So, this is what happened yesterday. I have been working with the newest addition to our crew on lunch dishes. She does well with her job and she is always at a fast-pace, no matter what she is doing (ex: eating.) We are doing our thing, working together on the dishes, when the boss comes over with her lunch tray. New girl (she is much older than me as a note) says to her something about, the sink shouldn't get this full, should it? Which I find weird, considering she is the one who is at the sink washing them. Why would you point out something like that? Boss looks at me and says, I wonder who did that and winks at me. Yeah, it was me, I was putting the dishes in the sink, and the sink at that time was about half full, or empty, depending on how you want to look at it. Well, of course I know that this being pointed out has made me look bad so I amp it up a bit and make sure I keep the sink almost empty. Let me take a minute to explain the dishes line. You have 2 people, in this case, me and new girl. There is who puts the dishes from the caddies into the sink (scrapping,) there is who washes the dishes (washer, hmmm) and then there is who goes to the other end and takes the clean dishes off and puts them onto a cart (doffing.) Yes, there are 3 things for 2 people to do. I was shifting between washing and scrapping. I would scrap and if the sink got so full and new girl was on the other end doffing I would start to wash. New girl would wash and go to the other end and take them off when they were ready. That is how we have been doing it and new girl has been there about a month now. So like I said, I sped up a bit with my scrapping and washing so that the sink didn't get very full. After we have finished with dishes, boss says for us to both to come speak with her when we are done with our other things. I wondered and wondered what it could be about. I figured it was something both me and new girl were doing wrong or not good enough or whatever. Into the office, and the boss closes the door. It's always really bad when she closes the door. She looks at us both and says, so what seems to be the problem with the dishes, girls? I wasn't aware of a problem so I just look at her and shrug. New girl doesn't say or do anything. Of course, she was already clued in. Boss says that I am working poor new girl too much, making her do most of the work. She says that she went by several times (When? I only saw her that once and if she was on the other side of the kitchen she couldn't see much) and that she hoped it would get better but never did. Poor new girl was just a working so hard and giving it all she had and me, I was just "slack and nonchalant." With these words, that she said over and over, she made motions and mimicked what I supposedly looked like. I usually don't bother but I did my best to defend myself because I am not "slack and nonchalant!" But of course, like I have said before, there is no arguing with her, once she has decided something, that is it, it doesn't matter if you have proof of your innocence, she ignores it all. New girls says, I don't mind doing over my part some, but I just can't do it all. I look at her and try to speak to her, I say that I'm sorry, I didn't realize there was a problem, if she needs me to do more, just ask, I don't mind. She would not meet my eye, would not even look in my direction, would not speak to me. Boss says that I should not expect to be told what to do, that I should have the initiative and know. I have been there 3 years, I know what my job is, and I haven't had this problem with anyone before. No, no, of course, I don't say that. I know from hearing about other "issues" that if you say anything like that, then you are accused of having an attitude with her. New girl says, well, I am off tomorrow, I can rest and maybe next time will be better. Boss says, I'm done with you, now I need to talk to Beth alone. New girl gets up, the whole mood changes right before my eyes, she starts chatting with the boss before she leaves, she is talking about how she needs to borrow a car, she is in need of a cigarette badly. Smoking is not allowed on the premises and her car had tore up that morning. The boss starts to offer hers but new girl didn't even know what it looked like or where it was so I offered mine. I guess in a pathetic attempt to show her that I am not some horrible inconsiderate person. Mine was easy to find and describe, I held out my keys. She still did not even look in my direction, didn't say anything to me, and gave a wave of her hand to me, like right, whatever. Then I had to sit there and listen to the boss grind into me some more. She kept on with those words and those cruel mimicking motions. "Slack and nonchalant." I still tried to defend myself. I simply ended it with something about, well, everyone works together differently (as the boss agreed) and maybe we just haven't got our flow or whatever going yet. And of course I agreed to do more. Of course I will. I would have to begin with. New girl has asked me to do things before, why couldn't she keep on? I haven't been disagreeable with her on anything and I certainly haven't said or did anything to make out like she couldn't talk to me, not that I'm aware of. I suppose what goes around comes around, I hate to be like that. I don't wish bad things on anyone. I may think them, I may say them, but I certainly don't mean them. There are 3 things that I and others have noted about her. If you help her with extra, like wrapping silverware, she doesn't ever say thank you. Before, I hadn't thought that much of it, I don't suppose I need gratitude to help someone, but now I'm thinking that she may not be all that grateful at all. She stacks her dishes when she sends them