Is it the Job or the Workers who are Killin' Me?! in A New Beginning

I’m pretty sure it’s the co-workers, because I genuinely love my job. It’s not that common a thing for people to love their jobs, methinks, and perhaps the reason is that everyONE and everyTHING conspires in an effort to turn good, enthusiastic people off of whatever-the-hell they’re doing. What’s your experience of this in YOUR life?
Anyhow…there’s supposed to be “teamwork” in my workplace. It gets talked about, mainly when we interview people to fill positions and then that’s the last we hear of it. There’s not very much damn teamwork! Though it IS a lot better this year, I’ll admit. Last year we had this one worker, Connie, who was about to retire after 25 years, and although she had been a really good worker for most of that time, she had had her fill of it and decided to spend her last year doing as little as possible. Plus, a couple years before that, we’d gotten a new cook who also did as little as possible. PLUS, whereas some of the managers I’ve known pride themselves on being “working managers,” our manager certainly is not one of them! Her and the lazy-ass Cook spent most of the time standing in the kitchen, leaning on a table talking while watching the rest of us sweat over serving lunches. And then if I, having an exceptionally hard day, ever came off the lunch line looking tired and sweaty and said something about being exhausted, this bozo would raise her eyebrows and ask me, “Why? You’re just serving!” I KID YOU NOT!
It changed my attitude in various ways, I can tell you! For one thing, I would never have called a woman a bozo before! “Bozo,” to my mind, was always a term for men. I just didn’t see even the most annoying women in that light. But now I do, and by golly, I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em!
Anyhow, this year has been better in one way. The worker who was going to retire did, and a new woman got hired who is a great person and a hard worker. She and the lazy cook trade off. Every month they switch jobs; one is Cook and one is Baker. Since our new worker WORKS, the manager has nobody to stand and lean on a table and talk to whilst I work my ass off! So…I’m workin’ my ass off, but with no audience except the kids in my lunch line, and I MUCH prefer them to a couple of lazy-ass co-workers who wouldn’t lift a finger to help you even if someone threatened to kill them most likely! ;o)
But every year has a challenge (or two, or ten) and this year it’s SUBSTITUTE WORKERS. When the year started, we had two workers out on short-term disability. Everyone thought we were lucky that there were two new women on the sub list…both older women who were retired from food service. Wellllllllllll one of them turned out to be (in the words of one of the kids, but we all agreed with the kid) “a rude bitch.” Seriously! She was! She snipped and snapped at everyone and had way too many negative words for everything. AND HER WORK WAS NOT ALL THAT GOOD!! I was always having to set her line up for her and do some of her cleaning, just to make sure it got done!
The other lady who is retired is a good worker, so as luck would have it she had to be out for three weeks for eye surgery!!!! :oO !!!!
And since it is not uncommon for other workers to sometimes be out also, we’ve had soooo much of this other sub, Alison, and ALISON IS A ROYAL PAIN IN MY ASS. And this month, she is my assistant server all frickin’ month!! OMG, she aggravates me so much. She’s not rude or a bitch at all; she just annoys people by having all these weird mannerisms. Like what, you might ask. Like standing next to me not doing anything, but keeping up a constant “cheering section” banter while I work. Oh yea, you can bet I really enjoy that! Or like, whenever I see that something she SHOULD have noticed needs doing, and move to do it, she’ll be all like “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!!” One time she actually told me to calm down!!!! Which, when I told the others about it, made them all laugh (and of course I knew it would), because everyone knows that I DO NOT CALM DOWN. ;o) At least not at work! And my response to it was a snarly “Calm down, my ass!”
Oy. Well, ya know though, writing this has been therapeutic! I feel immensely better now. And ya know something else? I still love my job, even those people I told you about. Hey, I’m glad they’re not in my family....but I do love ‘em! ;o)