Oh dear lord were the ‘haters’ on form Saturday!! What a horrible, horrible shift!! Walked into have THAT male manager (PK) being a complete and utter a-hole yet again. Reason? He wanted to know why I didn’t have a managers shirt but my other male colleague did (Pretty certain I told him last week on his own!!)?! Tried to explain yet again, (So that the others could also hear it), that mine wasn’t ordered in December when the new uniform for everyone in-store was ordered (Along with my female colleague, who’s managers uniform wasn’t ordered), yet, funny boy carried it on, so that everyone; and I mean literally everyone on the shift, joined in making out to be some kind of sick joke for their entertainment!!
How many times do I have to say something before it sinks in? I guess, forever, because they just want their laughs, they have to have their immature laughs at my expense!!
But today was different, they had to take it too far!! I began to hear the comments from funny boy and others in the background that I’d only been promoted (Like he; and others said in December when we started seeing a mass exodus for the door, with staff/managers moving on to new jobs), because they had no one else, maybe I and my colleague were, hell, we’re still in our Crew Trainers uniforms afterall!! But next, I hear that being spoken out amongst the staff around me, feck sake!! Said back to them, “Well hey, maybe I was, who knows? Maybe that was the only reason I was promoted, there was no one else?” Probably shouldn’t of said it, but I can hear funny boy laughing in the kitchen at my expense, commenting negatively to others - yeah he got to me, finally! Bit difficult trying to do a job when the hatred is constantly thrown back at you from all angles, both customers, then a handful of staff and a handful of managers. Pretty certain they didn’t think I was coming back after working for nearly 2 months in other stores, but that was a loan of me, to train the staff on the new system. Hell it was certainly screamed at me from the opposite end of the department by a now left, now resigned member of staff, “Why are you here? Why have you come back? You weren’t supposed to be coming back! We were told you weren’t coming back? Why are you here?” Yeah, that put me on a great mood on my 1st day back of being away for 2 months; and that happened 18 months ago. That’s a long time to put up with endless cr*p from immature children, many in a manager/trainer role that should really know better - Now do you see why I considered leaving?!!
So next, I walk down to the front of the store to hear a member of staff telling the tale to the shift manager. She couldn’t see me from where I was standing, because I was behind equipment, but by Christ, what bo**ocks was coming out of her mouth!! Stuck my head around so she saw me and said, “Excuse me, I’m standing right here, I can hear everything you are saying!” Got a “So!” Response. Told her to get her facts right before starting rumours, to be told, “This is my story, I’ll tell it how I want!” She got that right, a f*cking story, with none of what I had been told by the salaried manager in December, only the gossip from funny boy and my response to it!
You see what I’m working with! Haters fecking everywhere!! Oh, and by the way, this person was stood right next to the now resigned person who commented above about me coming back, they’re best of friends; and even she, at the time commented as to why I’d come back, albeit not negative at the time, but it makes me wonder, because now, on witnessing what she was saying to that shift manager, now I see just how much some of them (Not all), despise me. …and for what, doing a job that I love doing, following the procedures and trying to get them and all the new staff to follow them to - they’re not bothered, they’ll do what they want always!!
Next, the shift manager asks me to go out and take orders on the handheld device, fine, don’t mind that, but on getting the portable device from the office, I got ripped a new one by the 1st assistant!! Yep, rumour control had made it THAT far!! I guess it was only a matter of time before it did, but now I’m being screamed at, (With the Business manager sat silently only metres away, not a peek out of him, as he listened to this manager scream all kinds at me), “So apparently you’re not happy about not getting your shirt, apparently you think you’ve only been promoted because there’s no one else, yeah, really?!!” She was sorting out the crew members’ uniforms, boxes and boxes stacked up and she was throwing the uniforms about in her temper! So I responded, “That’s not what I said, you’re playing right into their hands, they’re all making it out like it’s a joke and commenting, it’s how they get their entertainment - at MY expense!! I’ve told them it wasn’t ordered in December, I keep telling them it wasn’t ordered and will come in a few weeks!! Is it my fault that they won’t listen?” So, she continued to rant, “Well, I’ve TOLD YOU that you will get it when I have checked that you have completed all the work required!”
I done that in January, have completed the workbook 3 times because it keeps going missing from my file, so much so, that I actually carry it around with me now, in my trainer’s folder in my bag - I just don’t trust that filing cabinet, even though it is supposed to be locked, things still seem to be going missing!! All the courses we do, apart for the First Aid course are electronic - she gets an email every time we complete/pass them, so she should know that we (My colleague and I) have completed all the work!!
