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MJBuddy posted:When you're in uniform, you're walking around representing that company. That's common sense. Bring another shirt and switch into it. Be proactive, but clearly "Woman stole from Dollar Tree" is a different story than "Sam's Liquor Store Employee stole from Dollar Tree." Oh I agree to an extent. Liquor store lady deserved that firing. But I think they take it way too far. Being expected to remove any clue that you work at store x whenever you enter any other establishment is retarded, though. I especially liked the cult/feudal serfdom analogy above. quote:I generally refuse to shop with companies that employ me. They gave me money for my toil, I would prefer not to give it immediately back. Here and there is fine, but for the most part I will go out of my way to shop at other retailers. I do shop at my store for items I can. I do not buy food at Family Dollar because there is absolutely nothing there that is in the slightest bit healthy. I do buy toilet paper and laundry soap there because I'm already there every day and it's convenient and saves me gas and time. Which are important to me. I buy cute little things for my walls. We occasionally get some really cute items. 90% of Family Dollar items aren't worth buying because they won't work as intended, but we do have some decent finds sometimes. We get paid on a company issued debit card. I like them to see that I spend money where I work. I would never shop for anything there if I didn't work there. I always tell my DM if they paid me more, they'd likely get more of it right back!
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 16:36 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 22:25 |
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I ate at the restaurant I worked at a couple of times. The dudes who worked there were mostly cool and the food was good so I guess it works out for everyone.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 16:45 |
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ThreeFish posted:We get paid on a company issued debit card. I like them to see that I spend money where I work. I would never shop for anything there if I didn't work there. I always tell my DM if they paid me more, they'd likely get more of it right back! They can see what you buy? Jesus christ.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 16:46 |
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Makes sense with the uniform thing. It's extended to social media now, for example we must behave on Facebook if associating ourselves with our employer (i.e. listing them as an employer at all). They don't mind people posting that they're drunk or whatever (unless they're waving the company logo around in the process), and don't want to control people's lives but just to cover themselves in case someone posts something really nasty and whoever was offended considers it to be coming from the person representing the company. In fact they'll let you call someone a poo poo munching rear end in a top hat if you want, on the basis that if you do, you put something in your profile saying anything posted is personal and not associated with the company. ThreeFish posted:I have a regular customer that is bugging me about smiling. Like many things over there I don't get why customers make such a fuss. Goodness me. I think it's fair to say in the UK that ok, it's generally accepted that smiling and greeting is part of the job but you're not a robot. I don't think anyone would get a complaint for not just sitting there smiling all the way through (they'd maybe get a concerned remark if they looked really miserable I guess, and are more likely to be asked if they're alright) In fact it sounds sort of creepy. Presumably he's expecting a full eye contact smile as well. *eye contact* Hello! *smile* (ok, normal) *eye contact* Do you need a bag? *smile* (ok, normal) *scan sausages* *eye contact* *smile* (erm) *scan beans* *eye contact* *smile* (why are you doing this) *weigh potatoes* *eye contact* *smile* (do you fancy me or something?) *weigh carrots* *eye contact* *smile* (you're creeping me out now..) *scan milk* *eye contact* *smile* (this is really uncomfortable, please stop) *scan cereal* *eye contact* *smile* (something random behind me suddenly becomes very interesting) "Hello hello! Excuse me! £10.75 please! Hello?" (oh! Sorry. I was fascinated by er, that floor tile there.) In fact I suggest that. Just keep grinning all the way through. Make it a big wide one if the sausages are small.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 16:48 |
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Pidmon posted:They can see what you buy? Jesus christ. I wish there was more controversy around companies providing a debit card as either the main, encouraged or only means of receiving ones paycheck. Beyond being demoralizing, it's just ridiculously restricting and the policy needs to just completely go away (sadly I doubt it).
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 16:50 |
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Pidmon posted:They can see what you buy? Jesus christ. I know! It's kind of creepy. I don't mind they can see that I shop at Family Dollar sometimes. I DO mind they can see everything else I use that card for, though. And it gets worse. If we just withdraw all the money, we get hit with a total of $6 in various ATM/bank fees. There is no fee for using it like a debit card. Plus, I don't like cash. I pay all my bills online. I haven't used cash in years. So I'm sort of forced to allow them the see what I use all my money on. It creeps me out.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 16:50 |
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ThreeFish posted:I know! It's kind of creepy. I don't mind they can see that I shop at Family Dollar sometimes. I DO mind they can see everything else I use that card for, though. And it gets worse. If we just withdraw all the money, we get hit with a total of $6 in various ATM/bank fees. There is no fee for using it like a debit card. Plus, I don't like cash. I pay all my bills online. I haven't used cash in years. So I'm sort of forced to allow them the see what I use all my money on. It creeps me out. Jesus hairy christ. Thank god the UK has data protection / privacy laws which would make that hilariously illegal. Is there a concept of cashback in the US and, if so, couldn't you 'withdraw' the money that way - i.e. pay for a stick of gum and ask for $50 back or something?
