Two things:
One is that the new(ish) EBay dispute-resolution system is so rad. Long ago, in the early days of EBay, if you bought something and it arrived in crummy condition, you had to hash it out with the seller—and most EBay sellers do not have training in customer service. You could leave negative feedback if they didn’t do the right thing, but then they could leave YOU completely unfair negative feedback in retaliation. Even if they took a return on the item, many wouldn’t refund shipping either direction, so you could end up losing a chunk of money and not even ending up with an item, even though you were completely blameless. It was a poor system.
NOW, if you contact the seller, it has to be through EBay’s communication system, and EBay keeps a record of the whole conversation. If things don’t go well, you can call EBay in on it: they examine the conversation, see you being incredibly polite and reasonable and showing the issue clearly with photos, and they see the seller not responding, or being unreasonable, and they take your money back from the seller and give it to you, including shipping. It is the best thing ever.
Two is that I had it out with my supervisor about all the schedule changes and extra-shift requests. I said that I was not a flexible employee at this stage of my life, and that I considered this job my second/extra job—a way to fill a few extra hours. I said that after working for the company for a couple months, I could see what a juggling act the scheduling was, and I could understand that employee flexibility would be a huge asset for that. I said I understood if my relative lack of ability to work more/different hours meant she couldn’t use me in the schedule, but hoped she would be able to.
She answered back very gratifyingly, thanking me for telling her and saying she would try not to change my schedule anymore. Since that discussion less than a week ago, she’s asked three times if I can work extra shifts—including one text at 10:30 at night concerning 8:00 the next morning. And this is after I answered the first request by saying no, I already had too many hours this week, and didn’t want any more.
This may not work out. In the meantime, I am getting lots of practice at the valuable life skill of saying no. Pretty soon I might start getting practice at the valuable life skill of saying “Are you KIDDING me??”
I really would hate to give up the job because of this issue. It’s not as if it’s a problem with the WORK. But this may be a problem with The Way the Company Is Run, and that can affect EVERYTHING. I’m fearing that it may be the way ALL such companies are run, but it’s too early to panic about that.
Well, now you know you like the work, and can do it. Maybe the crazy scheduling is the result of them finding a lot of second-jobbers who cancel, or maybe they are over-committing services for staff they don’t have. It might be worth trying another company, but only you can decide. I could never be an on-call employee, whether I had anyone at home or not. I just couldn’t live like that.
At least you got some new life skills out of it! Also, scrubs.
Ha, yes, the scrubs! I am so jealous of those scrubs, still. But you have done what you can with regard to the schedule requests, so maybe they will get it and maybe they won’t but you can’t control that.
My guess is that there is a huge need for these services and not enough supply, so the people who can supply a little are asked to supply a lot instead.
Could you post a weekly tally of how many extra requests you got? Is it childish of me to think that would be amusing? (I know the families are in a tight spot and the agency is in a tough spot spot, but sheesh. Swistle is providing the help she can.)
Ha! This is an amusing idea. And it seems like a good idea to keep track ANYWAY, in case I DO quit and want to show the owner WHY.
The keeping track of stuff like this is always a good idea, for both reasons of amusement and, well, keeping track. My sister is a teacher and was in a non-permanent position at a school. As part of her job, she was to give extra lesson to kids with dyslexia (she has special training in that), unless she was called on to give substitute lessons for other teachers in their absence due to illness etc. When during her evaluation towards the end of the school year she was asked why she didn’t give all that much dyslexia-training, she could show her boss that she had been called to do the substitute thing 54 school hours in that semester. That made quite a different impression than if she had just been able to say she had to do „a lot“ of substitute lessons. You’d think the school itself would keep track of stuff like that, if only to see where they use/need their resources, but they didn’t.
I’ve been working a part time job for about a year – it’s my first experience working part-time, have always had a full time job. The randomness of the hours is difficult – not only do I not always know when I’ll be at work or for how long – I don’t know how much I’ll end up making each week. I’ve taken for granted that working = same amount of money each paycheck. It’s easier to budget/plan/live when these things are set. I know my boss thinks of himself as generous and kind – which he is – but he can’t see how it is from the workers’ perspective. You clearly stated what your work parameters were, she acknowledged them and then ignored them. Is it deliberate? Is she just not that bright? Is is hopeful or mean-spirited? Part-time workers can make/break some companies but they sure get the short end of the stick in every way.
