Tuesday, July 05, 2011
epic fail
Les Murray, the football commentator/analyst from SBS, was in the store the other week signing copies of his new book. i decided to get myself a copy and meet him. i went out for a quick lunch and when i got back i saw he was still signing and there was still a sizeable line. i went to the signing desk to grab myself a copy, went to the back of the store to buy it (staff need to buy only from there), went back to the front signing desk to join the queue...only to find that he had finished and was gone
so there i was left with an unsigned copy of his book. epic fail 2 comments
so there i was left with an unsigned copy of his book. epic fail 2 comments
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
final day
so i know i haven't updated in a while. if i'm not speed-capped on my internet i'm either tired from work or just forgetful. so! to sum up all the drama that's happened with work over the last few months...
i believe i mentioned that there was a tense period where there were hints of redundancies at work. in the department where i work in, 2 were made redundant and 2 others were moved to other departments (probably forced, as in, if they didn't take the redeployment then they'd've been made redundant). one of those guys who were redeployed eventually quit as well. so there was not a good atmosphere at work for quite some time
then someone who'd been with the business for over 20 years comes back from enforced long service leave and then made redundant the minute he comes back from leave. not cool. that is so not the way to do it. so the bad atmosphere at work got worse with the managers of my department really angry about how their staff were treated in the way the redundancies were carried out
then a few weeks later the General Manager had enough of head office playing politics and making stupid decisions and then going back on those decisions with no apology to the GM for the disruption and chaos that those decisions and retractions caused both to the business in general and to sales in particular. so the GM quit
and then those two sort of department co-managers i mentioned the other week quit in frustration
so yeah. it's not been a happy nor a stress-free environment at work for a while. although all the redundancies are over, no one else currently wants to quit (except perhaps one other person who's been thinking it for months anyway). so it's all settled down
got a new Warehouse manager who's...not exactly a manager. he's been trained in half of the stuff but it seems he's not been actually given the manager title and is only restricted to carrying out part of the Warehouse Manager duties. bit odd. personally i wanted that post. i'd already done it before (when the Warehouse Manager who quit last week was sick a few days a while back), so i know what's involved with some of it. but it seems the talk at work is that i'd be trained to be Inventory Manager. which is the post of the other guy that quit last week. NOT the position i wanted, but possibly one i'd be okay to take over. but i've not been officially told anything so as far as i'm concerned it's just business as usual for me in my corporate accounts spot
but yeah. eventful stuff at work. i shall have to make another update in the future about the recent figurine acquisitions i've made. as well as rage about the loss of some of the manga series i read 0 comments
i believe i mentioned that there was a tense period where there were hints of redundancies at work. in the department where i work in, 2 were made redundant and 2 others were moved to other departments (probably forced, as in, if they didn't take the redeployment then they'd've been made redundant). one of those guys who were redeployed eventually quit as well. so there was not a good atmosphere at work for quite some time
then someone who'd been with the business for over 20 years comes back from enforced long service leave and then made redundant the minute he comes back from leave. not cool. that is so not the way to do it. so the bad atmosphere at work got worse with the managers of my department really angry about how their staff were treated in the way the redundancies were carried out
then a few weeks later the General Manager had enough of head office playing politics and making stupid decisions and then going back on those decisions with no apology to the GM for the disruption and chaos that those decisions and retractions caused both to the business in general and to sales in particular. so the GM quit
and then those two sort of department co-managers i mentioned the other week quit in frustration
so yeah. it's not been a happy nor a stress-free environment at work for a while. although all the redundancies are over, no one else currently wants to quit (except perhaps one other person who's been thinking it for months anyway). so it's all settled down
