Moaning Myrtle

Let me introduce to you Myrtle.....Moaning Myrtle.............

Myrtle is a girl I work with. I say work but what I really mean is that Myrtle is a girl who is employed by the same company as I am but gets paid more in sick leave than she does for actual hours worked.

Myrtle is the reason that I have worked two unscheduled double shifts over the past two days and am due to work my third (scheduled) double shift tomorrow.

Myrtle has worked with me from the start, since the restaurant opened and honest to god I don’t know how on earth she still has a job. To date reasons for her being off sick include, but are not exclusive to......

·         Her cat was sick this morning

·         She had to go home mid shift because her 13 year old cousin fell off a swing

·         She “thought” her belly button piercing was infected

·         Evening shifts make her feel physically sick

·         Working at the weekend makes her feel physically sick

·         She banged her head and thought she had concussion so had to go home

·         Her boyfriend called her mid shift, he got made redundant and she could not concentrate so had to go home.

·         She had period pain.............every month without fail

·         She was driving round for half an hour trying to find a parking space and she couldn’t so she thought she had a panic attack and had to drive home

·         Her boyfriend had food poisoning and she might have it too (although showed no symptoms) so best she stay home

·         She had a kidney infection.........she was off for two weeks

·         Not technically sick but.......it was her aunts 40^th and the whole family was going and if she was at work she wouldn’t be able to concentrate

·         She dropped a plate on her foot and was worried she broke her toe so had to go home

·         She had a fight with chef and was so wound up she wouldn’t be able to concentrate for the rest of her shift so had to go home

·         She came back to work after one of her ridiculous absence excuses and felt that all the staff were talking about her so she had to go home

All these excuses are apparently acceptable with management, she does it because she gets away with it, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have a job if it was me.

So thanks to Myrtle tomorrow will be double shift number three for me followed by Saturday double shift number four.

Since evening shifts and weekend shifts make Myrtle feel physically sick she has set shifts. These are Monday till Friday 11:30-5. Everyone else works on no particular shift pattern. No set days off, often not even two days off together but that’s the nature of the business, this is what we signed up for when we took the job.  Not Myrtle, Myrtle got the exact shifts she wanted and STILL has the brass neck to find it impossible for one reason or another to not be at work.

As you can tell I’m grumpy and I’m tired, I will have worked 40 hours over 4 days and I still have the rest of my shifts to work............this is clearly the “tears” section of my blog..................