Pixie's Chronicle: Scarred For Life

I am back from my much needed unplanned vacation! I had planned to try and get a bunch of writing done these past two weeks, but after everything that had happened at work, I was completely and utterly drained. So I ended up spending most of my time trying to relax and catch up on some me time. Not that it was a complete break from all of the drama that is my life, but hey, at least I caught up on some much needed sleep which always gives me the energy to face whatever is thrown my way next. 

The good news is, this time off has allowed me to organise myself a lot better, as well as work on my plans for Madness Within and its upcoming sequel Madness Unleashed. Those are the big projects I have been working on. That and I've been managing to organise myself for my exams and health training which has been really suffering as a result of all the drama at work as well. So yeah, this blog entry will be a quick little catch up on everything as well as my plans going forward. And some gross gory stuff that scarred me for life, but don't worry, there'll be a trigger warning for that part. 

The drama at work didn't end after my last blog entry which was as fun as it sounds. My regional manager still hadn't let the whole email incident drop and it seems that she managed to carry out some revenge on my supervisor, which my supervisor became a complete and total wreck over. They have borderline personality disorder as well which makes this kind of thing a hundred times worse for them. So after everything, I ended up having to help them out of a panic attack. 

What happened was their vacation entitlement was subtly taken away from them by the regional manager. They had originally booked a week off, only to suddenly be told that they're not allowed to take that time off as it went over their vacation entitlement, so they wouldn't be paid for it. This then totally confused them so they rang the regional manager, and she couldn't really come up with an explanation herself, only to then say it was because my supervisor had taken two weeks off work back in March to self-isolate due to their boyfriend showing symptoms of COVID-19. 

The policy within the company I work for has been the same since the start of the pandemic: if you need to self-isolate due to the coronavirus, then you will receive full pay for the full isolation period. It doesn't count as a vacation. Yet our regional manager was now saying that it did. 

Cue explosion of panic, anger, stress and anxiety. 

This did not make any sense. We grabbed our policy handbook on COVID-19 and examined the fine print like lawyers. In not one single spot does it say that self-isolation has be taken as paid vacation. It counted as its own separate kind of paid absence. So our regional manager had essentially made this whole thing up. Either she was being really stupid, or this was a purpose act of revenge for the email incident. 

I went berserk, especially after seeing the state that my supervisor was in as a result. They felt cheated and betrayed, and they had been working so hard lately, and they needed the break. They had been working ten days in a row without a break. They even did a shift from 6am - 7pm, and a good portion of that was unpaid overtime. So yeah, my supervisor was understandably not happy. 

I was pretty sure that what our regional manager was doing here was illegal. I spoke to all of my other colleagues, and they were in agreement that this was super dodgy, and that our supervisor would definitely have a case against our regional manager. We advised her to contact a solicitor or HR and challenge the crap out of our regional manager, but in the end, they refused, not wanting to start more drama. I can understand that, but that's how this evil woman keeps getting away with all of her behaviour. But if our supervisor doesn't want to challenge it, I guess there's nothing we can do. 

All I know is that if the regional manager had pulled that stunt on me, I would not have let her get away with it - and she probably knows that at this point too. She probably knows how spineless my supervisor is, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. My supervisor wouldn't hurt a fly and tries to avoid conflict as much as possible. The regional manager preys on that and it's so wrong. I can be a bit like that sometimes, but I've been thoroughly pushed to my limit at this point. Anyone who wants to try and pull any stunts on me will get their head bitten off!

Anyway, so that was a pretty exhausting experience. After my supervisor had gotten off the phone with the regional manager, I physically had to carry them into the office, they were in that much of a state. I could sense the incoming panic attack and figured that they would most definitely not want an audience. Though they did end up having another break down the next day while I wasn't there, but at least the customers were really nice to them and tried to comfort them. With how most customers behave, that could have gone so much worse, so it was a relief that my supervisor was looked after by them for once. 

My week off work then began, and honestly, most of it was a blur. I spent most of the time sleeping. That or binge playing Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Oh yeah, and working on Madness Within, just not so much the writing chapters part of it. It was so upsetting planning the last few chapters. I nearly made myself cry plenty of times. It was harrowing and emotionally draining. So there you go, there's a little bit of a tease for you. There's actually not that many chapters left now - probably another 15. There might even be less if I manage to squeeze some stuff together. Chapters are probably going to be more on the longer side as well. Though I'm sure you guys won't mind that judging by your super awesome and kind reviews. 