So, I can now see funny boy (PK) stood outside the office door about a metre away looking in through the small glass panel we have in the door itself, laughing - fecking sh*t stirrer - Can see he is loving the moment, loving what he started. It’s gone full circle!! 
I continue with the salaried manager, “You see they’re stood outside laughing, that’s what they want! They think it’s some big game, but I don’t! You’ve told me, I except that. I’ve done the work, I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me!” Salaried manager goes, “Well, I don’t have to progress you! I’ve been told what you have said!” I responded with, “No you really haven’t! I was stood behind the equipment listening; and told by the staff member that THEY were telling the story, HER story!! She didn’t even say what was said, she was making her own little story up! Unbelievable!!” If anyone is complaining about their uniform, not getting their shirt, it’s (SN)!! Maybe you should go speak to her? Oh wait, they’re not mentioning anything about her, how surprising, they’re just talking about me! I’m their entertainment; and you are playing RIGHT into their hands!! Take a look, take a look out of the door, they’re watching, laughing, even now! You’re doing what they want; and you don’t even know it!! So, I got it again, “I don’t have to progress you! Listen to what I’m saying, I don’t have to progress you!!” Still, the Business Manager sits there, not a word out of him. At the very least, he could of turned his head right, looked through that glass panel and seen all the ‘haters’ now congregated outside, fighting over one another to get a good look in!! Yeah, there was quite a few of them in that day! Normally, they’re spread over different shifts, so I don’t see them all at once. Not Saturday, just my luck!! 
I continued with, “How many more times do I have to say it? You’ve told me in December about my uniform, I’ve told them! They don’t seem to be taking that in, they just see me as some form of entertainment; and it’s been going on for months. Ask me if I care what they say, seriously, I do not care what they say, they’re a gang of immature children that need to grow up! If they concentrated on the job, as half as much as they concentrate on causing problems for me, then we would have so many problems here. But, no, you’ve played right into their hands, so thank-you for that!!” The manager, still throwing uniforms around from one pile to the next said, “It’s over! Finished!” Of which I said, “Really, don’t think so, they have to have their entertainment; and I’m it! Like I said, I’m not bothered about as and when the uniform comes in, you’ve told me, I’ve heard. My work is all done, you can check it! My verification was done by (GN) before the BSV, that’s online also and verified! The only person that has said anything about uniform was (SN) and that was directly to me on my social media (Private) account. Yet, no one has said anything about her, it’s all targeted at me, always is; and I’m sorry, but I’m not playing their games, I’m not interested, they can say what they want to me, I’m not phased by them, not any longer! Everything they say, everything they do, I record it in my online journal. It’ll be the read of the fecking Century if anyone ever saw it from here, because they would say ‘My God, this guy has put up with some sh*t!’ and yeah I have, yeah I do, every single day; and ask me if I care? I don’t!!” So, still got a silent manager, I’m stood right next to him saying all this, not a word from him the whole time!! He just sat and looked at a computer screen. Not actually doing anything, just focusing on the screen by way of listening to everything that both I and the 1st assistant were saying to each other! Maybe, just maybe, the message has gotten through, doubt it though! 1st assistant repeats, “It’s over, finished!” As she does, in walks my so-called manager friend (ST) with a big smirk on his face, looks straight at me with it. Yeah, he’s come in for a nose to see what is happening to go back and tell the curious, and the ‘haters’!!
I went outside, 2 hours of cold air, own coat on as theirs are useless and dirty, hi-vis vest over the top of my jacket. Safe to say, in-between every customer, the time when no one was around, did I have a nice re-live of the previous start to my shift. Over and over it played, every single detail, I really hate working in that store. Wish to god I’d actually continued applying for those jobs in December, albeit, we all know I was in no fit state to attend any interviews, considering I was pretty sick to say the least. Even now, the top of my head hasn’t fully cleared, still got a few craters up there under my hair, still feel the pain on my right side, even now, as I type this! Glad I’m not bald, (Hope I never am, lol), would be quite a sight with these dents, not even I want to see them! Only way for it to clear up, is to take those pills, but I just can’t cope with those hallucinations that I get on waking and throughout the day, it just freaks me out! Not had one, since I stopped taking them. Sure, I still have my memories of ‘X’, not someone I can forget I guess, tried several times to move the memories I have of her to other parts of my photographic archive from hell, my head just won’t let me, they’re fixed in the same spots, so I have just decided to go with the flow on that one. Maybe, one day, they’ll get overwritten, but until that time, who knows!
