Retail Hell Underground

Retail Memories: Game Store District Managers Make Racists Statements About The Custys

From Desk Jockey:

I'm a desk jockey now (damn economy...), but I spent a few years working retail - first in a big box store, now famous for its cheap designer clothing (that vultures snap up and hawk on eBay), then in a Game Store that shared floor space with a Video Chain (now bankrupt, thank god).  Honestly?  I loved working retail.  Maybe it was sheer luck, but I had tons of sweet customers and only a few bad bosses along the way.  I ended being fired from my last stint with the game store, but through no fault of my own.  If it paid living wages ($50 to $60k a year), I'd go back without a second thought, I really would. 

Today's story is "Racist District Managers from Hell (And Chicago)"!

This story takes place during the middle of my tenure with the Game Store Chain, after I'd settled into a familiar groove of thirteen to fifteen hour shifts, six days a week (Also known as "Absentee coworker syndrome").    

I'd also gotten a chance to get to know all the regular customers, which was important since this was the only game store in the absolute worst neighborhood in the city (the kind of place cops only show up to check out long-dead murder victims), and the difference between success and robbery was knowing the community.  

Anyway, one of my regulars is in the store checking on the stock of our Nintendo Wii units, wanting to know when we'll get more, etc.  The guy easily drops $300 a week in my store and has two adorable, well behaved kids, so we're on fantastic terms.

Unfortunately, our District Manager is visiting our store (she's just across the state border in Illinois), and brought her Chicago DM friend with her for advice on how to run our store.

It's worth noting one more fact.  I am the sole white employee at this store.  The neighborhood in question is predominantly filled with those of darker complexion than myself (African, Latino, etc).  Both of the DMs in my store are, you guessed it, whiter than Jim Gaffigan.

Anyway, I'm chatting up my regular when I get pulled over by the District Managers to a corner out of earshot, where the following exchange takes place.

District Manager: What the hell do you think you're doing?!

Me: Uhm, my job?  What do you mean, did I do something wrong?  He already has the Premium Membership card...

Chicago DM: Not that.  Why'd you tell him when you're getting more Wii consoles?

Me: Because he asked?  I don't get it.

DM: We don't give that information out to people like that!

CDM: Exactly. When you give them that kind of information, you either get robbed, or you get more of them.  That's not the image we're trying to culti

vate here.

DM: Yeah, we're trying to bring in more..."profitable" clientele.

Me: I don't...I don't understand.  What do you mean, "them"?

DM, CDM in unison: Blacks.  

CDM: We want bleach-white soccer moms, not a bunch of sooty street rats.

My eyes must've popped out of their sockets in horror at what they just said, because my DM immediately began trying to backpeddle.

DM: What he means, is that middle class people tend to spend more money...

The incredibly racist conversation continues for a few minutes, before I promptly excuse myself back to my store and help my customers.  Still, that little bit pretty much eroded any respect I had for Senior Management.  Luckily, the parent company (which controlled two video chains and my game chain) went belly-up post-Christmas, and both District Managers lost their jobs overnight.

Me?  I went on to a Data Center Internship that paid more, and was a ton of fun.

I still miss my custy's, though

--Desk Jockey

 

Server Rants On Ridiculous Write Ups

So, I've never posted before but I'm pretty upset still after what has happened in the past week. Why don't you all call me "Meat Man?"

I'm sure I'll have something else to report. I enjoy all your posts and was just waiting to join the disenfranchised masses.

I work in a very successful restaurant and was only hired a year or so ago. We give excellent service, great food, and lovely atmosphere, far beyond what people would expect for the price they pay. I'm definitely considered one of the top servers there for knowledge and my ability to deal with difficult customers.

In my twenty plus years as a service professional I've developed a no comp, no complaint policy. You have to "head them off at the pass" as it were, and take care of things before anyone needs to speak to a manager. Our management believes that even the smallest thing needs to be brought to their attention.

It's a great philosophy. Your server is listening, we care about you as a customer, etc. but it is not in my DNA to involve management for every-little-thing. So I have that going on. This week brought out some things that I have found myself more upset about. Small fault of my own.

Background; we have two different types of large parties here, some that are pre-sold by our catering person, and regular off-the-menu parties that are larger than just a normal six or eight top. The pre-sold parties need to be rung into our system in a different way than off-the-menu ones. News to me the first time I had one but I've been with the program ever since. We also started adding an extra gratuity to the pre-sold parties to compensate our seller. No prob. I get the same, they get something for bringing in the business. Win-win!

Back to this week,  I had one of the different type parties in my station. I had waited on this character before and knew him to be particularly persnickety. He was one of the worst complainers I ever have had to wait on. He and his "lovely" friends come in every two weeks or so.

I was not too surprised when he commented upon seeing I was going to wait on his large group " Oh! We got the best one!" Way to go, Meat Man, the crustys love you. Dinner goes very well, everyone happy etc. No Problems! Delighted host. Ask assistant manager (now AM) to add gratuity and expect he will look over the bill and make sure
all is right. Present bill on request and Mr. Complainy Pants comes up to the bar to complain to AM that he had paid a deposit and it hadn't been taken off.

"Oh, so sorry, I hope this didn't ruin your evening?" Asks AM. "No," says Mr Complainy Pants, "everything has been wonderful. Meat Man did a great job, everyone had a wonderful time." Mr Complainy Pants writes in an extra 25% on top of the gratuity.

Do you hear drums of doom now? I did not, but the hammer came down when I checked out after my next shift. Apparently, I entered the entire party into our system wrong and because I didn't credit him for his deposit I was going to be written up.

My first write-up, joy!

While I was entering the party, an employee who does a lot more of these functions than I do was looking over my shoulder and told me I did not need to do it this way (more difficult) but can do it this way now (easier.) I followed the lead given. That was not the way to do it though. AM now tells me she has to write me up for it. AM says it was embarrassing to have to credit the deposit after the check was given.

