Well it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything from the lunchroom and sadly there will be only a few more posts before this book gets closed. A funny thing happened today before I even started to get ready for work….my boss called me and told me to take the day off. She thought it would be a good idea for 2 reasons. 1) she didn’t think it would be very busy dispite the fact that there would be an additional 250 “mucky mucks” milling about for the building’s official open house. 2) I have a cold and although I feel not so bad I do sound well, bad.

Funny thing about my boss, she’ll ask me to do something then she’ll ask me if I’m OK with doing it. Naturally when she asked me if I wanted to take today off I said no thanks and she was fine with that. Seriously though, who is the boss here? Why would you call your staff and tell them to take the day off only to leave the decision up to the staff? Yup, makes no sense to me either.

I figured my boss out quite some time ago and as long as all I said to her for about an hour when I got in was “morning” life hummed along at it’s usual what the beep twist and spin pace. Very little has changed in regards to the spin cycle that is my boss but plenty has changed in me, thanks for keeping me looking TJ. My boss still spins up for no apparent reason, says the most inappropriate things to customers and has not let go of her “if they (the customers) don’t like what they get here they can go somewhere else”. That little customer service nugget is often shared with the customers directly, everybody cringe now! Hmm that could be why sales keep slipping lower.

What has changed in me is my attitude. About a month after starting this job I developed a very unhealthy inability to appreciate my place. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that my education and experience was going to be completely wasted and our little shop was going to run right into the ground. I didn’t appreciate that that was simply going to be the case and it wasn’t my place to try and stop it or even to try to save it. My place was to report for work, do what I was told to do, serve but don’t interact with the customers, don’t ask questions and for God’s sake keep my suggestions to myself.

One of my greatest downfalls is that I can’t help myself from helping. I can’t just silently stand by and do nothing when someone is struggling and yet that’s exactly what I had to learn to do. It wasn’t a very pretty lesson but it was a necessary lesson. It is not after all my job to save everyone from everything, right?

This morning at 10 am my boss received a phone call from our head office notifying her that she had to let me go, next Friday is my last day. The reason, sales are low and something has to be cut in order to increase the profits in our outlet. This is a decision that I hope will not come round to bite them in the ass as my boss will be stretched still farther beyond her ability and her rudeness will only amp up in the face of her own frustration. It sound like a death knoll that could be averted with some simple customer service training. This is the only job my boss has ever had where she is the boss and the only training she received was how to do the paper work.

I hope to have another job by May 3rd that will provide fodder for the writer in me but with perhaps a wee bit less drama and much more mental continuity.