Leah_guffey's Journal, 18 June 2024

Sound painful. Hope you recover soon. 

Always something right? Feel the same way at times. Do you like that chocolate yogurt? Looks interesting 

So sorry to hear, back/neck issues are so painful and exhausting! I hope you can rest up soon! 

I feel like I did okay today I didn't get as much done but avoided additional injuries for the most part. I had a little bit of time where my back did this weird painful twitching but I moved slowly and carefully and it went away 😊. I was very careful to use proper lifting techniques and to keep slowing myself down to reduce my energy fatigue. Which has helped I haven't had to take as much Tylenol today still pretty exhausted but this my hardest day honestly so it's to be expected. Once again tried to prompt my boss into maintaining a minimum standard of work for my coworker 😔. He wants me to create lists of basic standards for my coworker who has worked in the position for 3 years which creates even more work for me to do off the clock and maks me feel awkward towards my co-worker. Which I suppose I can do, but these are all basic standards that are required by the company to be learned within the first two day training period these are not specialized tasks things like prep food for the next day, fall pizzas, thaw roller grill items, remove outdated food. 

I like the yogurt okay but I thought it was more of flavored Greek yogurt and it was Greek yogurt with a "candy" topping that you placed on the top which is not what I was looking for. But I had a store coupon for buy one get one free making them effectively ¢75 so I 🤔 thought why not try something new. I probably won't buy again though 😊 Also I wanted the dark chocolate strawberry 🍓 because it had no dye and I like strawberry but they were out 🤷. 

Leah have you had a conversation with your boss about giving you a raise or compensating you for these additional tasks that are not part of your job? 

Sounds like your boss is making you do his job. Hate it when employers do that! If your Co-worker isn’t doing what they are supposed to do, your boss should handle it. Sorry your neck/back are out of wack. I have to sleep w 2 pillows in between my legs at night or it messes up my neck/back. Also, I have to have a memory foam pillow for my head to also help w alignment of my spine. 

Well woke up this morning 🌄 and neck is sore and stiff but is not currently hurting. I can tell it will later but this a very good development it means whatever happened is getting better and I was beginning to worry about it. I'll still endeavor to be extra careful with my bending and trying to take it a bit easier. Ryan's new job means that I don't always have transportation and today is one of those days so I will need to sweet talk someone into giving me a ride home 🏡 it's supposed to be in the 90,'s today and I'm not sure I can hand that heat anymore 🥵. Joey isn't able to give raises the company provides a once a year auto pay raise now without management input 🤯 corporate efficiency and Joey will buy me thing from time to time but I would rather that my coworker just do the work. I wouldn't even mind doing the list off the clock as much as I've done them off and on for him for years I've worked at my job for 12 years now but many times when I provide Joey with really nice detailed lists he forgets them, loses them, or doesn't actually go back and support the person and make sure they use the list so it waste my time I spend extra time but it doesn't get used. 

No I've come the conclusion that as much I like Joey he just will not do anything more about this issue because it would cause him social stress and increased workload as Tony would just walk out...again. I told Joey the last two time to deal with the hardship and hire another person for me to train then but he didn't 🤷. Admittedly we don't pay enough money to attract new cooks to much responsibility and duties for the money. Most cooks make more and this position has turned into a really cooking job not a food prepares job if you know what I mean. 

Leah that sounds so frustrating. Do you enjoy your work? 

Yearofhealth, it's not the work that I enjoy but rather the connection with my regulars and the people that I meet that I enjoy over the years I've really made a lot of good connections and relationships with the people that I've worked with and worked for in my community. But as the years pass more of my regulars are passing away it used to be that I would only lose about five to seven regulars a year but since covid it's more like 15 or more a year and it's becoming very difficult emotionally to deal with I have an excellent memory and I really make deep connections with people and their families and I don't do well with loss so it's very hard for me when I lose a regular customer it's like losing a close family member or friend rather than losing a stranger. In addition since 7-Eleven took over 2 years ago the business really isn't the same our workload is more than doubled many of our perks have disappeared we no longer get double time and holidays our hours have been reduced as I stated before the workload is more than increased they made a sign away our breaks recently. There's very little fun so to say left in the job who is before we would have time to joke or talk or have a moment to breathe even but these days it's more like I'm running all day long it's very hard to have any enjoyment at a job where you're running constantly. I really hate that the new business that is taking over has pushed me to this point unfortunately due to my medical issues I can't make too much money or I lose my medical card and without my medical card I don't feel that I'm able to survive without my medications. I'm not really sure if there's a profession which I can have to make enough money to Superceed the costs of my medications at this time. I'm trying to find a profession that would allow me insurance to pay for both my medications and make a profitable wage beyond the excuse my language unlivable wage that I'm earning now. It is extremely insulting when you consider I was a semester away from earning a dual major and two minor degree (I had already completed methods and practicum but still needed to complete student teaching for the elementary side of my degree ) but had to put it aside instead to raise a family it seems silly to bother to incur more debt when I can't use that degree due to my medical issues anyways but if I could find a degree that I could turn it and flip it for that would make a profit instead of teaching that would still allow me to use medical insurance to pay for my medication I would do that I just don't have the knowledge of what that degree would be with my current skill set. 

It is frustrating to me because he will have to deal with the situation when and if I leave anyways so why won't he help me out now. Which means honestly the only way I can figure is that he knows that I have struggles leaving because Ryan doesn't keep jobs for long periods of time as a result he knows that I'm stuck at Speedway oftentimes because I'm the breadwinner and the stable part of our family economically. Mostly it disappoints me because he's supposed to be a friend of our family and he shouldn't take advantage in that way.