got a new Warehouse manager who's...not exactly a manager. he's been trained in half of the stuff but it seems he's not been actually given the manager title and is only restricted to carrying out part of the Warehouse Manager duties. bit odd. personally i wanted that post. i'd already done it before (when the Warehouse Manager who quit last week was sick a few days a while back), so i know what's involved with some of it. but it seems the talk at work is that i'd be trained to be Inventory Manager. which is the post of the other guy that quit last week. NOT the position i wanted, but possibly one i'd be okay to take over. but i've not been officially told anything so as far as i'm concerned it's just business as usual for me in my corporate accounts spot
but yeah. eventful stuff at work. i shall have to make another update in the future about the recent figurine acquisitions i've made. as well as rage about the loss of some of the manga series i read 0 comments
Friday, May 27, 2011
end of an era
i know i haven't updated in quite a while. either been too busy with work or having internet problems the last few months. i plan on talking about a lot of things that have happened lately, particularly my new figurines!! but right now i just wanted to mention one quick thing because it's upsetting me so much
two guys at work quit today. guys who i sorta report to as my boss, and guys who have been really cool and have made the workplace feel like a fun place to work in. learning that they put in their resignations today really upset me because i was so looking forward to working with them for quite a while and because it raises some questions in my mind as to the upper management and how long before I finally crack the shits and quit in frustration too. it's not a nice thing to think about, especially since i've already left one job that i really enjoyed all because the upper management were shit and i got sick of having to take their crap and shoulder all the work. and seeing that same thing happen to these two guys who are totally cool and were prepared to shoulder a lot of unreasonable and un-thanked responsibility is really sad to see
work will not be as fun anymore 0 comments
two guys at work quit today. guys who i sorta report to as my boss, and guys who have been really cool and have made the workplace feel like a fun place to work in. learning that they put in their resignations today really upset me because i was so looking forward to working with them for quite a while and because it raises some questions in my mind as to the upper management and how long before I finally crack the shits and quit in frustration too. it's not a nice thing to think about, especially since i've already left one job that i really enjoyed all because the upper management were shit and i got sick of having to take their crap and shoulder all the work. and seeing that same thing happen to these two guys who are totally cool and were prepared to shoulder a lot of unreasonable and un-thanked responsibility is really sad to see
work will not be as fun anymore 0 comments
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
yet more developments
my current work position is Corporate Orders. our bookstore is the supplier for a third party company. clients order books, CDs and DVDs from this third party company and we are their supplier. and from our store, i am the sole contact and coordinator for this component of corporate orders. i spend the first couple of hours of my day gathering all the orders, putting the sale through, arranging postage of those items to the various clients, and following up any backorders and/or updates to/from the third party company. that takes me all of 2 hours of every day. i then spend the rest of the day helping the warehouse staff unpack the deliveries of stock to get them out onto the sales floor, or covering for the sales floor staff when we're light and need an extra/replacement staff on the floor. that's my day-to-day workload
today i was asked to consider accepting another position in addition to my current position. Events Coordinator. essentially i'd be the contact person for any events we hold in the store. that is, whenever we have a guest to sign/promote their new book, i arrange for new copies of the stock to be ready for the signing, coordinate with the Operations Manager with how the event itself will be conducted, be the contact person for the guest's PR manager, attend any external events, etc. and that's all on top of what i already do
...i've been at this new job just under 3 months and already they're giving me a second mini-promotion and heightened responsibilities. i've been accelerated faster than all the other temp staff that were hired at the same time as me, and all of us were hired merely as Christmas temps (i know of 2 others of those temps who have already been offered permanent positions, but none have been elevated as high as me beyond merely sales staff). i wonder why they're not offering this position to the already established staff there? why to a new and untried staff member? why not to someone who's been there over a year and has already proved their work ethic and desire for this position?
