Part Time Begins This Week

I looked at the schedule to see if they remembered -- in all their stress -- to reduce my hours (and my pay too. They said they had to cut me back to part time wages.) I couldn't believe my eyes. My time WAS cut in half, but there I was scheduled to WORK ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT. That did not set well. ONE of the big reasons I wanted to go part time was so I would not have to work Wednesday nights and miss church. They insisted that all department heads had to work Wednesday night and if you were full time, for the most part, you are a department head. (There are some exceptions to that, but only two that I know of and both of those two got pulled out of the frame shop and put on the floor, i.e.,unless the person was hired to be a full time stockman.) Anyway, I immediately objected and was told, "I'll take a look at it."

Meantime another employee, who has a final exam scheduled for Tuesday night, asked if we could swap days because I was off on Tuesday evening and he was off on Friday evening. I agreed. So the schedule got changed. Instead of working until 12 until close on Wednesday, I was given 10 till 6-- and lost an hour. And by agreeing to swap with the co-worker, I lost another hour because the manager said he didn't need the person who worked on Tuesday to be there as long as the person who worked on Friday. And that's the way the cookie crumbles.

But, I will have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off-- unless they decide they want me to come in and help with seasonal. Which they may... or may not. Either way, I'm happy.

That will give me a really good block of free time to clean out the back corner room that I've been using for a "closet/storage" so that we can have more bedroom space for the kids. And there's another reason I want to get this done before the end of the year. I want to be able to have the sister who always stays with me during Fellowship Meeting to still be able to stay with me this year too, so I really need to make more bedding down space or it will be a problem what with the addition of seven more people to my household.

I'll have to be really careful on how I spend my money now. My basic expenses are pretty much covered but the money I make at work will have to cover my food and gas and any extras.... so the extras I have allowed myself will have to be trimmed down. My main extras for MYSELF have been stopping to get something to eat after work, so I wouldn't have to fix it when I got home, but I'll have to tell myself "No" on that, and I'll have to say "No" to other things that I might be willing to do if I had more money, but can't since I won't. But, I am happy. The only thing that would make me any happier would be if I could quit entirely. I can't, but I like the work I do so that's no biggie. It's just been the craziness inflicted on department heads and not getting to go to church that have turned my feelings about going to work all around.

Also I have been having significant problems lately with one of my feet. The longer hours they have been giving us since sales have picked up have increased the problem. It's not just tired feet. I've been having shooting pain. I alleviated that by cutting the side out of an old shoe and putting slits across the top to relieve the pressure on my foot and that has helped me immensely. Seemingly my feet do not like ten hour days. But I shouldn't be having any more of those....maybe.

I was already having foot problems after being at work for only three hours on Saturday. I was supposed to work 12 til 10. The co-manager said to me that he was going to let some of us go home early if things slowed down later. (Of course, they did because Alabama was playing Auburn. That produces a drastic cut in our sales.) So, he let me leave after just four hours and I was SO GLAD because I was already trying to figure what I was going to do to make it for the rest of the day. (My shoes with the side cut out were in the car and I knew I'd have to go and put them on.) I was already tired when I got to work because it was time for the team I am on to clean the church and we had only two of us there. Anyway, I was glad I got cut back. The cut back actually just brought my hours down to what we had normally been getting in weeks prior. They just scheduled us some long hours the week of Thanksgiving because they wanted ALL freight out, the store to look perfect for higher-up visitors, and coverage for higher sales on the two days after Thanksgiving.

Gotta go now. I have to be at work at nine and it's almost eight.