Rejected again.

Well, I talked to the new manager at my old restaurant who told me that "based on the metrics we look at and talking to the previous managers, we won't be rehiring you." Fuck you, asshole! What fucking metrics? The fact that I was very reliable, picked up extra shifts, and was one of the best sellers? Those metrics? And "talking to the previous managers"? Did he fucking call up CL? Or did Lapdog and HotPants just decide to be dicks?

Or maybe he didn't even really look in to it at all, since he had to ask if I was trying to be rehired and ask if I'd put in my application. I don't know. But I'm not so happy. I also may not have even the shitty call center job anymore since supposedly you can't miss training and I woke up sick today. I tried to go. Came home when I threw up again, in the parking lot.

Of course, there's some sort of problem with the air in the building anyway that's making me (and a couple of other people) ill. Within five minutes of getting there, my eyes are putting out chunks of green mucus, I'm sneezing and coughing, and I can feel my sinuses swelling shut. By the end of last week I could hardly talk.

In possibly positive news, the boy is back. I don't know for how long or what we are, but at least I know he's alive.

Other than that, I'm totally depressed.

Hope and failure.

I haven't heard anything about the awesome job I interviewed for last week; I'm trying to compose an email to the guy (he prefers to do everything over email) to casually ask what the hell. He said I was one of only five people he was interviewing, so you'd think he could let the four losers know they were losers.

Now to the fail: I started the job I did get today, at another damn call center, and it was just ridiculous. I mean, all we really did was sign a few pieces of paper, take a tour, and do the "get to know you" stuff. The reason it was horrible is they're waaaay overbearing:

• No electronic devices at all are allowed past the break room -- not even in the training rooms. It doesn't matter if they're in your pocket, turned off, etc. 
• No paper is allowed past the break room, or from the "production floor"/training rooms going out. Or on the desk. No paper at all.
• No bags or purses are allowed past the break room -- again, not even in the training rooms. And they don't have enough lockers, so I had to leave my money, ID, cards, iPod, iPhone, Nook, and prescription drugs in my car where they could be stolen.
• No reading materials allowed. Basically no personal possessions at all except a water bottle.
• If you get caught writing your usernames and passwords down, you get fired.
• Nobody can be in a training room without a trainer. Which means that when he shows up ten minutes after we're supposed to be there, we've all been standing around waiting forever, blocking the hallway and causing traffic jams. Not like the door won't open -- it's just not allowed.
• They gave us notepads -- but we're not allowed to take them out of the training room. Ever. If we go to a break or on lunch, or when we leave at night, we have to turn them in to the trainer.
• Everybody has a badge which must be worn around the neck on a lanyard. If you don't wear it that way, security will hunt you down and make you. And if you don't have one on you, they will make you purchase a new one.
• And they will find you, because there are security cameras everywhere. There are five fucking cameras in every training room alone.
• Said badges must be swiped by every individual to enter and exit every single door except the bathroom. And it's not like you swipe it and walk through. The door has to fully close, latch, and lock after the person in front of you before you can even swipe your badge. If you touch the sensor pad with your badge, the alarm goes off. If you try to follow a person ahead of you in, the alarm goes off. If you don't get out of the way of the sensor quickly enough, the alarm goes off. When it does you have to stand there next to the screeching thing, waiting for security to amble up and turn it off, then re-activate your badge. And naturally nobody else can go in or out during that time. And there's only one door to every area.
• If you miss a day of work, you have to provide "documentation" before you can come back. So if I have a migraine one day, I have to spend more time and above all MONEY to go to a doctor so he can say I can go back to work.



The red dots are people.

• The cubicles are the smallest, most crammed-in things I've ever seen. They're like half-cubicles, with a tiny amount of desk in the corner that will just barely hold a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Endless rows of them, extremely close together, so there's no privacy and no noise barrier. See right.

Now, none of these things alone is all that bad -- except the idiotic cubicle structure. But put them all together and it's just overkill. It's a fucking call center, not a nuclear base. Lighten the fuck up, people.

The scary thing is that we didn't even go over policies or procedures officially today. These were just things that came up in the course of conversation! I shudder to think what other little gems are buried in the procedure manual.

When I got home, I immediately called the new district manager for the restaurant. I laid out what happened with CL, and the fact that I never really wanted to leave (well, I kind of did, but you know) but was forced out. She's going to talk to the new manager and we'll see what happens! I'd much fucking rather work at the restaurant!

Junior's last night.

I heard about this a couple of months ago but forgot to type it up. Junior went from being a "keyholder" to being an official "manager" and promptly put in her two weeks' notice. Apparently the hatred of the place that caused her to leave the first time manifested. Not that I blame her, considering I kept hearing how CL got more and more crazy.

Anyway, Junior's last night was a Friday. The other managers had all taken off -- which seems like poor scheduling to me, because wouldn't she just have to come back the next day to turn in her keys? Anyway. Junior invited all of her friends to come in for her last night, and started drinking as soon as she got there. By the time CL left, Junior was already half-drunk. But she left. To go make out with a guy in the parking lot for a couple of hours. And then she drove away, leaving a totally wasted women in charge of the restaurant.