(I can not even enter payment from deposits myself, a manager has to do it, I was never told there had been a deposit made, we have to check with AM before presenting checks on these parties, I thought I had done the right thing when I asked him to do the auto-grat? just expected manager to look it all over.) Employee who told me to do it the wrong way is right there at check-out and explains why I did it
that way. Story done! No?

On another day, just soon after, I have a table that is assigned VIP. Our GM mentioned it in the meeting, said everything must be perfect. No prob. The waiter who should have the table asks me to do it instead. I'm excellent, right? I take the table, do my best presentation, they love me, timing, everything is perfect. GM tells me to give them extra sides and deserts. This is normal for VIP and I split it off onto a comp check no problem? right?

No! One of the party, while the other is in the lavatory, tells me they are running late and to just bring the desert and the check right away. No problem, this I do, with thanks, and hopes to come back etc.

GM takes check while I'm with another party (not unusual) and I return to clear the table to find a very generous tip there. Good, right? No!

Go to do my turn in with AM, he tells me I must go see GM. GM has been stressing all day so it's hard to tell if there is really a problem anywhere or not. GM tells me I should never have given VIP table a tab at all. First I heard. (Checked with other server at meeting, he never
heard, "no tab")

Tells me that it seems "I don't care?" That I'm getting a reputation for sloppy work. That if I don't enjoy my work I should reevaluate (the actual word he used) and find a better. fit. I've been here almost a year, my reputation is excellent, people ask for me, I have basically no problems. Management drops the ball twice that I don't catch and I'm the one with the issue?

Now, I'm used to making like $150 to $300 per shift at other restaurants I worked before I moved. Here, I get much less, like less than half, because of the low prices and enforced tip-out. The crappy economy (courtesy of my custys, I expect) has not effected us as much, as we're located in a well-heeled neighborhood. These people pay like 15% in taxes if you get my drift.

I'd love to go back in time to when I could sell exotic food on the prairie for a premium price, but we've gotten to the point where I'm anxious about preserving a job where I may make 1/3 as much per shift as I did when Clinton was in office. Oh, by the way, I make 1/3 as much and my rent has gone up 50%. You've got to love it. Every other
economic system in the world is worse than this? Competition HO! Race to bottom, more likely.

Enjoy your time, there's plenty more where that came from.

--Meat Man

 

Hellmart Manager Fires Pregnant Woman

From Former Hellmart Slave:

I used to work at Hell-Mart. I was coming up on my 2 year mark (which is 2 years to long). However, I was pregnant with my second child, and it was a very hard pregnancy on me. I mean, passing out, throwing up every day, kind of hard. The store I worked at had a HORRIBLE assistant manager. No one liked her, and tried to avoid her as much as possible. And, naturally, she was the manager of my department. And took a total disliking to me, for whatever unknown reason to me. I'll just call her NM (nasty manager.) 

When I first found out I was pregnant, I made sure to tell her that I was. NM decided she didn't believe me. I hadn't yet gone to the doctor, cause really, I had JUST found out. (5 pregnancy tests, all positive, I think was enough proof.) Well, the day I told her, she decided I had to move all the boxes of apparel from one side of the warehouse to the other. Big boxes of clothes, that weren't light. When I reminded her that I was pregnant she said there was no proof that I was and to do what I was told or risk losing my job. 

Awesome, right? I ended up improvising, managing to get them across by either kicking them across the floor or dropping them from the top shelf to the cart. But I was really pissed. Somewhere along the way I ended up breaking down and crying (I blame those silly hormones!) and my area/zone manager (he's lower than NM but higher than a department manager/supervisour) ended up saving me. He gave the job to one of the stronger, non-pregnant workers and sent me to the phones to answer. NM didn't like that too much, but when my ZM said it was because I was pregnant, she left, bitching about it.

Another thing to prove she was a Nasty Manager. Everytime I put in for a day off because of doctor appointments, she would purposely schedule me that day. Even when another manager approved my day off. I had a bunch of cool coworkers that would switch with me when they could. I did get in the habit of making my doc appointments around my lunch break, for those "just in case moments."

Needless to say, she found a reason to get me fired. In my 8th month of pregnancy, I had loads of backpain and shit. I would take smaller breaks, rather than the 15 minutes, to rest my feet or whatever. She used that to fire me. Fucking bitch. I got unemployment though!

Suck on that, Nasty Manager!

--Former Hellmart Slave

Asisstant Manager Hell Extreme: Working For Two Douchey Ones Dating Each Other

Hello everyone! I've just stumbled upon this site, and after reading about 20 pages decided to tell a few of my own regarding awful coworkers. I'll call myself StudioSlave for now, because I work in a photography studio.

Now I love my job. Photography is my passion, and most of the people are great to work with. Most of them. The two assistant managers...not so much.

And the real kicker?

They're dating each other. So of course all their vacations are the same.

Anyways, I have a couple stories about them. So story one is about the chick AM, I'll call her BigAM. She has always seemed to have a problem with me, and always has an attitude with everyone, including customers.

One day she gets a call from a custy complaining that someone didn't give her the coupon we had, and said it was me. Now we have to ask at the sales stations, where pictures are viewed and selected, if they have this coupon. If they don't I say "oh it's no big deal, some people just got it mailed" and move on...or if the custy was extra nice and spending a lot I would put it on anyways.

So anyways, this custy said I'm the one who didn't give her her coupon. Now keep in mind I haven't had any trouble all morning, which is when she said she was in. Apparently this custy starts getting angry and yelling, causing BigAM to get HER panties in a knot and start yelling back.

Not the best way to handle the situation. Finally the custy asks for BigAM's name and hangs up. This is when the s*** really hits the fan. BigAM starts SCREAMING at ME, about how it's all my fault that she's going to lose her job.

This tantrum full of f-bombs was performed in front of all the customers...and their children.

And I just stood there shocked. I'm not the one who screamed and swore at the lady! Turns out it wasn't even me the lady was talking about, and she had never even been in that morning.

Yet still I apologized to HER. And she never said sorry.

This sort of freaking out happens more than necessary for someone in an AM position, or anyone in retail for that matter.