So, 2 hours in to the order taking outside and 2 shift managers (One being my so-called friend ‘ST’, still with that stupid grin on his face!) come out to tell me to come back in for my break! Say what? It takes two of you to tell me, okie!! “NH, (RW - Shift Manager), has said to come in and go on you’re break.” I looked at the both, “Why’s there two of you out here? Come to see if I’m still stressing? Not a problem lads, I’m the entertainment for today, used to it, not ar$ed, karma will come back to them at some point!” Other manager said, “Just ignore them, they’re a bunch of idiots!”
So, went on my break. 1st Assistant had moved to the Crew Room to sort out the uniforms, still got a face like thunder, so asked her, “What’s up?” lol. Probably shouldn’t but, she went, “Thank Christ I’m off all next week!” Thought at the back of my mind was “Oh great, another week before you check that I did everything in January, when asked.” I guess I really am not destined to progress after all. If I am, it’s going to be AT LEAST the end of March, hopefully 2017, but I’m beginning to doubt that! Whilst there, a member of the Crew (Another person the ‘haters’ target each day when she is on shift; and even on the social media site - maybe they should take the time to get to know her, she’s quite a nice person!); and what does she say to me? “NH, where’s your shirt?” lol, for fecks sake! She didn’t mean anything by it, you could tell she was genuinely asking, unlike the other cretins, but when the 1st assistant came back into the room from going to her car I said, “(VL), ask (AS) what she just asked me!” “(AS), I just asked him where his shirt was? Just wondered why he was in a Crew Trainers uniform?” Looked at the 1st and said, “There you go, that’s all I’ve had since walking on shift, told you it’s not coming from me!” Then, in front of the 1st, I explained to (AS) why. Hopefully the message got through, sometimes it takes a few goes, but like I said, get to know her properly, not on some night out when drunk, I mean, really sit down, have a conversation with her, you come to realise she a really nice person and so very misunderstood person, mostly by the ‘haters’!
6 sprays of IShine. That’s all I have left now - two 2-Go bottles of it!!
Went back off of my break to have funny man (PK) ask me where my shirt was? and then laugh out loud in his stupid Scooby-doo laugh. Just ignored him, got on with the job. Actually, I ignored all the ‘haters’ as they were all back to commenting on the ‘Shirt’ question, trying to get a response out of me; and trying to find out what had been said in the office. Not a chance, I don’t care about them, not one bit.
Just spoke with the few youngsters, the friendly ones that where on shift, until all the ‘haters’ finished their shift - home time for them! New team that came in, no mention about the ‘shirt’ from them, much more focused on the job, interacting normally around me. 
Got to around 8pm, my home time supposedly, but damn, it was mental. We’d been 3 people down all day and well, it was extremely busy! We had the kids from hell congregated outside, throwing stones and tree branches at the car windscreen - Police nowhere to be seen, even though they were called repeatedly. Saturday night, they’re all in the City Centre tackling the drunks, not likely to come out to an inner City store to attempt to apprehend a few unsocial school kids! Not enough Police in our City anyway! So, me being me, decided I just couldn’t go home! Not a chance in hell was I making the situation any worse for the two managers trying to cope with everything, not to mention word came in as to why we were so busy - Kings of Leon were playing in the City Centre Arena; and our store is on one of the main routes in/out of the City, hence the chaos!! I stayed till 10:40pm, when the night team started arriving, even got a bag of chocolate buttons from the Shift Manager (CD) for staying and helping out. Didn’t actually want to take it, as we were ALL working our butts off to get the job done, but I think she overheard me say I hadn’t bought any in like 4 days (Which I hadn’t, which I live on the stuff to give me energy, well that, food and my Mones!), so reluctantly took it. Let’s face it, I wasn’t going to let her get even more stressed due to lack of staff, as even in that nearly 3 hours of extra work, staff members one by one, ended their shift and left, putting the pressure on us, those remaining to really up the stakes and get stuck in.
…So, Sunday. I’m expecting more of the same, as it was pretty much full house of ‘haters’ yesterday, all of them in together, only a handful of nice staff, the ones that I mainly interacted with. Went on my break around 1030am, had a nice one, with those few friends that I get on with, then on going back, the Business Manager shouts out of the office, “NH, you’re going to Kenny, they’re short-staffed!” YESSSSSSSSSS!!
