Changes are happening. I work evenings from 4 pm to 12 am 5 nights a week as a help desk technician. On my shift, we have had as many as 7 of us working, covering the 7 day schedule. But we have been down by 1 since last Spring when one girl moved and wasn't replaced during the pandemic. Within the past 2 weeks, another girl has been accepted as an installer, so will still be working Help Desk at times when not out on installs, but not always the same shift. So now we were down 2 people. A new person was hired about a month ago, but it takes about 6 months at least to really start feeling like you have a handle on things and are really making a contribution. So we are still training him, which means we have 5 people working with some experience.
So now this past Friday, the main Manager put in his 2 week notice. That means about May 28th will be his last day! In some ways it won't mean a big difference in the work getting done because he tends to not really be an active part of our day to day work. He gets some calls, but not as many as everyone else. He does the scheduling, but can't remember who he has assigned to work when. He goes to the manager meetings, but tends to not pass on the information he was given. He loves it when we have something that he can take over & handle IT wise, but that doesn't teach us new information to use the next time. He isn't good at multi-tasking, so it's hard at times to get an answer from him when needed. And he tends to get up and just wander away for long periods of time. There are times we are very busy and he is messing around on his phone or shopping online even. So to say that other than a body to fill space, he won't be missed much is an understatement. But we have a certain amount of people that we need to not feel overwhelmed by our jobs and the phone calls we are getting.
Historically, the owner of the company, to my experience over 8+ years has been that when someone put in their 2 week notice, they had an exit interview and were told they could leave right away. No working out the 2 weeks. But today was his first time back on the job since sending the email saying he is leaving. He was allowed to stay. I assume this is because the previous owner died of covid last October and the 3 men that were put into place in February before that as back up to run the company in case the 80+ year old owner couldn't have decided to not follow that tradition.
That brings us to who will take his place. When the previous manager had left, we had an assistant manager that we all thought would be offered her job and I found out later that she had even discussed the idea of them offering me the assistant manager position at that time, but I hadn't bee in this department long enough, in my opinion, to have the experience I would need to be in that position. And they didn't offer the Manager position to the assistant after all. So now we are there again. Will they offer it to him now? He is a man in his early 40's and I have known of him for a # of years outside of my job. I enjoy working with him although there are personal opinion differences, especially attitudes towards covid, masks, etc. that we differ on, but we work together well. For the most part 3 of us and the new installer all work together well. If they do offer it to him, my first choice of assistant manager would be the one who left to be an installer, but she doesn't want to come back. So that leave 2 of us, we believe, unless they bring someone in from another shift and we can't see anyone else from the other shifts wanting to come to our shift this time. The other girl and I both talked with the current assistant manager over the past weekend. He says he thinks either of us is ready for this, I think we both have things we don't feel as ready for it about, but I also think we could both do it - especially since some things change all the time so we are always learning new things. And I think, if he is given manager this time, that he is more open to teaching us things we are less knowledgeable about, which will help all of us. He says that if they do offer him the manager position and if they ask him who he would suggest move into his place, he will tell him his thoughts on it.
So I feel I need to be somewhat prepared to maybe get that offer. To do so, I think I need a list of questions about it - like if I take it and then decide I would rather not, can I just go back to the job I am doing now without an issue? Going salaried instead of hourly - would it be a pay raise or a pay cut? I am sure there are others I will think up over the next few days. I personally am not wanting to go back into management, but I do have experience, just not as a salaried manager. At least this time, if it is a pay increase, I wouldn't be expected to work off the clock like I was at the convenience store when I had set things to be done and the other assistant manager thought I should cover for her when she wanted a smoke break regardless of whether it cut into me being able to get my work done on time or not. And if the other girl is offered it, I don't have an issue working under her either!
I am the oldest that works in my department on my shift. The next is the man that is basically the same as as my kids. The current manager is a little younger than that and the other 3 (2 now) are in their 20's.
Anyway, even if not offered the position, there are going to be changes going on while we try to adjust to be only 1/2 staffed until we can get at least 2 people hired!
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