Second story is about her boyfriend, ToolAM.

Now normally, he's an ok guy. But like his lovely gf BigAM, he too has freakout moments. During Christmas time, it's busy obviously. Custys get impatient. It was the end of the day and thankfully I was ending with a super nice lady, well behaved heavenspawn and all.

I had finished taking her pictures and was looking for a computer to open up, to view them. I casually asked ToolAM if there was anyone else waiting, to which he yelled "I don't know!" (which he SHOULD), and walked away in a huff. So I was keeping an eye on the computer situation, reassuring my custy that it would just be a little bit longer, when ToolAM looks and me and yells, "Just chill out StudioSlave, Oh My God!".

Now I didn't say a word to him after my reasonable question. I was quietly standing there. My custy, bless her heart, says she is so sorry, and I wasn't saying or doing anything to provoke that, and how awful to be treated like that.

I just played it down, saying the holidays are stressfull, but inside I'm weeping with joy at this beautiful woman. She ends up telling my manager, that I was the only one she saw not freaking out and stressing out other custys. It definately made me feel so much better to know I wasn't the only one who thought every one was over the top!

Till next time,

--StudioSlave

 

Mother's Assistant Hell: Fired For Protecting Herself Against Biting Dog

From LaughingBarista:

Lately I've been writing about my boyfriend and his experiences at Donuts but now I'm going to share a ludicrous non-retail story about my job.

I was fired on Wednesday. Yup, fired. I've never been fired before and honestly, this is probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

So to catch you guys up, I was working as a glorified mother's helper for a very rich family. I was mostly responsible for watching the kids, but I also had to do light house cleaning, run errands and help take care of the dog.

My biggest issues with this job were the oldest child (who was spoiled and pretty much undisciplined--the family didn't believe in punishing the children and he was allowed to do whatever he wanted, including making huge messes and not helping to clean them up) and the dog. The dog was a nine month old German Shepard.

As with most dogs of his breed, he required a lot of exercise so I took him for a lot of walks. I did not have any problems with this except for the fact that maybe five minutes into our walks, he would begin to bite. First it was the feet and then it progressed to him jumping up on me and trying to bite my hands and arms. I have bruises and scratches to prove this. He even made me bleed the other day.

This was a problem that was mentioned to the mother numerous times. Her response was to try a few things (yelling no, tugging the leash and pinching the bridge of his nose) but that was it. Nine times out of then when she would see him bite me or hear me say "stop biting" she wouldn't do anything about it. This was a problem pretty much the entire time I was there but got progressively worse as time went on.

So on Wednesday I was taking the dog for a walk and he started biting me. He jumped up on me so I pushed him down and bopped him on the head. Not hit, bopped. As in, an enthusiastic pat. She saw this (she was coming up the driveway) and was very upset.

She said, "LaughingBarista, I saw you bop him on the head and it really upset me. That cannot happen again." I apologized and then did some other things. A few hours later she came up to me and said that she needed to talk.  I will now refer to her as bosslady or BL for short.

BL: So we need to talk. What I saw you do before has been stuck in my head.

Me: I'm so sorry. He was biting me and I was trying to get him off.

BL: It just really shook my confidence with you and if I'm not 1000% confident and comfortable, I can't have you here.

Me: Ok, I understand that.

BL: So I'm sorry, but we're going to have to let you go.

She then proceeded to apologize profusely, telling me how bad she felt about this and that she really likes me as a person and thinks I'm wonderful, just that she wasn't sure about everything anymore. She then said that she had been thinking about this for a bit of time but that she wasn't sure. She proceeded to give me a check and I left.

In retrospect, I'm pretty sure she had someone else in mind and was looking for a way to let me go. She had a girl who was working for her for years but the girl got a desk job and left. Lately she's been creeping up a bit, watching the kids during weekend functions (I always thought that she wanted to see the kids, which I'm sure is true, but now it's looking a little weird). It would also explain the guilt that she expressed.

Either way, it's back to the salt mines for me!

Hope y'all are having a good new year so far!

--LaughingBarista

 

RHUer Fired For Complaints

Hello all minions of RHU. Amelia here with an update.

I got fired.

I had 4 customer complaints, and one said he would never shop there again, so I figured that was the end for me when I heard that. I guess the complaints weren't enough ammo for them to actually fire me, so they "discovered" that I was posting about the store, without stating the stores name, and that was in violation of the companies social media policy and that since I had signed a paper stating that I had read the policy, that I was fully aware of that I was in violation of that policy when I wrote those things.

I attempted to explain my side without blaming anyone but myself for my actions and he asked me to write a statement defending myself and my actions. I, being confidant of my prior statements to the issue, declined. That must have cinched his mind, cause I WASN'T going to beg for my job. I'm confident in my ability to provide good customer service, and my prior work should have been proof enough, but I guess it wasn't. He asked me to turn in my things so I did. Oh well. I'm trying to start my own business and this is just the push I need to follow through.

Be seeing ya!

Love, peace and chicken grease!

--Amelia

Note from Freddy: RHUer's, this is yet another reminder of being extremely cautious when writing about your hell on social media. Facebook is where employers start and it can be traced back to your name. As far as RHU goes, they get nothing out of me unless you reveal to friends that you blog on here (that is usually how employers find out, because many of them don't know about RHU - if they did I'd be getting a million hits and making big bucks off advertising -LOL) Never admit to posting anything on this site. Your employer has no proof that you wrote anything on here and I will never give up identities. There are thousands of stories on this site and even if the employer points out similiarities in a story, there are also thousands of Dollar stores all over the world. They cannot prove anything. I will also remove any material immediately at your request if you feel you have been ratted out by a coworker or management is checking you out. Keep up the fight and stay strong! Best of luck Amelia - you are right! This is the push you needed! You go girl! =D

--Freddy

RHUer Needs Advice On Surviving Complaint From 2 Different Customers

Hello RHU.  

