Sunday, February 19, 2012
Is that the sound of my brain exploding?
I find myself in a foul mood this week. It's the stress, I'm certain of it. Working in that branch is like working in a hoarder's trailer. I was sent there to retrain them, and the changes that they are most in need of, I am powerless to implement. I would like, for example, to throw away about 400 lbs of useless craft supplies and decorations. As it is, though, I'm not their boss, so everything I tell them gets put through the filter of "her way vs. our way", and naturally, "our way" is easier, so why change?
There are 5 employees at this branch. Sass2 seems to be pretty smart and emotionally stable. But she's only been there 6 weeks, so she's green as hell. But she knows it, and she asks questions, and so far, seems willing to unlearn bad habits. Of course her name has to be Sassy--so every time I take a phone call I have to explain that I'm not the Sassy they think they're talking to. There's Jane--but I haven't really met her yet, because she spent this week working in MY branch. I had a brief moment to chat with S-hole about how that was going, and he was exasperated. He thought Tiffany was bad! He complained about having to babysit nearly everything she does, how long it takes her to do stuff, and how amazed she is at how efficiently we seem to do things. Apparently, she asked VP if she could stay at our branch for the entire 4 week duration of the "exchange". Dexter is very young--I'd guess around 19, slight build, thick glasses and a sheepish personality. He's asked a few questions, but mostly seems intent on staying out of everyone's way. I suspect it will be hard to retrain him.
Then there's Sharon and Brittany. Both of them have applied for the branch manager job, and both of them are clearly struggling to claim the "leadership" role in the branch. They are both guard key holders, and clearly take that as a sign of power. I don't blame them, but a harsh reality is going to hit the both of them sooner or later: they have been so poorly trained that I can't imagine VP would choose either one of them as the new manager. The branch currently has the WORST quality score--not only in the state, but in the region. It was in the bottom three last month. And the month before, etc. So my placement in their branch helps VP not only in retraining them on a day-to-day basis, but also as a spy to reports back to her all the goings on she wouldn't be privy to otherwise. I admit I started out a little naive, hoping to not stoop to "tattling" on them. I really wanted it to be about information exchange so that she could provide the kind of support they need most. But the longer I'm there, and the longer I'm ignored on key issues, the more glad I am that I'm obligated to report the details to VP. For example: the branch is almost out of money, and the next delivery isn't for another 3 days. Oh, and tomorrow's a bank holiday and we'll be the only bank in town open, and they'll be slammed. Friday, when it was brought to my attention that they were beginning to run low on large bills, I advised them to talk with Major Retailer about buying cash from them. They get cash shipments every day, so this is not a big deal for them. Neither of them made any moves. I also advised them to quit processing any cash disbursements over $2000 until we could secure more cash. Three hours later, they'd unloaded another $26k (ignoring my $2000 rule), so I gathered them together and told each of them to their faces to NOT APPROVE any cash outs over $2k or we would run out of money. This still didn't inspire Sharon or Ashley to seek out a Major Retailer CSM and arrange to get cash. On Friday, Sharon confided in me that she could only work 1.75 of her shift on Saturday without going into overtime. Both VP and Boss had expressly told her not to get overtime. We had all 5 of us scheduled on Saturday anyway, so it wasn't necessary to stay the whole time. I suggested she not come in at all--it's hardly worth the gas to drive in and only stay 1.75 hours! She insisted that there were a couple of things she had to get done, so it wouldn't be a problem. When she came in, I talked immediately with her about the length of time she'd stay, and she assured me she'd be out in time. At an hour and a half, I reminded her of her time. She stayed anyway. After two and a half hours, I asked again. She left another 2 hours later. You can rest assured that I reported that to VP. And all this time, when she's all "in charge" and needing to get "important stuff" done, did she ONCE seek out Major Retailer's CSM and get the cash situation in hand? No. So today, the vault is nearly empty, and VP will be there tomorrow to straighten it out. Sadly, though, I have the day off to take DD to a doctor's appointment, so I can't be there to give any input.
There are 5 employees at this branch. Sass2 seems to be pretty smart and emotionally stable. But she's only been there 6 weeks, so she's green as hell. But she knows it, and she asks questions, and so far, seems willing to unlearn bad habits. Of course her name has to be Sassy--so every time I take a phone call I have to explain that I'm not the Sassy they think they're talking to. There's Jane--but I haven't really met her yet, because she spent this week working in MY branch. I had a brief moment to chat with S-hole about how that was going, and he was exasperated. He thought Tiffany was bad! He complained about having to babysit nearly everything she does, how long it takes her to do stuff, and how amazed she is at how efficiently we seem to do things. Apparently, she asked VP if she could stay at our branch for the entire 4 week duration of the "exchange". Dexter is very young--I'd guess around 19, slight build, thick glasses and a sheepish personality. He's asked a few questions, but mostly seems intent on staying out of everyone's way. I suspect it will be hard to retrain him.
Then there's Sharon and Brittany. Both of them have applied for the branch manager job, and both of them are clearly struggling to claim the "leadership" role in the branch. They are both guard key holders, and clearly take that as a sign of power. I don't blame them, but a harsh reality is going to hit the both of them sooner or later: they have been so poorly trained that I can't imagine VP would choose either one of them as the new manager. The branch currently has the WORST quality score--not only in the state, but in the region. It was in the bottom three last month. And the month before, etc. So my placement in their branch helps VP not only in retraining them on a day-to-day basis, but also as a spy to reports back to her all the goings on she wouldn't be privy to otherwise. I admit I started out a little naive, hoping to not stoop to "tattling" on them. I really wanted it to be about information exchange so that she could provide the kind of support they need most. But the longer I'm there, and the longer I'm ignored on key issues, the more glad I am that I'm obligated to report the details to VP. For example: the branch is almost out of money, and the next delivery isn't for another 3 days. Oh, and tomorrow's a bank holiday and we'll be the only bank in town open, and they'll be slammed. Friday, when it was brought to my attention that they were beginning to run low on large bills, I advised them to talk with Major Retailer about buying cash from them. They get cash shipments every day, so this is not a big deal for them. Neither of them made any moves. I also advised them to quit processing any cash disbursements over $2000 until we could secure more cash. Three hours later, they'd unloaded another $26k (ignoring my $2000 rule), so I gathered them together and told each of them to their faces to NOT APPROVE any cash outs over $2k or we would run out of money. This still didn't inspire Sharon or Ashley to seek out a Major Retailer CSM and arrange to get cash. On Friday, Sharon confided in me that she could only work 1.75 of her shift on Saturday without going into overtime. Both VP and Boss had expressly told her not to get overtime. We had all 5 of us scheduled on Saturday anyway, so it wasn't necessary to stay the whole time. I suggested she not come in at all--it's hardly worth the gas to drive in and only stay 1.75 hours! She insisted that there were a couple of things she had to get done, so it wouldn't be a problem. When she came in, I talked immediately with her about the length of time she'd stay, and she assured me she'd be out in time. At an hour and a half, I reminded her of her time. She stayed anyway. After two and a half hours, I asked again. She left another 2 hours later. You can rest assured that I reported that to VP. And all this time, when she's all "in charge" and needing to get "important stuff" done, did she ONCE seek out Major Retailer's CSM and get the cash situation in hand? No. So today, the vault is nearly empty, and VP will be there tomorrow to straighten it out. Sadly, though, I have the day off to take DD to a doctor's appointment, so I can't be there to give any input.
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