Retail Workers Union

[vaporeon7]

I don't think I have ever got out of work on time when I finish at closing time. It's normally half an hour later. Today, my last customer asked my why I didn't have a girlfriend...

 

[Shining Raichu]

Congrats on that boo! We're in the same boat, a couple days ago my store manager came up to me and asked out of nowhere "So Steve, when do you want to start training to become an Assistant?" I was completely caught of guard lol. I just got promoted to Shift Lead Manager (hourly position in charge of crew) and only a few months later I am being promoted to Assistant (salary in charge of the shift leads). Woop!

Two days ago someone called up the store and said that I packed her bags so well that Management gave me a box of chocolates :3

it was nice

Congrats, that's awesome both of you! So what I'm getting from this is that even though we all hate our jobs, we're all exceedingly good at them :P

On the subject of finishing late, our shifts always used to end when the store closed, but we'd still have to stay for an extra five or so minutes to close down the registers and get set the alarms and whatnot. Which was fine, nobody cared. Until somebody complained and now all our shifts are like 2:15-8:15 or something ridiculous like that, so we're paid for 15 minutes after closing. Which would be fantastic except for the fact that they actually expect us to stay there until 8:15 even if we've finished closing everything by 8:05.

I don't think I have ever got out of work on time when I finish at closing time. It's normally half an hour later. Today, my last customer asked my why I didn't have a girlfriend...

When I was asked that once, I responded with "oh my boyfriend wouldn't like that."

 

[EvilSkittles]

Why is it so ridiculously hard to get a restaurant job at this time of the year? I swear.
Waitressing, cashier, I will do anything but people are only hiring for the back of the house which I don't have enough experience to work in. My Serve Safe makes me more qualified than most you would find back there but apparently doesn't give me enough to be hired.

 

[Steven]

Why is it so ridiculously hard to get a restaurant job at this time of the year? I swear.
Waitressing, cashier, I will do anything but people are only hiring for the back of the house which I don't have enough experience to work in. My Serve Safe makes me more qualified than most you would find back there but apparently doesn't give me enough to be hired.

Are you applying to places near a college/school district? Usually places do all their hiring in the Summer to have the staff fully trained for the busy months when school is in if they are near schools.

 

[EvilSkittles]

Luckily no college but there is a massive school district, especially the high school. My schedule is set up so that I'm free during the day when the others won't be, still hasn't worked yet.

 

[Shining Raichu]

The best advice I can give is volunteer to work the first week for free. People love free work, and if you do a good job they may just hire you. Someone just needs to give you a shot so you can get experience.

 

[Steven]

Thursday someone ran over our speaker so we couldn't take DT orders at the speaker. They had to pull to the window and order. The person who hit it just ran, which really sucks for them. They're on camera and it's a felony and we are pressing charges. They'll have to pay for it, and if they're a student they'll lose all their federal aide because they'll be charged with a felony.

Friday some guy started stripping in the dining room and he got arrested. 8 police cars and 2 ambulances.

Saturday was relatively normal.

Sunday we had 4 call offs. Not really call offs, but they said "Hey my car broke down I'll be late!" and then ignored all our calls afterwards. JUST SAY YOU CAN'T COME IN. Now they're all getting put on their final notice and if they get in any trouble again they'll be fired.

Monday was free churro day. Everyone could get a free one. Keep in mind that it takes about two minutes to make one. Whoever thought this was a good idea needs to die.

This week sucks.

Luckily no college but there is a massive school district, especially the high school. My schedule is set up so that I'm free during the day when the others won't be, still hasn't worked yet.

During the day will probably be the least likely available position. They're slower during the daytime and busier at night and there are probably parents who have kids who go to school nearby and work there for convenience during the day.

 

[Bounsweet]

I'm really nervous and really excited!!

I haven't posted here lately because I left my job in December, but I got a call from one of my former co-workers/assistant manager today, he just left me a voicemail saying that they're short handed right now and if I'd want to work a day or two.

