Depressingly unprepared

Today was Day 1 of my “Try And Teach A New Employee Everything You Can About Managing 4 Filling Stations In 10 Working Days” scenario and it went about as well as can be expected.
Having been given very little notice that this was going to happen, I didn’t have time to plan a schedule and prepare stuff for her, so poor Joanna was like a blind person being led through a dark room by another blind person who has forgotten what shape the room is.
She has also, it seems to me, not really been given the necessary background information to make an informed choice about whether to take this on or not. It looks like she’s been dropped in it by an Area Manager who had not planned ahead and by a Head Office that has very little understanding of what it is that I do. They all seem to think a few shadow shifts are all that are needed to bring someone up to scratch on all the systems and how the rotas work (they’re slightly different at each site) and everything that is needed in each location. You would think it would make sense to have someone in place for more than a month, so they can see how the monthly figures are compiled, and what factors are taken into consideration when ordering stock, and have time to try stuff themselves and ask questions, but no…
By doing it this way, they are saving themselves a bit of money, I expect, so we’ll just have to make the best of it.
10% of our time together has passed, and I’ve probably told Joanna 0.1% of what she needs to know.
Hey, ho….

RC 15-2-21