i'm a bit nervous to take the offer. dealing with PR people and arranging appointments is not my strong point. on the other hand, i don't want to appear to be inflexible or unreliable by declining this offer. i'm not being offered the position outright, i'd still need to undergo a few weeks of training before i'd be officially offered it. and admittedly i might find i'd actually be good at it and enjoy it once i try it. but right now it's not something that highly interests me and i'm quite nervous at having to be interacting with authors, chefs, comedians, sportspeople, politicians, and whoever else writes a book these days
eh. we'll see. i'll let them know i'm up for giving it a go and taking the training. but i sure hope i can figure out really quickly whether or not i'd really like to take the role so that i can let them know early so they can train someone else if need be
oh, and just as an addendum...the guy who's spot i'm being offered isn't one of the casualties of the recent position changes i've been mentioning. he's moving on of his own accord to do his own thing 2 comments
today i was asked to consider accepting another position in addition to my current position. Events Coordinator. essentially i'd be the contact person for any events we hold in the store. that is, whenever we have a guest to sign/promote their new book, i arrange for new copies of the stock to be ready for the signing, coordinate with the Operations Manager with how the event itself will be conducted, be the contact person for the guest's PR manager, attend any external events, etc. and that's all on top of what i already do
...i've been at this new job just under 3 months and already they're giving me a second mini-promotion and heightened responsibilities. i've been accelerated faster than all the other temp staff that were hired at the same time as me, and all of us were hired merely as Christmas temps (i know of 2 others of those temps who have already been offered permanent positions, but none have been elevated as high as me beyond merely sales staff). i wonder why they're not offering this position to the already established staff there? why to a new and untried staff member? why not to someone who's been there over a year and has already proved their work ethic and desire for this position?
i'm a bit nervous to take the offer. dealing with PR people and arranging appointments is not my strong point. on the other hand, i don't want to appear to be inflexible or unreliable by declining this offer. i'm not being offered the position outright, i'd still need to undergo a few weeks of training before i'd be officially offered it. and admittedly i might find i'd actually be good at it and enjoy it once i try it. but right now it's not something that highly interests me and i'm quite nervous at having to be interacting with authors, chefs, comedians, sportspeople, politicians, and whoever else writes a book these days
eh. we'll see. i'll let them know i'm up for giving it a go and taking the training. but i sure hope i can figure out really quickly whether or not i'd really like to take the role so that i can let them know early so they can train someone else if need be
oh, and just as an addendum...the guy who's spot i'm being offered isn't one of the casualties of the recent position changes i've been mentioning. he's moving on of his own accord to do his own thing 2 comments
Monday, February 21, 2011
more developments
since friday, there's been some redundancies and some staff having their roles changed from under them and being transferred to other departments. thankfully my job has been confirmed as permanent (remember, i started as a christmas temp before being semi-promoted into corporate orders). i'm going to get more hours but less pay because the benefits i'll now be accumulating will offset the reduced pay...however...i've done the math and i'll end up earning LESS than i was now DESPITE the extra hours...somehow i don't think i got an improved deal...but i suppose i'll take the job security that comes with the new deal, especially since others were made redundant. but there's a lot of negativity at work, some due to how the redundancies were done, others with the upper management in general. makes me seriously wonder if i should have a solid backup plan ready to put into place at a moment's notice...
also, my old company's gone under. the parent company that owned the company i used to work for got into huge debt, and as a result the two major bookstore chains that they owned, Borders (whom i used to work for) and Angus & Robertson look to be shutting down as the parent company sells them off to meet their debts. someone from work told me that the Borders stores are all selling EVERYTHING piss cheap! that's a shock. i have a couple of friends who still work at my old store and i'm wondering how they're faring and what they'll do in the future. one said he wasn't worried because he was going to transfer to the re-opening city store. but...with the entire company shutting down, there WON'T be a re-opening city store for him to transfer to. so there's nowhere safe to run except out. and another friend is on leave in the UK! he probably doesn't know about any of this! he may well get back next week and find his job is gone!