I REALLY want to go back, I already made it known with everyone that I'd be returning in the summer to work (which is probably why they called me, I guess?) but I'm just afraid if they're short handed, they might try to put too many hours on me like last time, which is what interfered with my schoolwork... and I don't want to take a risk this time, cause I'm making all As and a couple Bs in my classes so far.

But because I'm doing so well, maybe I can afford to work again? Argh, I'm not sure >< I really want to call back but I just want to like, decide for myself what to tell them, because I'm unsure about that myself. The store closes at 9 so I don't want to call any later than 8, and I don't want to call over the weekend because they're so busy then, too.

Honestly, I kind of want to take this opportunity to go back to them as an actual employee, not just a fill-in, now instead of waiting until summer. ​

 

[EvilSkittles]

Things are looking up. I have an interview appointment at a pretty fancy restaurant who are looking for cooks that graduated from the Culinary I/Serve Safe program I completed.

I've never seen anything crazy like someone stripping but I have been one of those annoying kids that plays on the fastfood playground.

Edit:
I would call and be upfront about how many hours you can work.

 

[Bounsweet]

I actually went to the store cause it's so close to where I live to discuss my schedule with him, he seems totally flexible and even made it clear, "You can work one shift a week if you want, something is better than nothing."

I told him I only want to work 3 days max, I think I was pretty clear on that, he wrote down my availability schedule and I got my old company shirts back, my co-worker is going to text me a pic of the schedule tomorrow cx​

 

[Puppeteer Mask]

Wait, this exists? Why did I find out about this club just now? I'm so in. I work at two different locations at a service center on the highway, a convenience store and a café and bakery. Both of them suck equally in different ways. The customers at the convenience store are particularly bad. I think people are usually mean-spirited and treat service workers like ****, but on the highway they're also cranky from the trip and from being cooped up in the car, they're probably craving something specific that we don't have, and the prices on the highway are naturally going to be higher than usual due to the "convenience". ...how I haven't hurt someone yet I'll never know.

A couple days ago, I had a long line of customers. The guy I was serving didn't have enough money, dropped everything, and walked off to go grab more. I can't cancel orders halfway through without getting in **** later, so I asked the other lady working if she could hop on her cash and ring customers through while I waited. I summarized the situation to the other customers, apologized, and waited for the idiot to come back with money. He paid, left, and then the NEXT FREAKING CUSTOMER I GET DOES THE SAME FREAKING THING AND WALKS OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF HER TRANSACTION BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH FREAKING MONEY.

Okay. Calm now. That wasn't even the worst part. APPEARANTLY the woman that was supposed to be served right after the first customer that walked out went to my managers and told them that I refused to serve her because she's Latino. ...what?

Friday some guy started stripping in the dining room and he got arrested. 8 police cars and 2 ambulances.

...

...

...

...was he at least hot? *shot*

 

[Shining Raichu]

Friday some guy started stripping in the dining room and he got arrested. 8 police cars and 2 ambulances.

What the hell? Why did a guy stripping require 8 police cars? And why did it require any ambulances at all? Did the sight of his naked body start a riot in the dining room where people were injured climbing over each other to get to his fantastic physical form? :P

That wasn't even the worst part. APPEARANTLY the woman that was supposed to be served right after the first customer that walked out went to my managers and told them that I refused to serve her because she's Latino. ...what?

Firstly, welcome!

Secondly, that may just be the funniest thing I have ever heard in my entire life lmfao. She didn't have enough money so she pulled the Latino card to get her stuff for free or something. It's so crafty I almost respect it.

 

[Puppeteer Mask]

Secondly, that may just be the funniest thing I have ever heard in my entire life lmfao. She didn't have enough money so she pulled the Latino card to get her stuff for free or something. It's so crafty I almost respect it.

