Work

[helwen]

Last week, all the MTs had meetings with the head of the chiropractic office, in which he talked about a couple of things, one of them being that if there wasn't anyone scheduled on our shift, the shift would be cut for that day to save office expenses. What wasn't clear was that if the beginning or end of a shift didn't have anyone on the schedule, that _part_ of the shift would be cut. This was made abundantly clear this morning, when I got a call saying not to come in until 2:45 (they're supposed to give us 24 hour notice). I had to call back just now to find out if I had people until the end of my shift, which I don't. My 4-hour shift is now only 2-3/4 hours for today. Generally if the schedule's a little light, I do filing and other things that need doing around the office (because otherwise the filing falls way behind, and it's one of the jobs MTs are supposed to do in their off-time). I would rather not be working at all, quite frankly. My Tuesday shift was closed, which they told me about last week, so plenty of notice, plus it meant I didn't have to use gas. It's 18-19 miles roundtrip for work, so I resent having to spend money on gas and parking for a short shift. It's a waste of both my personal resources and of the world's resources. I try to combine errands together so that I make fewer trips, walk when possible, etc., because regardless of how high or low the price of gas is, there is a finite amount of it. If I could afford a Prius or something similar, I'd get one. But we have what we have (a minivan, so we can carry artwork, event stuff, and people) -- when we know we aren't carrying people, we take most/all but the two front seats out, to improve gas usage. Yes, I realize that fitzw and I are only two drivers out of many, but that doesn't make it okay to waste resources.

I'll be complaining about the short notice when I get into the office today, and checking tomorrow's schedule. Tomorrow is a 3 hour shift, and it had better be a full 3 hours.