Apparently the dinner rush went fairly smoothly, because it wasn't too busy. But at the end of the night ... all hell broke loose. Mistress J wasn't working that night, but had come in an hour and a half before close with Mister Slave. They'd even left the kids at home to have a dinner to themselves. Things were fine at first, but she noticed that Junior was getting louder and louder, and definitely couldn't walk straight. And, naturally, she reeked of alcohol when she stumbled over to say hi to them.

*He's actually her boyfriend and they actually moved in together, but the woman is a dominatrix. What else can I call him but Mister Slave!

As MJ was finishing her dinner, Junior stumbled up again. "I need help! I need you to help me!" She hauled MJ back through the kitchen and in to the manager's office .... which was unlocked, with three of Junior's friends standing in it, and money fucking everywhere. Every desk, every shelf, the floor, money everywhere. Junior sat down and started idly stacking it up all over the place. Her friends swilled their drinks and talked loudly, refusing to leave.

MJ finally called Mister Slave on her cell and asked him to come remove the friends -- he's a stocky, sort of intimidating guy, who he managed to eject them from the restaurant and get the doors locked. Have I mentioned that Mantoy doesn't work there? So MJ spent the next two hours counting money over and over, trying to straighten out the deposits and the drawers, because Junior had basically dumped the contents of the safe across the office. Somehow, she got everything straightened out. All the money was dead-on with the reports, which is nothing short of a miracle. Junior sat and watched her do all this, interfering occasionally. MJ even put her own signature on the deposits. She did the checklists for the kitchen, and part of the inventory. She closed the place down in a neat and orderly fashion, including the cash and reports, even though she is not a manager of any sort.

But the real kicker came a few days later, the next time CL worked with her. CL pulled my friend in to the office and told her, "If there were any way I could hold you accountable for everything that happened Friday night, I would."

She actually left!

Well, Chicken Little's last day was yesterday. She is officially gone. And, of course, she is still officially a bitch. I had forgotten there was a going away party for her that night, and they it was at the restaurant. So my cousin and I went in for dinner because it was close to our grandma's and cheap. I thought I'd be the better person, be polite, so I went out on the patio and was talking to someone. CL looked at me, turned around, and ignored me. I thought about walking away, but then decided I'd just try to be a thorn in her side one last time. So I stood there while she unwrapped two presents. They were sweet -- Dolly had made a collage of pictures, and then another that just had four pictures and said something sappy about memories in the middle. Of course, 99% of those pictures she had stolen from Work Wife's Facebook without asking, but whatever. One of the pictures, CL pointed at and said "except I fired that girl!" I couldn't see which girl she was pointing at, but she didn't fire JJ or L. Stupid bitch.

Anyway, I waited a few minutes and finally just went up and spoke directly to her, almost interrupting. "Hi! I actually just came in for dinner with my cousin--"
"Oh good!" she said, clearly relieved I hadn't actually come for her party.
"-but I wanted to say good luck!" I gave her my biggest smiled.
She actually hugged me and said "Thank you! Enjoy your dinner!" .... and then turned away as if I didn't exist.

Whatever. Didn't want to chat anyway, just her fakeness annoys me. I went back in and enjoyed my dinner. Tonight I put in my application again -- because I miss my friends and because the new job will just barely pay my bills. I was talking to Mistress J the other day about it, and wondering if HotPants or Lapdog would let me come back. She suggested I call the new area manager and tell her about the fact that I never really planned to leave, I just wasn't being scheduled, and see if she can help me get back in. I'm not sure yet if I want to, because I don't want Lapdog or Hotpants to be pissed off at me for going over their heads.

However, I do have another reason to call her: I have no idea what CL put down in my employee file regarding me leaving, and I totally do not trust the bitch to not have put in that she fired me or I quit without notice. So I can call the new area manager and ask her to check that. Still pondering overall though. But I'm going to need a second job, unless a better paying full time job comes through before that starts ....

Could it be? Could it really, really be?

It appears ... that Chicken Little may actually be leaving the building. Supposedly this Saturday is her last day at the restaurant. Of course I won't believe it until I actually see it, because I really think she's just angling for more money. But somebody put together a going away party for her and everything. I sort of want to go just to piss her off!

If she does actually leave, I am absolutely sure that she will fall flat on her bitchy face. She has no retail management experience, and will supposedly be leaving to manage a store that has a wide variety of goods. Considering her absolute freak-outs over the state of the restaurant sometimes, I can't even imagine how much a messy story would trip her trigger. Not to mention the host of teenagers she'll have to hire because I doubt they pay more than minimum wage for cashiers and stockers, I bet she'll have an awesome time riding herd on them. Then again, her level of maturity is about high school levels.

But what I think will be the hardest part, and where she's really going to be screwed, is dealing with loss prevention issues. Bet her first inventory results are going to be absolutely disastrous.