22:30 - 06/14/2009
Travels With Trolls
I heard the clank of the mailbox lid this morning, as I was wandering into the living room. We don't get mail delivery on Sundays, so curiosity made me go to the window to see what was going on. Caught sight of the landlord for the properties on either side of my home running down my sidewalk then jumping into his car. He has no reason to do so. Caught him about a week ago, too, with his shears again - trying to cut down the bushes that divide our properties. He ran for it when I opened my front door to ask what he was doing. "Just trying to be neighbourly." Yeah, just like when that foul smelling concoction was poured onto my cherry tree late one evening as winter set in. The only way to reach that tree is from the other side of my duplex - the side he owns. This spring it is obvious that the intent was to kill it, but I don't know if or how I could prove it was done by him. Much of that tree is now dead, but the lilac bushes have just filled in the empty space. I don't know what is wrong with this guy, he refuses to accept that women in this country have the same rights as he does as a property owner.
He also needs to accept that there are laws governing how he treats his tenants too. I mentioned fisticuffs between him and one set of tenants at the beginning of May. They were moving out and it was obvious from the "for rent" sign that the landlord had been given enough advance notice. The weekend of their move, around the midnight hour, I heard the tenants and the landlord arguing vociferously. I had been waiting for my youngest to come back from the convenience store, so was outside on our balcony. I heard the sound of a blow and then the landlord saying "don't hit me again". The female tenant stated that she would, unless he released the rest of their household furnishings to them. Apparently, from the conversation, he had entered the home while they were taking a load of their belongings to their new home and changed the locks. He refused to let them in to complete their move. The male tenant was pointing out that they had until midnight of the next day to have access to the home by virtue of their contract. I stepped out into the open where they could see me, holding my phone so they could see I was ready to call for help. The male tenant told the landlord that he was going to call the police, if they weren't allowed access to the rest of their belongings. I got the sense that the landlord was trying to make them agree to waive the repayment of their security deposit in order to get the rest of their belongings. The tenants then speeded off in their vehicle, just as my son was approaching the house. My greatest worry had been, of course, that he would somehow be hurt if the altercation had become more physical. You see, the landlord had two vehicles of friends/family sitting out in front and behind that property as he was trying to deny access to those tenants. At the end of May almost a similar incident, only at three in the am. Very loud and vehement discussion between, what sounded like, him and tenants on the other side of my duplex. It sounded as though the tenant was telling the landlord that he was holding him responsible should the contents of their dwelling were damaged by the landlord and his entourage. Woke me out af a dead sleep, that one. Sigh.
Last weekend I worked both days. Two chain stores each day, but different locations on each day, as well. The first night the reason we were asked to go to the second count was because of scheduling errors. The scheduler hadn't set the correct times for the crews to arrive. The store staff in both locations were irate, because it meant that their staff had to stay much later into the evening in order to provide the support they were required to provide by contract. The first count ended around 9 pm, with no errors on the part of our crew. Given that we usually count thousands of items in every location, it is inevitable that a few slips will occur. Not even one this time. We proceeded to the next store of the same chain cross town. Not only had the scheduling for that one been made three hours later than the originally agreed time, but the manager of the count had not been informed that they were to work that evening. That manager had finally been given a day off, which he choose to spend in the music studio where he works as a composer/studio musician. He was in the middle of a recording session, when the scheduler tracked him down to order him to attend that unexpected - for the manager - assignment. There were also not enough counters assigned for the size of the store, so the prospect of running into the very early hours of the next morning was probable if we didn't help, even though none of us had been scheduled for that second count. Fortunately the team from the first count were all very compatible and happy to spend more time together. It also helped that the stranded manager is well-liked. Meant no one minded helping him out. As we were finishing that store sometime after the midnight hour, a call came in from one of the other managers running a count that night. They were still working in the store assigned to them. Would we be willing to come and help out there too. After some discussion it was determined that there was only another hour's worth of work left there. Travel time across the city meant we would have only worked about another half hour. That mission was scrubbed for all but one of us. She had her own vehicle, you see, so went on her own. Next day she related that she had only done two tags then was sent home. Sigh.
The Sunday, same thing only different chain store and different managers. I opted to get to the first count on my own, since it was an easy train trip cross town. I was sitting on a bench outside the store waiting for the rest of the crew and the manager to arrive, reading "Travels of Marco Polo" to pass the time. All of a sudden it seemed as though I was going to be forcefully pushed off that bench. Another body had landed right beside and behind me. Turned out to be one of the male crew members scheduled for the count. Alcohol was strong on his breath. Hmmm. He has always been flirty with me, but it had never before gone beyond the limits of my boundaries for such things. This night turned out to be quite different though. He kept making suggestive comments that were inappropriate, but I tried to ignore him because of the booze factor. Having survived living with an alcoholic, I learned never to give them any reason to escalate their bad behaviour by making my reaction the excuse for it. "You made me mad when you said no". Right, if one is over 21 then that isn't a viable excuse, but having someone go off the deep end because they are drunk isn't a good choice either.