Amelia here with a bit of a situation. I was working at my dollar store hell, at the register. The line was minimal and I was as cheery as I could be for being stuck on register. I haven't posted since it happened, but I got a small, semi-promotion, equipped with a raise and increase in responsibility, so register is not high on my list of things I like to do, what with the new title and all. Don't get me wrong. I'll run if that what I'm supposed to do, but when I'm considered the MOD, I expect to be on the floor mostly. Its a mind set.

Any who, suddenly, I look up at my line, and its like 20 people long. I try to page my backup, but since she doesn't have the paging thingy, she doesn't respond. Another employee had it. She is about 4 aisles away, so, yes RHU, I yell for her.

Give her 5 minutes of no show and yell again. By now customers are beginning to froth and moan about the long line and I'm doing my best to try to move it along, when she shows up to help. We get the line down and all goes back to normal.

Now we come to the meat of the situation. During my yelling for my backup, not 1 but 2! OMG, customers get in touch with my DM to inform him that I am rude and loud.

1 hour after this incident, my DM calls to tell me about the 2 custys that complained, and for me to clock out, go home and be back promptly at 8am and hope I still have a job, as he does NOT hire management that acts in such a fashion.

All I could do was meekly say "yes sir" and do what he said, crying the whole time.

I REALLY need this job, and he did not give me a chance to explain myself tonight. I do not know what lies ahead tomorrow, but ALL advice will be GREATLY appreciated.

Btw, I've never had any complaints before, here and only 1 or 2 at one of my other jobs, but that was because I was new and trying to follow serving size rules set by my boss, but was supposed to be ignored when it actually came down to serving (it was at a deli).

Thanks for any help...

--Amelia

 

RHUer Needs Advice: Manager Expects Crew To Each Pay A Portion of Register Shortage

Hi everyone, Cookie Girl here, and I really need your advice.

I recently handed in my notice at work, and my last day is Wed 1st of Feb. (yay!) But I've noticed that my manager has been a bit cold to me since I handed in my notice, and today things got a bit... well.

I booked this weekend plus monday and tuesday off a while ago. Last night I checked my phone for messages at about 10, nothing. Then I get a text at 2:30 AM, from my manager, saying that the till was down a total of £36 over Thursday and Friday, and that he wants everyone who was in those days to pay £6 towards the total, by midday today (monday) I texted back this morning at a more reasonable hour, to say that I was not coming in on what was essentially my belated xmas holiday, while I was ill, to pay him this money, and got a passive aggressive response that I could pay him on Wednesday, when I'm next in.

Guys, I really don't think I should have to pay him. I know it's not a lot of money, but It's more than I make in an hour (I get minimum wage - £5.93 an hour), and money's going to be tight now I've quit.

I KNOW that I am really careful, especially since I work alone, to keep track of all the money. If I make a void, I follow the correct procedure, and let my superviser know when they come in.

I've asked my mum what she thinks, and she's outraged that he's demanded this. The thing is, I still have 6 more working days with him, and I'm not sure what to do.

I'm next in work on Wednesday, and I could really use some advice before then!

Thanks in advance,

--Cookie Girl

 

Golden Arches Hell: Hard Work and Dedication = No Promotion

Well, the time has come, people.

I, the Slave of Arch, am moving on.

I really didn't want to do this. For as many favors as my one manager, A, has done for me, I really don't want to blindside her by just...leaving. But the fact of the matter is that school is expensive and I need more money.

So the other store manager, J, tells me that if I want a raise, I need to learn the grill. Never mind the fact that I have been there twice as long as most of the other employees and work five times as hard, even going so far as to come in when not scheduled and wear spare uniforms that are 3x too big...Never mind the fact that I always show up on time, stay late if necessary, and never complain. If I want a promotion and a raise, I need to learn grill.

And I would be okay with that except for two things.

1. They won't put me on grill no matter how much I ask.

2. My coworker, E, who has been there half as long, works no harder than I do, and does NOT know grill, got her promotion today.

So I figure, if they aren't gonna help me out with this, I'm out.

As soon as I find another job, I'm leaving.

Wish me luck, all.

--Slave of Arch

 

 

Game Store Hell: Dad Saves Daughter From Propositioning Custy Creep

Call me Gamer Girl (or "GG" for short), as I work in a small video game store.

Being the only female employee, I get my fair share of attention and good-natured ribbing from the customers. 95% of them are polite and respectful. However, "CC" (or Creeper Customer), is not one of them. He comes into the store on average 4 times a week (almost always on the days I'm working), and makes sexist, disparaging comments to me.

It's gotten to the point where the manager will shoo me into the back room when Creeper Custy is coming. However, he spends lots of money and hasn't said something bad enough to get barred, so I suck it up and deal.

The other day I found myself the only employee working in the store. The manager was on vacation and I couldn't get anyone else in. Luckily it was a slow day and my Dad (who's also a gamer), stopped in to say Hi. I was feeling pretty good until who else but Creeper walks in.

My stomach drops.

My dad notices him and steps away from the counter to browse. CC looks around and asks "You the only one working today, sweetie?"

I grit my teeth and say yes, then try to change the subject by asking if he was looking for something in particular. He leans in and gives a creepy smile. "Well, I was going to buy some games, but since your boss isn't here I think I want you to have the money instead. But you're going to have to work for it."

He raises his eyebrow and nods his head toward the storage room. It takes me a few seconds before it clicks. He's propositioning me! My face flushes and I stammer out "If you're hinting at what I think you are, then you have to leave. Now." He scoffs and says he was only joking and not to be such a prude.

I'm about to call my manager on his emergency line when I see my dad, who I completely forgot was in the store, walk up behind Creeper and tap him on the shoulder.

Now, my dad is 6'3, a former rugby player and very intimidating. When CC turns around, my dad grabs him by the collar, gets right in his face and growls "You piece of shit, did you just proposition my daughter? You're going to apologize to her and then leave or we're going to have a problem."

Creeper turns back to me, pale as a ghost and mutters "sorry" before running out of the store.

I call my manager and tell him what just happened, figuring this was going to be thing that would finally get CC banned. Nope. Manager says I handled things well and says he'll have a talk with Creeper about his behavior when he gets back.

