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This reminds me, vaguely, of something that caused me to shout at the television. A couple years ago, during the lead-up to Black Friday, someone suggested that you ask for tomorrow's deals the night before, because they're "already in the computer".
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Jul 7, 2012 16:45
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 People did this at my work before Black Friday. IT'S NOT TRUE. The sales go into the computer after the store closes the night before the sale starts. (at least where I work) They were even asking a week before what the sales were gonna be. When I told them they didn't tell the cashiers/floor associates that info beforehand they either called me a liar or said "Well how do I find out?" As it turns out someone DID end up leaking our store's Black Friday sales onto the internet, but I got these questions before then. And after they were leaked, people would come to the store with that leaks website printed out and demand the sale prices as if they had a genuine sales flyer in their hand. When it clearly said "Black Friday Sales" and it was clearly NOT Black Friday yet.
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Jul 7, 2012 18:09
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Neito posted:This reminds me, vaguely, of something that caused me to shout at the television. A couple years ago, during the lead-up to Black Friday, someone suggested that you ask for tomorrow's deals the night before, because they're "already in the computer". My store does its Black Friday deals on Thanksgiving night, and while setting everything up last year a woman calls before we're open and asked if she could get the door buster deal on an artificial Christmas tree she bought the day before. I told her no, we can't do that because it's a door buster deal and wouldn't be fair to the people who felt shopping was more important than being with their families, and that on the back of her receipt it says we can't apply sales to prior purchases anyway. She said it was unfair and asked if she could return the tree and repurchase it. I informed her that technically yes, there's nothing we could do about that so it would work, but she would actually have to haul the tree in and bring it to the service desk. She wasn't very happy. Also, seriously gently caress Black Friday and the consumer culture that bred it. I would loving love to spend Thanksgiving with my friends and family instead of wade through a crowd of people who just have to buy art supplies at discount prices. What's worse is that most of the BF "deals" are the same sales we'll have on them throughout winter. The only real deals are on Christmas trees which we usually run out of, and sometimes the Cricut™ machines and cartridges. It really isn't worth being there, and knowing that makes it all the harder to slog through as the overly-versatile employee I am.
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Jul 7, 2012 18:10
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I wonder if a retail store has ever pulled a fast one on Black Friday, raised prices, and then just slapped signs up everywhere advertising 50% discounts. Given how dumb your average retail shopper is, this seems like a pretty good way to rake it in 
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Jul 7, 2012 18:13
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-Troika- posted:I wonder if a retail store has ever pulled a fast one on Black Friday, raised prices, and then just slapped signs up everywhere advertising 50% discounts. Given how dumb your average retail shopper is, this seems like a pretty good way to rake it in Is that breaking the law? I'm pretty sure that's breaking the law. Somehow.
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Jul 7, 2012 18:17
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-Troika- posted:I wonder if a retail store has ever pulled a fast one on Black Friday, raised prices, and then just slapped signs up everywhere advertising 50% discounts. Given how dumb your average retail shopper is, this seems like a pretty good way to rake it in This happens all the time normally. Ill see stuff on "sale" for more than it cost the week before, but  ITS ON SALE
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Jul 7, 2012 18:23
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cobalt impurity posted:Also, seriously gently caress Black Friday and the consumer culture that bred it. I would loving love to spend Thanksgiving with my friends and family instead of wade through a crowd of people who just have to buy art supplies at discount prices. I really don't understand why people do it. Mr. Fooby doesn't get very many days off a year (he had to work on our loving wedding day), and I'd rather spend it with him cooking together and eating tasty food and getting drunk than loving going shopping. Last Thanksgiving, I was working as a paper carrier- one of those people who puts the papers in the machines outside gas stations- and it was depressing seeing eight bajillion people lined up outside Wal-mart at three-thirty in the loving morning. I always figured that I could either deal with all that nonsense, or wait about a week for all the stores to get another truck in, then go shop in peace and get most of the same deals without all the poo poo, or just buy it online. Back when I was working retail proper, I was lucky enough to get Thanksgiving Day off. We were open Black Friday, but normal hours. All drat day I had to hear people bitching at me, angry that we weren't open the previous day, angry we weren't open at four AM like all the other stores. Later on in college, I couldn't get enough time off from my loving fast-food job to go home for the holidays, and it upset my grandma terribly. Mom says she cried for an hour. I'm sorry, Grandma. I wanted to be there and have turkey and sweet potatoes. I still feel bad about it, and it wasn't my fault. -Troika- posted:I wonder if a retail store has ever pulled a fast one on Black Friday, raised prices, and then just slapped signs up everywhere advertising 50% discounts. Given how dumb your average retail shopper is, this seems like a pretty good way to rake it in My high-school job selling shoes didn't mark anything down for Black Friday. It was an outlet store, the prices couldn't get much lower. Motherfuckers in droves, cawing about the screamin' deal they just got- bitch, that's the same price it always is. There was a fistfight over a pair of terrifically ugly pumps.