Ah, I probably should've been a bit more specific. The woman that went to the managers and the second customer to walk out on me were two different people. Sorry to deflate some of the humour of it. >.<

But yeah, technically my managers HAVE to talk to me when they get a customer complaint, but the entire private "disciplinary" conversation was basically the two of us going:

"What? Just.... what?"

"How does that even..."

"I don't know.... I don't even know..."

"What would make her..."

"I don't know..."

"It doesn't even..."

"I don't know!"

"Me neither!"

"So I guess... don't do... whatever this is again?"

"Yeah... whatever this is."

"...what is it?"

"I don't even know."

 

[Bounsweet]

What the hell? Why did a guy stripping require 8 police cars? And why did it require any ambulances at all? Did the sight of his naked body start a riot in the dining room where people were injured climbing over each other to get to his fantastic physical form? :P

I'm guessing the ambulances were because they thought he had a serious mental disorder or something? Maybe they thought he was schizophrenic, but 8 police cars does seem overkill xD

Anyway, my first day back last weekend went pretty good, the mall has calmed down so much since I left during December, but it's hurting our sales drastically. Also, there's six people working there now including myself, one girl gave her two week notice but is pretty much not even coming anymore and another one is looking for another job since it's a 45 minute drive for her.

My manager hasn't even been there a month and I can tell he hasn't done retail before, he's done restaurant management but it's a little different. He seems pretty desperate to get more people in, and I'm just hoping he doesn't start hiring nutcases. He legitimately didn't see a reason as to why we couldn't hire a 16 year old, until my coworker pointed out the fact it's illegal to have a 16 year old working alone or something along those lines, and he shut up. :p​

 

[Shining Raichu]

Welcome Team Fail :D

It's been ages since you posted that, so I hope you got the job at Target!

My manager hasn't even been there a month and I can tell he hasn't done retail before, he's done restaurant management but it's a little different. He seems pretty desperate to get more people in, and I'm just hoping he doesn't start hiring nutcases. He legitimately didn't see a reason as to why we couldn't hire a 16 year old, until my coworker pointed out the fact it's illegal to have a 16 year old working alone or something along those lines, and he shut up. :p

The younger they are the cheaper they come, that's why he wanted a 16 year old :P. I'm sure if the cheapskates at my work were allowed to hire minors they'd do it too. The cost-cutting practices businesses try to do these days are just absolute overkill lol

 

[Kura]

As someone who looks relatively young, I often get ignored in retail stores even when employees clearly ask those around me.. but I feel this shouldn't be the case. Would you say that's too demanding of me because retail workers shouldn't feel they have to ask young adults based on the assumption they wont make a purchase?

 

[Puppeteer Mask]

As someone who looks relatively young, I often get ignored in retail stores even when employees clearly ask those around me.. but I feel this shouldn't be the case. Would you say that's too demanding of me because retail workers shouldn't feel they have to ask young adults based on the assumption they wont make a purchase?

Hardly. Where I work we have to offer to help a customer even if it's obvious that they have no plans to buy anything. The level of youth that we don't provide this service for, well... if someone your age looks that young they must have a serious medical disorder. (And even then they usually come to us if they need something.)

 

[vaporeon7]

Thanks c: I did get the job, and we've all been hard at work lately haha.

Works at Target too~

I felt so sorry for one of my friends at work, she ad to put though $1100 of $2 and $3 baby reduced clothes. She was doing it for over half an hour.

 

[Shining Raichu]

This is what you get for reducing baby clothes to $2 and $3. Stupid women panic when they get pregnant and think the baby will ruin everything it touches.

Meanwhile I had a full-circle moment at work today. About four years ago now my sister dragged me up to meet the Liquorland manager to do an informal job interview. Today, four years later, I brought one of my friends up for her to interview as my replacement! It was an odd feeling, but fantastic at the same time!

 

[vaporeon7]

I remember my job interview. It was a group interview that was meant to be with like 6 people. Only one other guy showed up. I think we both got the job by default.