More Cleaning
My FUBAR weekend, turned into a long FUBAR weekend. I went to Vert this morning to get down to skydiving weight. Since I don’t have a locker there, I put my stuff in my backpack. After working out, I went home and wrote. I couldn’t figure out what to do, but I made the mistake of looking for my phone. There were two text messages. The second one, listed first, was from Mary-Kate asking if I was going in. I didn’t have to look at the second text. It was from my manager asking us to come and help clean.
For those who are keeping score at home, I’m the guy with the inch of dirt on my car and a housekeeper who comes in every two weeks. So when I’m called in on my day off to clean a clean bar, I get a little confused. I picked up Kimi at CVS, where she was getting all of us gloves. We vented to each other on how this entire experience was fucked up beyond all recognition. A friend of mine used to say, “If I created the universe, everything would work out just fine.” I feel that way right now. This is my first bartending job. I guess the way it works is, if you get shut down, everyone comes in and cleans. If this is how it works, then perhaps a schedule should have been made, as opposed to last minute text messages telling us we need to come in or the bar will cease to exist. Kimi and I arrived to find Aoife and Nicole cleaning. The last time I saw my boss, he left us cleaning on Saturday. I guess he mumbled something about going to Home Depot. As far as I know, he never came back. I haven’t heard a word from my other boss who is running a bar in Arizona. There’s not so much a lead by example at my workplace. There was good news and bad news. The good news was that pest control was there. The bad news is that they probably should have been there two days earlier. Turns out, we were there cleaning up rat shit. We cleaned pretty much the entire bar on Saturday, but since we hadn’t patched up all the holes in the building, rats could still come in. FUBAR. As far as I know, no one clocked in. We all worked for free, including my bar back who drove in from Santa Ana. I figure at the least we would get fed. No such luck. When I work, I am well compensated. I put in a couple of years before I got my schedule. I’m alright for money, even though, I’m taking a hit, but I have co-workers who will have trouble making rent because of this.
I’m not here to point fingers. We’ve had a problem for a while. What was done about it? Glue traps. They worked. In fact, a rat was found in one while we were cleaning the other day. This was a job for professionals. Well the professionals finally came in, unfortunately, a day late and a dollar short. We’re supposed to be inspected tomorrow at 10 ayem, with the hopes of opening soon thereafter. I don’t expect to be compensated for the time I’ve put in this weekend. It would be nice if my boss took us out to lunch, if only to say, “Thank you.” I’m not gonna hold my breath. I’m just happy if I don’t have to come in on another of my days off to do more cleaning.
Ok I’m offically a fan of the blog. I even went and read all the way back to your hundredth post, (nice title).
Yet another way to not work while attending my desk.