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Jul 7, 2012 18:28
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ladyweapon posted:This happens all the time normally. Ill see stuff on "sale" for more than it cost the week before, but This happened with the Skylanders at my store. They were $7.99 per character when we first started selling them. Then someone realized how popular they were and after about a month at $7.99 the price was raised to $9.99. But for 2 weeks after the price raise there were signs that said "On sale for $7.99!!" That "sale" price is what the regular price was just last week! Idiots! They still sold like crazy though with people bragging about the "deal" they got.
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Jul 7, 2012 18:44
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Pureauthor posted:Is that breaking the law? I'm pretty sure that's breaking the law. Somehow. It's not. It's scummy, but it's perfectly legal. It'd only be breaking the law if, somehow, you lied about it (for example, saying that it's the cheapest price all year).
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Jul 7, 2012 21:08
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Pulling that poo poo with prices is illegal in some places, iirc in the UK the item needs to have been at the previous price for about four weeks before they can claim the item to be on sale.
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Jul 7, 2012 21:36
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I think my store has the biggest group of crybaby pussy truck unloaders that have ever unloaded a truck. I've done freight for years, and at other retail chains I had to setup my own pallets. If the IMS crew doesn't have the truck setup for the unloaders they immediately run to a manager at 4:01. It's gotten to the point where I was warned today that I will be getting in trouble for not setting up the truck, when I spent all morning running freight leftover from third shift and didn't actually start the daily inventory until 10 30 and didn't get done until 4:10.
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Jul 7, 2012 21:41
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Admiral Lasers posted:I work at a used bookstore (that also sells games and electronics) so I get people asking for less all the time, because ??? When I was at TW, I would have people come up who I had never seen before buying almost a grand in wine/other alcohol. "I'm in here all the time, I'm buying so much, is there some kind of a discount you can give me??" Well, no, there isn't. We only give discounts on cases of wine and they all have to be the same, no mixed cases. "There isn't anything you can do? I want to speak to a manager." So the manager would come over and tell the the exact same thing. The customer would then sigh heavily and look down at the ground and just act generally disappointed, as if they were not going to shop here ever again. Thing about alcohol is that, really no matter what the price people are going to buy it. -Troika- posted:I wonder if a retail store has ever pulled a fast one on Black Friday, raised prices, and then just slapped signs up everywhere advertising 50% discounts. Given how dumb your average retail shopper is, this seems like a pretty good way to rake it in When Food Lion (cheap, gross grocery store in the south) was going out of business, they raised prices the week before they were going to close, then immediately slashed them right before they all closed. So that sirloin steak you just got at 9.99 a pound? They raised it to 13.99 a pound just so they could say they were giving you a deal when they cut prices! copy of a fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Jul 7, 2012 |
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Jul 7, 2012 21:55
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lohli posted:Pulling that poo poo with prices is illegal in some places, iirc in the UK the item needs to have been at the previous price for about four weeks before they can claim the item to be on sale. Yeah, every sale has to have a notice that says something like "All previous prices shown were available at at least one store in the UK for four weeks out of the last 52" or something like that. I think I read somewhere that scummy companies like to make the item available at the pre-sale price at like one store that no-one visits just so the whole "ITS ON SALE!" thing is legal.
