So, it’s Friday night and I go into work as usual. I was feeling wiped out because I hadn’t got much sleep and I’d gone out to dinner with Kendra and my father, so I was over-full. I was supposed to work on the register, but I was in at ten and Nimeh wasn’t scheduled until eleven, so I handled the deli work for an hour. At eleven, Nimeh comes sailing in and, without saying a word to me, opens up a register and starts ringing up customers. This irritates me, but ok, so I go up and ask her (politely) why she opened a drawer. Her reply was “Liz (our manager) says whoever comes in at ten has to stay in the deli all night.” News to me, but it’s possible. So, I carefully explain to her that I’m not feeling well and it would be really helpful if she would work in the deli for the rest of the night. Nimeh then just shrugs her shoulders and turns her back on me.

Right, so at this point I know reasonable discussion is out the window. Nimeh has decided she’s working register tonight and nothing I say or do is going to change her mind. So, I do something I’m loathe to do….. I ask for help. I call Liz (this is about 11:30 at night on her day off, mind you) and ask her if she told Nimeh she’d be working register tonight. Liz says “no” and I explain the situation to her. Liz tells me that Kelli (our other third shift worker) had asked that when she came in early and did all the prep work in the deli, that she stay in the deli because Nimeh had been switching with her after most of the deli work had been done. Nimeh’s little mind, of course, had then set that in stone as a rule for everyone. Liz then asked to speak to Nimeh. What followed was a very excited conversation. I only overheard part of it, basically Nimeh denying she said what she said or did what she did.  After they had talked at length, Nimeh gave the phone back to me and went into the deli, banging around and muttering to herself. Liz was starting to explain (vent) to me about what she and Nimeh had said, when Nimeh came out fo the deli and told me she wasn’t feeling well and that she was going home. Once again, the phone switch happened and Liz told Nimeh if she walked out the door, she would no longer have a job. Nimeh said “fine with me” and left anyway.

So, short story long, Nimeh no longer works there *happy dance*. There’s a major source of tension out of my life. Of course, it also means that now we have to hire and train two people before I can get off of nights, but third shift will be much more pleasant to work, so I’d say it was well worth it.