Multiply 365 Day 247 - Worth it?

 

It kind of feels like a Friday or Saturday. I don't have to be up too early in the morning, I have plans for lunch but I don't have to be downtown for that until almost noon. Other than that the rest of the day is mine, all mine. And really it couldn't come at a better time.

Work has been frustrating to say the least. The amount of things I am being asked to do only increases by the day, today I was stuck in a meeting with the deli crew, yet I do almost no work in the deli. Still I got called to the office for it, so there I was sitting in a meeting in which I had absolutely nothing to contribute and at a time where I had about 20 other things on my plate that needed my attention.

I am taking a vacation day on Wednesday, but in order for that to happen there were a bunch of things I had to do beforehand, make sure I was caught up on my paperwork, deal with 4 different deliveries, and place three other orders were already on the list of things I knew I would have to deal with. So I get to work, I was running a little late, around 7:30am. When I get there the Coke delivery is already there and being dropped down the chute into the stockroom. So I help with the unloading of the order then check the order in and put it away. Part of the order is bags of iced tea syrup. Ed had mentioned that he was getting a Gold Peak machine, I assumed that meant he was getting a counter top cooler to put bottle of Gold Peak tea in. Oh how wrong I was. Apparently he signed up for a fountain machine of some sort, where the hell we will put it I have no idea. Most of the counter space is taken up with the three Polar Shock machines he got before, machines that he is contractually obligated to keep. Apparently the pissing contest with Pepsi continues. And it is a pissing contest we can't win long term. I know this, I think Ed knows this and while I would not suggest grovelling to the Pepsi gods, at the end of the day their products kick Coke's ass in our market. Why we would go looking to pick a fight with them and risk losing our best line of beverages is beyond me. But the only way this new machine is going to work is either to completely disconnect one of the Polar Shock machines, machines that Pepsi gave Ed 3 mountain bikes for installing, or somehow arrange the water line so it can accommodate a fourth machine. All I can say is ugh. But the Coke order was put away without incident.

Next up was the grocery order, which usually comes in on Monday but because of the government mandated holiday so government workers could have an excuse for another three day weekend, my delivery was delayed a day. And again Ed struck. He found out that Sledd, our grocery provider, has specials on a weekly basis. I think the specials are actually just other specials that they didn't sell out of. But Ed learned of this and had lists of their candy and tobacco specials emailed to the store. I had printed up the lists for him, which I should never have done, because he went through every item on the tobacco list and started ordering everything that was buy one get one free. And not in small numbers either. He was ordering them 10 and 20 at a time. By the time he was done he had rang up over $5000 in tobacco items. How the hell we are ever going to sell this stuff is beyond me. I can see getting a few and seeing how well they sell, but the numbers he was ordering was just ridiculous. To make matters worse, while this order is coming in, the 7 Up delivery arrives, another order that normally would have arrived on Monday. So now I am dealing with two different deliveries at the same time, Sammy ahd been sent to the bank to get change, so there was no fallback help for a while. I catch the 7 Up order and check it in, make my way to the floor, sort through Ed's tobacco disaster, separate out a cigarette order that was being picked up, and make my way to the floor to start putting the groceries away when I get called to the office for the deli meeting. I no more than get to the office and Ed heads upstairs to talk to someone who was there checking out the building's roof, so I am left standing around with my proverbial thumb up my ass. I do a couple of quick things in the office, just checking the company email and what not and I basically said screw this and went back to what I was doing.

I had gotten a few totes put away, as well as getting some of the other bigger items checked in when I get called back to the office again. Finally we have the meeting and as I expected, it pretty much doesn't pertain to me, save for a couple of small items, putting together an order sheet for the deli and being told that I am now responsible for checking the deli items in. Then I had to sit there as Ed complained about how things were done in the deli. Really, that stuff is just out of my jurisdiction and the less I know the happier I am. So I was happy to have that meeting end, but it was only a moment or so before up stepped the Red Bull guy, who ended up dropping off a 15 case order. Because we just pay Red Bull by the order rather than have a credit line with them, I take the driver into the office and Ed proceeds to quiz the guy on our prices and what we are spending and would it be cheaper to get it himself at Sam's Club versus dealing with Red Bull directly. And I am just standing there thinking “Fuck me, can't I get one thing done today?”

Finally I managed to escape the office and get upstairs and start working again on the Sledd order with Sammy, but that too was short lived as Alex, our Arizona Tea rep came in to place his order for next week. Thing is, I am really starting to not like Alex. Alex is responsible for both our store and our other location downtown, Universal News among his accounts. Except he never goes to Universal. He either guesses on their order or doesn't place one at all. Excuse me, but if that is the best effort he can make then I would rather do it myself and screw him out of his sales commission. But last week he was in to place an order, Sammy was walking through the order with him, I was doing some paperwork in the office when Alex pokes his head in and asks if Universal needs anything. I said I wouldn't know I haven't been in their stock room in two weeks (since Sammy and I were down there rearranging it) and he would have to look. Alex decides he will call instead. So he leaves the office and I look at Dee and John and am like WTF? Why are we paying this guy anything if he wants us to do all of his work? So later I see Ed and tell him the same thing, he places a call to Alex's bosses and says he wants Alex to visit that store every week. So here it is a week later and sure enough he blows off going down there again. I am so ready to just rid ourselves of him entirely. We have far better options at our disposal than this. We could either do the orders ourselves, or we could get the very same product from either 7 Up or Sledd, both of which carry Arizona Tea. So we really do not need him at all.

I get the Alex out of the way, make my way back upstairs, by now Sammy has most of the order put away so I am all thinking, maybe, just maybe I can still get out of work at a decent time if everything breaks my way on a few things. I still have two Sledd orders to put in for Thursday (since I am going to be off Wednesday I get the honor of doing it today) as well as putting in another Coke order since I will not be around to do that on Wednesday either. So I am just about ready to do the Coke order and Ed ropes me into another of his side projects that will probably p;rove meaningless over the long term, but he wanted me to track down some people involved in the Wood Street Corridor project. To make matters better, another 3 invoices get thrown on my desk to be broken down.

By the time I finally get my Coke order put together it is already damn near 2pm, I usually am out by 3:30 or so. I say usually because sure enough, here comes another truck, Ed's Pricemaster order shows up, another half hour wasted just catching it, so it is after 3pm before I even get out the door to go do the Sledd order for Universal. By the time I come back it is almost 4pm. Then I am helping check in the Pricemaster order, then I get our tobacco order in for Thursday, followed by doing our cigarette order for Thursday, I go to the office and get all of my invoices caught up, and finally get upstairs and get the grocery order done, but by then it is after 6:30pm. Till I finish up and get home it is almost 8pm and I am left wondering whether all of this aggravation was worth getting one day off. I sure hope so.