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Jul 7, 2012 22:16
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silversiren posted:When I was at TW, I would have people come up who I had never seen before buying almost a grand in wine/other alcohol. "I'm in here all the time, I'm buying so much, is there some kind of a discount you can give me??" Borders did the exact same thing, IIRC. The fact that, while going out of business, they still couldn't beat amazon was pretty funny, too. But that's a seperate thing.
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Jul 7, 2012 22:30
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I give small discounts (so my boss wont notice too much) if you're nice and fun and don't ask. If you're like, "Oh, I have to get $200 worth of buttons/yarn for a charity thing I'm doing." we usually give a small discount if you're not a jerk. If you ask "YO CAN I GET A DISCOUNT ON THIS IT'S SO EXPENSIVE" no. And people who haggle poo poo that's 25 cents are ugh. What's even worse is people who buy something for like $20 and only have $10 and they look at me with puppy dog eyes and go, "I only have $10..."
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Jul 7, 2012 23:06
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silversiren posted:When Food Lion (cheap, gross grocery store in the south) was going out of business, they raised prices the week before they were going to close, then immediately slashed them right before they all closed. So that sirloin steak you just got at 9.99 a pound? They raised it to 13.99 a pound just so they could say they were giving you a deal when they cut prices! Food Lion's still in business, by the way, with over a thousand stores, and still generally gross. For anyone not familiar with them, they had a giant legal go-round with ABC about 20 years ago over an undercover investigation that showed Food Lion employees bleaching and re-dating meat (among other things). I would not be surprised at all to find them pulling the stunt you described.
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Jul 7, 2012 23:44
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Shnooks posted:What's even worse is people who buy something for like $20 and only have $10 and they look at me with puppy dog eyes and go, "I only have $10..."
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Jul 8, 2012 00:08
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A Macy's in my town went out of business, and because of the going out of business sale none of the regular Macy's coupons were valid at the store anymore. The local news did a promo showing how a Keurig from the non-going out of business Macy's, on sale + the 10% off coupon (or whatever it was) that was available to all customers regardless of if they used a Macy's charge or not, was cheaper than the Keurig at the Macy's going out of business. I've always found those going out of business sales to be a huge crock. I seriously hate all those Reader's Digest, Today Show, GMA etc. stuff on "retail strategies." Our store does price match but it has to be the same exact item listed for a lower price in a competitor's printed ad. Amazon.com does not loving count, of course an e-retailer is going to probably sell something cheaper than a brick-and-mortar store. Also people ask for a price match, THEN they pull out their 20 or 30% off coupon, their $10 off coupon, and a butt ton of merchandise return credits. I don't have a problem with people trying to get a good deal but they are always so obnoxious about it. There are so many customers who don't sign the back of their charge cards (either our store charge or Visa, Amex, whatever). Then when you ask to see their ID they're like OH THANK YOU, SOMEONE CARES ABOUT MY IDENTITY!!!1  When I try to tell them that they should sign their card and also write "check ID" on the back, or just write SOMETHING, ANYTHING AT ALL in case their card gets stolen and a thief signs their own name on it, they get all confused and insist that they saw on the Today show or some poo poo that some "expert" said not to sign their card, because then the merchant has to ask to see ID. Also we have people coming in all the time with tinfoil wallets because then "they" can't scan your credit cards and steal your charge numbers. 
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Jul 8, 2012 00:11
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We've had three separate instances of people buying poo poo with stolen cards at my store in the last few months, so now we have to check ids for any purchase over $30. I've been yelled at by like, three separate people for asking for I'd. I'm just looking out for them!
