Let's talk briefly about your work ethic

If you were to look at my old livejournal, youll probably come across a mini-rant or two about incompetent co-workers. It turned to mostly online growling, as I didnt want to be repetitive and bitch about the same old thing.

However, I dont think Ive graced this page with a work-rant yet. So here we go.

Right now, Im currently employed as a laneserver (read: waitress) at a bowling alley. A job that was only supposed to last a couple months is creeping towards the year and a half mark. Though its not the best thing I could be doing, most of the time I suppose I like my job. I like chatting and working with the league regulars (well, most of them, anyway) that bowl there.

These past few weeks its gotten much harder for me to go to work. Im at a point where I could easily not show up, and turn my phone off to avoid "where are you?" calls...and I wouldnt give a damn. I wouldnt give a damn about the consequences to me, or to a bowling center and bowlers that have become dependant upon laneservice. I was so tempted tonight to just walk out and let them deal with irate customers. As a laneserver, I have very little control of the quality of the food that goes to the floor. I put the orders in, and I take them out to the floor when theyre ready. If theyre wrong, then I can bitch about it. The thing is, the order isnt exactly "wrong". Its just below the standard expected by AMF. Technically, below standard = wrong, but my colleagues dont care. The customer wanted BBQ Wings? Okay, plain fried wings with a little sauce squirted on top. There ya go. Next order? They dont care if its not right, and they refuse to fix it because, as I mentioned earlier, its not "wrong". It doenst help matters any if the customer is a regular and knows damn good and well what he is supposed to get, as opposed to the wimpy plate of wings I ended up taking to him. Of course I ended up taking the brunt of his complaints. He's well within his right to complain, and he damn well should. Except that as a lowly lane-server, there isnt a hell of a lot I can do about it. I dont have the authority to give out refunds. Depending on whose in the back cooking, I can usually sneak in an extra order of this or that as a supplement. I was lucky tonite. Im usually not. The most I can do is send management their way, and assure them that I will also be speaking to my bosses on the matter. Im getting tired of having to make lameass exscuses as to why certain foods are unavailable, when, in reality, my co-workers are just lazy.

Their incompetence gives me less and less desire to do my job. Seriously, how am I supposed to deliver a product that I know is below standard and the cooks refuse to correct?

Yes, the center managers are aware of the problems. As a matter of fact, we recently got back a rather ugly secret shopper report that implicated two of them in exactly what Im trying to say here. The customer waited at the counter to be served for quite some time while the snackbar attendant merrily chatted to someone else that was around. Just small talk. An order that should have taken about 10 minutes tops took 35. The thing is, at the time, I dont think theres a lot that can be done about it now. We're barely running on a skeletal staff as it is, and cant afford to let anyone go. I dont know how theyre running the hiring process, but I hope they get some fresh blood here soon. Some, perhaps, with a work ethic.

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omfg

I really need to get a new job. Then, along with my huge wishlist of material type things (computer, new vehicle, software for computer, Thinkgeek junk, Everlast punchbag set, etc) I can afford to join various online communities and participate in wonderfull discussions like THIS one.

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Well, damn.

Theres a clipboard with paper and a pen sitting on top of it on the shelf next to me. Its a good pen too. One of those gel pens where the ink is so smooth and flawless. With such a pen, I can almost give new meaning to "words flow across the page". I dont know why I write so much easier with them, but I do. The pages are blank, begging to be written on it. I long to appease it. To pick up the pen and start writing. Only problem is, I cant think of anything to write. For all the prompts and plot bunnies, all the songs and music Im scrolling through, all the articles of this and that that I pick up via my RSS reader; I cant think of a thing to write.
Damnit.

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Wil Wheaton talks about the decline arcades

Wil Wheaton goes into discussion about arcades, the impact of arcades on a generation, the emergence of consoles and and what the decline in arcades may mean to those that spent all their hard earned allowance on those machines.



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While there was a mall like the one Wil described ("and every mall worth visiting had both a video arcade and an ice skating rink"), my most absolute favorite place to burn my allowance (what little I ever got...my parents arent that type) was the PuttPutt. I could (and would) spend all day alternating between the greens and the arcade. Id get a few dollars wort of tokens and then re-up on those sliding machines (where you have to drop the token so-timed that itll slide into a bigger pile and knock some more off) that everyone insisted were a huge waste of money. After that I usually made rounds between whackamole, skeeball, pinball, and a few others. Of course, during the time that PuttPutt had the Addams Family Machine, I spent more time there. I dont think I can describe the shock and horror that went through me as my tokens and I bounded up the stairs to play Addams.....and it wasnt there. It had made the rounds out. I remember searching for it, hoping it was only moved to another spot. But no. It was gone.
The PuttPutts long gone now. Replaced by...well, Im not sure. Last I saw it was an empty plot. Figures. Everything that we used to hold dear in some form or another is slowly going away.

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