A More Positive Outlook

I am exhausted.

My throat hurts.

My muscles are sore.

The stress of being totally and completely in charge is getting to me.

The meeting was OK. The store manager agreed with everything I wrote on the disciplinary papers, simply signing her name next to mine before we took the semi-manager into the office area to talk. It took 20 minutes or so. She knew she was in trouble even before we asked her to come with us; she only made a couple of excuses. She cried a little, disappointed in herself and realizing that this makes her chances of ever being promoted even slimmer. That is, if she makes it past the probationary period.

Everything the manager said was perfectly worded and well thought out. I didn't say much because she covered everything. I'm not exactly sure why I was there. I suspect one of two things. It might have been to reinforce my authority as the semi-manager's manager, or it might have been as a witness in case the semi-manager lost it or tries to say anything against the store manager later on. Or perhaps some of both. But anyway, it went OK.

I had some decent people working today and the incompetent cashier was a little more self-sufficient than normal. Someone called to check on the status of their application; usually that annoys me but in this case, I couldn't find the application and the person had 2 years of experience in our rather specialized field, so I had her come in to fill out another application and interview with me. A call to the store manager, and she's hired! All right! Just one experienced person makes me feel better about the staffing issues. With our "now hiring" sign up, hopefully we'll fill the other positions soon.