Are you shitting me? While I appreciate that my manager is taking steps to make things right, the fact this asshole offering me money for sex WHILE I'M WORKING isn't enough to warrant a ban is infuriating.

My dad isn't too happy either and says he will be having his own talk with the manager, so we'll see what happens.

--GG

RHU Question: Can Employer Choose Your Holiday Days?

Hi RHU, Bakery Bitch here again.

I still love my job, but I've also noticed a few things,and one thing has happened that's confused me.

I was hired at the same time as three other newbies, one of whom has since quit. The other two either chat all the time, never talk at all, or just do everything badly. In order to stop this messing up peak times, they get given the "good" shifts at non-peak times, which is pretty gutting on my part. On the bright side... I feel happy that I don't suck at my job. ^^

Now for the confusing part. It seems we've not got enough hours this month, I'm guessing cause it's an empty month really (though empty is definitely a relative term!). Fair enough, reduced hours. I can deal with reduced hours, being a weekend worker and all, as long as I fulfil my contract. Though the other week I didn't even get that tiny amount of hours...

However, they've told all of us weekenders (four of us) to take two of our allotted four yearly holidays this month. As I started partway through the year (we re-set our holidays at an odd time), I don't even get four, I get three. I was coincidentally on a pre-booked holiday when we were all told this, and so I've been put in as taking a holiday and only told about it today.

It may be an odd question, but I was talking to my co-workers and we're not even sure if that kind of thing is allowed - I mean, what if we needed to take our holidays at another point? It's quite gutting as I already had mine all planned out, though turns out the one day I DO want off I can't get anyway. But if anyone has any knowledge of this, it'd be really helpful to know. If our boss is allowed to force us to take holidays/book us as on a holiday without our knowledge?

Thanks everyone, and I hope retail hell is slightly heavenly for you all.

--Bakery Bitch

 

Donut Shop Management Gets Told For Requiring That Only Men Take Out The Trash

LaughingBarista's BF gets a Retail Balls Award for standing up to sexist management:

Hey guys! LaughingBarista here after a long hiatus!

I was so busy with my new job, grad school finals (which kicked my ass but I wound up doing well!) and Christmas stuff so I haven't had a chance to post anything recently. But boy, do I have a doozy for you guys.

So my boyfriend has been at Donuts still this whole time. He's been slaving away (pun intended), especially around the holidays, and was realizing just how much he was unappreciated. He was getting real sick of it but it really started coming to a blow a few weeks ago.

The week of Christmas he took off Christmas Eve because he switched shifts with someone after covering a bunch of theirs, this way he could spend time with his younger siblings. They were closed on Christmas. He worked that Monday and that Wednesday he went in. He was doing his job, assembling for drive-thru while another coworker rang up (someome was making sandwiches but everyone else was screwing around in the back) when the shift leader asked him to take out the garbage.

He politely asked if someone could please do it since he was in the middle of an order or if someone could take over for him so he could do it. The shift leader said no, that he had to do it and that was that.

Like I said, he was in the middle of an order so he went to finish it when Jane (you all remember that bitch) came up to him and asked him what his problem was. He said there wasn't a problem, that he was just doing his job when the shift leader asked him to stop, wouldn't get someone to replace him, so he could do other people's jobs (since everyone else was bullshitting in the back).

You want to know what Jane said? "Well we're women so we don't take out the garbage."

My boyfriend was PISSED. He said something along the lines of this is 2011 (as it was at the time) in America, not 1811. She sent him home.

So when he went to get his paycheck on Friday the manager (who wasn't there) asked for his side of the story. He tells her that he was doing drive-thru, the shift leader asked him to do that while there were many capable people to do it, and that he was sent home because he wouldn't stop helping the drive-thru, even though no one was sent to cover him to take out the garbage. He also shared what Jane said. The manager agreed with him and told him that she knows that he's claned the bathrooms and that's a "woman's job" so why can't they take out the garbage? She takes out the garbage herself so she didn't get it.

Fast forward to yesterday. Boyfriend goes in and is furious because he gets his check and it's really low. It's the check from that week. Now manager has agreed that he should not have been sent home and even Jane apologized for it. Boyfriend thinks that he should be reimbursed for the missing hours of pay. I agreed with him but warned him that he would not be reimbursed as Donuts is an even corporation with no soul at its core. He said he figured as much but that if that was the case, he was going to quit. He felt that it was completely unfair for him to not get paid for hours that he really should have gotten paid for.

So he goes in and talks to the manager and the assistant manager and airs his grievances. They tell him that HE was in the wrong that day and that women aren't supposed to take out the garbage because that is a man's job and as one of the only men there that day (there was another one but oh, he doesn't take out the garbage) it was HIS job to do it, even if it meant leaving the drive-thru. They told him under no circumstance would they give him the money because he was in the wrong.

He quit on the spot, telling them that he worked way too hard to get paid so little and to be treated like shit.

I fully supported his decision and am glad to be rid of those scumbags. I seriously could not believe that one.

Here's to hoping that you guys don't have to deal with stuff like that!

--LaughingBarista

 

Custy Writes Thank You To Best Buy Cashier and Questions TSA-like Treatment of Employees

From Cold in Wisconsin:

I'd like to preface that I'm not in retail, at least not yet, though I'm fearing I soon will be. Right now I'm a small antiques dealer and used to be an ebay powerseller which was enough retail for my likes.

I would like to write a thank you to my Best Buy Cashier, however. You were awesome, you were lovely. You didn't shrug off my complaint that the mouse I wanted that was advertised as being $14.99 was being rang up as $34.99. You even told me along the lines that a store should honor what it advertises.

Your manager can go to hell, however, and I think you'd agree, when while I was getting into it with your manager ( who ignored me, when I wasn't demanding the mouse for $14.99 but rather that the prices, whatever they were, be fixed immediately, since it's not fair to mislead people like that ) you came out to get let off your shift.