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Jul 8, 2012 00:26
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For the first time I'm having issues with a person at my job. The lady who works claims in the back has apparently decided I'm the devil. Look, I know during through a box of cosmetics claims is annoying. I understand that a bottle of foundation coming open and getting the other poo poo in the box dirty is annoying. God forbid your precious hands get dirty (though acting like this is the WORST THING EVER toward someone who used to work in garden center is hilarious). But she has such a lovely, pissy attitude about everything. Everything is clearly my fault, even though I have no control over what people do once I'm gone for the day, or over the weekend when I'm off. Demanding to know who is over me and accusing me personally of pulling this poo poo, as though you're going to bitch to my managers, is lovely and rude as gently caress, and frankly makes me not want to make any kind of effort towards improving the situation. And it's not just me she acts like this towards, all my employees are terrified of this woman and beg me to take the claims back to her so they don't have to face her wrath. Why are you so angry, woman?
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Jul 8, 2012 01:10
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My store's jewelry is constantly 70% off. I've gotten asked many times when the sale is ending and I either say "Only the manager knows that!" or "After X holiday, I think!". I feel like I'm scamming people, but they still buy their gaudy rings because oh man, what a deal! I've never gotten a single person to openly tell me that they've noticed this sale has been on forever. I wish someone would notice, that would make my day. We had the same sale (misc items were $20-$50) in jewelry on Thanksgiving as Black Friday, and this sale continued through the month of December. There is seriously no point in buying it on Black Friday. Dead Pikachu fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Jul 8, 2012 |
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Jul 8, 2012 03:27
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Welp, just pulled down my first 8-hour shift. Got called to come in early because "I need you" according to my boss, which is usually code for some shitfuck called out sick. Not today. I get there and there's already 2 cashiers on. I find him in the back, he comes to the front with me, pops in a till, and then takes me back to the back, where I help out for the next hour or so unloading 1,100 pieces of freight. Then I spend from 3 until 7 or so stocking, then I start recovering and leave exactly 8 hours after I came in. Unloading the truck isn't exactly backbreaking. I'll be sore tomorrow because I used muscles I haven't used...well, ever, but I definitely enjoyed the fast pace of it all, with poo poo coming down the rollers and me running all over the place to put it where it needs to be, then shoving poo poo out the door and onto shelves as fast as we could because, well, DT wants it 48-Hour Door to Floor! Then S, who used to be my biggest adversary in that place, talked to the manager about me and stocking, and it came up that I might get laterally promoted to stocker, which means I spend 90% of my time away from the register and on the floor and unloading freight 
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Jul 8, 2012 03:31
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This is getting ridiculous. My boss is going on sick leave again to take care of his addiction to alcohol. Due to this being on short notice, there's no replacement for any of his shifts. Also we have a person going on vacation next week (week starting Sunday) and the following week. So once again I'm out two full timers in a shop that needs five full timers... This store has been complete poo poo to me since I've came here. 
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Jul 8, 2012 04:17
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Dead Pikachu posted:
This is what I never understand about Black Friday. Aside from the fact that we do have more inventory and stuff in stock on BF because it's the beginning of the holiday season, the deals are almost exactly the loving same at my store on BF as they are on the big sale they start like 7-10 or so days before Christmas. Like I remember we had some blankets on sale for $8.99 one BF, after that they went up to $9.99 but there are better coupons available to make up the difference. Or people could just wait until after the holidays when all those blankets get returned and go clearance for $6.99. For a lot of people, BF shopping is just a thing to do, I think. I personally can't imagine anything more depressing than lining up all night, fighting crowds at a Wal-Mart to get some absurd item for like $2 cheaper than it usually is but I guess most people like that sort of thing  This talk of Christmas and BF is making me depressed. I'm really hoping to be out of retail for good by then.