Just before I go though, damn! In walks my colleague (SN), spots our colleague in his new manager’s uniform and says to me, right next to the Business Manager who has his back turned as he was working, “NH, why does (CC) have his shirt on? He hasn’t even done the First Aid Course; and we get told we can’t get our uniform until we have passed everything, so why has he got his and we haven’t?” Yeah, safe to say my head triggered the “Oh, for fecks sake, not again!” Thought. Safe to say, I put my hand up to her and said, “Listen, we’ve both been told by (VL) that it wasn’t ordered in December; and that we have to wait!” I left it at that; and as I went to walk away, on passing the Business Manager I utter the words to him, “See, it’s not me that keeps asking!” Once again, not a word out of him. You’d think he’d say something, you’d think he’d tell all of the ‘haters’ to wind their necks in, but nope, not a word; and that’s probably why they get away with so much. Sure, he send out emails to all managers’ telling them what he expects of them, but then, they all regularly joke that they never read them, they do what THEY want to do WHENEVER they want!
On getting to the other store, I tell you what, he wasn’t kidding that they were short-staffed, even worse than when I was there a couple of weeks ago! They even had staff from other stores within our Group, it was that bad!! Yet, on went my mix, 6 sprays of IShine, in kicked the fun happy vibe, the focus; and being trained for 2 months on that system, it’s easy to just walk in and go on any position - I can work them all!! Big, big difference in that store to my base store! EVERYONE gets along with everyone else! Everyone knows their individual responsibilities and gets on with it. It’s a far stricter environment, but if you do as you’re supposed to, then there is no cause for the managers to say anything to you all shift! They may ask you to swap positions, or ask you to do other duties to help the job run smoothly, but none of the cr*p I had to endure on Saturday, or any other day for that matter, in my own base store! They actually asked me, the managers and staff which store I preferred working in and I said, “This one, everyone just works as a team, are friendly with one another, it’s great to work here!” A few were quite surprised at that response, but the ones that I’ve worked with at that store said, “No, NH loves it here, always a pleasure to work with him when he comes. We actually ask for you now when we call your store!” DAMN, didn’t know that!! But then, whenever I walk into their store to work, the ones I’ve worked with before (Because there is a lot of new faces in there), they come running across to greet me and thank me for coming to cover the work at their store - says a lot really; and it feels great to be appreciated and liked for your work!!
Should of stayed there till 6pm, ended leaving just after 8pm, same reason as Saturday, minus the Arena event, just busy as hell, but I didn’t mind it, I was with an entire store of friendly people!! They wanted me to stay another hour; and to be fair I wanted to do so too, but I’d being going for just over 11 hours and was literally dead on my feet, what with the shift from hell the day before as well; and just couldn’t go on any longer. Not to mention, I had to get a taxi back to my base store to clock-off!!
8:30pm, back at my base store, place looked like a bomb had hit it and a few of the staff were going to me as I entered, “Are your ears burning?” Oh, I’m still the topic of conversation, how nice; and I wasn’t even there to hear it!! They wouldn’t even say what it was that was said. Clocked off, said my good-byes to the shift manager (CD), she must have had a hell of a time, could see it on her face, hear it in her voice, then on my way out, I asked what had been said about me again. Got one Crew Trainer (LS) stand before me with a rather red face; and one of the crew (BS) say, “Nothing, we were only messing!” In a voice that anyone with basic interrogation training would be able to spot as a lie. So yeah, trainer had said something by the looks of it, going by her beetroot face and serious lack of eye contact with me. Not bothered, not bothered one little bit! Off today, off tomorrow; and if the call comes in for staff to go to the other store, then I’m volunteering. At least I know I’ll be appreciated for all the work that I do!!
On that note, I’m off to the store. two 2-Go bottle of x1 IShine won’t last me a fortnight, so have to get my order in now, no matter how small it is. Bigger one a week Thursday - These extra hours means I’ll get more money to spend on great things!
Speak soon, I’m off to drink cider, play on my controller and chill for the next couple of days!
NH.
How this is considered an aphrodisiac product is beyond me, unless they leave the flowers everywhere, or pump the scent into a room? Have actually read on other research sites that petals of the ylang ylang plant are scattered over the bed of the honeymoon suite, but if they’re as strong as this, damn, I’d be sleeping on the floor for sure. Saying that, chances of me ever going on a honeymoon, lol?!! 
O-K!! Kind of makes you wonder what may (or may not) be getting said by others for that statement to come out, or it could just be innocent fun/banter.