It was then that said Best Buy Manager actually FRISKED the awesome cashier. Searched her over, searched her body, before dismissing her as if she were a seven year old in kindegartener.

I mouthed, "They actually FRISK you?!"

In turn, she replied, "Yeah, isn't it great?"

Previously, awesome cashier had admitted it was her last day or the day before, I forget, and that it was the worst place she had ever worked. I see why, and I don't blame you, and I really do hope you went out and had a party, had a good meal, and been relieved you were out of that hell hole.

I wish you greener pastures, a better job, with a bigger paycheck. No one deserves that sort of inhumane treatment. Retail should not be the TSA. Not even the douchiest customer or douchiest employee deserves such.

Hopefully, karma pays off. To both the asshole manager and the awesome cashier.

Thanks!

--Cold in Wisconsin

 

Written Up Without Literacy

Pizza Restaurant Hell: Fired For Being Sick

Well, I've been canned at Pizza Pit.  The story isn't very exciting, but I'm gonna tell it anyway simply because it bothers me still, after over a week.

Sunday before Christmas, I was feeling pretty crappy.  I woke up exhausted, which is unusual for me, and kept hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock.  I was feeling warm and woozy, and ended up calling my boss and telling him I didn't think I could make it in that day, as I had already missed the bus and I was SOL for a ride until way after we opened.  Right after I did that, my boyfriend woke up with an alarming temperature and immediately started vomiting, so I had to put my feelings of crappyness on the back burner whilst I took care of him.  My poor boy was really ill all day, and I was fetching him applesauce, blankets and drinks for most of the day.  The next day he was feeling much better, and I cleaned up the apartment a bit whilst he went to work.  Tuesday the woozy feeling was worse, but I managed to haul myself into work and ended up swaying through most of my shift.  

I figured that some good sleep on my day off, Wednesday, would help out, but turned out I was wrong.  Thursday came and I was far sicker than my boyfriend had been on Sunday.  I had to run to the bathroom to shout a rainbow about every ten minutes.  My father, bless him, drove me to work because I didn't think I could handle the bus, and I knew I couldn't call off again.  As soon as I got to work, I was on autopilot, turning things on and getting everything ready whilst fighting back the urge to lie down on the floor and die.  Bestie was driving, and as soon as she got there, she was alarmed. Apparently I was extremely pale and looked like I was about to become best mates with the Grim Reaper.

It was at that time that the toilet broke.  Well, the flusher broke anyway.  Nothing was going right at all that day.  I tried to soldier on, though, knowing that the next day I was going to New York for Christmas for a few glorious days, and I could rest and relax in the clean, fresh air of my hometown.  So I flushed the toilet with buckets of water. The lunch rush hit and Bestie and the kitchen staff jumped to my aid.  I tried not to breathe on anyone's food whilst ringing them up, and many customers looked concerned as I handed them their money.  

After the twelfth time in the bathroom that hour, I made the executive decision to call the boss and let him know that I couldn't continue.  He'd understand, I thought.  As it turned out, no, he would not.  

He got there, glared at me, then immediately went into his office.  My father had arrived by that time to take me home, so I made it out of the door and into the car. Halfway from downtown to my house, my cell phone rang.  Bestie informed me that Rude needed to see me RIGHT NOW.  I informed her that I was a good ten minutes away and on the verge of changing the colour of the interior of my dad's car, but she told me that I really needed to come back.  Rude was angry.  

So my father pulled over to the side of the road, I vomited, then we went back to Pit.  I walked into Rude's office, and he told me he was firing me, and he needed my key back immediately.  At this point, I was on the verge of passing out, so I gave him my keyring.  He then followed me out of the office, yelling that I obviously didn't care about him or his business, and that I deserved to be unemployed, blah blah blah.

It was very inconsiderate of me to be ill, Rude.  Next time I'll check your schedule and have a stomach flu at a time more convenient for you.  Also, thanks for firing me three days before Christmas.  Mighty jolly of you.

Anyway, I'm out of a job.  I'm considering going for unemployment; the job market here is miserable, and money is growing ever tighter, especially since I need to save up for my move in April downtown.  Do you guys have any advice?

Love, kisses, and what the fuck am I going to do now?

--TheBrit

 

Holiday Hell At the Magic Kingdom

Hello RHU, it is Redheadactress again.

A lot has happened since my last post. As some of you already know, I am no longer employed with Cosmo's. They have a ridiculous point system that is hard to follow because the rules change when the managers see fit. I had car trouble the last day and lost all my remaining points (even though I had not called out in almost 4 months)

At first, I was sad to have lost the job since I needed the money, but I am not sad to leave the self entitled teenagers behind. Since I have been gone, I have heard the section has gone down hill and fast. My store, which was the top in the area has been consistently the worst since I have left. If I didn't say I was smiling on the inside at that news, then I would be a huge liar.

Since my termination, I have encountered a series of health problems. The first time I went to the hospital, I had severe abdominal pain, but nothing was coming up on the tests. The second time it was worse and I was vomiting blood. Nothing. The third time I was having all that plus chest pains. Nothing came up on the test. The doctor decided it was gastritis and peptic ulcers. Go figure. During this time I had to call out from the Mouse three times. When we call out, we have to call a specific number and tell them the reason. Well, I didn't do the actual calling, my boyfriend did because I was crying so much from the pain I literally could not talk.

So when I get back to the Mouse, I get hit with a reprimand. For what?

Attendance. The policy is that if it consecutive, it only counts as once. But alas, there was a mistake: the second call out was marked as a no call no show. I am in the middle of disputing this since no record of me calling in. Since it is the holidays, there have been more available shifts galore and I have taken everything I can get my hands on, sometimes working 3 different shifts in one day.

