I don't think asking for a single day to be free of any trouble is too much to ask. Life probably just likes to mess up with me. On one single day that I really wanted and needed to go back on time, I get held back for reasons I couldn't even begin to understand how came about. It was a mistake not even my doing but I needed to rectify what damaged it had caused. And honestly, I'm tired of cleaning up after other people's mistakes.
So clearing errors done by my juniors is a task meant for seniors, but a repetition of the same mistake, in simple words, is just stupidity being allowed to take place. We are supposed to learn from mistakes, especially in the line of work where there are a set of rules as a benchmark, ,but are always needed to be bent, to allow better results. Mistakes that can easily be prevent if the person who did it is just mindful of her or his work, however, is just beyond the things I allow myself to comprehend. A little thinking and a few questions will definitely prevent documents from being returned, from taking the time of the person who will actually do the corrections, and from having a lot of words exchanged, mostly pertaining as to why the work is not properly done rather than tackling the main point of the conversation. It is simply being mindful of your work that will save everyone the trouble, because honestly, working in a pretty big hotel with a lot of departments working together is bound to have a lot of complications. And being very careful is just a way to prevent more hassle than necessary.
It was Friday then, and I am not working the following day, or off day as I always refer to it. But it wasn't because of that that I wanted to go back as early as I could, since going back on the dot will never happen in my line of work. I had plans for the afternoon then. I was moving to a different place and I wanted to shift some of the things that I own before my actual moving day, which is the following day. Going back early was just so I could do the shifting of my things, but obviously, I cannot do that. My colleague who was on duty with me on the same shift had already gone back way before I could, because I had other work-related things to do. But when I was done with my stuff, people from other department came looking to for to ask me for about my colleague's work on the very day itself. The paper work that she had submitted is apparently incomplete in the most inconvenient way.
We were doing cashiering duties in reception, and we have our own credit card terminals that we use and by the end of the day, we need to check every transactions that we have, and it must tally. When we want to close all the transactions, which we refer to as settlement, the terminal will then be empty of any transactions for the next shift to use. We need to print the transactions by summary, and detail before we can do the settlement. More than anything, it was the settlement that must be printed correctly. It was the final one, thus having any transactions done prior completely erased from the terminal. And the transactions will be grouped together by the type of credit card. Apparently, my colleague was not able to print the settlement for some of her credit cards and she did not even know it! The terminal is wise enough to wait for us to change the roll of credit card slip if it happens to run out of paper. I had experienced it before, so I know. I just simply do not understand how she can just go back not knowing that her settlement is incompletely. We need to check our work. There was one time that my details report did not print and I managed to discover it thus asking my manager for the proper course of action. It might have bounced back but I wouldn't know since they might have already counter-signed it or something. Sure, I do make mistakes but most of the time, it would be rectify right after it was done. I might have a good nose for that kind of thing, because, somehow, I easily know when something is going to be troublesome later on. Maybe it was by experience, or maybe it was because of something else. But I just know.
I was terribly annoyed that afternoon after I had check her work and passed it to the manager to sign. There were no time restrictions to my plans since no other person is involved. So I had delayed it even further. I decided to cool my head off, grab a cup of coffee, something sweet and a few sticks of cigarette. Yeah, I had come back to the habit of smoking when feeling stressed out. It was a bad and unhealthy habit really, but I do not care. After thinking about it, two cups of caramel macchiato, a chocolate-orange tart, and a couple sticks, I had come to the conclusion that my two big bosses will be stricter soon for all the unnecessary reasons. I wanted to check the work of each person I am working with just to make sure that their transactions are clear of any mistakes, because sooner or later, if the mistakes keep repeating, they will be taking even drastic measures. I want to void that at all cost, because that will definitely be more work for the managers and supervisors. I am probably considered a supervisor even though my title does not exactly state so.
Sure mistakes cannot be avoided all the times but it can be prevented. The less damage the action had caused, the less hassle it would cause the person to resolve the problem, and probably less cost for the damage control as well. It's not like I do not make my fair share of mistakes because I do, lots of times but they will not know it. I just do less mistakes because of my dislike for causing other people problems. Apparently I don't share the same penchant with the others. It's pretty annoying to see people from the accounting department coming to our department to hand over documents with mistakes on them. First, because it means that they want something to be done correctly, secondly because it means our people is not doing their work properly. I feel like rolling my eyes if I see them going to the back office because I know what their business is. But somehow, I understand their share of the trouble with that. It's also annoying to walk all the way from their office to our department for something that can be prevented, and for something they have already mentioned more times than necessary. And sometimes, they will call my attention while passing by the counter and jokingly tell me to do training because 'most of my work are correctly done.' I know they probably meant it as more than a joke. And truth be told, I feel like starting my own training for that because it's annoying to do the corrections. I'm really sick of it. Now that I think about it, I need to remind myself to take notes of things that I must remember.
Running a department requires teamwork, and a single person can never be considered a team. Nor a handful of people can ever run an entire department. Teamwork is always a must, especially in a kind of work environment that you need the help of other people to complete the job. I don't exactly have an issue working with others, but I would rather have my work done by me rather than by other people. That way, I at least know my paper work and whatever went wrong with my work at the end of the day, I will have an answer for that. There was one time that my manager handed me some documents asking for explanation for what happened with that certain transaction. So I went to check but I have no recollection of it and the timing it was performed, I was on break. So I handed it back to him stating my side. There was another time that I almost felt like crying because several of my transactions were wrong. I hated wasting time trying to find what went wrong especially if it's not my fault. I changed my password that instant and never passed it to anyone after that. If they want to give me trouble, I can give them hell in return. Ever since then, they know better than to make mistakes with my paper work. If someone else did it, I will make sure to check it. Yeah, I am too much of a perfectionist. In my defense, I like my work done properly, and apparently I'm not the only one who prefers it that way journal
