<blockquote><div class="wpforo-post-quote-author"><strong>Posted by: lbpd16</strong></div>I've just been a RCA for a couple days now. My official work schedule is to relieve the regular on saturdays.Unofficially the office is understaffed. 3 new routes were added. I also found out that many of the RCA's do not want to become career.. . .If I had a choice I would rather work one route all the time.Anyone care to guess how this will go for me?</blockquote>@lbpd16, congrats on getting through your first few days.Most new RCAs start off as <span style="text-decoration: underline">only</span> a relief carrier for one route. Then most of them are scheduled on "training" days for other routes. This is how you end up on the matrix.Most people who work as RCAs want to work as much as they're entitled to. When someone comes along that only wants to work one day a week, or only on one route, the other RCAs generally start to think, "Why can't I work when I want to?" This tends to cause problems within an office eventually, even if you also have RCAs that want to work as much as possible.I've met some RCAs that only want to work one route, or only on Saturdays. In my experience so far, they're retirees who want to supplement their incomes without killing themselves after retirement. They all end up working when needed.If you only want to work on one route, try picking the worst possible matrix positions that you can after you've been "trained" on two other routes. (You can only pick matrix positions on routes you've been "trained" on.) If you're "trained" on two routes that don't have primary relief carriers, or second/third matrix positions ... well, you're SOL ... you're now the de facto primary on that route as well. That should only happen if your office is truly understaffed.<span style="text-decoration: underline">I'm not really sure if you can refuse to pick spots on the matrix</span>, but even if you can, management can work you anywhere they want, even if you've never been "trained" on the route. Those days suck -- I can say that from experience.Even if the route you're "trained" on has a primary, second, and third call on the matrix, there's still no guarantee that you you'll only ever work one route -- especially in an "unofficially" understaffed office.Management expects you to to do what they want-or-need when they want-or-need it. It's now your job to do what they want-or-need when they want-or-need it. If management was wrong in its "want-or-need", then you get to grieve it. It's a real-life "sir, how high, sir?" job.In reality, your office may not be that hardcore, but it may very well end up being that way. It generally depends on your managers and what pressure they're being put under by district managers. So, even if you have a great manager, there's only so much they can do to shelter you.My advise would be to go with the flow, until you have a better understanding of things. I didn't file my first grievance until I'd been an RCA for 8 years, not that I'd recommend waiting that long if the need arises. If you can't stand the flow, get out.Good luck! PS - I only used "trained" in quotes because I've only seen RCAs "trained" by people whose only qualification is that they've run the route before. If you're being trained by a qualified trainer, I take my quotations back.
