Short Staffed Means Unhappy Staff

2005-07-01 at 1:04 a.m.

This week has been pretty crap all things considered.

We didn't win on the pub quiz on Monday. This may have been due to my being poached by a rival team (Brett and Steve, who I got somewhat pissed with on Friday) though we didn't come last which is something.

Tuesday was terrible. Will, who was supposed to be supervising, called in sick. Elena-the-Italian-girl was taken badly ill the previous week and has gone home to Italy. She isn't being replaced. So I got into work to discover it was...just me. Fortunately we had an agency person booked to cover for Elena, even more fortunately it was Sara who has been sent to the hotel often enough that she is practically a permanent member of staff, and Gary was called in to help us out too. This was just as well as we had 100 people and 10 room services to deal with and I don't know how to charge people or use the computer system due to my not being a supervisor. But some of it was told later on so that I can take over if necessary. It was still revolting though especially as the morning rush (normally at 9am) came at 7am instead. We ran out of tables, people complained (though thankfully, not about us, they complained that the hotel needed more staff not that we were inadequate). Nasty, nasty. Then I did dinner in the evening which was also unpleasantly busy because we have some deal going with a company where they get reduced rates so they all ate in. Then the chef got confused because I used the till to send orders through (like I am supposed to) and he didn't know what he was cooking when and in what order. So that didn't work, and we had to give some woman a discount though fortunately she understood that it was not the waiting staff's fault and didn't go off on one at us.

Wednesday was not so bad, I stayed late on Tuesday night making sure we had everything prepared, polished etc for the next day and insisted that they hire some agency staff, and came in to find two staff - Sara and a girl called Marika. Plus Will turned up, so we had quite a lesiurely time and one customer even commented that the service was much better that day, because we had enough staff to ensure that it was. Less pleasantly we lost Marika halfway through shift because she had left her bag in the changing rooms and someone had nicked her money and bus pass. Apparently this is rife in the hotel and is the reason why everyone keeps their stuff in the restaurant itself, because we know it isn't restaurant staff who steal. Sadly the staying up late the night before told on me and I couldn't stop yawning and felt utterly exhausted (people commented) and had to drink the revolting hotel coffee to wake myself up. I survived the shift (no other word for it) and came home and slept. Then I went to the pub and drank.

Today I went to one pub and read for a bit and then went to another pub and drank with Brett, James and some of the others. I was randomly molested by the pub dog, and had as always to be sure to stroke the right end of the dog under the table! I had quite a good time, I'm going to watch TV, and I have just downloaded Marlene Dietrich and Fred Astaire for my iPod.

I have to see my GP on Monday and tell him that I have not been regularly taking my medication as my shift patterns mean I will take a small overdose once a week if I do that, but that I would still like to continue due to small flashes of being depressed/hearing crap/anxiety which I would rather did not develop into something else. Also my university want my health form back and he needs to fill out a report, and particularly to tell them that my mental health issues are not an issue for them. I have to be careful at work about that, because I lied on my form and said everything was ok, and it has been, so far.

And now, I want to play on my game. I am missing being able to give considered entries here but never mind.

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