Reign of Terror

I am currently acting as assistant manager at my workplace.

This is not because of some predatory desire to climb the ranks of retail glory. Nor is it borne out of any benevolent willingness to help out the company.

It is simply because my assistant manager is a twat.

The girl walked out on the job two weeks before her official resignation date.

I generally try not to judge people too harshly, given that I'm aware she had some boyfriend/family issues going on in her life, but she could at least have waited two weeks before lumping all her responsibilities onto my puny little shoulders.

I wasn't just the default choice- I was the only choice (our normal 31C is on much-deserved annual leave, and if you even mention the word 'overtime' to the other full-timer she's already out the door). And desperate times call for desperate measures, so my boss gave me a crash course in procedural admin and handed me a key.

I have mixed feelings about this quasi-promotion. On one hand, it's really good management experience. I've made so many mistakes in the space of only one week, but both boss and colleagues have been ridiculously patient. On the other hand, I'm still getting only $12.23 an hour and that is blatant exploitation.

Admittedly, it's been good to not have to focus on the sales so much- I get other people to run around doing that- but the overtime you have to put in is ridiculous. The tills were $100 down the other night, and I ended up staying 1 1/2 hours overtime counting out $200 in change. It was truly a teeth-gritting experience.

However, I did have a happy time one morning when the man who fills up the candy machine came up to us and gave us 20 cents each to be his candy machine 'testers', and one particular morning where I sat in the quiet stillness of the back office with a Sausage and Egg McMuffin and a latte and pondered on the absolute wonders of Sausage and Egg McMuffins and the state of the world in general.

(Breakfast muffins with weird sausage meat induce a hallucenogenic state when I ingest them.)

I also have more of a say in the inner workings of the store- to give all credit to my boss, he isn't treating me like a fill-in manager, and actually values whatever lame contribution I come up with. The other day he called me in to ask my advice on what kind of television to order in for the store- my boss was considering another plasma, but I pointed out to him the ridiculous power consumption of the average 42" plasma (roughly 350W) and so upon my advice, he ordered in a 40" Sony Bravia LCD. (I sincerely hope it sells, otherwise he'll never take my advice again :P)

Although quite frankly, I'd also had my fill of plasmas after crawling into the back seat of a customer's Honda Civic trying to pull the damn thing through. Owww.

I have one and a half weeks left of responsibility, but when this is over I'll be happy to crawl back into my little part-time niche. I'm almost looking forward to starting uni again just so I can get out of iPod Land and back into my little uni life. Because Property Law is like, so exciting. *snort*