in terms of our store...we're not doing so well. our sales aren't great, and given that Borders and A&R have been gone from the city for the past couple of years because of redevelopment, and are now looking to be gone permanently, we've effectively had a monopoly on book sales in the CBD. if our sales weren't great with a monopoly, then they're not going to get any better now that the competition won't be returning. the GM reckons it'll be fine once the publishers settle down from the shock of 2 major book chains going under...but combined with the general grumblings in the store about the redundancies, this short-term job i have until i gain confidence in my 3D skills (which i've not made any effort to work on in years!) isn't looking all that fantastic. ...i'm getting to the point where i should have a stable career beginning, and i'm nowhere near that. ...my laziness, procrastination, poor initiative and general lack of confidence is killing my career future... 0 comments
also, my old company's gone under. the parent company that owned the company i used to work for got into huge debt, and as a result the two major bookstore chains that they owned, Borders (whom i used to work for) and Angus & Robertson look to be shutting down as the parent company sells them off to meet their debts. someone from work told me that the Borders stores are all selling EVERYTHING piss cheap! that's a shock. i have a couple of friends who still work at my old store and i'm wondering how they're faring and what they'll do in the future. one said he wasn't worried because he was going to transfer to the re-opening city store. but...with the entire company shutting down, there WON'T be a re-opening city store for him to transfer to. so there's nowhere safe to run except out. and another friend is on leave in the UK! he probably doesn't know about any of this! he may well get back next week and find his job is gone!
in terms of our store...we're not doing so well. our sales aren't great, and given that Borders and A&R have been gone from the city for the past couple of years because of redevelopment, and are now looking to be gone permanently, we've effectively had a monopoly on book sales in the CBD. if our sales weren't great with a monopoly, then they're not going to get any better now that the competition won't be returning. the GM reckons it'll be fine once the publishers settle down from the shock of 2 major book chains going under...but combined with the general grumblings in the store about the redundancies, this short-term job i have until i gain confidence in my 3D skills (which i've not made any effort to work on in years!) isn't looking all that fantastic. ...i'm getting to the point where i should have a stable career beginning, and i'm nowhere near that. ...my laziness, procrastination, poor initiative and general lack of confidence is killing my career future... 0 comments
Friday, February 18, 2011
developments
an interesting devlopment at work today. the store's not doing all that great at the moment, and from what i've heard, there was a recent head office change that has had an effect in the running of the business and has resulted in today's announcement of a restructuring of the business. ...a polite euphemism for "we're going to have to let go of some people so we can save some money so the big executives can keep their 10K+ bonuses"
several of the staff there were rattled by the announcement, which is understandable. as for myself, i didn't really care. for one thing...whatever decision is made about my employment is out of my hands and so not worth worrying about. secondly...i was hired as a christmas casual anyway so i was always prepared to be out of a job after january/february. and thirdly...i always had a backup plan which i believe is still a viable option should i need it
the good news is...i DON'T need it. instead i got called in to be confirmed as a permanent fixture in the store. more hours (...although not THAT much more than i currently do anyway). confirmation of the position that i hold. reduced pay, although that's offset by the fact that since i'll no longer be casual i'll begin to receive benefits. ...not that the benefits are all that great. frankly, despite the extra hours, the reduced pay means i actually now earn LESS than i did before! ...somehow this isn't feeling like much of a good thing. heh
oh well. the job security is confirmed. i'll take that
outside of work...happy to have the Champions League resume. i was ecstatic to see Tottenham get a deserved win over Milan. Milan are a team i highly respect, but their attitude in yesterday's game was appalling and disgraceful. Tottenham on the other hand kept a cool head and thoroughly deserved their win. and bloody relieved to see Arsenal beat Barca. i had my heart in my throat for the entire match, especially after Barcelona took the lead and then pushed for the late equaliser, but i'm so happy that FINALLY Arsenal have won a small battle against Barcelona. let's hope they win the second match and progress through to the next round! 0 comments
