Back to Work

Beh. I went back to work today after a 3.5 week paid vacation and to no one's surprise, it sucked. It wasn't too bad but it was a cruddy enough day to wish I hadn't come back. My manager was glad to see me but that could be because I am one of the few people around there that know almost all of the day to day workings of the department and can be depended on to go about my business and not screw anything up.

Lets talk about my boss for a moment. To protect the innocent we will call him....Bert. Bert is a nice guy. I think that is part of my problem with him, he is too friggin' nice. Everytime he sees me he has to tell me that I am doing this awesome job and that he is greatful to have me working under him. Usually these little pep talks end with a handshake and me saying, "Uhh...yeah...thanks." I do not like these pep talks. There are those that tell me to be greatful he likes me because it is better that way than if he were to not like me but honestly I don't care. I would be happiest if he just pretended I didn't exist. If I could just go about my business and he his, life would be great.

The second thing that irritates me about "Bert" is that he has no big goals in his life. His biggest career goal is to someday be a store manager. What kind of a goal is that? Bert is not a dumb individual and he is exremely motivated. He says that "Insert Store Name Here :)" is the best place for him to work because they pay him well and he can move up without any kind of college education. I asked him why he didn't go to college and he said that by the time he graduated from high school he already had two kids and just couldn't juggle it. Good answer.

Anyways, it is not that I do not like Bert, I just don't want to work with him.....he is too peppy. I have often contemplated on quitting on him right after one of his huge pep talks just to confuse him and leave him to dwell on what he must have done wrong in order to make me want to quit. Bert is the kind of guy that would let this eat at him.

Lastly, Bert now has five kids. Five. And a wife to boot. Does Bert spend time with them? No, why, because Bert is busy planning out stuff that has to do with work. The guy is a workaholic. He has been known to leave my coworkers and I two page "love notes" that tell us we are doing great jobs and what tasks he would like done for the day. He actually contemplated coming in on his daughter's birthday. He also likes to leave two hours late and then call us an hour or two later to see how sales are and how the department is doing in his absence. Bert is a sad sad man.

Bert and I are exact opposites and they may be why he annoys me. But he is a nice guy and tries his hardest to make everyone happy so I guess you can't expect much more from a manager.