Tales of the Vaguely Useless, Day II

[mousme]

Day 2 at Erb.

I need a passing-out icon. ^^;

I'm slightly less useless than yesterday, because Nat finally had some time to train me. Yesterday she was running around like a headless chicken putting out fires, but today was actually quieter, so I got to learn stuff. Yay!

Not that I learned a lot, because I still got only about an hour's worth of training out of a nine-hour day, but still. It's better than yesterday, where I got *no* training out of a nine-hour day.

So I learned to update an OS&D report and to make up Bills of Lading for particular types of shipments and how to update certain types of bills. You know how they say that this is the tip of the iceberg? Well, what I've learned might keep my drink cold for an hour or so. ^^;

However, I at least helped clear away a reasonably significant portion of Nat's backlog. Not that I was doing the actual clearing, but I was doing the busy work that would have prevented Nat from clearing away her backlog, which is pretty much what I was hired to do anyway, from what I understand. So it's all good.

I'm still slow, and there are tons of procedures I don't know, but I've learned three of them, which isn't bad.

My supervisor is turning out to be pretty much an absentee supervisor, which is something to which I'm entirely unaccustomed. I'm used to either working entirely on my own, or with consistent feedback. This will take some adjusting to, I can see.

I saw him a grand total of twice today, once when I walked by his cubicle to get my lunch, and he said one sentence to me: "Tomorrow, seven-thirty." He wouldn't have said anything else had I not asked him to clarify (I mean, cryptic much?), and he explained that he wanted me to be in by 7:30 and not 8:00am, so that I would have the same hours as Nat. I think he finally clued in that having me leave half an hour after her when I don't know what I'm doing and there's no one else around to train me is *stupid."

The second time was when he came into the office I share with Nat in order to bitch at Nat about an OS&D she'd left on his desk that she couldn't deal with because there was no bill and she had no time to track it down. In theory, he should deal with it, as her supervisor. That's how things go in this world, apparently. Chaos, mayhem and disorder.

:::Random Edit:::

Stupid Bloc people! I'm not voting for you! Stop calling me!

:::End Random Edit

Nat has been fantastic with me, however. She's always nice, and consistently takes time to explain what she's doing, puts up with my constant questions, and seems to be genuinely pleased that in a few weeks' time I'll be able to take a considerable amount of pressure off her in terms of her work load. Right now she's doing the work of two people, and even though I won't be doing exactly the same thing she is, I'll be doing my best to take off the pressure so that the poor girl can at least take her breaks during the day (she hasn't been able to even take her lunch breaks ever since the last guy, Fred, left, God knows how long ago).

She's also been rabid about "defending" me from Laith, our supervisor, who seems to think that after one day in the office I should be able to do the same things that Nat does, who has been working for Erb for ten years and has been doing OS&D for five years and could do it blindfolded with one hand tied behind her back. Actually, she's been defending me from a whole bunch of people, which is really sweet, in a way. It's more thst only she realizes how much work it actually is, and what it really entails. Because she does it so efficiently, they all think it's easy and can be learned lightning-fast, but she actually has an idea of what I have to learn.

So, yeah.

I realized today that I had no work clothes left, so I threw in a load of laundry, and I hope it'll be dry by tomorrow morning. It should be, with the weather we're having.

And that's the very exciting life I'm leading these days. Better than the exciting life I was leading before, mind you. :)

Comments

[angelovernh.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear she's started training you. Don't worry, you're going to learn the job. Supervisor sounds like a schmuck.

[vureoelt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, now that she knew you were coming, that kind of helps. One day notice only, but you know...

If the backlog is clearing up, then that's a very good sign. I'm sure things will start sorting out in an orderly fashion on an increasing basis.

Eh, hands-off supervisors can be good... but this one sounds bad. Only on day two does he clue in that your work shift should be the same as the person who is showing you the ropes? If there were manuals and other documents you could read, sure, but otherwise... Plus, he seems eager to pass the buck (or the blame) around. Unfortunately, that probably means you can't count on any support from his direction except when it helps prove a point he's trying to make somewhere.

Funny, the Bloc doesn't solicit my phone number. :) Big business and the minority vote!

That's good to hear, though. I think Nat may be the redeeming factor here out of it all. Until they've walked a mile in her shoes, pay them no heed.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Funny, the Bloc doesn't solicit my phone number. :) Big business and the minority vote!

No, no, no. That's the PQ, not the BQ. ;)

The passing the buck thing is pretty standard in any corporation, I've come to learn. No one wants to claim responsibility for anything. So the supervisor is no exception to this rule, and neither is Nat for that matter. She's just lower on the totem pole, and thus it's actually *not* her responsibility a lot of the time. ;)

I do not in fact plan to pay them any heed unless Nat tells me to. I report to her and to Laith unless specifically told otherwise. :)

[vureoelt.livejournal.com]

PQ, BQ, same difference. :)

Guess it depends on what kind of corporation you're in. It didn't seem that way at the one I was at...

Well, given Laith's apparent attitudes, I'd pay as little as you can get away with. :)

[forthright.livejournal.com]

Having worked for several summers in a transportation warehouse/office (for Kraft), I bet that eventually this will become largely a "work entirely on your own" kind of job. The signals you seem to be getting are that your supervisor isn't *used* to supervising, and doesn't micromanage employees under normal (post-training conditions). If it's anything like my old job, you'll find that every single task has procedures that differ ever so slightly from each other task.

All this talk of skids and OS&D sure brings back some memories. IIRC, Erb was one of the main carriers that Kraft used when shipping Montreal-wards.

[miseri.livejournal.com]

I think supervisors tend to scream more when the pace of work gets high and stressful. It's got less to do with you and more to do with the environment, and in the end I doubt they even remember getting mad at you, or why.

Your job sounds pretty idyllic, actually. I know I always enjoyed that sort of clerical work, with all the procedures and protocol to follow.

"Bill of Lading" sounds like it started off as a typo eons ago, and no-one got around to correcting it.