Promotion

So I'm working now. I wrote about that right? Basically, it has sucked since I started, around the 15th. I've been putting things in boxes. So finally, last Wednesday, I got put back on the machines. I'd driven order pickers, forklifts, ect. the last two summers I worked there, so I know how everything works basically. The only difference now is that everything is done electronically. It actually makes the job harder to do, but I figured it out pretty quickly. Well last Monday, one of the permanent employees was sick and didn't come in, and the lead in the area I had been in, who goofs around a lot, was goofing around, and got demoted from his lead position the next day. The permanent employee who was gone that day, then took charge of that area for Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday though, he kind of blew up at the Somalian women who are working there after one hurt herself. He thought that she was faking it, and was ready to fire the whole lot of them.

So on Friday I came to work, hopped on my machine and drove down the the other end of the warehouse to start working, and the warehouse manager called me up and offered me the lead position. That meant that I had to deal with the aftermath of the previous day's events. So what was the first thing that two of the girls asked me? They wanted to leave at 4:45, one hour away. I told them that the management is not happy with the productivity of the packers, and that they're getting ready to fire some if it doesn't improve. There had been too much socializing rather than working, and tons of mistakes. And since they were in such a difficult position, asking to leave in only one hour would probably mean not coming back at all. I guess they didn't really think that they'd fire anyone because they still pressed the issue, so I referred them to the manager, who told them that it was fine to leave, but that he couldn't guarantee that their jobs would still be there on Monday. I think they got it that time, because for the rest of the night, I barely heard any talking that interfered with work, except for one girl, and another, afraid that one of the people I was talking about might be here, moved away from the other talking girls, and was fine the rest of the night.

The main problem was that the PIC (People In Charge) didn't give them any warnings, so they thought that they were doing fine. I think for at least one, it was a perceived language barrier or some other reason that he didn't want to give them a chance. On Monday my manager wants a list of all my people, and a ranking. If my lowest ranked people match the list of the guy who blew up, some heads may roll. I hope that I can prevent that though. I think that the problem was do to the old lead, who never told them when they were goofing off too much because he was always too busy goofing off himself, and the management, who would rather git rid of the whole group and start over.

So I had a bit of training today, and I'm coming in an hour early on Monday for some more training and a pay increase! That and an extra room at my friend Lyle's house means that I may be able to return to Tokyo a bit earlier than my last estimate.