Christmas Stress

So, I finally have a few minutes to post! Work is getting better. We finally have a good crew. With the bad seeds gone, we are finally catching up.

The day I started, there was a truck full of merchandise and we had to move 15-20 pallets of more merchandise to get to it. Now there are only four and these are mostly the early shipments for Valentines day.

I did have a problem with one of the new guys. I had asked him to do something and he kept talking to a co-worker about a football game. So, I asked him again thinking he didn't hear me. He flew off the handle. I realized immediately that we had been there for eleven hours and we were both tired, so I probably came across wrong and he, being tired also, took it wrong and over reacted.

I turned around to apologize and correct the situation. That is when it turned bad. He told me to get out of his face, yet I was about four feet away. I kept trying to get him to calm down and listen, but he just kept yelling. In fact, we were at the very back wall of the building and they heard him all the way at the front (good thing we had not opened yet).

The store manager called us both into the office the next evening to talk. On the way, all I could think was how much trouble we both were in. As it turned out, she had gotten a statement from the only witness. The witness stated that I had not yell at the employee and that I acted more than fairly. She began to talk to this poor guy about insubordination and obeying the supervisor. I felt bad for him, she scolding him like a dog that had wet the rug.

I interjected, I felt that long hours and hard work were more to blame than a disregard for authority. She eased up a bit and let us get back to work. Later she came and asked me why I had stood up for him. I said that all in all he is a good worker. He had been with us only a few days, but that I had already seen that a reaction like this was not like him.

Later in the evening the employee came up to me and apologized. He said what I had done for him in the office took guts. He went on to say that next time he is in trouble that he would like me to be the one to talk to him in the office.

When I asked him why, he said that I had corrected the manager in such a way that she didn't even notice. To him, I had seemed firm but gentle and he felt that deserved and showed respect on my part.

The manager came up to us later and apologized for her attitude. It seems that she had been tired and stressed lately. She did not realize how tired she was until I had broke into the conversation earlier.