the old are as bad as the young

maybe it's my hispanic blood, maybe i've worked too hard for too many years for too little pay, maybe i'm just a work nazi. but i closed with a diabled vet tonight. all the kids were surprisingly "unavailable." shmucks.

the old guy needed the dough so he stays.

he's never closed with me before, he may never have closed. but that he closed with me, meant he wasn't just going to stand there with a moist towel wiping down counter tops.

not on my watch. there is too much shit to do and i won't do it all.

so every time he walked away i asked him to do something.

he went to take boxes to the back and i asked him to bring the mop and bucked on his return.

were you a staff sargeant once?

he asked.

he returns with saturated mop, no squeezy thingy, and says,

i have a pacemaker, i draw the line at mopping.

shit, give me a break.

so i said,

no problem.

but i asked him to do other things which he did poorly. (i resisted the urge to redo them, though i was tempted. he must be accountable for a shitty job, but i did redo anything that affected sanitation).

when i realized the situation with the mop (which is what the kids do, unless you expressly tell them, bring me the mop bucket with the squeezy thing, or a damp mop, they can't figure out that using a sloshing mop will make the floors dangerous). sigh.

i think working with the aged is worse because they have this, i'm old, i deserve a break thing going on.

but i say, if you're doing a job and can't physically perform the tasks (he refuses to make espresso drinks--how one can work where we work and refuse to do the espresso bar and still have a job, i don't know), go somewhere else.

be a greeter at a store, wearing one of those blue polyester vests with a big happy face on it. that's a lot of standing around and shooting the breeze.

i could tell the guy wasn't used to working like i worked him, but i did most of the work. and when i left him literally three pitchers, three trays and three espresso bar components (because i COULDN'T do EVERYTHING), i had to keep rejecting his efforts because they sucked.

he tells me,

i scrubbed those milk spots with a scrubbing pad and they wouldn't come off.

(i proceed to wipe them with a damp rag and voila).

don't bullshit me man. i've been around the block.

the kids pull that crap.

don't even get me started on the pastry case.

for the help this dude was, i could have closed alone.

he probably won't want to work with me because i am part staff sargeant.

but i don't want to work with the aged either, especially if they lean on it to do a half fast job.

grrrr.

now watch him go home and have a cardiac scare. that would be all i need.