through the dishwasher. They can't get as clean this way and I'm surprised the boss hasn't noticed or said anything about this, she is so particular about those things anyway. She leaves to go smoke 15-20 minutes before break time. I don't really care, it's her business and it's not hurting me. Everyone has been waiting for the boss to catch her at that. And I am thinking that when she gets to endure the wrath of the boss, she might think twice about what she did to me. Or not. Who knows. I'm surprised she hasn't been told on by someone, we have tattletales galore in that kitchen. Maybe everyone has decided they don't want the "what goes around comes around" factor for themselves? Now what really gets me about this "issue" that came up is something else the boss said. Boss says, I have noticed that you have been this way for a while now. That would be, "slack and nonchalant." If that is the case, then why wasn't it mentioned on my evaluation just the other day? Why did she say that I didn't need improvement in any area of my work? Unless a while means like the day after my evaluation. Could be, I suppose. I can say I don't care all that I want to, but it's not true. I do care what people think of me. I care if they think I am "slack and nonchalant." If they think that I am inconsiderate and lazy or whatever else yesterday made out like I was. I am so glad that I have toughened up. I did not break in front of the boss. I kept my cool until I had went out to my car for supper break. I haven't cried so hard in a long time. They both really hurt my feelings. My friend and co-worker embraced me when I came back from break. I was so glad to have a friend there after all of that. She had already learned what happened. When new girl came back from her smoking break and went into the cafeteria to take the rest of her break with everyone else, she annouced that, I guess Beth is mad at me, I got her in trouble, but she was just working me to death! Damn right, I'm mad at her! What she did to me is inexcusable. If I was the boss I would have said, well, have you talked to her about it? If no, then hey, you need to talk to her about it first and see if you both can resolve the issue on your own. Don't people know how to do this anymore? Hurting someone in such a way should be a last resort. At least no one agreed with her when she announced all of that. My friend said everyone just stared at her, didn't say anything. New girl went on to explain how we were both doing the dishes, and good ole girl, she's good to me, she piped in and said, oh, well that's how me and so and so do it. Ya know, like yeah? And? New girl still didn't speak or look at me the rest of the day. I wonder if I am the only one, but it seems to me that the way she announced how she "got me into trouble but" was just like saying, I just did something totally wrong and I need an excuse for it. November seems so far away. If the Lord helps me to find a way out before then, I will so take it!
UPDATE: The next day new girl was called into work (remember, she was supposed to be off and resting from my slackness and nonchalantness) and I was actually kind of glad. I wanted to get that awkwardness out of the way, and go ahead and figure how it was going to be different. The boss wasn't even there so her opinion hasn't been heard yet, if it will be ever. A lot of the time you'll never hear about things like that again, even if they never change, which is fine by me. I avoid her the best I can. Anyways. I decided that I would switch places with new girl. That seemed like the best change we could make. It was odd, there weren't even any words exchanged to decide this. It just fell into place. I guess that's how badly she doesn't want to speak to me, she didn't even ask what was going on, just figured it out herself. So I took on the washing and doffing and she took on the washing and scrapping. Except it wasn't quite like that. I hate to be like this, but I bet she felt kind of stupid! I kept the sink empty, no problem. Every time I left to go doff, the sink was empty. Every time I got back it took me no time to get it empty. Previously, the sink was always at least half full. She didn't do any washing (there was never any for her to do!,) only scrapping. Sometimes I even did some scrapping because she was taking so long to get back with another caddy! So I have taken on most of the work and we got done 15 minutes earlier than our usual time. Even if I do have to work a bit more, I think I will prefer it this way. A big plus is that I don't get splashed so much. When she washes she sprays water everywhere, she doesn't use any control using the sprayer. Also, I know she has to be feeling a bit of regret because most everyone is mad at her for what she did to me. When I came behind my friend and co-worker to eat supper yesterday, I noticed how new girl was at one end of the table, with an empty seat in front of her but my friend went all the way down to the opposite end (even with new girl talking to my friend! And yes she talked back, she didn't ignore her, just refused to sit by her.) It's not funny but it is. You know. I'm not going to be mean or cruel to her in any way but I'm not going to go out of my way to be nice to her either. And do you know what I bet the boss would do with this information? With the fact that we switched places and I did most of the work and we got done faster and it wasn't such a big deal? She would have to come up with something, she can't be wrong! I would guess that she would say, well, you're young. I can hear that one coming! Well, I say that whether you're old or young or fat or thin or black or white or WHATEVER, if you can't do the job, then you need to find one you can.
-ladyworpledinker
