ON PROFESSIONALISM

This morning we got a little talking-to about how we (as a team) communicate with one another. This was precipitated by the meeting we had last week to set up our summer duty schedule. Heated words were exchanged, and I thought that was the end of it. Apparently it is not, and now we are "encouraged" to have a "players-only" meeting to work out our communication issues.

I don't think this idea is a permanent solution - seriously, I occasionally lose my temper with friends, and I obviously have more affection for them than I do for work people. Sometimes tempers get lost, especially with ten people all vying for the same week on duty.

I am happy to say that I wasn't the snapper or the snappee last week - I avoided the conflict entirely, as I was out of the room at the time. However, I have had my share of unprofessional moments, including the one below. I am not proud of it, and am in fact ashamed of it.

EXAMPLE: It was a long day at Walgreens. We - the assistant managers - were working setting up a new store, and we were told it would be an eight-hour day. So I went to my store to open it up and do some necessary work there until another assistant got there. At 9, when another assistant got there, I headed over to the new store. After seven or so hours there, I got ready to leave with the rest of the assistants. I was told I couldn't, that my eight hours started when I got to the new store. I protested, as there was no one else that could work at my home store. I lost this protest, and was told - by my district manager, no less - that "if I wanted to be a manager, I should act like a manager." I responded in the heat of my anger with "If you want me to act like a manager, you should pay me like a manager!" and grumpily went back to work.

Whoops.

The next day another district-level supervisor pulled me aside and pointed out the utter foolishness of my actions. I called the DM to apologize for my behavior, citing stress in my personal life as the reason for my outburst. I'm not entirely sure how true that was, as frustrations with that job were at a boiling point, but it's much easier than saying "I don't really want this job, and in fact think I can do more with my life," which would lead to me being let go from the position (I assume).

Would a meeting two weeks after with the DM help? Maybe it would for a few months, but at some point, my frustrations would have come back up and manifested themselves in a different way. Hence my reluctance to put any faith in the meeting we will inevitably have here, especially since we are likely to have staff turnover in the near future. But I get to see my co-workers in a more relaxed, friendly situation - maybe that short-term benefit is all we're going to get out of this meeting. Maybe that's all we need to get.