I like it most of the time since I am not doing the same thing all day and I get outside during most of it. My feet, however, are screaming for a break and at the end of the day I crash from pure exhaustion. Most of the time these shifts are controlling people during the parades and most are very willing to cooperate. Christmas Eve was not the case. Guests were not listening, I got cussed at, ran over, hit in the face with stroller, pushed, shoved, punched, and screamed at during the first one. Then to get them out of there, we actually had to open a bypass area through our back lot. Now, if you ever go through our back lot, YOU MUST PUT AWAY ALL CAMERAS AND CELL PHONES. There are no exceptions to this rule. Many had a hard time with this and I got screamed and cussed at even more from this. One lady blatantly ignored me until a manager literally walked with her the entire way telling her to put her phone away. And one lady stopped in the middle of the walkway and told me she wasn't moving and that I should have watched out for her 80 year old Grandma on the bridge and how dare I let her fend for herself.

Just a note, I wasn't anywhere near the bridge that night. The second parade was a lot better since I was placed in special viewing for our platinum members. A little boy would not sit still and kept running in the street so we played Jedi vs. Cast member. It was amusing to say the least and of course he won. And the best part is he didn't run into the street again. And to end the story, I kept getting backlashed for saying "Happy Holidays." I even got the whole "this country was founded on Christian values" lecture. I could debate that for hours, but I just simply said that "It is the -th day of Hanukkah and we have guests from all over the world."

Well I have to get ready for another parade shift, hopefully I won't be a stranger for too long.

Have a Happy New Year!

--Redheadactress

Random Act of Retail Kindness: Making a Retail Slave's Day

Bookstore slave with a story from the other side of the counter.

So we to to a sandwich shop of the "Great Sandwiches, West Coast Original" and Mom and I decide to share a taco salad, since they're pretty famous for making those things with just about everything. We put in our order, and mention that we'll just share it, so that will complete our order. Usually you'd expect to just get it in one bowl/plate and two forks. But the guy behind the counter went one step farther and carefully divided up the ingredients for one taco salad into two plates so be both got our "own" salad.

It's a small gesture, but it got an "Aww, that's sweet of him" in my mind. Usually in the middle of lunch crowd you're on autopilot trying to get crap out there as fast as possible, so the fact that he was paying attention and made a little extra nice gesture really does stand out. (Preaching to the choir I know. :) )

He calls for a ring and the manager eyes the two trays, just dripping those Douchey von Douchebag vibes that will knock out a buffalo from six miles away.

"Why are you asking for one taco salad?" the manager growls. "I see two plates there."

Now we eat at this chain often, so anybody with any sense can tell when the recipe has been halved because a full order is a decent sized mound of nomming goodness. Obviously the manager has no idea how to serve food according to company portion size and recipe. Maybe it's worth two pennies more because it's one whole cheap ass plastic plate extra, but come on!

The employee looks uncomfortable so I quickly chime in in my "happy customer voice."

"Oh, we mentioned that we were going to share the salad so he was sweet enough to divide it into two plates for us. *happy blissful smile*

The manager bites his tongue, half glowers some more and finally rings us up.

We take our seat and eat our salads. I'm keeping half an eye on the manager, who looks like he's lurking but not wanting to growl while the happy customers are there. Really dude? You'll complain because someone made the customers HAPPY? We put the garbage where it belongs and return to the counter to flag the server over again.

"Thank you again for dividing it up for us. That really was a happy surprise."

The manager was still around and looked like he had swallowed something bitter, but skulked away to do something else.

I hope that we made that retail slave's day. I hope he didn't get growled at by his manager later. Seriously dude, he made the customers happy enough to thank him a second time for his customer service. Isn't that worth more than enough for the cost of (OMFG) the second plate? It's cheap plastic shit disposable in the trash. And the way I phrased it, the manager COULD very well have simply assumed it was a weird customer request that his slave complied with. 

May all your customers be nice,

--Bookstore Slave

RHUer Needs Advice: Fed Up With Shift Manager and Thinking About Quitting

Hello RHUers! First time submitter, though I have lurked for a little bit.

I work at Hurl's Sr (or Fartee's for non-west coast people) so I guess you can call me StarBitchSoldier since I'm basically the big yellow star's bitch and I'm a National Guardsman.

First I'll entertain you with some quick stories before moving into my question.

Ok so first, I work the overnight shift a couple times a week so I get a lot of... interesting custys. I've had people ask me out at 2am (I've literally seen you for like a minute, no I'm not going to give you my cell number) and others  creepily asking for information of the other girls at the restaurant (what the fucking FUCK NO!!!)

Just recently I had a car of 20somethings go batshit crazy that we were open 24/7 on holidays because that's "ridiculously fucked UP" as one of them said. This touched me a bit that some people realized I too have a family. What got weird is when they asked if I work on New Year's Eve. They then started loudly planning a party for New Year's. To be held in drive thru. With lots of alcohol. For me. While I appreciate the gesture... I'm not about to get fired for that so yeah... I just hope they don't really do it. I can't imagine explaining that to my boss. >_>

I have many more stories but I must move on to my question. A background  is needed first. My GM is spineless but finally got rid of the completely useless assistant manager (I'll save those stories for later) and promoted one of the shift managers to that position. All was fine until... it went to her head. She started actually saying she didn't know how the restaurant stayed fine in her absence. WHAT THE FUCK?

I, as well as almost all of my coworkers, am more than capable of keeping it afloat without her. She treats people like idiots if they don't know something even if it has nothing to do with their position or haven't been here that long. Even Awesome Shift Leader, who does perfectly fine at her job, was almost tears at the things Assistant Bitch has said to her. She's even wrong a good portion of the time! She cheats customers by using less of everything.

It's to the point that our hand soap is watered down. I  use 3 times as much because of that and still gag every time I wash up. In addition to her customer cheating she also takes advantage of us crew members. Constantly she sends us home ridiculously early even if labor is fine. I've had 8 hour shifts cut to 4 because of her and my brother who also works there has taken worse.

But what really gets me is when she changed my hours in the middle of the week and never once tried to tell me. Just expected me to do it. I said hell no and left at my original clock out time because I legitimately had to go to my unit that evening.

I felt bad for my innocent coworkers but I had to stand my ground even if I didn't need to go to my unit. While I haven't really had to deal with her I've heard from tons of coworkers including my brother that it's only getting worse and since I start school soon I won't be working nights anymore.

