Hemroid Harry

At Wally World we had a worker throw a hissy fit last week and walk out in the middle of his shift because management wanted him to work. This morning another worker decided to wander around the store instead of doing what he was told. The night before, the big boss had to tell another worker to stop standing around and get to work. These people would not have lasted a week at the Hemroid Harry School of Management, Maintenance and Medicine.

Hemroid Harry was the floor boss and lead mechanic at the bottled water company I worked for in the 80s and 90s. Among the phrases he was known for was “You owe me 15 minutes, chief.” which every tardy employee heard no matter where he was on the property. If you were standing around it was “What the F@#$ is the problem, chief?” If you didn’t have a good answer for that question it was “Hit the road, chief.” Hemroid Harry wasted no time with slackers.

Hard to get help, small business edition.

I had to get gas earlier this week. When I went in to pay, I noticed a help wanted sign on the door. I remembered seeing the same sign up just before Thanksgiving because it was just after I went to get gas after work one day and the store was closed. It turned out that the guy who was supposed to open the store overslept and didn’t show up until 10 o’clock. I asked the clerk if they managed to get any help and she said a girl was supposed to start yesterday and didn’t show up or even call.

I had to go back to Indy this afternoon, so I went to the independent pizza place and got lunch. The sign on the door said their hours were reduced because of a lack of help. The restaurant across the street closed last summer due to a lack of help and had a sign in its window announcing an auction for the equipment. I wonder how people are getting by if they are not working.

Branch manager

I have a large wood lot that needs serious cutting. Most of it is too small for a chainsaw, but too large for a weedeater. At least when the brush is cut, my new wood chipper will cut it down to size. I will get some fertilizer for the garden. Since I could use some wood ash as well, I will start the fireplace for the first time as well. With the temperatures dropping to normal, it would be as good a time as any.

Rehab

They are waxing the breakroom floor at Wally World. While prepping the floor Amy Winehouse’s song ” Rehab” played on the radio. It brings back memories of my last job. When news of her tragic death spread around the plant, we all started singing “She don’t have to go to rehab any more, more,more.” Yes we were a bunch of sick puppies.

Power Outage.

I was just about to get off work when the power went off at Wally World. The place was nearly dark so we were trying to find the flashlight button on our devices, only to find out the devices have no button. People who used their own phone had no such problem. It turns out that the flashlight screen only shows up when you are scanning an item, which was what I was doing when the power went off.

The day crew was trying to preserve the meat and getting customers up to the checkout counters before the cash registers shut down. There is 30 minutes of backup power before the registers shut down.

When I left, the store manager was just walking in, talking on her phone, trying to figure the extent of the outage. When I left, I noticed the lights to the north were on. Most of Main Street had lights out from the tracks east to the middle of downtown. But two blocks north and south the lights were on. I guess I will find out tonight how long the power was out for.

Prospects and suspects

The boss is back from vacation. Now we will see how long our recent hires are going to last. I am sure some of them are not going to make it. Working overnights is not easy, but if you are willing to work and can keep a steady work rate, the place is not that bad.

As hard as it is to keep stockers, we can’t even keep maintenance staffed every day, forcing our team leads to be janitors two days a week. We are still two people short in stocking. The people who build displays are short one person and will lose another person to retirement in a month. With three vacancies in maintenance, we are short six people if we can keep everybody we currently have.