My Super Fun Day

I had such a great day today, that I thought I would share it with all of you. And fair warning, yes, I am being sarcastic.

As usual, I woke up at 6:00 am this morning. My routine is to get the kettle going first thing. This is followed by two scoops of coffee in the French Press (I like to use a mix of dark roast and espresso), and these days some rolled oats in a bowl, with some cinnamon and brown sugar. Turn on the TV in the living room, and start watching SportsCentre with Jay and Dan. A few minutes later when the kettle boils, hot water goes into the French Press and the bowl. Eat breakfast and enjoy my morning coffee, followed by a shower and off to work. I am usually out the door about 7:45 and at work around 8:00 am. I am not a morning person so the slow pace suits me well.

This morning I had to stop by the North Campus to pick up the ready to go items we sell, boxed sandwiches and salads, snack boxes and that kind of thing. From a business standpoint, it makes sense to have these things made at the main campus, it's also on my way to my campus and allows me to combine visits. I do a pick-up twice a week and usually I have to wait for 10 or 15 minutes as they put the finishing touches on the items I have ordered. This works well, as it gives me some face time with my boss and allows me to visit with the staff at the North Campus. They have a great group of people there, and I probably would not be writing this blog if I was the Chef Manager there.

Making the stop at North Campus means that I don't get South Campus until about 8:30 am. I learned a long time ago, that it is very important to say high to everyone you work with as you come into work. This may seam like a waste of time, but trust me, it's super important. Everyone, and I mean everyone, wants to be acknowledged, taking a few minutes to greet everyone by name can make a significant difference in the general mood of a workplace. When you do this, you are telling each and every individual that they are important. I do this every day. I also think it is important to say goodnight/goodbye/see you tomorrow to everyone as they leave. I am trying to get my staff to do this and while I have seen great improvement in the morning greetings, the end of day is still an issue.

It apears most everyone is in a good mood and off to a good start this morning. And then I get to the Pizza station. We have had a difficult time finding someone to work this station, there are a number of reasons and I'll save those stories for a page of their own. To make a long story short, we had to move some staff between campuses and I now have a full time pizza person. She has been with us for a few days now and has mentioned a few times that she is very ahppy to be here.

This morning, she is not happy. I have been told that t-shirts are available for the pizza station, but every-time I try to order them, I am informed they are out of stock. I know they have some at North Campus, and my new employee and I agreed that she should grab a shirt from there. Turns out when she dropped by to pick up a shirt, the Chef Manager there was not very nice, and told her she could not have a shirt.

I probably get at least one phone call, or email a day from the North Campus Chef Manager asking me if I can lend her product because she did not order enough. Just the day before she emailed me looking for pizza dough. So, considering how often I bail her ass out, refusing to provide an employee with a t-shirt, and being an ass about it was completely uncalled for.

My pizza girl also informs me that she is not getting enough hours with the schedule I have given her. Not an unreasonable request, just one more thing to add to the growing number of things I need to do.

Fun times my friends, fun times.

As soon as my ass hits my desk chair, I have one of my staff from our sandwich bar calling my name. Turns out, we are completely out of red onions and almost out of green peppers. And somehow, no-one noticed this yesterday. I patiently explain to my staff, that they need to be aware of how much product is on hand at all times. If someone had noticed and mentioned it yesterday, I could have called our produce supplier and had a delivery first thing in the morning. Now, I have to take time out of my day, to go and pick up produce from the local grocery store, time I don't really have. It's now just after 9:00 am, and I have not been able to do any of my normal morning work stuff, and did I mention it's cold and wet outside? 

Oh and one more thing, on my way in yesterday, I got a call that we had no tomatoes. Due to the fact that our pizza and sandwich stations are branded/franchised, we have to order from approved suppliers. Unfortunately, my deliveries are consistently inconsistent with regard to timing.  Normally, our produce order comes in early, unfortunately, everything came in late yesterday. More on that later.

Fortunately, the closest grocery store is a newly renovated store, and it's only about a 5 minute drive away. Unfortunately, when I arrive back to work, my phone is wringing off the hook. I know it's not a delivery, because I park near the loading dock, and I debate letting it go to voicemail. Call display tells me it's North Campus, so I pick up. It turns out it's my boss, they have had a number of people call in sick this week and it looks like they will be short staffed again tomorrow. As a result, they need will need my pizza person tomorrow. That's just fan-freakin-tastic

And the fun just keeps coming.

To be continued ...