Done for the week

I had to fire someone last night. Actually it was this morning, at the end of her shift. I hate doing that. I feel like I was taking advantage of her all night long, but we were missing some statements about the activity that caused her to be fired and I had to have those in my hand before we did it. We finally got everything together and let her go right at the eight-hour mark.

We had a pretty good night last night considering we got an extra truck. On the weekends it’s no big deal to get three biggish trucks (around 3500 – 4000 cases of freight, total) but during the week it’s rare to have a night with more than say 2000 cases. Last night we had almost 3000 cases just on one side of the store in addition to the 1500 or so on the other. Oh My God. We managed to get it done though. The other manager and I had to take some departments ourselves to stock in addition to all of our admin work and the little grease the wheel things we normally do (taking trash, cardboard and empty pallets off as they accumulate so the stockers can concentrate on stocking) and keeping the receiving areas organized but we got it done. There were a few things that didn’t get done, but the opening manager seemed to be pleased with what we considered a bad night. He said there was nothing we really could have done getting hit with freight like that in the middle of the week and when stuff like that happens you just have to take it in the teeth and do the best you can.

We had company this morning. There were some managers from other stores over to walk off an inventory checklist for us. Every year when the inventories start managers from the entire district visit all the other stores at specific times prior to the store’s inventory to make sure everyone is ready and we’re going to get a good count. It’s mostly a “fresh eyes” kind of thing but the expectation is they don’t find anything glaringly not ready or discussions with the district manager will be had, sometimes by phone but in person if necessary. I think we’ll do OK.

I had a chat with one of the hourly managers this morning about his overstock. I found him in the stockroom looking at the pallet of overstock I had brought back (I worked that department on purpose). I greeted him appropriately and asked about his overstock and why he had so much. He said he didn’t know, the warehouse just kept sending this stuff he didn’t have room for. So I asked for his handheld workstation and scanned the box on top of the pallet and showed it to him. I asked him how many of this item the computer thought he had, and he said three, which is what the screen said. Then I held up the box and asked how many of that item was in the box, and he said twelve, which is also correct. I told him that’s why he had so much overstock, his inventory counts were wrong. I told him what to do to fix it, much like I did with ToyLady last year and I think he’ll be OK now but it’ll take about a month to get the inventory counts synchronized between the computer and reality. He’s a good hourly manager and has the potential to be a great one and move on to salaried management, he just needs a little more training and closer supervision than he’s been given over the past year or he’s going to succumb to the bad habits that have cost his neighbors their positions as hourly managers.

The Vyvanse must be doing something, and it’s not just me that’s noticed it. One of the hourly managers that work for me overnights said something about how I’d lost my mojo, and the other salaried manager that was there with me agreed. The only people that know about me being medicated are the two managers I work with and the big boss. I told them because I want them to keep me from doing something stupid (which I define as something they would routinely do but not want me to find out about) and the boss lady I told because we have to be drug-tested if we have an on-the-job injury and if I tell her now, before something shows up in my blood or pee, I’ll have more time to get supporting documentation from my doctors.

Speaking of injuries, I don’t know what I did but about ninety minutes before I was supposed to get off my left foot started hurting when I walked. It hurts right across the top, just above the arch, and it extends in a fairly straight line at a ninety-degree angle to the centerline of my foot. I really hope I haven’t broken anything, but I’m fairly certain I couldn’t still walk on it if I had. Hopefully it’s just a weird cramp or something and sleep will let it relax.

While I was at work I thought of the perfect simile for what the Vyvanse is doing to me: it’s like I have a restrictor plate on my brain. The capabilities are still there, and the engine wants to go faster, but it can’t.

And apparently sixteen hours after taking it Vyvanse no longer keeps me from rambling.

I’m going to go to sleep now…