My first week back at work didn't exactly get off to the best of starts. The place had fallen into even more chaos while I was away, so I was left fixing all of the mistakes that everybody had made. We had another manager covering our store the day before me and my manager got back, and she had left the fire door open overnight, forgot to set the burglar alarm, left the air conditioning on all night, and had left the place in a huge mess. So yeah, my manager was livid. And guess who had to clean it all up. 

CAUTION! THIS NEXT SECTION GETS GORY AND GRAPHIC!

But I needn't bothered cleaning due to what happened two days after. This incident happened just after I had finished my shift, so luckily I wasn't there when all of this happened, but my colleagues told me all about it. Basically, the town I live in has a huge drug problem. And they all tend to hang about on the street my job is located. So this one guy had obviously taken a hit of something (probably heroin), and he came into the store with his foot practically hanging off. He was squirting blood everywhere and he was just walking around as if nothing was wrong. 

One of my colleagues is a trained nurse and she immediately dashed over to try and help. Other customers freaked out and tried to call an ambulance, but the guy kept stopping them and pleading with them not to. He was losing so much blood though that he would probably end up dead if he didn't get some help. So my nurse colleague grabbed the first aid kit and immediately went to work on him, blood being squirted all over her during the process. 

The whole ordeal was horrific, and my manager said she could swear that she saw all of his nerves and stuff hanging out his body. My colleague bandaged him up and insisted that he go to A&E, but he just walked off as if nothing had happened. 

So then everyone else freaked out because the place looked like a murder scene. Not only that, but there was a worry about hepatitis and H.I.V and all of those lovely blood diseases. They informed the company about what had happened, but they really didn't give a damn and insisted we stay open, despite blood being everywhere. So then my colleagues had to clean all of it up, and I don't think I've ever seen them in such a stressed state. 

Needless to say, my colleague who treated the guy is now looking for another job. I can't say that I blame her. The only reason I'm currently staying put is because I get free qualifications out of this job and because of with COVID-19, I really don't want to be moving around and entering new environments. Lot's of staff are jumping ship, especially now that our hours have been cut again. 

My colleagues made sure they sent me all of the photos of the blood which was... kind of them? 

So yeah, now I'm scarred for life...

Our regional manager could literally not give a damn about the whole thing as well. She came to visit us the day after it happened and she didn't even ask to see if we were all alright. All she did was criticise us for how much of a mess the store was in. Ummm yeah, it's a mess because a druggie came in with his foot hanging off! Like.... GAAAAHHH! Words cannot describe how much this woman annoys me! How can you be that dense and uncaring?! And yet she was bragging to me just how much she cares for and looks after her staff! Does she f-

GRAPHIC AND GORY STUFF ENDS HERE!

But yeah, my hours have been slashed at work again, so no more overtime. Which is bad for my paycheck, but is good in that I'll have more free time and be able to focus more on writing. This will probably only last five minutes like it usually does with my job, but hey, I may as well make the most of it while it lasts. So starting from next week, I should hopefully be updating a lot more frequently. 

Tomorrow I'll be doing a huge spring clean... well... more like a huge autumn clean. Due to all the overtime, my place is a bit of a mess. So I want to give things a thorough clean rather than the half-tidies I've been doing lately due to a lack of time. I can't focus in messy environments. I have no idea how things get so messy anyway, I don't do anything other than work and play video games when I have the chance. 

After all that, it's back to writing. On Mondays I'll finally be getting out my reviews of the season 3 finale of Miraculous Ladybug a good few months late. That and as well as my usual overall season review/countdown. I should have gotten all of these completed and uploaded ages ago. Especially now that I'm itching to do my review of the New York special. Don't worry, there will be no spoilers here, but if you follow me on Twitter then you will already know that I LOVED it! 

I'm super excited to get back into writing, especially with the end of Madness Within so much closer, the start of Professeur Noir, Halloween season giving me Immortal Bonds inspiration, and the buzz of the New York special to further help with my muse. This is the time of year where I always feel the most productive and I don't know why. Probably because autumn is my favourite season. It's the best!

I hope that you guys have been having a nicer time than me, and I will hopefully be seeing you all soon when I finally upload some content.