Monday, November 19, 2018

Carry You Down

I am hesitant to write this story about what happened at work recently but all names will be changed to protect the innocent.  Our fire alarms go off at ridiculously high volumes which is one huge point of contention for me.  In fact, I could hear them full blast as I was riding up into the parking lot on this day. I got half excited thinking maybe we wouldn't be able to open and we would all be sent home to enjoy a full free day.  Instead, I went to the morning meeting where the manager on duty gives a state of the union and makes necessary announcements.  I don't have to attend.  I'm like the girl from the Breakfast Club that just goes because she's bored.  I like to study the higher ups and our mid level managers for kicks.  We came to understand we had no working elevators but would open on time and somehow make it work. There were so many questions.  How about the elderly?  Strollers?  Who would carry the bags and boxes down the steps for customers?  The store is on stilts so there is no ground floor, everything must be schlepped down a full flight of stairs.  Normally customers put large flatbed carts on the elevators and bitch about having to load their own shit in the car. They will love this.  As everyone is beginning to talk at once I notice this manager was looking worse for the wear.  His normally well groomed hair was disheveled and his head looked sweaty. His face was bloated. He had put on several pounds since arriving only a few short months ago.  He had on tattered Keds type sneakers which made him look short. Perhaps he was called in the middle of the night to handle the issue with the fire department.  There was talk of someone working on the problem since 3am, which was a broken pipe that caused a flood that caused the power outage. 
Even so, our concerns were not addressed in any type of realistic plan.  We were given answers that parents might hand out to their 5 year old. We'll see. We'll have to make due.  He continues, 'we'll figure something out'. We're opening in less than an hour I thought, now's the time to and these are the people to make that procedure. 
I'm just here for the ride and knew I'd probably not be inconvenienced at all but was miffed that many of my male coworkers would.  They could hurt their back, be injured.  We aren't supposed to be doing this type of thing and should not be asked.  All day I'm thinking this was the wrong call made by a long term company man.  This guy came here as an interim head dude.  A hot shot from Spain with thick black hair and blue eyes. He speaks like Inspector Clouseau and I've often felt he mistakes people in Brooklyn for uneducated clueless idiots. I've seen him sighing and in general looks like he's above it all and wouldn't mind slapping some of us. 
Image result for inspector clouseau gifs
Handsome chicken breasts split and stuffed with apples and cheddar.  Served over a bed of spinach and sweet potatoes.  I was quite pleased with myself on this one.  Adjustments for next time would be to keep the red skin on apples and to use yellow instead of white cheddar for more color.
Later that day I come to find out that this manager had horrible chest pains and an ambulance was called for him.  And as the administrative offices are on the 4th floor....yep, they were unable to carry him all the way down the steps.  Boom! What a karmic disgrace.  I actually felt bad for him.  Everyone makes mistakes, but this could have put him in jail. What if we had a fire?  I would read a couple of weeks later that he is leaving the company after 30 years to 'pursue other ventures'.

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