This morning I opened with the new girl Carla. It was pretty standard. I showed her the ropes a bit and let her get used to the register and where things were in the store. I gave her some information to her about different products, of which I don't expect her to remember right off the bat, but you know...I just wanted to help her along.

Later, Manny came in at 1 o'clock. Ashley still hadn't shown up, so by 1:15 I called Lisa and told her she wasn't here yet. I asked if I should say something and Lisa said, "No." There wasn't really a point. She's leaving. Technically it doesn't matter and would be a waste of breath. "Plus," She said, "we have to cover our butts. She's at least a body for the next two weeks." Then I explained that Berek was desperate for a job and that he would be willing to work for us. "Hire him! Hire him and get rid of her then." Lisa was thrilled. She has been waiting to get rid of Ashley for sometime now.

At 1:20, Ashley finally meandered into the store...as if nothing had happened. I asked, "Why are you late?" "Oh, I woke up late today." She replied. Oooo, that upset me. I told her that that's unacceptable and that we can't have her meandering in whenever she feels like it. So she went on to work and I went on my break...sorta. Tim, one of the reps that I do orders with came in and needed to do an order. So I had to wait until I finished with the order before I could take my break.

After my break I walked up to the front and looked down one of the aisles and saw that Ashley was stocking the shelves with her headphones on! What the fuck was that?! She's never had permission to wear headphones while working before, what gives her the right now? I called Lisa. Lisa told me, "What the fuck?! That's totally unacceptable and uncalled for, get rid of her, send her home!"

So when I got permission to let her go, I did. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I mean mostly because I'm her friend too, but I had to let that go. She claimed her reason for wearing headphones was because she needed to listen to mellow music to cool her off. Apparently, she was "a bitch on wheels". At least that's what she claimed. I told her it wasn't right and she wouldn't normally do it, so why would she think it was alright just because she's leaving? She didn't answer. The other thing that was bugging us is the fact that she had injured her back a few months back and had a doctor's note dated 4/23/03-05/01/03 stating that she couldn't lift more that 15-20lbs at her discretion. That's fine and dandy but she never got an extension so therefore she should be able to lift more than that again. I told her we needed someone who was going to be able to carry out the daily work routine which included lifting 40+ pounds of dog food and obviously she can't and she'd be a liability anyway.

*sigh* I feel bad...and although things should be a little better for now...it impacts my life because now I have two trainees to train. Berek and Carla. Berek I'm sure will pick up on everything very easily. Carla seems like she will too. I'm not worried but it does mean that I can't go out with Berek, Jen, Rob and Company because I'll be working between 2 twelve hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday. I don't think staying out all hours of the night will help me with that task. Oh well...another time perhaps. Besides, I have nothing to wear anyway. :(