Day Off In Danger - Again

As usual, my day off is once again in danger. If you've been reading my past few posts, you'll know that Errand Guy took quite a few days off. It started out with his regular weekend off. Then he calls in Monday. Wednesday he was scheduled to be off, so he ended up taking Tuesday off, making it 5 days off. Thursday he never showed up. Turns out he called the owner and arranged to take the rest of the week off. So come Monday morning, I'm wondering if he's going to show. He'd better, because while he was gone, we had quite a few calls, and we all had to pick up his slack, and today (Saturday) we've had three. Two of these three will be with viewing and visitation. On Friday I reminded my boss that I'm supposed to be off Monday, unless he needs me to work. He told me that would depend on what happened over the weekend, and as I've said, we've had three calls on Saturday alone.

If Errand Guy lays out Monday while I have to work, I'm going to have something to say about that to my boss and the owner.

Little Bits Of Nothing

Not too much has been happening at work. Me and my boss did have a slight bumping of heads the other day. This family was trying to get us to deliver death certificates to their lawyer, but we were still in the process of getting them filed. So I took their phone number and told them we would call when they were ready, find out where to deliver them, and then bring them to the family.
My boss returns from getting the certificates, but he says we are to hold onto them because their lawyer can't help them. I guess probate was not his specialty. He then tells me to cover the phones while he steps out on an errand. I ask him, "what if they call looking for their certificates?" He rather curtly tells me to "handle it." So, of course, they call. I tell them their lawyer said he does not need them. The family says, "no, but we do. Can you deliver them?" Well, bearing in mind that I was told to handle it, I agree and find out where to take them. Then I send my only available man. While he is out, my boss comes back, and I tell him what I've done. He then fusses at me for not calling him! I remind him that he told me to handle it, and I handled it. Not much he could say about that.

Errand guy took the whole day off today. He didn't even bother showing up. I guess he called my boss and found out that there wasn't anything going on. Wednesday is his normal day off for the week. I'm almost willing to bet he's going to call out tomorrow, as well. This will give him a nice, long, albeit unpaid, vacation. Saturday through Wednesday.

I was in line at KFC at lunch today. The people in front of me were dumber than a bag of hammers. It was a young couple; the girl was leaning on the counter where you place your order, filling out an application. Never mind the dozens of empty tables in the dining room, stand right there in the way, why don't you? Then, just as she's finishing and their food is ready, boyfriend decides he wants an application, so he proceeds to start filling his out where you pick up the food, all while people are piling up behind them and his food is getting cold.

Right about closing time this guy came in to sign his preneed contract. He kept my boss there a whole hour, nitpicking the contract and challenging every little charge. Finally, just when we're winding down and getting this guy out the door, a family walks in. There's been a death and they want to use us. So my boss sits down with them while I cover the phones and standby to help however he might need me to. We finally got out around 7pm, two hours after closing. For a minute, I thought he was going to make me go to the hospital for the body, even though I'm not on call. The on-call guy had left at quitting time, and had probably eaten his supper, something neither I nor my boss had the opportunity to do at that time. He decided not to send me.

I called my wife to tell her I would be late. She informed me our AC was out. Probably just needs a freon recharge. Not looking forward to that repair bill, but I will be glad when it's up and running again. It's HOT here!

Funniest Thing I've Seen Lately

I am a huge fan of science fiction. If you're familiar with "2001: A Space Odyssey" you'll appreciate this cartoon from the Sunday paper. I got a huge kick out of it and had to post it.

I'm Still Pissed

Yesterday I wrote about our Errand Guy always taking off early, and how that made me feel, especially when I may end up working on my day off. Today, he came back from lunch, which surprised me. I thought he would leave early again. Anyhow, he's wandering around the funeral home, and I suggest that if he's bored, he can do the laundry. Of course, he didn't. Then, he decides to leave early again.

If you add up all the hours he clocked this week, it's probably about 16 hours (4 days at 4 hours each). I don't know why this bothers me so much; I think it's because it leaves me to pick up his slack. For example, there is still laundry to be done, the front of the funeral home needs sweeping, dusting and mopping, and the bathrooms need to be cleaned in preparation for visitation Sunday and Monday. So guess who's going to end up doing all the cleaning tomorrow morning? I guess it is his work ethic that is really getting to me. He shows up 15 minutes late every day, comes back from lunch 15 minutes late every day, then leaves about 5 or 10 minutes early when he does stay 'til the end of the day. I guarantee you the owner has no idea that any of this is going on.

On another note, I had another aggravating experience today. We have a burial at the National Cemetery on Monday. We needed clergy to meet us there and conduct the committal service, so we called a church and made arrangements. The deacon we booked called back and asked how much he would be getting. I told him we collected X amount. He said he needed 2X. Even the priests don't get that much for a full blown mass, and he wants more for about 10 minutes worth of work. Basically he was going to be paid $25 per hour (this includes travel to and from the cemetery). Even with the price of gas, which was his major complaint about the so-called lack of money, wouldn't you be willing to travel about an hour or so for $25 per hour? I know I would. I thanked him for his time, but told him we would be making other arrangements, which we did.

I Should Be Pissed

And maybe I am, a little bit. I get called out at 4am this morning, and make a removal that is at least an hour away. I get back to the funeral home around 6:45am, then head home for a quick shower and breakfast, then back to work by 8am. Turns out the call I made will have visitation this Sunday, with burial on Monday, which would be my day off next week.

Well, after lunch, Errand Guy never came back. So this makes the fourth day this week he's done that. Left early Monday, Tuesday, Today...had Wednesday off. Due to this funeral being on Monday, I will probably have to come in and work on my day off, or trade it for a different day off next week. So Errand Guy gets all this free time, and I'm working on my day off. You know what? I am pissed.

It's A Girl!

This is Daisy, the newest member of our family. She was rescued by the daughter of the owner of the funeral home where I work. She couldn't keep the kitten, so we agreed to take it in. This is her first day with us, and she's already a handful. She's having fun exploring and playing. She likes to climb, even getting up on the kitchen counters and dining room table. We'll have to train her not to do that. She's about 10 weeks old. We had to give up our cats when we moved here 2 years ago. Since we are no longer in an apartment but in our own house, we decided the time was right to get another cat.