Feeling much relieved right now, about some shit that hit the fan at work this past week. A new assistant manager was hired a little over a month ago and has turned out to clueless, spacey, utterly lacking in common sense, and even speaks quite condescendingly to us (the employees already there) - but she hides it fairly well in front of the manager and owner.
Meanwhile, because of my full-time schedule, I've been sort of put in the unofficial position of training her for a lot of things. Although all of us do pitch in and help show her the ropes, I work with her more often than anyone else does, so the burden has fallen mostly on me. And I do mean burden. The chick just does not listen or pay attention, and is oblivious to what is going on around her. I can't believe how many times I've explained the same things to her. My co-workers keep saying they wonder why I wasn't approached for the position (although I don't really want it).
She apparently came highly recommended, but my guess is she works well in a fully-automated environment where the system thinks for you. Where we work, we need to be on our toes, seeing the big picture and always using common sense and our knowledge of the business to adapt to and accommodate each scenario and customer, which can be so different, in order to provide excellent service (and get repeat business). She doesn't seem able to think on her feet. While there's nothing wrong with people who are more comfortable working within a tightly controlled system that implements the same procedures across the board, with computers doing everything for you, that is not how it works at my job. My workplace is perfect for people who enjoy problem-solving and are adaptable.
Anyhoo... day before yesterday I asked to speak privately to the manager and told her a long list of problems I've encountered with this woman. She thought I was going to quit. I told her, no, I love this job but it's become very unpleasant, and I only want the assistant manager to succeed, which won't happen if management doesn't know where her skills are lacking and the problems she's been having. So, she thanked me for the feedback and asked me to be patient as she works to further train this fucking obnoxious eejit (haha, I couldn't help myself). She also told me to come to her with any more problems no matter how minor they seem.
Then yesterday the manager wasn't in, and the new assistant manager was in charge. Of course, she hadn't improved much at all, and there were some glaring issues. I was off today, but I told my co-worker that she had to tell the manager about what went down, because she wants to know. She said she would, but today I was panicking because I thought that, if my co-worker doesn't say anything (she's super nice and soft-spoken and doesn't like to say bad things about anyone), then I might be considered just a troublemaker or complainer.
So I texted my co-workers this evening and they both reassured me. One did talk to the manager about things that would corroborate my assessment of this chick, so I am feeling much relieved. I hate petty BS like this at a bread-and-butter job that is supposed to just be a source of income, not of stress, in my life. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.