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Jul 8, 2012 04:36
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OneTruePecos posted:Food Lion's still in business, by the way, with over a thousand stores, and still generally gross. For anyone not familiar with them, they had a giant legal go-round with ABC about 20 years ago over an undercover investigation that showed Food Lion employees bleaching and re-dating meat (among other things). I would not be surprised at all to find them pulling the stunt you described. I kept trying to tell my roommates about this in addition to my family getting food poisoning multiple times for lovely Food Lion meat and dairy products that had been thawed and refrozen, and they still kept ragging on me for driving twice as far to Kroger to avoid Food Lion poo poo. I'd only buy pre-packaged non-refrigerated or frozen things from Food Lion, and only if I was in a hurry. The one time I bought meat from Food Lion (thinking "oh, maybe this location is better!") it gave me and my boyfriend horrible stomach aches all night.
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Jul 8, 2012 04:53
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Taco Pirate posted:There are so many customers who don't sign the back of their charge cards (either our store charge or Visa, Amex, whatever). Then when you ask to see their ID they're like OH THANK YOU, SOMEONE CARES ABOUT MY IDENTITY!!!1 This is a pet peeve of mine. "Check ID" is not, nor has it ever been, a proper thing to write on your card. By your cardholder agreement, you have to put your legal signature on the back of the card. Anything else? I can (and technically am required to) reject it.
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Jul 8, 2012 05:34
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Sonic Dude posted:And I assume that's followed by "but it's cash, not a credit card!" Where the gently caress do people go where credit card fees approach 50%? The implication of "Can you give me a discount? I'm paying cash," is that you pocket the cash and look the other way as they take the merchandise.
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Jul 8, 2012 06:29
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As a consumer, I don't give a gently caress about the security of my credit card. Depending on the card agreement your only liable for 50$. Even then I've never been charged taht fee when my card was comprimised.
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Jul 8, 2012 06:49
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Enilev posted:The implication of "Can you give me a discount? I'm paying cash," is that you pocket the cash and look the other way as they take the merchandise. Now I sell multi-hundred-dollar (and sometimes multi-thousand-dollar) services, and customers still pull the same crap.
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Jul 8, 2012 07:10
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Taco Pirate posted:There are so many customers who don't sign the back of their charge cards (either our store charge or Visa, Amex, whatever). Then when you ask to see their ID they're like OH THANK YOU, SOMEONE CARES ABOUT MY IDENTITY!!!1 I'm in the UK and we sometimes get American tourists trying to pay with cards they haven't signed. If I bring it up they're always very eager to tell me that not signing it is somehow a security measure "and that's how we do it in America". Well, we're not in America, so you can either pay cash or sign the back because otherwise a lot of shops here aren't going to accept it. Also, surely if you then lose the card and someone else picks it up they can just sign the back on their own and get easy matching signatures? I don't understand this.
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Jul 8, 2012 07:34
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My parents got me a bank account with a debit card when I was 15 and had my first job. When I got it, my dad wrote "See ID" on the back for me. (Thanks dad  ) I had that card till it expired and I think I only ever had maybe 3 people look at the back and ask to see my ID. Not once was I asked to sign it. Now that card has expired and I have a new one that I signed. But from what I've seen, nobody in America gives a poo poo if the card is signed. Volcano posted:Also, surely if you then lose the card and someone else picks it up they can just sign the back on their own and get easy matching signatures? I don't understand this. As for why I no longer want to work in retail, we had ANOTHER group of customers last night hanging out 15 minutes after closing time. This happens all the time! We make 4 announcements! One at 15 minutes till close, one at 10, one at 5, and one telling everyone "We are now closed!" How can you sit there and pretend you have no idea? And telling them in person "Can I help you find something? Because we are closed now" just makes them say "Oh! Well I'll hurry up, it will just be one second!" 5 minutes later they're still "Deciding" We end up having to lie to people sometimes and tell them the registers will automatically shut down in a second and if they don't check out RIGHT NOW they won't be able to buy anything. How can these people be so self-centered that they don't care that they're in the store after hours and are keeping all the staff from being able to close the tills and go home? I won't even go into a restaurant if it's within 20 minutes of closing because I don't wanna eat in a rush and I don't want to be THAT PERSON who makes them stay late to serve me. Some people just have no consideration. Buggiezor fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Jul 8, 2012 |
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Jul 8, 2012 15:46
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Volcano posted:
Pretty much, but trying to explain that is like talking to a wall. Believe me I've tried.
