BassLady here... I've got a new job, but I can't think of anything else to call myself.

I haven't posted in awhile, but I'm now in need of some reassurance...

Anyway, after over six months of unemployment, (my exit was rather spectacular. Heh.) I got a job as a part-time seasonal character at a tourist attraction.

On a mountain.

For minimum wage.... Aw hell, a gig is a gig, right? I'll be earning cash-ola for presents, right?

Uh, yeah.... I keep telling myself that.

So now I get to squeeze my fat ass into a mini skirt and then freeze it off, directing sheeple to the obese personification of the winter solstice celebration. That's right, I have to stand outside.

In costume.

With NO coat; and I'm supposed to act like it's summer vacay, or something.

So.... lots and LOTS of layers....

HOLY Thrognar's balls, RHU! I've lost my ever-loving MIND!!

What I'm most worried about is keeping my cool if/ when some mom-zilla barks at me for telling her spawn to get off the rail from the 700-METER DROP! Or, somebody expecting to see something, but it's night, and DUH... no light.

I heard that management there is great, and backs up their people, so we'll see...

Friday, 21 Nov. is my first day, so please pray for me to whatever passes as your higher power. Any encouragement you can give a poor, old (well, 39) slave re-entering hell is appreciated, too. :-)

With much trepidation,

--BassLady

From: Glitterslinger

I have a question about people coming into a store to sell their products.

I am a manager for a store that, while nation-wide and corporately owned, is set up basically like a large boutique. I've worked at three different locations in the past two years. At every single location, we occasionally get people coming in who are trying to sell their product to me. I've had everything from make-up companies, pizza chains, to cell-phone companies come in and try to get me to buy a set of coupons, or sign up for something.

They generally ask for a manager, so I think there must be some sort of law about soliciting your business from customers currently inside another business. Apparently, employees are exempt from that rule.

I'm usually able to get them out with, "I'm not allowed to have my purse on me while I'm on the clock, so nobody who is working right now will be able to buy anything from you."

My question is whether this practice is legal? Should I be reporting these solicitors? If so, to who? The shopping center I'm currently in doesn't have security.

I did have one guy who approached my customers while I was ringing them up. I wasn't very polite, telling him, "Could you please not try to make my customers your customers?" I brain farted on the word "solicit."

His partner hurried him out of there, and the customers thanked me for being the "bad guy."

Thanks for the input!

---Glitterslinger

This story was originally posted on April 30, 2010

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From: Q

I've had a tipping question that's bothered me for a while and I'd hope that the RHU community would be able to help me somewhat reconcile it and decide what to do for the future.

Sometimes, late at night, my husband and I will get cravings, so we'll get some food from one of the sit down restaurants, like Waffle House.

However, we'd rather actually eat the food at home, so one of us goes to said restaurant and will get a to go order.

My dilemma is when I get the bill and there's a line for the tip (we always pay by card).

On the one hand, if we had actually gone there to sit down, we would certainly tip.

I'm also aware that it's hard work at a restaurant and that tips help supplement the "pay". On the other hand, I'm not actually sitting at a table, the waitress isn't having to do things like offer me drinks or clean up after me.. indeed, the only thing the waitress does is bag the order, and at that point it feels like it's no different than going to a fast food restaurant (well, except for the fact that their hash browns are awesome).

So would I still tip when I get a to-go order or not?

My husband would automatically say no, due to what I've already mentioned, but I'm a tad bit conflicted.

--Q

Grocery Store Slave here with yet another question. This just happened today and it stumps me. I will start with what happened first.

So it's just another day in the deepest pit of grocery store hell with the usual going on when I get an older customer at my register. I ring up her groceries, tell her the total, and expect her to pay and go on her merry way right? If you guessed yes [buzzer sounds] you are wrong.

After I tell her the total she goes into rant mode like I'm supposed to listen to what she has to say. Screw that. But I listen anyway. She goes on about the tax it is only $.62 tax, but she says there isn't supposed to be tax on food she bought fruit and chicken and hot bar item.

Either way I have no control over prices whatsoever, nor final price, nor tax. She won't shut up about it, just keeps saying why am I being charged tax?

I call my manager over he says that we have no control over the tax and he leaves. This results in her making a snide comment about what he just said, and as a result, she decides to just leave her bagged groceries at my register and go to customer service to ask the tax on food question.

I suspended her order, another cashier took me off for lunch break and I went my merry way to the break room. While in the break room they called the upstairs manager to customer service. In my mind I'm thinking it's the lady with the tax question that he will encounter.

So what it all boils down to in retail hell land for any store grocery and/or otherwise has there ever been a customer that questioned why they were getting taxed for the items or groceries that they just bought? My opinion is there's a tax on everything; it's a way for the government to make money.

--Grocery Store Slave

Just a quick note to our RHUers who visit all of our worlds:

We have a Twitter Account, a secret facebook group (in order to join, you must find the page on the site that gives you directions on how to apply), and we have this Main Site.

There seems to be some confusion among our RHUers as to how these worlds interact.

Twitter shares the Site stories, so if you want to have updates every time a story or picture posts, please consider following our Tweets! (And if you re-tweet some of the best stories, you'd make us happy!)

RHU Facebook is a place to share your woes and get instant feedback. We also find stories there and share them to this site, with the Original Poster's permission.

RHU Main Site is where our greatest focus lies. We find and share all kinds of stories, laughs and pictures here. Here is where you can find monthly themes, stories that are shared, and advice can be doled out in complete confidentiality.

The confusion seems to lie in the difference between our Facebook Group and our Main Site. The breakdown is actually simple.

Our Facebook group, for all intents and purposes, is still Facebook. Drama, flame wars, and butthurt is always a risk, and it DOES crop up sometimes and run amok before the moderators can step in and quench it. We do our best, but we have had narcs (people who will take your venting straight to your boss and tell on you) and trolls in Facebook. We try to get rid of them as we find them, but there is no guarantee that they are ever completely gone. It is a problem we are continuing to struggle with.

If you were to choose, please choose our Main Site and do not bother with Facebook. Send your stories to our RHU email: [email protected] and remove anything from your story that would identify you in order to be completely anonymous. Facebook is, despite our best efforts, an "at your own risk" place.

Furthermore, our Facebook group has had stumbling blocks. We had to revamp how things were handled, because some folks were attacked, and subsequently removed (wrongly or rightly) and there are still bruised feelings all around. Our RHU site is still anonymous, and if you feel you were wronged in the group, please consider being part of the main site only. Change your nickname, share your stories.

The Facebook group gives us stories; it does not receive much benefit from the site. It is an entirely different world with different rules, and to some degree, a different culture.

There are a very few who truly did something wrong, and in those cases Freddy Himself had to step in. They have been dealt with.

Remember, RHU is meant to be a place where you are safe and supported. You can vent about your job, share pictures of silly things you find in the retail world, or dispense advice to those who need to know how to handle something in their workplace. We are LGBT(etc) friendly. Personal attacks and trolls get the boot.

From: Theatre Angel

One of my local grocery stores has food in bulk bins and little baggies to scoop the food into. My problem is that I never get the right amount of food for whatever container I want to use for storage. Is it rude to bring my jars with me and put the store's plastic baggie inside before scooping?

Any advice will be welcome.

Also, I hate the pigs who leave bagged items they no longer want just laying there.

And read all the large signs: no sampling means keep your grubby paws and the paws of your hell spawn out of the candy bins!

--Theatre Angel