So my question is should I leave now before it gets to me or should I try to stick it out?

I have talked  to a shoe store where the people seem so much better including the manager but I'm worried a new place could be worse even if it seems nice on the outside.

Thanks in advance :)

--StarBitchSoldier

Retail Hell Memories: Pizza Overload

Womens Retail Slave here and I just read a post which reminded me of my days back into LilC's Pizza!Pizza! Slave.

The LC I worked at was inside a Mart de la K, if you get my drift. It was a random ass busier then god knows why Saturday.

There was my store manager at the cash registers(who was amazing but at the same time kinda special, you know SPECIAL), the awful assistant was working the order station.

We also had a really lazy girl both helping take orders and cashier. Awesome Pizza girl who could make pizzas like no tomorrow was all by herself not only making pizzas for ordering but also the "cafe style" orders.

I was floating around like a crazy person- Help me ring, no get pizzas out of the oven, no help Awesome girl in the back. We sold slices, pasta to order but people would also buy pizzas to take home.

At one point the line was out the cafe and into the Mart.  We had fun names for the pizzas like baseball, single was cheese, double was pepperoni, homerun was supreme style and baby pan were individual pan pizzas.

Awful manager kept calling out "single we need single" or "double". It takes about 7 minute for a pizza to go thru the oven, and Awful was over estimating all the pizzas. She would call for pizza and we could call back "its in"

Well at one point she called for 8 pans of baby pans. We said "Really?" to which she argued with us about how she's the manager and we shouldnt question her blah blah blah. So we just mentally said "fuck you" and every pizza she asked for she was met with pizza in the oven.

Lines die down, rush is over, and we are now stuck with about 12 pizzas that she over ordered. She then proceeds to tell us that we should have done our job and monitored the lines better.

Um hi see this brick wall that seperates us in the back from you in the front!!?

So for the next hour we are wheeling and dealing like used car salesmen to move this pizza. 2 for 1, buy 1 get 1, what ever it took.

Happy side note that manager got fired for cash drawer theft.

Ta-ta for now, I am in desperate need of sleep since I am pulling close@ 11pm and open at 7am all this week.

--WomensRetailSlave

Escape From Burger Hell Not Without Drama: Asshat GM Gets Told

Beautifulburgerthing gets a Retail Balls Award for standing up to an asshat GM:

Hey all, Beautifulburgerthing.

So haven't posted in awhile. But with good news! I'm free! I have officially left retail hell. For how long I"m not exactly sure. But I'm out! But not without some strife.

So my second last shift was a Friday afternoon/lunch shift. Something like 11-3. So they keep me just to take care of the busy time and then tell me to fuck off. Ok, whatever, gets me 4 hours at $10.25 (min wage here). So basically $40 before taxes and everything. Not bad. Not great when I spend $6 bussing there and back home and a further $5 roughly on food, but whatever. "In this job market I should be happy I have a job" *slits wrists*.

So I show up and we are already knee deep in shits-ville. Line up is huge, lots of students and various other downtownies. So I even clock in 5 minutes early (haven't done that since I found out they don't count that 5 mins towards pay!!!) and I wash my hands and take stock of garnish. I look to see what Margy needs. Ok, almost out to tomatoes, low on lettuce, low on onions. So what do I do?
 
If you said, walk away to my given station (expeditor, so cash or garnish as is needed, which was cash ATM) So I run to the back fridge where all the toppings are kept, only to see this, NO LETTUCE OR ONIONS in bowls!!! Wonder-fucking-ful. Means I have to make bowls of each before I can be useful up front. (please note I wasn't asked to do any of this by a supervisor/manager) So I as quickly as I can I make a bunch of bowls of lettuce and onions and bring those up front along with tomatoes and put away the extra bowls.

You'd think I'd get a "thank you BBT, that's awesome, I would have never gotten to that and I was nearly out!" (Well I did from Margy because she is the cutest little older lady I've ever met aside from my own grandma) Whereas my GM (I've complained about her asshat-ery before I think) looked at me and said "BBT you need to work faster, you were too slow getting up here with three bowls of stuff" When trying to explain that I was actually filling 3-4 bowls quickly so we'd have more when we ran out (which was every 30 mins or so btw) She just scoffs turns her back on me and barks to me to get to cash. (Which I was already doing.....)

Fast forward roughly 5 mins later, she is literally screaming at me INFRONT OF CUSTOMERS to get to garnish to help Margy out. (Again I already was). At this point I had had enough and I flipped.

I told her that I was tired of not being treated equally. I was constantly belittled and badgered about everything. I'd had enough of it. She then looks at me and says this little gem: "You don't seem to value your job. I can easily fire you and find someone to replace you quickly".

I guess she expected me to roll over and grovel for my job. Oh fucking no I didn't!! I looked her dead in the eye (this is also in front of all the customers and ALL my coworkers that shift) and told her "I can walk right the fuck out of this place right now and leave you so fucked up the ass you'll be tasting c*ck for a week. The threat you made about being under probation and you can get rid of me at any time goes two fucking ways! I can quit without notice too!"

At this point she grabs me by the elbow. Yes, you read that right.. GRABBED me.

I guess she assumed it would be "calming" but it just pissed me off (I have anxiety and PTSD, unwanted touches make me REALLY go off the deep end).

I shrugged off her hand once, told her not to touch me, but she grabbed me again, I shrugged her off again, and told her this:

"If you touch me one more time, I can charge you with assault. I do NOT want you to touch me, and you have no right to touch me. I have multiple witnesses so kindly back the fuck off of me."

After that she left me alone and was very cheery and kind to me... Hmmmmmm guess she really wanted me to work for her. But I typed up my resignation that night, and handed it to her the next day. She read it and attempted to get me to stay, I told her to take this job and shove it. It wasn't worth my self-respect.

I will continue to lurk my darlings. I will miss some of the fun from retail but I won't miss that job.

All the luck in the continuing days/week leading up to Christmas.

--Beautifulburgerthing