Wow, do I wish I'd had the guts to do some of this stuff when I was still working! Here are mine - this is the definitive list for the moment, until I get another job.
While working at the chemist/ drugstore
- After-hours is for store presentation, not a store-wide Hide and Seek contest.
- The wheeled pallets are for moving heavy stock, not staging a real-life version of Mariokart in the delivery bay.
- London is in no danger of a Zombie holocaust, so I must keep my mind on the job and stop creating my contingency plan.
- I am young, white and middle class, so I must stop pretending to be a 90 year old Jamaican woman on the "confidential" store surveys.
- I am not allowed to conduct conversations in animal noises with other colleagues, even if you both understand one another perfectly.
- Wheeling heavily laden trolleys by myself during open hours is against the health and safety rules, so there must always be a person to help me.
- But two people wheeling trolleys is just a bad use of time, so ignore the completely vital Health and Safety act.
- I must not smack my colleague's butt in the store.
- Even if he enjoys it.
- I am an "operations assistant," not a "stock monkey."
- Not allowed to request a change of music at Christmastime.
- Even if we've been playing the same 40 songs on loop for the past three months.
- Even if I did bring a replacement CD, and it's not "Xmas in the 909!" this time.
- Not allowed to file a customer complaint about a superior, especially if it contains grounds for termination.
- Not allowed to speculate on which drug my manager uses to keep her husband married to her.
- I am not allowed to laugh at a customer's name, even if it is "Squirrel Smith."
- "My section is haunted" is not a valid reason for a section transfer.
- Even if it bloody well is!
- Faking stomach flu to get off work results in a written warning.
- Actually having stomach flu and taking the day off work results in a written warning.
- The air conditioning is a Lie.
- My Chemical Romance is not suitable store music. Nor is Muse, Rammstein, lostprophets, AFI, the Doctor Who Soundtrack, or anything else in your music collection. Except Jack Johnson. We'll play him to death.
- Not allowed to yell "Hooocheeeee MAMA!" in any context, at any time.
- Not allowed to write the lyrics to My Chemical Romance's "Blood" on the walls of the pharmacy - "I gave you blood, blood, gallons of the stuff. I gave you all that you can drink and it has never been enough..."
- No singing that anywhere near the Pharmacy.
While temping at a small London production company
- No playing "fruit darts" with the display fruit and people walking under the window.
- No dressing scruffier than the managers. This is not usually a problem.
- No snerking at the suits your superiors seem to think look good on them, even if they are blue and pink.
While working at the chemist/ drugstore
- After-hours is for store presentation, not a store-wide Hide and Seek contest.
- The wheeled pallets are for moving heavy stock, not staging a real-life version of Mariokart in the delivery bay.
- London is in no danger of a Zombie holocaust, so I must keep my mind on the job and stop creating my contingency plan.
- I am young, white and middle class, so I must stop pretending to be a 90 year old Jamaican woman on the "confidential" store surveys.
- I am not allowed to conduct conversations in animal noises with other colleagues, even if you both understand one another perfectly.
- Wheeling heavily laden trolleys by myself during open hours is against the health and safety rules, so there must always be a person to help me.
- But two people wheeling trolleys is just a bad use of time, so ignore the completely vital Health and Safety act.
- I must not smack my colleague's butt in the store.
- Even if he enjoys it.
- I am an "operations assistant," not a "stock monkey."
- Not allowed to request a change of music at Christmastime.
- Even if we've been playing the same 40 songs on loop for the past three months.
- Even if I did bring a replacement CD, and it's not "Xmas in the 909!" this time.
- Not allowed to file a customer complaint about a superior, especially if it contains grounds for termination.
- Not allowed to speculate on which drug my manager uses to keep her husband married to her.
- I am not allowed to laugh at a customer's name, even if it is "Squirrel Smith."
- "My section is haunted" is not a valid reason for a section transfer.
- Even if it bloody well is!
- Faking stomach flu to get off work results in a written warning.
- Actually having stomach flu and taking the day off work results in a written warning.
- The air conditioning is a Lie.
- My Chemical Romance is not suitable store music. Nor is Muse, Rammstein, lostprophets, AFI, the Doctor Who Soundtrack, or anything else in your music collection. Except Jack Johnson. We'll play him to death.
- Not allowed to yell "Hooocheeeee MAMA!" in any context, at any time.
- Not allowed to write the lyrics to My Chemical Romance's "Blood" on the walls of the pharmacy - "I gave you blood, blood, gallons of the stuff. I gave you all that you can drink and it has never been enough..."
- No singing that anywhere near the Pharmacy.
While temping at a small London production company
- No playing "fruit darts" with the display fruit and people walking under the window.
- No dressing scruffier than the managers. This is not usually a problem.
- No snerking at the suits your superiors seem to think look good on them, even if they are blue and pink.
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