So Maybe it is Rocket Surgery, Vern

There's nothing worse than finding out you're NOT totally rocking your $8.50 an hour job. Nothing.

My background with performance reviews is a little sketchy, as, for the five years I was a paramedic at Harrison County EMS, I didn't once get a review that I hadn't done myself.  As our raises weren't merit based, no one took the reviews seriously. The supervisors had, them, taken to handing us a blank review and telling us to fill it in ourselves. This was really good for my ego as I was consitantly above average. On everything.There was nothing I couldn't do better than my co-workers. My ambulance was cleaner, my patients were more satisfied, I was altogether a better life saver than the average medic.  I don't remember getting a review at Rural/Metro and you'd think that ambulance services, whose employees have precious lives in their hands,  would take quality control a little more seriously. And as I was the only manager at Wendy's that wasn't a failed piss test waiting to happen, I rocked. So, it came as a huge suprise that I didn't so much rock. I am above average on absolutely nothing. I was left to imagine that a poop flinging monkey could run a cash register better than I could.

It's performance review time at The Bakery. This means that the management is walking around with stacks of confidential paperwork and pulling us aside for chats in the dining room. My number came up yesterday afternoon, after the shift from Hell. Fortunately the reviews were drawn up ahead of time and not on the spot as the management was, at best, feeling kind of frazzled. Of course, this could have worked in my favor as I had stayed, without complaint, an hour and a half past the end of my shift. Plus, I'd like to think I worked my ass off. I'm a team player, oh yes!

So, on to the review. It's puzzling to find that things you thought you'd been doing so well, you're not really exceeding at. I apparently fall short in the friendly and perky department. I don't meet The Bakery's standards for smiling and remembering regualer customers' names. This is, quite possibly, not a big suprise. I did think, however, that I was kicking ass in the busy work area. But, strangely I'm not. My constant, obsessive compulsive driven, wiping and tidying is not enough. It's possible, though, that these standards which they have set are not set on a relative comparison but rather are truly set to some unreachable standard. Perhaps everyone else I work with sucks and I just happen to suck a little bit less. I'll go with that. Yes, I suck less than anyone else that works at The Bakery. Maybe, in six months, I can lookforward to, again, rocking the mediocracy.

Comments

[Jared Jenkins]

Just burn the place down, then you won't have to worry about being epic or mediocre.

[buzz_kirkwood]

Jared runs some excellent points, but who really cares? Unless the evals determine whether or not you get your next paycheck, there's no point in concerning yourself with what they say.