Cheese Steaks for dinner

Another beautiful day in the city! (Sounds like I finally got caught
up on my sleep, doesn't it. Yup.)

This week I realized that I actually don't mind working everyday. I
can go several days with little sleep (an advantage of being older, I
guess). That confronting people isn't that big of a deal. And that I
can actually close all three stores and still get out on time.

But the hard part, the part I can't stand, is to feel like a failure.
To get so far behind on the schedule, which is still a huge
challenge. To have so much unfinished work. To miss deadlines. The
feeling of inadequacy is by far the hardest thing to bear.

The current theory on why I'm having so much trouble with the
schedule is that I'm "too nice" and trying to hard to accommodate
staff and their shifting availability. Of course, I do feel an
obligation to staff, especially to the full timers who have to pay
their rent. And, of course, my first responsibility is to the needs
of the store.

Scheduling, to me, is an interesting and difficult task. Balancing
the hours the store needs with the hours the staff need. Often, they
conflict (like why so few can work Sundays). But there are twists.
Who is capable of doing what? We have many on staff that have not
been trained to run a cash register. This would never happen at any
other store, but many slipped through the cracks in the sort
training, and many have been hired quickly to help with shelving.

Then there is the challenge of figuring out who is best to be doing
what we need. Challenging because I don't even know all the staff or
what kind of worker they are.

At least our cafe is finally getting trained staff. We lost four in
the past couple weeks and couldn't wait for our formalized Seattle's
Best training. Turns out we figured a way (by training three of the
current staff to be able to train and having them train on the job to
the availability of the new staff). This way we've been able to get
some really good people on board that we wouldn't have taken before
because their availability didn't match our rigid training schedule.
Funny how things work out.

Last night, a bit past midnight, Robin and I dug way in the back of
the freezer and found some Philly Cheese Steak meat and made some hot
sandwiches with melted mozzarella and BBQ sauce. They were delicious!
I've been eating most of my meals from our cafe (and eating them at
my desk).