When you say no to the extra shifts, do you think there’s any retaliation or bad feelings on the part of your supervisor, or does she treat you the same way whether you can work them or not? If her treatment of you stays the same, I’d just write off the extra-shift requests as an annoying feature of your job (like Bob in the next office who keeps his ringtone too loud, or having to fill out request forms just to get more post-it notes) and continue turning them down.
The schedule changes would be more of a deal-breaker, obviously; I’m sure you’ve planned your working schedule around your family schedule and that’s not easily changed.
Yes! Leigh took the words out of my mouth (or typing from my fingers as the case may be). If your supervisor isn’t treating you differently or pressuring you for the times you say “no,” then I think best to just be annoyed but not leave an otherwise good situation!
Yea, I agree. It seems like a really small reason to be quitting unless you just need an excuse to quit… I thought you didn’t even answer the calls most of the time anyways?
I would keep in mind that this is an area where as slim said, there is a huge need and not enough supply. Baby boomers are older. Families do not always live nearby. With the economy, those that *would* take care of their parents on their own now can’t afford it. But we all love our families and want them to be taken care of.
If I was in the supervisors position I would want to be able to tell the families that I tried everyone I could think of to get someone in there to help their loved one… Just food for thought.
So frustrating to have clearly articulated your issue, heard it validated, and then she doesn’t follow through! Still, as you say, you’re getting lots of practice in setting your boundaries, and the experience will be valuable no matter how this plays out.
I was thinking about you the other day because I am in a similar boat… Looking to fill a few hours. I am a former teacher and I was looking at substituting. Did you know that a substitute teacher (in the district I was looking at anyway) gets paid like $12 per hour (which is obviously was less than a regular teacher gets paid) BUT a substitute paraprofessional gets paid about $14 per hour (which is probably the same amount that the regular para gets paid) ??!!!?!! It’s crazy!! Why would I sub for a teacher and have all the stress of teaching 25 kids when I could sub for a para and be 1 to 1 with a child??? Thought you might be interested in case this doesn’t work out.
YES. I would FAR rather assist a teacher than fill in for one! Goodness!
I would look at this as a great experience in getting used to saying NO! I’ve had so many jobs where I signed up for one thing, but once they got to know me and what I could do, they always wanted to add on more hours, more days, etc…it was always MORE, MORE, MORE! I got used to saying “NO, NO, NO!”. I think this is very common, when you show yourself to be a responsible, willing worker-almost across the board you will be in demand from the company. Try to look at it as a compliment-they like you, they really, really like you! (Poor Sally Field)
I am a people pleaser by nature, but with a selfish streak underneath-and that helped me a lot. Even as a young whippersnapper, I valued my free time-and for the first 6 yrs of my working life I was a slave to my job. Long story short, I worked on a livestock farm where actual living things depended on me, so I was willing to give up my free time for that. But after that-nope. Do you want to work an extra shift? No! Can you cover for someone else? No! I guess that is where my earlier job helped, unless something would go hungry, not watered…then it is not an emergency!
I’m in the process of working with a local company to provide in-home care for my dad who is 85 and has dementia. We had someone scheduled to come out on Friday for the first in-home care appointment. When my dad found out it was going to be a male caregiver, he flipped out. I thought of you as I called the scheduler this morning and explained the news that he was not at all interested in a male caregiver and could we please find a female caregiver for him even if it meant having to start next week. They were very nice to me, thankfully, but I know it caused trouble for the scheduler. So anyway, thank you for doing what you do and setting your boundaries as you need to so that people like me can be something other than the primary caregiver. My sanity needs people like you! But not at the expense of your own sanity and well being.
I wonder how many good workers get taken out of the pool because a family likes them and hires them for a regular position.
GIANT FROWNY FACE. What the? Seriously what the? I think that you spoke clearly and handled the situation well. Unfortunately it seems like they are brain dead.
I work for eBay and was so happy to hear about your recent positive experience with the site– seriously made my evening. Sorry about the other half of your post, no bueno!
Just like every family is dysfunctional in its own way, every company is dysfunctional in its own way. Not every company will have the scheduling issues your current one does (but you can be sure they do have issues of some kind!)
You might follow up by asking if there’s a reason she’s calling you. I worked in a scheduling situation once and in order to avoid accusations of favoritism, or the lack thereof, we called people in a strict order based on how many hours they already had. I could know that someone would say no and they got a call anyway, because that’s where they were in the list of hours worked. It wasn’t a perfect solution to the problem, but it was consistent and clear. Once you get past ten or so people, trying to keep track of all their different life situations and that person A wants extra hours this month but not next and person B can never work early mornings, etc. etc., especially if the people change fairly frequently, can get really difficult.