several of the staff there were rattled by the announcement, which is understandable. as for myself, i didn't really care. for one thing...whatever decision is made about my employment is out of my hands and so not worth worrying about. secondly...i was hired as a christmas casual anyway so i was always prepared to be out of a job after january/february. and thirdly...i always had a backup plan which i believe is still a viable option should i need it
the good news is...i DON'T need it. instead i got called in to be confirmed as a permanent fixture in the store. more hours (...although not THAT much more than i currently do anyway). confirmation of the position that i hold. reduced pay, although that's offset by the fact that since i'll no longer be casual i'll begin to receive benefits. ...not that the benefits are all that great. frankly, despite the extra hours, the reduced pay means i actually now earn LESS than i did before! ...somehow this isn't feeling like much of a good thing. heh
oh well. the job security is confirmed. i'll take that
outside of work...happy to have the Champions League resume. i was ecstatic to see Tottenham get a deserved win over Milan. Milan are a team i highly respect, but their attitude in yesterday's game was appalling and disgraceful. Tottenham on the other hand kept a cool head and thoroughly deserved their win. and bloody relieved to see Arsenal beat Barca. i had my heart in my throat for the entire match, especially after Barcelona took the lead and then pushed for the late equaliser, but i'm so happy that FINALLY Arsenal have won a small battle against Barcelona. let's hope they win the second match and progress through to the next round! 0 comments
Thursday, February 03, 2011
paperwork
let me first say that i hope everyone had a good holiday season. even if you don't celebrate Christmas you probably got to have a day or two off work/school for it so you're probably not complaining. and i hope everyone has had a good start to the new year and are looking forward to the new year
moving on!
i hate paperwork. and anything administrative. i need to cancel my old super account and transfer everything there to my new one. i had a shitload of paperwork to sort through and organise at work from the previous staff member whose position i've now taken over. and i have to reset all my passwords for everything online that i've registered for, and remembering all those passwords is a damn pain
in other news...work has been piss easy. my new position is so easy to do that i'm done with the day's work within 2 hours of my starting for the day. i'm still only casual, and since taking over this new position i've gone from 8 hour shifts, 6 days a week to 6 hour shifts, 5 days a week. ...not much of a mini-promotion. oh well. less pay because of less hours but i'm guaranteed to stay there for the foreseeable future. and i'll trade that loss in pay for that job security any day. and i'm loving the work - a really easy job, total autonomy in my position since i'm the only one doing that job and have no consult with anyone or take orders from anyone or report to anyone (well...that last isn't strictly true...i suppose still answer to the ops manager but i don't need to regularly). AND the biggest plus...i don't have to deal with rude demanind customers! haHA! so...job security, total autonomy, stress-free...this is too easy
...perhaps the only real downside that i'm seeing from taking this new position is that i'm out the back all the time and so therefore i get almost no interaction with this hottie at work. damn 0 comments
moving on!
i hate paperwork. and anything administrative. i need to cancel my old super account and transfer everything there to my new one. i had a shitload of paperwork to sort through and organise at work from the previous staff member whose position i've now taken over. and i have to reset all my passwords for everything online that i've registered for, and remembering all those passwords is a damn pain
in other news...work has been piss easy. my new position is so easy to do that i'm done with the day's work within 2 hours of my starting for the day. i'm still only casual, and since taking over this new position i've gone from 8 hour shifts, 6 days a week to 6 hour shifts, 5 days a week. ...not much of a mini-promotion. oh well. less pay because of less hours but i'm guaranteed to stay there for the foreseeable future. and i'll trade that loss in pay for that job security any day. and i'm loving the work - a really easy job, total autonomy in my position since i'm the only one doing that job and have no consult with anyone or take orders from anyone or report to anyone (well...that last isn't strictly true...i suppose still answer to the ops manager but i don't need to regularly). AND the biggest plus...i don't have to deal with rude demanind customers! haHA! so...job security, total autonomy, stress-free...this is too easy
...perhaps the only real downside that i'm seeing from taking this new position is that i'm out the back all the time and so therefore i get almost no interaction with this hottie at work. damn 0 comments
