DAY TWO

Catchy, no?

No.

Yesterday was a very busy day. At work, I spent part of the day processing new items into the database, part of the day on the phone dealing with customers checking on how much money is in their accounts "because it's November now" (Side note: The system is updated on the SEVENTH, people! The 7th! Every month, same thing! Calling on the 1st will get you nowhere, as I explained last month - and the month before. And don't argue with me - what I'm telling you is all spelled out in the contract you signed, too.), and part of the day dealing with personnel issues.

Personnel issues...sigh.

This time, it's Jay. Jay has been employed at the store for about two weeks. He came highly recommended - honor student, teacher-praised, Eagle Scout, even. He went through a week of intense training with his peers, the assistant manager, and me. He's made a bunch of mistakes, but I'm pretty liberal with the learning curve and don't expect perfection right off the bat.

Day before yesterday (Halloween), he was supposed to be at work at 3:45. He came by the day before and said he'd be late because he got a callback for a school play. He said he'd be at work by 4:30. Well, five o'clock came and went and he didn't show up. I called his cell phone and got no answer, so I left a message. About sixty seconds later he called back and said he'd "just finished" and would be at work within 10 minutes.

He showed up 18 minutes later and I gave him two easy chores to complete before closing - organizing the large stack of empty boxes we keep stored in the back, and inputting some items into the database. I'd already coded and priced the items, so this particular chore was one of the easiest I could have given him.

Jay does not have a key to the store, so I told him to call me when he was closing and I'd come back to lock up. Then I left to get home for my kids' Halloween (much of which I was dreadfully behind on because I'd had to put in over 9 hours in the store that day thanks to Jay). The store closes at 7:00, so when I didn't hear from him by 6:50 I went ahead and drove back up there. I got there at 6:58 to find the lights off and the sign already flipped to "Closed." Jay had already balanced the till and taken out the trash, too.

I have to interject here that one of the owner's pet peeves is people closing the store early. Even a few minutes early bugs him, which I can understand because how frustrating is it to run to the store to find that they've closed up early...

I asked Jay if the evening was busy, to which he replied no, that there had only been one person in the store the whole 1.75 hours he'd worked. He set the alarm, I locked up, and we both left.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I got to work and found that he had done absolutely nothing the night before - the boxes were still a mess, and the items I'd left to be entered were still sitting there. Even the till was not balanced correctly. Jay had had time, however, to change the radio from easy listening (which it is supposed to remain on all the time, since customers can hear it) to an urban rap station. The owner has a large sticker affixed to the radio - "Do Not Change Station" - which apparently went ignored, much like my instructions the night before.

Jay was supposed to work again yesterday afternoon, beginning at 3:45. When he hadn't shown by 4:05, I called his cell phone again. He said he'd gotten sick at school but would be at work in ten minutes (what's with the ten minutes thing, anyway?). Forty minutes later, he shows up and says he'd been throwing up. Gary immediately sent him home, but not before letting him know that he still had a responsibility to the store and must CALL if he ever can't be there.

Gary and I both doubt Jay is actually sick. But even so, he can't keep up this M.O. We depend on him, just like we do on every employee, to be there when scheduled. This is not Jay's first job, so I'm stumped as to why he thinks he can just not show up without letting anyone know.

He's under a 30-day contract - signed by both Jay and his parents - and honey, the countdown's on!

This afternoon I'm interviewing a potential new employee. If she gets hired, I'll add her to yesterday's list of players. Wish me luck!