Why they hate me

I only go to the back of the Big Box store once a week to get my hours, but yesterday I actually took the time to look at the bulletin boards where they posted some stats.

Corporate metrics are a weird thing. Every time you log on to your register, it tells you what your previous ring count was. Mine varies wildly. One day I'll be ranked #3 and the next #37. I was told years ago when I worked briefly at a grocery store, that metric can be gamed by locking your register frequently. Sometimes I do that, sometimes I don't. But the bulletin board had expanded metrics, like total sales rung and how many customers you rang through.

I'm outperforming everybody else by five times the volume. In other words I'm skewing the metrics and making everybody else look bad. And clearly I'm working too hard for my miserable pay rate. It's just the way I am. I don't know how not to do the best I can, no matter what the rewards, or lack thereof. This is why I've never wanted to work for large institutions. I just don't have the right mindset for it.

Of course that doesn't explain why the computer isn't giving me more hours. I was shorted for the last two weeks by at least 8-10 hours while the worst performers are picking up expanded time. I guess it may be because I picked up those extra shifts in the previous two weeks and the computer is trying to balance it out since next week's hours are better again. But that's not going to help much when the next pay round hits the bank though. It's going to be a small paycheck just when the utility bills are getting bigger. As the kids say, FML.