I don't  In fact, i have watched each of the last ten Super Bowls from this workplace. I'm hoping to make it eleven two weeks from today.

Wish me luck!