If you're going to call me a 'tard, at least wait for a reasonable hour.

Monday, Aug. 04, 2003
8:29 AM

I must vent. I am Pissed Off - and what pisses me off even more is that I got pissed off before 8:00 in the morning.

I was woken up at quarter to eight this morning by the phone. I probably should have just let the voice mail pick it up, but I thought it might be Kevin calling from England. It wasn't; it was one of the managers from Michaels. I forget her name, but if it's the one I'm thinking of, I already had one horrible experience with her. So I try to sound all polite and awake when she tells me that she has a billing problem with a sign in sheet from one of my classes, not enough information on it (or something). At first I thought she was the lady from the Reston store but then I figured out that she was calling from Sterling. This is probably why she treated me the way she did. I actually told her that I had just woken up, which I don't normally do when someone wakes me up by calling at seven-fucking-forty-eight in the morning!

Oh, it just gets worse. We go back and forth about the sign in sheet for a minute (I'm still not sure what the problem is) and then she mentions that I didn't clock in or out for that class. I latch onto that comment and say, "I'm pretty sure I did clock in and out that night." She tells me that no time has shown up on the record for me for that week. No, I remember I had to have clocked in because when I clocked in the next day for the Meet the Teachers event, there was some time on my card already from the night before. She says no time for Meet the Teachers comes up for me either.

She then tells me I must have put my time on someone else's card.

That's right, I can't read my own fucking name on my own fucking time card. That's right, I am a complete moron.

I tell her I don't know what the problem is, but I'm pretty sure I clocked in with my own card. She refuses to believe me. I tell her I'm pretty sure I did everything the way I am supposed to with my class that night (had the student sign the sheet, filled it out and signed it myself), I ask her to check with Penny, the events coordinator. She tells me that Penny is not very good with keeping up with the classes. Um, this is my problem how?

She tells me she'll look into it, but I can tell she still thinks I am retarded and can't clock myself in properly. I hang up the phone and scream in frustration.

I can't believe this bitch. I realize that most people are awake before 8 am but not everybody is, especially people who work at home and who haven't been sleeping well lately. I think that general courtesy dictates that you wait until at least 8:00 before calling someone. 9:00 is preferable, 10:00 is ideal. I'm sure she was trying to get the billing crap done, but geez, wait fifteen minutes before calling someone up and telling them they're mentally deficient!

The thing is, if this doesn't get worked out, if she doesn't believe that I actually did clock in and out, I don't get paid. That's right, I don't get paid my measly 18 bucks before taxes for my one student, or my measly $7/hr for the Meet the Teachers thing, where I was for an hour and a half last Saturday. That's an hour and a half of my life I'll never get back - because Penny can't be bothered to publicize the event or even put a fucking sign out!

Why am I putting up with this crap? The thought is beginning to cross my mind that dealing with Michaels just isn't worth it. If I were getting more students in my classes, it might be more worth it, but right now it isn't at all.

Kevin is still away and I'm losing my mind.