Were you even listening?

[Ginger Tea]

OK I've said before that 90% of our current workforce is eastern European, split realativly evenly between Polish and Lithuainian and I also have no beef if they ask each other for items in their own language as it's quicker to just say it than translate it and hope the other guy knows what you want.

Now it being Christmas we've got a few new items on the picking sheets that we never have any other time of the year, but for the most part it was same as for today save for this two layered individual desert.

"Where is Raspberry Youghurt?" (ommision of 'the' intentional) I point to it "No that is Milk Jelly"

"It's Rasberry Youghurt, trust me"

"Maybe it's this?" he holds out one I've never seen before

"I've never seen that one before, but that one is Rasberry Youghurt, the one you are after. Trust me, I've been here nearly 7 years and I don't recall seeing that one, you want this one. "

Later on he tell's me he's run out of Rasberry Youghurt and you guessed it, we had hundreds, he had been packing the wrong one all the time, dispite me telling him more than twice that the one I pointed at was the one he wanted.

Oh he also wanted Gataux, we had a great big shelf of them wheeled in taking up valuable floor space.
"It's that"
"This?"
"Yes, that" I'm sure it went on a bit longer "Look," I pointed "it says Gataux."

Also a driver came in looking for one of the as yet un picked drops.
"I haven't packed it yet" I told him "I'm doing it next." and he ignored that fact and started looking at the tickets of the already picked drops for the one he wanted.

Did I have to wave the ticket in his face or what? What part of "I haven't packed it yet" didn't translate?

I will say the only grievence I have when working with two from the same country is that I never know if there is a problem as they will ask each other sometimes neither having a clue, when five minutes later they ask me i just point with my foot to the shelf.

[Ginger Tea]

Oh and I've lost count of how many times I've said
"It's infront of you" and they look to the next shelf, yes thats what I meant by infront
I should do the "cold, colder, freezing" game but I don't think anyone would get it

"It's underneath the blank"
"It's next to the blank"
or when someone asks for something that they took ten minutes ago, yes when they aren't looking I move all the shelves around so nothing is where you last found it.

I try and keep things to certain areas so they are easier to find day in day out, other people just throw stuff randomly. I've come in at 6am and wasn't working the night before and wondered where such and such a thing is (eg sweet and sour chicken) and found it where rice pudding would be at any other time

edit:
thinking about it it probably reads like
"I'm not racist, but I do wish you would understand english."
Again I have no beef with Polish to Polish to get the job done, rather than relying on either's English skills to get the same job done. But I'm not using rare words, just regular how I would speak English, I don't baby speak/ use broken English, one supervisor does and I told her once "he's Polish not stupid" especially as the guy in question spoke English better than she does.

Another supervisor used to ask me to ask whom ever was working in another department to do things, why? was he afraid they wouldn't understand him? and if they didn't understand me I would always tell them to go see him as it's what he needs fixing.

[Ginger Tea]

You listen with your ears not your mouth

I've been holding off on this waiting to calm down, but my latest rant goes thus:



This Saturday (or Christmas day, for those that call it that) I and two others were starting earlier than normal and it just happened to coincide with the cooked breakfast break, which due to numerous factors I couldnt get to untill the food was stone cold and un edible. in the interim waiting to get to it I was working, so I was still owed 1/2 sit down.
Around noon I'm really hungry and as my room was quieter than I expected I went for a quick break. I'm gone less than ten minutes and one team leader says I must help the lidding room and meantioning team work
Team work? half hour ago you let half a dozzen people go home, if you needed them now you should have made some stay as I would then NOT be working in my bit.
So I finish my bananna and coffee and find out they are all but finished so I go back to my bit and tell her so. she claims she said picking room, but I heard lidding. the other two working with me (who managed to get to the cooked food so didnt have any breaks owing) must have gone in 5 minutes after I left when it was not busy and asked her where I was.

I tell her later that I was taking my first break and whilst I'm talking she then starts talking to someone else, she later tells me that she was talking to that person first, but as the room was busy with trollies I didn't see her and just concluded she was rude.

Later when we ran out of packing trays and were waiting on drivers I took the rest of my break, which due to the pointless interuption was now 20 minutes and not 15 if I wasn't interupted. we get a driver unload in this time and I'm still sat in the break room eating listening to music (so I can't hear anything anyone says)
she asks why I was still sitting down when we have work to do etc
I try and fail over a dozzen times to tell her that due to no cooked breakfast, I was taking the 2nd half of my break, but she cuts me off everytime
"WILL YOU JUST LISTEN!" pause "I've been trying to tell you," she interupts "FOR FUCK SAKE!" cast my head up high exasperated.
"OK I'm finished talking to you." She says.
"FINE THEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHY I'VE BEEN SAT DOWN, NOR WHY IM STLL GOING TO BE SAT DOWN FOR FIVE MORE MINUTES!"

I tell someone else her attitude on both occasions and if shes going to be a dick I just wouldn't come back the next day, if she isn't going to listen to what someone is telling her she has no right being in a job where its part of her job.

towards the end of the day when it is just 7 people tops in the building, welll it was about that number after she sent alot home at half 11, I again try and tell her calmly what it was all about and again she keeps on interupting saying she just wants to go home and to forget about it.

and she offers to help me finish and I tell her point blank she can help the others but if she or the others helps me I would quit there and then.