The Manager's Special Offer: (Beta
feature - offer valid for this visit only)
So, today's entry is going to be pretty short. The
reason for
this is that really not a lot happened last night. I got in and
immediately clocked Queen Chav's car. I have a great memory for
number plates, so I can tell who is in by the cars parked
outside. Anyway, so I get in and see her and her yet again new
haircut (even shorter and now ginger), so I smile sweetly and say "Good
evening!" to which I get a grunted "Evenin'" which immediately makes me
suspicious of her motives. She's not supposed to be there, and
she's evidently not in a good mood. Doesn't bode well for
me. And then she tells me I have to go do some training with
her. Yippy skippy joy. We end up having a cigarette
together where she tells me about her insomnia, tells me she wants a
coffee machine which grinds the beans and then filters the coffee
through cup by cup rather than by the jug. We also discussed the
fact that you cannot smoke ANYWHERE these days. Something she is
hating because she's going to LA later in the year - an 8 hour
flight. With 2 hours before the flight not being able to smoke
either. The actual training was dull and boring and stuff that I
already knew. Lifting and handling stuff. Because I
wouldn't know that having done my job for 5 years...
Where I work has been turned into The Apprentice. Someone is
getting fired. We have a LOT of CCTV cameras dotted around the
store. Most importantly, there are 2 in the ceiling of the
warehouse, meaning that management can view if anyone has been eating
stock from the warehouse. Someone has. Because management
found a half drunk bottle of soft drink in the warehouse. So a
notice has been put up that when the person who drank the drink is
found on CCTV, they're getting fired. My theory is that it's
Rickaaaay. He's stupid enough to do it, and stupid enough to
think he could get away with it. And the best bit? Mummy is
leading the investigation. This could be so funny. And the
thing is, there is no escape, Pedro hates thieves. He's gonna be
like Alan Sugar on steroids if it really is Rickaaaay...
Now, those who know me closely know I am on a budget. Not due to
a lack of money, it's more a discipline thing. When I am not on a
budget, I spend money like it's the last day on Earth. I just
like to know that I can alternate between wild spending and tightly
controlled spending. My budget? £10 a day, to include
cigarettes, which cost £5. I do have a few rules. I
am allowed to go to the pub, as long as I drink red wine, because it's
cheap. I am also allowed to hold over money from one day to the
next and add it to the budget, as it was already budgeted to begin
with. So, last night I discovered a little scam I use use to
extend my budget further. We have a customer offer for 40p off of
our new sandwiches (which are delicious!) BUT importantly it doesn't
say that we can't use them also. Interestingly, it's not valid
with other "offers" but it works perfectly well with my staff discount
card. Funny thing is, it shouldn't. The till should cancel
out the lowest discount. Well, it's only valid for a month, so,
my budget just got 40p added to it...
One of the "joys" of my job is dealing with delivery drivers.
Most of them are nice guys. We have guys like Keith who if he was
any more laid back he would be vertical. Just the greeting of
"Mooooorniiiiiiing" knows nothing is going to happen quickly. And
there is Big Evil who is 6'5", with a mass of long black hair, built
like a bodybuilder, and says very little. He seriously looks like
a serial killer, but he's one of the nicest guys I have ever met.
With a thicker Cornish accent than Jethro. And then you get guys
like the driver we had last night. The ironic thing is that my
best friend's father used to be a chairman of British Bakeries, the
place this driver was from. So, he was pushing the trolley and I
said to him "In this aisle please" and he just ignored me and kept
pushing the trolley further away. So I said louder "In this
aisle!" He still ignored me. So repeated it again, yet
louder, and still he ignored me. So I just sighed and said "Fine,
go where you want! We're only the customers..." And then he
had to have a paper GRN (goods recieved note) which they hate, because
it means they didn't actually get paid, it's more of an IOU. I'll
explain why later. Namely because the reason is staggering.
So, the reason the guy needed this IOU is because our computer was
locked out. I threw a few passwords at it, but didn't have time
for a full on cracking session. Namely because the order was
idiotic (400 packets of sandwiches). Anyway, the reason it was
locked out was because the screensaver had been on for 24 hours, and
our moron technicians insist than we use Windows. Yay.
Despite the fact that Linux would be faster since all our apps are web
based apart from Office. So, when Shoe finally came in, I asked
her what the password for the computer was. She told me it was
"password". The reason? It's easy to remember! It
annoys me when people use weak passwords. It's like the Wifi at
our place. State of the art b/g/n Wifi router, own server,
incredibly fast (to run the tills, financial stuff, and web apps at
speed at the same time it has to be). Now, in technological
terms, it's beautiful. So they passworded it, so that only the
store's computers can use it. I've used it on my laptop.
How? The password is our store number and a "check" digit which
is now obsolete. Moronic! What annoys me about this is that
anyone could use that connection, download something hugely dodgy, or
do some hugely dodgy searches, and the trail would lead back to us...
Lastly, I just wanted to mention something David Cameron said, which I
think was fantastic. He said that just like in The Apprentice,
Gordon Brown shouldn't wait to be told "You're fired!" He said
"Why doesn't the Prime Minister take part in a reality show where the
public decide who the winner is going to be? It's called a
general election!" Mr Cameron, I bow to your observational
humour. And as I have said for a long time, Cameron understands
today's culture, Brown and Blair (to a degree) don't and didn't.
Love it when politicians talk smack. Oh, and on the subject of
The Apprentice, I cannot wait to watch it tonight, just to see Raef,
who is possibly my favourite contestant EVER. Why? "Let's
be honest, size 16 to 32 brides are size 16 to 32 for a reason.
They love cake!"
Training
Theft At Work
Budgeting
Delivery Drivers
Windows Security
David Cameron
The Apprentice