I am at the end of my rope with my new co-workers, and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I'm hoping you guys can give me a: some perspective, and b: a way to respectfully bring my concerns to my boss.
Ok, background first. I work in a very small retail store. We have one manager, one gal at forty hours, one at thirty hours (me), and two who work 5-15 hours a week. The two co-workers in question, "Mindy" and "Linda," are new hires with the part-time hours. Linda has been there a couple months, Mindy, about three weeks. My manager, while a very nice woman, tends to hire people she likes on sight, rather than going through any actual interviewing process. Thus, we have had rather a low retention rate, and I train people a lot.
Since I have the most overall experience (I worked a year at another store also), my boss often asks me to show/explain to new hires how things work. This has not gone well. I will tell someone: "oh, don't forget X needs to get done," or "When you fill out paperwork, please do Y," only to have my boss "mention" that "someone" has complained I'm "Too bossy." She's also written notes for everyone to sign that will say something about how we're all equal and no-one is to boss anyone else around. Ironically, she still tells me she would "totally make [me] assistant manager, but [she] doesn't have the hours."
So, this week, the forty-hour gal went on vacation. It was me, Manager, Mindy and Linda. Currently, the store is preparing for inventory, so there's a lot to be done. Manager was off this weekend, so only Mindy, Linda and I were working. This is how my weekend went:
On Friday, Linda came in for her closing shift. She clocked in, then went next door for fifteen minutes to talk to her Mom, who is also working. When she returned, she checked shelves for 45 minutes, said she didn't feel well, but section one is done, called Manager and went home. I closed alone.
Saturday morning, Manager asked me what is done, and I tell her honestly that Linda said she finished a section, but I don't think it was physically possible to do that much in 45 minutes, especially if she wasn't feeling well. Manager agrees with me, but when Linda says how much she finished yesterday, Manager says nothing.
Saturday, Sunday and Monday, not much got done. Both gals are good at waiting on customers, but either haven't noticed or don't care that there's more to do than that. She and Mindy have been taking cigarette breaks every 45 minutes to sit outside and chat. When I asked them (twice) to please tell me when they were going outside, so I could stay up front, they told me to chill out, and that they could just snub out their cigarettes and follow any customers back in to wait on them. I don't feel this is acceptable at all, but since I'm not friends with the girls next door like they are, I think it came off as jealousy.
But, the question is, how do I bring this up? I already told Manager that I don't think she should schedule the two of them together, as they're more interested in chatting with each other and the girls next door. But what else do I bring up? The breaks? Linda greeting me with "Hey Bratface!" when she came in? The amount of inventory prep that could have gotten done?
I don't want to tattle (They were MEAAAANN!!), or get labeled as 'bossy' again, but I want some help! Suggestions?
(Sidenote: we don't have an HR dept we can call, other than for things like harassment. This is probably going to have to be handled in-store.)