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There is no part of this diatribe that is not amazing or 100% true.
my brother works at a sears and regularly pulls 12 to 14 hour days. he’s exhausted CONSTANTLY. just last week they told him to take an hour lunch break so that he wouldn’t go above 40 hours and 45 minutes, because it’s apparently only when he hits 41 hours that they owe him benefits
minimum wage customer service jobs are exploitative and infinitely harder than any office job could ever dream of being.
I work at a craft store in texas and Homecoming starts our hell season. We keep one floor person on the homecoming section the entire time because there are so many people who are completely lost in everything or who trash the section. So my coworker was in homecoming, cleaning up carts worth of ribbons just thrown on the floor, and a lady comes up to her shoves a basket full of crap into her hands and says “Here you don’t look busy.”
My co-worker was almost in tears by the end of the day. It takes a full hour with 2 or more people cleaning to get that section looking nice again (and that’s 2 aisles of the store. There’s still another almost 100 aisles to recover.)
I’ve done both and can assure you customer service jobs both pay less and are frankly MUCH harder on a median day than that office job was on a crunch day.
Not to mention no benefits for when (not if) you need inserts or even surgery on your feet for the ridiculous always standing standard US businesses have. I was told my feet were basically trashed and to get inserts before it led to surgery being Required.
If you can, work at Aldi. Their prices are better, workers wages start at $11/hr and since it’s German owned the cashiers get to SIT which does not impede their work at all.
Wait, American cashiers don’t sit?
Nope
We don’t get to sit at all. Ever.
If you’re on cashier duty, you stand in the same place all day. If you’re on the floor, you’re usually either standing in the same place all day cleaning up the same mess over and over again (see the above story about the ribbon) or you’re sent running back and forth from one side of the store to the other for eight hours straight.
One time I worked for a company that only had one chair in the break room/office and the manager was always sitting in it, so when you finally got your precious ten minute break you couldn’t even sit then.
This abuse also holds true to other minimum wage positions in other industries as well. I worked as a production assistant (a “PA”) on various film sets here in Los Angeles for a while. PA’s are the entry level position. You make minimum wage, you do all the grunt work that the higher-ups don’t feel like doing. If someone has to stand a mile out in the desert holding a signal flag for twelve hours, it’s a PA they make do it. If someone has to dig a trench in the mud in the rain, it’s a PA they make do it.
The thing about the film industry is that there’s a lot of standing around doing nothing while shots are actually being filmed, though. And do those poor PA’s who just spent hours standing in the rain or the hot sun get to sit down during that time? Nope. They have to stand there, stock-still, not shuffling or making a sound while the “more important” crew (who have jobs one-tenth as hard) get to chill. If a PA sits, they’re fired.
Tl:dr. The US’ ultra-capitalist society thrives on exploiting the low-wage workers in all industries and punishing them when they show any sign of respect for themselves or their health. And because this system benefits our current societal system and we low wage workers need the jobs and can’t risk rocking the boat, the companies continue to do it unchecked.
Many non-union companies, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods consider full time to be 28 hours and keep all workers below that. In nearly all their stores the only full time salaried employees are the manager and assistant managers. Everyone else in the store is part-time, minimum wage, without benefits, and suffer from on call scheduling.
On call scheduling means employees have no set hours and must be available 24 hours a day and must call every day to see what they are scheduled for. If they can’t make it for any reason they are fired. This makes it impossible to have any life outside of work. Employees can not pursue an education, attend family functions, or even have another job to make up for the low pay. While most stores are typically open to customers from 9-9 the workers are called in before the sun rises to unload thousands of pounds of merchandise from delivery trucks and place that merchandise on the shelf. Others are kept overnight to reset or move shelves, which weigh hundreds of pounds and is done by hand. Overnights come without warning and employees can be fired for refusing and often come at the end of an already full day.
Verbal, psychological, and emotional abuse on the part of managers takes place all day long and in public. Managers at store, district, and regional levels get bonuses for keeping wages low and keeping scheduled hours under budget when possible. To make matters worse employees are often denied hours without warning if a manager is looking for a bonus or needs extra help in certain departments only. Some employees just aren’t scheduled for days or even weeks and obviously are not paid during this time. That can also be used as a tool to fire someone as the employee has their hours cut until they are forced to voluntarily seek other employment.
Anyone who complains within a store or to government agencies about anything is let go with prejudice. There is no recourse for the poor. While many falsely believe there is recourse, severance, or legal aid for exploited or terminated employees this just isn’t so. Some states do have very limited, and overburdened, programs for members of marginalized communities but for the average low wage worker there is nothing. If you have nothing and no income you have no way to take on a corporation or even the time to wait for aid.
Retail is brutally hard on its employees and many of the jobs require some level of skill and education but are not compensated for it thanks to the corporate owned Republikkkan “right to work” laws. Republikkkans do not only resist raising the minimum wage, but as we are seeing, Republikkkan governors are reversing local increases in the minimum wage.
Post anything about raising the minimum wage and Republikkkan trolls will descend with their ignorant and uniformed black hearted comments. Further others will chime in with their asinine comments and anecdotal stories about how their part time jobs weren’t all that bad. Millions suffer under the tyranny of Republkkkan imposed minimum wages but few care. Raising the minimum wage isn’t as sexy as the issues most progressives, liberals, and democrats champion. Sad.
I was a shift manager before I got into law.
It’s fucking true. Also employees absolutely got punished by our store manager in the form of slashed hours. As did I - without the protection of a salary (which only the store manager got), the Assistant Manager and I could also get slashed down to 30 or less. At $10 and $12 an hour, respectively, you’re STILL going from “barely able to make ends meet” to “I *might* be able to keep my lights on this month if I beg real hard.”
And none of us are fucking kidding: reporting those doing harm is basically like handing in a formal resignation. Complaining about my boss’ grossly preferential treatment of male staff and racism led immediately to retaliation that I knew I could not document to prove. My anonymity was not protected by our incompetent HR manager, which I knew because of the abrupt hours cut, sudden barrage of criticism, etc. He also liked to pit employees against each other and watch the politics of it unfold. I watched him do it to others - listened to him GLOAT - and knew exactly when it was being done to me. And I would not have dared to take time off, or come in early/late, to complete interviews. I was bound to my hours and had no freedom to look anywhere else until I was out.
Like…retail attracts and encourages people who are inclined to abuse whatever authority is given to them. It is unadulterated capitalism, and an environment in which no one needs to hide the fact that corporations are buying up lifetimes to extend shareholder value. No one bothers to conceal the absolute lack of concern about worker welfare. And all of us know this, no matter what side of the bloody counter you’ve ever been on.
At least *try* not to take personally whatever exhausted look the cashier gives you. If they’re denying you a chirpy voice and a chipper attitude and you don’t fucking like it, try taking it up with the employer that denied them their personhood.
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