Bullshit Employee Treatment
Liberty Tax Service is officially on my shit list this week.
Here in Illinois, winter is finally being "normal" today. It's 17f with a wind chill of -2f and wind gusts of up to 25mph...and it's snowing.
And in this lovely and balmy weather, as I drove through town on my way to do some errands, I saw that LTS had one of it's employees standing on the corner by their store in a Statue of Liberty costume. (Not the one in the picture)
I know that we Illinois folks are moderatly tempered to handling cooler temperatures, but even that doesn't mean that we'd want to go prance around upon orders from our management.
I wanted to stop and give the lady a hot cocoa or something, but she was gone by the time I drove past again.
The Canadian in me went "BUT THAT'S SO WARM" ... then I realized, right ... no that is really cold. Damn F and C conversions.
When Sears and Zellers were liquidating (and I speak from an Ottawa perspective) you'd see employees standing on the roads near the outlets or buses holding these signs ... rain or shine.
Posted by: shoehaven | Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 01:05 PM
I will say, a lot of times the people doing that job are homeless from the area and it's the only thing that will ensure they get to eat for the day - at least that's the case where I live, since the number of homeless far exceeds the resources available to help them. While I agree that it REALLY sucks that someone has to do that in such cold weather, it may have been that it was the only way for her to get a nice meal or a place to sleep tonight.
Posted by: Andi | Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 02:57 PM
I remember just the opposite. There used to be a BBQ restaurant just up the road (it's now a Chinese restaurant). One summer some poor sap was standing by the road in what looked to be a big, heavy pig costume directing customers to the restaurant, and while the face of the costume had a big cartoon smile on it, I bet the guy (or girl) inside was sweating their ass off.
Posted by: NC Tony | Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 03:14 PM
The one near my house has an older folks standing outside waving that stupid sign. Yesterday it was an older lady, late 50s, early 60s, by the looks for her. Out in the cold and rain. Today, I saw an older gentleman, early 50s or late 50s, and he was barely moving. I can barely walk down my driveway and cross the street to my kid's school, and they want them out there dancing and waving those stupid signs. I ended up stopping and giving that guy some hand warmer packets from Wal-mart. He seemed really grateful, but either didn't know English or didn't want to speak. Heck, maybe his mouth froze shut for all I know.
Posted by: Karebear | Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 03:17 PM
I hate hate hate hate liberty tax service. The employees or the business itself had employees stand IN THE SUICIDE LANE on a very busy, small, street (one each way) in a major metropolis.
Then, the people were stupid and since I was going slow (35mph speed limit, I went ten) as not to kill the people, they physically hit my car with their hands....
I called the business to complain. They didn't care. I called the cops, guess who cared suddenly.
Posted by: lamer | Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 04:22 PM
I agree its stupid, but just to point out liberty tax service literally hires people solely for this job. They are not employees who do anything else, they just stand outside with the sign. So no going outside, no work, no money. I'm fairly certain they chose to go outside rather than refuse to do the job they were hired for.
Posted by: Relic | Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 05:18 PM
One summer in high school. I worked in an unair-conditioned shack (in the South), selling entry passes at a park.
On the hottest days a lot of customers would give me bottles of water if they had extras.
One of those rare faith in humanity restored experiences.
Posted by: Chicajojobe | Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 05:22 PM
There's a guy doing that same thing on a street corner nearly every day when I'm driving to class, at roughly 7 am.
To be entirely honest, I would do the same thing if given the opportunity. I have no problem subjecting myself to the cold, even if I hate it. I need the money very badly.
Posted by: Kess | Friday, February 01, 2013 at 02:35 PM
I really don't see what the big deal is. This is what they hire people to do. When you take that job, you know what you're getting into. Nobody's being forced to stand outside in the cold for free.
Posted by: Headset Hellion | Friday, February 01, 2013 at 06:20 PM
The county I grew up in is dirt poor. We're talking 15% unemployment rate, entire public schools of 450 students getting free lunch, my old high school 98% of the 1300 students are getting free/reduced lunch, has the highest TANF and food stamp rate in the state and it's not even the largest county and almost every house hold is affected by SSI both retirement and disability, unemployment, TANF, and Food stamps.
In my hometown 2 liberty tax offices opened. Well, one is open year round the other opened up inside walmart Jan 1-April 30th. Between them they hired 13 people to wave the signs 7am-dark. The unemployment office had 317 people show up hoping for one of those 13 slots.
It's money. Frankly if I needed work I'd hold the sign and put on the outfit rain or shine.
Posted by: Hiedi | Saturday, February 02, 2013 at 08:33 AM
I got my taxes done there. I was happy when they said I've be getting $1,500 back. I was NOT happy when they charged me about $1,000 to do that.
Liberty Tax service are thieves, do not do business there.
Posted by: Ted the 'flayer | Saturday, February 02, 2013 at 12:38 PM
If some nutter is willing to do the job then good on them. I do think the company should consider how that might reflect on them though.
Posted by: Skittles | Sunday, February 03, 2013 at 02:52 AM
Yeah, there was a Liberty Tax person with sign out in a pretty awful windstorm here in GA a few days ago. My boyfriend and I made a comment about how bad for him we felt.
Posted by: Neferu | Monday, February 04, 2013 at 09:53 PM
I worked as a waver in Vermont last near, including on cold and snowy days. I can honestly say that the company treated me better than most. I would do it again this year if I had the time. My manager happily scheduled around my day job, I was allowed to wear as many layers as I needed under my costume, I got to move around outside, I could listen to my own music, I was allowed to take a ten minute break inside whenever I was cold and they even did my taxes for free! The expectations were low, the job was drama free, and the pay was decent. That said, one of the best days was when someone gave me a hot coffee from th
Posted by: Morgan Broadfoot | Tuesday, February 05, 2013 at 05:59 AM