Jane's attendance improved slightly but she never really hit the perfect attendance mark. In March, she told me that she was going through a different vocational rehab program to get a community job. She's quite capable of working in the community so I figured it was a sure thing. I did the cashier test with her and she passed it with some assistance. In helping her take the test and come up with the answers, I really felt that I was helping make a difference for her. I then set it up for her to come to the official cashier training that all cashiers have to attend. The HR department came and talked to me, concerned about her ability to operate a register successfully. I told them that she would always be supervised while on a register and they finally agreed.
Jane passed the cashier training with no problem and we did a trial run on a register in April but she couldn't remember her cashier password. I contacted our cashier trainer to get her password reset but he never got back to me. I persisted and finally just cornered him in his cubicle. He stated that HR didn't have her classified in the system as a cashier. She was in the system as a client and clients haven't been cashiers. I then went to HR and asked them if I could get clearance to be a cashier and she could cashier with me under my classification. They stated that it was a fault in the system but she could be put in daily if I contacted the trainer and had her put in each day I trained with her. The system would then reset itself and her profile in the system would be deleted after that day. Then came the contract.
A guy from our business office brought my direct supervisor a contract that I was to sign every time I cashiered with her. It stated that I would be responsible for her register and that if she was off on her till or if she attempted to use the register to defraud the company (?), I would face the disciplinary action up to and including termination. I wasn't happy the idea but I really wanted Jane to be able to cashier so I signed the contract. She did an awesome job on the register as I went out each week and worked with her on there for 30-60 minutes at a time. It quickly became the thing she looked forward to most and also it was the most rewarding part of my job. Plus I found out that the other vocational rehab program didn't think that Jane was ready so I was determined to prove them wrong and help get her ready for community employment.
Before our accreditation last week, my big boss emailed me and my direct supervisor, wanting to know if Jane was cashiering and then wanting to make sure I brought it up to the surveyors which I did. However, the idea of the contract didn't sit well with me. I didn't understand why I needed to put my job on the line in order to provide training for my client. Wasn't that my job after all? Isn't that our mission? So I talked to the HR director about it today. He said the contract was silly and even questioned why Jane wasn't paid a cashier's wage. He brought in another HR person to answer that question for us. The other HR person said he also saw the contract and stated that he wouldn't have signed it if he was me. The director said he would revise the contract to say that I would just familiarize myself with the cash control procedure and I would make sure Jane was familiar with it and I would supervise her on the register. Then he said I could continue to cashier with her even though he hadn't finalized the contract.
Twenty minutes later, my big boss calls me. She's been out sick for the past two months but she's been staying in touch via e-mail. However, today's the first day she's called me in two months so I assumed it was about Jane. Sure enough, she said that she was just following up with some business and she seemed to remember that I had a client that cashiered. I guess she forgot the e-mail she sent to me right before the accreditation. I filled her in then on the whole story although I had been filling the whole department in each week at the staff meetings. She then asked about the contract, saying, "I hear that you have to sign something that says you'll give away your first born." I knew that the HR director had to have called her but I told her that I just talked to him and he said he would revise the contract. She said that all sounded good and let it go at that. Ten minutes later, she sent out an e-mail to everyone in my department and all of the stores' district managers, stating that, if they have a client that cashiers, they should refrain from having them cashier until she does some "analysis" on the job.
So I'm pissed. I've gone through a hell of a lot to make sure that this could happen. I've jumped through multiple hoops, talked to each department but marketing, bragged about it to our surveyors, and had to put my job on the line to get it done and now, it's suspended. Just. Like. That. The hardest part was the it was something Jane was very proud of herself for doing and something I really loved doing as well. I had other clients that were interested in it as well but now nobody can do it. I feel like if I hadn't complained about having to put my job on the line each time by signing some stupid contract, Jane would still be able to cashier.
Moreover, I feel like my job just got dumbed-down. We passed our accreditation and now we can stop trying to excel and go back to providing the bare bones of mediocrity in order to ensure our non-profit status so we can continue to make a profit. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to properly express my frustrations because I believe that it's important to keep this fire lit under me. Otherwise, what's the point?
What else?
Yesterday, I spent 9+ hours writing my final paper for my counseling class. I didn't finish yesterday although I got eight pages done before I figuratively hit the wall and had to stop to watch some Beavis and Butthead and drink some wine to kill my exhausted brain cells. However, I pretty much finished it today!!!
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