Trying to pretend you don't notice anything out of the ordinary going on, often works best at defusing that type of bad situation. Didn't work, though, this time. After a couple of tags, I was assigned to work one-on-one with the store manager, dealing with the very expensive, locked-up items. We were sitting on the floor working our way through one of the jewelry drawers, when the drunk crew member, who had been coming up behind me and touching me when my hands were full earlier, sat down beside me on the floor and started in with the verbal/physical assault again. I tried to turn the discussion to less volatile behaviour/offensive language, but the store manager was appalled all the same. I moved closer to her and managed it so that one of the other male counters was between me and him. He finally gave up and moved away. After the store manager and I finished our joint work, she headed over to talk with our count manager and I carried on with other tasks. Not long after, she called me to work with her in the stockroom on a task we don't normally do. From the behaviour of the drunk counter, I suspect she had spoken with our manager about his inappropriate remarks and complained. You see,when we returned to the main part of the store the drunk worker was in a corner of the store on his own and he would not look at me or any one else for the balance of that count. Sigh. The count manager asked if any of us would be willing to go help out the count manager who had been stranded the night before by the faulty scheduling, as he was facing a similar problem again. I ended up having to travel in the vehicle with the drunk - though now sober - crew member, because the other two people who had agreed to go had already left before I could ask for a ride in one of their vehicles. Being that it was Sunday night and in a remote, transit-starved area, I would not have been able to go help otherwise. The crew member was now sober enough to realize that he had really messed up, so his behaviour on the way to the next count was cautious - at least in his remarks to me. We arrived, carrying a case of our hand held computers with us, since that manager was also short of adequate equipment to supply all his counters. The machine I had was cursed I think. I spent as much time trying to get it to collect the data, as I did counting. One of the other counters from the first store grabbed another machine that appeared to be available and ended up compromising the data collected by another counter who had just been on a break and left their machine unattended. A little bit of tension all around for sure. It was about 2:30 in the am when I finally got dropped off from that count. The managers are required to drive us home, if the counts run after midnight because there is no bus service. Poor guy was scheduled to run another count and had to be up in about three hours from when we parted. He still had two counters to drop off cross-town first.
This company really does not treat it's staff well. As we were working at the last count, one of the workers who is here on a work visa was asking questions about the legislation I had circulated about labour standards the week before. They mentioned how they were being paid for certain types of work. Sounds as though they were being underpaid - he and the rest of the visa workers - by about one third of their actual wage. It might explain why they are assigned more shifts than the counters who are citizens of this country. If what the counter said was true, then the company is shaving their "labour expenses (wages)" by more than 30% as a result. The visa counters aren't likely to complain, because their term to remain in this country is dictated directly by the company. Maybe I misunderstood the counter, or he misunderstood his pay stub, but it would explain a lot of the odd behaviour from the city office, wouldn't it? Hmmm. Other workers raising additional questions about the labour laws too. Sigh. I sent in a note about my pay stub to the head office, because I hadn't been paid properly for that 20 hour shift a couple of weeks ago. Suggested that the other workers send in questions too, if they weren't certain they were being compensated properly.
This past week I was scheduled to work four of the five week days. Less than 24 hours before the first shift, I got a call telling me it had been cancelled. Another breach of the laws, but how many times can one protest, before one is deemed a "troublemaker". The second day was supposed to be at the same client, so it was no surprise when that shift disappeared from my intranet schedule too, not long after that first call. Scheduled in a couple of quality assurance assignments from the other employer to take up the slack for some of the lost wages. It doesn't really come close in terms of income made, but at least it is something. Emailed the scheduler asking if he could put me into other counts to make up for the lost shifts. Instead, when I checked my schedule next, I found the other two shifts had also been removed. Talked to the office manager, who said that the third day's count had been enough to complete what had been a two day job in one day. I'm guessing that I had been shunted to the fourth day to give someone else counting time, but had paid the price when that count wrapped up early. Emailed the scheduler again asking for weekend work, as well as work for the next week. Instead got a terse note back from the area manager asking me to come to the office on Monday - tomorrow - to see him. I haven't done anything wrong other than wanting to work, but that doesn't mean, from previous experience, that I won't be punished for asking inconvenient questions. Maybe though this time will be different.
Don't know. Needless to say I am very stressed right now, both because, once again, there isn't enough cash flow to pay bills and buy food - one or the other only - on top of wondering what the meeting on Monday will bring. I had some chest pain when I first received that area manager's email, but I've reminded myself that I'm not being paid anywhere near enough to be subjected to that degree of pressure. Not that it will convince my creditors that they should allow me some extra time to catch up on payments. Sigh too. I did help that I spent time with A+ during the week walking, watching movies (Beowulf, Take The Lead) and cuddling and had lunch with my Dad on his birthday. My oldest son arrived with his two children for a visit today. He's very stressed too, because his partner spent a week in the hospital with a throat problem that three specialists seemed unable to diagnose. The story of her adventures made me realize that things could be worse - maybe.
Anyway, I guess I should go get some sleep. I have a quality assurance assignment to do before the meeting tomorrow and I need to be certain that I do it well. Good night dear diary.
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