Today was an okay day. There was an awkward moment at work, but in the end it was okay.
We got another new guy who was in before my manager was, and no one knew what to do with him. He was seated next to the other new guy who has been with us for a few weeks. Both being trained by our manager.
Later in the day, she emailed all us saying that since we're all behind on production, we have been granted a total of 5 hours of OT (to schedule and use at our discretion this week) to work on production. We are officially logged out of the system, not taking any calls, and just working on our production items.
Since I have set plans every Wednesday and Thursday after work, I took advantage of the OT today. (I meant to only stay an hour but ended up staying two.) I know how much I got done last time we spent an hour doing production. I got perhaps three items done... which was a menu I was already closed to finishing, removing a couple items on another menu, and changing the hours for a restaurant.
Today I think I had about 20 tickets assigned to me - half of which seemed to be new menus, and a few of those where the menu was done and just needed to be entered into the system as a new restaurant. I was off at 5pm and stayed until 7pm, and I think I got (maybe) 3-4 tickets done. (One was from a sushi place that only sent us their sake menu... and we don't deliver booze, so I had to call and let them know we STILL didn't have a menu. So I got to close out that ticket.) I revised one menu, updated another one, and removed an item or two from a couple. Fortunately the system started acting a little wonky when it was time for me to leave, but oh well. I'll take it as a sign.
But still, my tickets are in the double digits and back when we were aptly staffed, I always managed to either keep them under 10 (maybe between 5-7 on average) or have them completely done by the end of my shift. Now? Even though I know why my ticket list is so long (and totally not my fault), I still feel a little bit like a failure and unaccomplished.
Yeah, I know. I need to get over myself, but still. I hate seeing all that stuff that's past due. I know I'm not the only one but sheesh. I hate it.
And on a random side note, even though we all know that we're behind mainly due to being understaffed, I still feel that should be said every time production tasks are mentioned since not saying it makes me feel like there's blame... and also, I think it'd be nice when our department's behind that our manager help out to help get us back on track.
One of the drivers pointed out to me that when you go to a restaurant, you see the manager walking the floor, talking to customers, helping out in the kitchen, delivering orders, etc. Now I'm not sure what my manager does on a daily, but I feel that since she knows that we're behind (and WHY we're behind), it'd be kinda nice if she took some tickets on herself and revised some menus, etc. I mean, I had whittled my tickets down to 7 by Saturday night, and I was proud of that, but then I came back on Tuesday (I get Sundays and Mondays off), and I had 18 tickets total... and then 2 more added on to that.
I remember when I was a supervisor at a bookstore, I would see a long line of people at the register, I'd hop on a register and start to weed out the line. I saw people with questions? I'd man the info desk. I didn't just sit back and tell people what to do and remind them that things needed to get done. You don't think I didn't know that? That's why I helped out. To get stuff done. (I wonder if that's ever crossed her mind... to help us out when we're understaffed and projects are long past due. I mean, that's what I'd do.)
One of the questions I got during my interview for fast food while I was still in high school was if me and another employee were tasked with cleaning the lobby, and I was done with my tables first, what would I do? The answer was help the other person.
I help out when I can. I've been sent to dispatch on a few occasions, I help out with accounting to stuff customer invoices and mail them out. On alternate weeks, I'm given a chunk of restaurant checks to stuff and stamp and have out by the end of that week (usually with two days to do them). I help other people out with their production issues. I've been given postcards to stamp and label for customers. I've revised, refaxed, and pulled paperwork. I make phone calls, check e-faxes and forward the production ones to our group. I grab incoming chats from customers.
I know I'm customer service, and my job is to help people, but it'd be nice if someone helped me... and the rest of the team.
November, this letter to you has become more of a rant or a complaint, and I don't want to be sad or upset, so I think I'll end this now.
Wishing you well, November.
Have Goodness!
Rae
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