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Jul 8, 2012 15:46
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D34THROW posted:Welp, just pulled down my first 8-hour shift. Got called to come in early because "I need you" according to my boss, which is usually code for some shitfuck called out sick. Its really sad and telling of American retail that this is your first 8 hour shift.
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Jul 8, 2012 16:08
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loving yay it's back to school time at staples. Status: poo poo sucks
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Jul 8, 2012 16:11
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Darth Freddy posted:Its really sad and telling of American retail that this is your first 8 hour shift. Is it really uncommon to get 8 hour shifts? I always figured the only real issue was the weekly hours, and since at my store 8 hour shifts are pretty frequent (if your availability allows it, though they will NEVER EVER give you more than 8 hours for obvious reasons), I never really thought about it. I guess there's mandated breaks to worry about though.
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Jul 8, 2012 16:26
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Pornographic Memory posted:Is it really uncommon to get 8 hour shifts? I always figured the only real issue was the weekly hours, and since at my store 8 hour shifts are pretty frequent (if your availability allows it, though they will NEVER EVER give you more than 8 hours for obvious reasons), I never really thought about it. I guess there's mandated breaks to worry about though. At my store, everyone except managers gets 5 hour shifts. I have no idea why, but my store has probably twice the people they actually need and everyone just works shorter shifts. It's uncommon for me to even get a 6 hour shift. Which also means I never get more than a 15 minute break. 30 minute lunches are things only the managers get. Though I sort of like it because then I have plenty of time in my day to do things besides be at work. EDIT: Though actually thinking about it, it may be a way companies are trying to help with unemployment. 
Buggiezor fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Jul 8, 2012 |
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Jul 8, 2012 16:29
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Buggiezor posted:EDIT: Though actually thinking about it, it may be a way companies are trying to help with unemployment.
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Jul 8, 2012 17:06
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Buggiezor posted:EDIT: Though actually thinking about it, it may be a way companies are trying to help with unemployment. Try "a way management can get the same amount of man hours without having to pay livable wages or benefits to anybody but themselves."
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Jul 8, 2012 17:32
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At my store, people who work in departments (and managers, obviously) get 8-hour shifts. Not all the time, but sometimes, especially day shifts (10-6 and 12-8 are especially common). Cashiers, customer service, truck, and merchandisers, generally no. I've pulled 8-hour shifts at customer service but it's somewhat uncommon and they would never schedule you 8 hours on a register unless the person picked up a shift for someone else or they were splitting their shift between register and a department or whatever. I would say most of our part-timers work 20-25 hours a week. Every time a customer complains about how THIS PERSON IN SHOES DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING or WHERE'S MY HELP IN HOUSEWARES AHHHHH I NEED A VACUUM BLAHGHGHGHGHGH I just want to say ... hey we only hire part-time employees now, many of whom are newer ... this is all done to save money and allow you to be able to purchase $15 shoes or $20 kitchen electronics so stfu and if you want full service go to loving Nordstrom instead of the most discount rear end department store in town.
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Jul 8, 2012 17:33
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I wish my job gave me 8-hour shifts. I'm usually scheduled for anywhere between 36-50 hours per week. But instead of breaking it up into even shifts, I get poo poo like two days of 4 hour shifts followed by 3 days of 10+ hour days. I work as a butcher in a franchised company. Also biweekly pay checks suck and I hate them.
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Jul 8, 2012 17:36
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