*stretch*

Got home a little after 5:30 this morning – I was the closing supervisor last night. All in all, things went pretty well with operations. Mail volumes were pretty low when I got to work, but things started picking up around 9:30 or 10. We had adequate staffing… actually, we were overstaffed – we were supposed to start processing for Spokane, WA yesterday, but that was postponed until 28 July. *shrug*

Next week’s supervisor schedule was posted last night: I’m not supervising next week. This is something of a mixed blessing: I won’t get the higher-level pay, but I also won’t have to directly deal with some of the horseshit that is heaped upon the supervisors from on high.

Today’s gripe: Our installation manager sent out a memo, dated 06 July, that was just distribute to the supervisors yesterday, 11 July. In it, she talks about some of the changes that will be put into effect beginning this Saturday. Among them:

  • One of our Ops Managers is being shifted into the Industrial Engineer position.
  • The other Ops Manager’s title is changing to “Administrative Manager,” I think that this means that she will be dealing with all of the issues like discipline, injury compensation and medical, etc. AND SHE WON’T BE DOING THE SUPERVISORS’ SCHEDULE!!!
  • Our acting Industrial Engineer will become the “Operations Manager” and deal with the day-to-day issues of Operations and supervisors.

Up to that point, things were fine. Then I read the paragraph about the fact that we are having YET ANOTHER acting supervisor detailed into our facility for two months.

First, let me give you a little background information. Under normal conditions, we have ten (10) supervisor positions at our facility. We currently have five (5) full-time supervisors and eleven (11) acting supervisors (also known as 204-Bs or SEOAs). Of the five full supervisors, two of them are detailed into the Operations Manager positions and one is detailed out of the office for the next year, and one’s position is full-time Attendance Control. This leaves ONE full-time supervisor available for Operations. That’s where the 204-Bs come into play. Being a 204-B means that in addition to your normal position as a DCO (keyer), you can be put into a higher-level position (supervisor, for example), if the need arises. The 204-B assignments can last for up to 16 weeks without putting a person in jeopardy of losing their normal position. If you have ever seen the first couple of seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher” is a prime example of what I am referring to. He got all of the duties of being a member of the crew, but didn’t have ALL of the benefits of a fully commissioned officer in Starfleet. As a 204-B, you can be assigned to fill whatever supervisor position is necessary. Whenever necessary. It can wreak havok with your life, because your schedule is at the whim of whomever is making the weekly supervisor schedule. As a sidenote, most of the supervisors to whom I have referred in previous posts – Jess, Gary, Land, Desiree, Ryan, Lisa, Brooke and myself – are 204-Bs. Ok… end of background info.

No one, outside of the senior managers, seemed to know that John was coming back. That’s fine; it’s their prerogative. But, in the interest of all parties involved – namely the supervisors – it would have been nice to have something of a heads-up on this one. As I mentioned before, Jess was pulled off of the Hell-Shift (8pm – 4:30am) at the last moment last week, to be replaced by Ryan. It seems that RYAN is about to be replaced by John. Along with this change, 3 other SEOAs are getting switched around or changing duties.

Can you say “Clusterfuck,” boys and girls? I knew you could!

Gary called me on the radio last night and asked “Who’s this ‘John’ on the schedule.” I told him. His response,”Why are they bringing him back? Isn’t he working in Provo?” The first thing that came to mind was NOT the first thing that came out of my mouth, fortunately. “No comment” was my reply, to which he responded,”10-4.” And that was the end of the conversation. A little while later, one of our managers, Bruce, came out to the Operations Desk and said “We heard you.” I looked at him and said,”Okaaaaay…..” I expected them to hear it; that’s why my filter kicked in and all that I said was “No comment.” I may be a little irrational at times… I may even be silly or even dense, but my parents did not raise any idiots. Even MORE bizarre: Bruce came back about :30 – :45 later and explained that John was being brought to our facility as a favor. Okay. Fine.

Let me also note that I do like John. He and I worked together for a while before he transferred out of our facility. I enjoyed working with him because: a) he was a decent person; b)he was good at his job; and c) he was pleasant to be around. I’m glad that the managers were able to accommodate his request to work with us, BUT… let’s look at this logically:

  • There are 10 supervisor positions.
  • There are 2 full-time supervisors on the floor – one at Ops and one at Attendance.
  • This leaves 8 positions to be covered.
  • There are 11 in-house SEOAs available to cover those positions.
  • ::: doing the math :::
  • Oh, what the Hell… let’s bring in ANOTHER one and move everyone else around in the process.

Like I said before: “Clusterfuck.”

As the song “War Paint,” by Rush says:
“All puffed up with vanity
We see what we want to see
To the powerful and the wise
The mirror always lies.”

I wonder what they see when the look in the mirror….