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 16:55 |
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rolleyes posted:Jesus hairy christ. Thank god the UK has data protection / privacy laws which would make that hilariously illegal. Is there a concept of cashback in the US and, if so, couldn't you 'withdraw' the money that way - i.e. pay for a stick of gum and ask for $50 back or something? That is actually what I've started to do. At my own store of employment, even. I'll buy a water and get $50 cashback. I hate cash, I really do. But I've started taking my 10 year old to Barnes and Noble every weekend and letting him buy something scholarly. So I just use it on that. He's picking some excellent things, by the way! Last week he bought a huge book with full page color photos of the moon landing. The week before that, he bought a really nice card set of all the periodic elements. Each card has the name, facts, atomic weight, abbreviation, how/when/by whom it was discovered etc. Then I use the rest for gas or whatever. The rest left on the card usually goes to whatever utility I have enough money to pay that week. My husband makes 4x as much as I do, so all our big spending comes from the bank account where his money goes. The more I think about this though, the more I think something should be done about it. It's definitely not right.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 17:05 |
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The retail place I worked at before my current job paid employees with a debit card like that, though you could choose to get direct deposit into a regular bank account instead. But every employee had to start with the card and then set up direct deposit at some point after your first paycheck While using that card I discovered no matter where it was or what it was for, if you used it at Debit you got hit with a 50 cent "processing fee.". But if you used it as Credit, the place I worked wouldn't let me use my discount. So I ended up using it as credit everywhere I went except at work I had to weigh whether the discount would be more than the ¢50 service fee I would be charged for using Debit. When you usually only buy drinks and snacks at your job, your discount rarely is more than ¢50. Needless to say I switched to direct deposit as soon as I could. Also along with what you do off the clock, I once posted on facebook that I was "Tired from working my rear end off at work because the Manager had a million things for us to do." I didn't use the company name or the manager's name and didn't even have my employer listed on my page. (My bf's work will fire you if you just list your employer) Buy apparently someone at work saw it and got mad (probably that manager) and I got called into the office a couple days later and lectured about not making the company look bad on Facebook. I just got a warning and didn't get written up fortunately. But sometimes I think places take things too far.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 17:37 |
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ThreeFish posted:We get paid on a company issued debit card. How are you supposed to pay your rent with a loving debit card? That's absurd, and so much more of a pain in the rear end than direct deposit.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 17:56 |
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Well, presumably it's tied into a chequing account so you can perhaps write cheques from it, or some places may allow you to pay rent via debit. My rental company does, so I can walk right into their office every payday and drop a portion of my rent if I choose.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 18:22 |
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No, gently caress that debit card crap. Give me my direct deposit, jerks, into an account of my own choosing.ijii posted:Loyalty Hah! Loyalty's a two-way street. Your grocery store would sooner cut out the lifers if it meant they could save money, especially if it's a corporation beholden to its shareholders.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 19:51 |
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ThreeFish posted:I have a regular customer that is bugging me about smiling. He comes in every day and he will not let this drop. I'm not a huge smiler. I provide excellent customer service (usually!), and I'm super polite and helpful and friendly and everything. He is constantly complaining that I do not smile throughout the entire transaction. I smile when I greet him at the counter and smile again when I give him his change/receipt. He won't let it drop. Yesterday he was complaining again about my lack of smiling throughout the transaction and I asked him why he wasn't smiling. He never smiles. He said he wasn't being paid to smile. Hm. I talked to my AM about it and she says I'm fine and that she's satisfied with how I perform my cashiering duties, so I guess I'm not too worried. Smile-police guy is really starting to bug me! I've never really been a big smiler either and I've gotten poo poo about it from people all my life, so maybe he's just one of those weirdos? I don't know what they expect, apparently I'm supposed to smile 24/7 or somehow it ruins their day? I smile when I greet customers, when they leave and if we're chatting or whatever but that's it really. Weirdly enough I haven't had many people comment on it on the job, but I have gotten comments about my tone of voice. Back when I was working until 11 at night during those insanely busy Christmas shopping shifts, people would periodically ask me about the store's hours. Whenever I told them we closed at 11, they would always say something like "You don't sound very happy about that!" and one guy said something about me having "disdain" in my voice when I told him. Keep in mind I was loving exhausted and about to go insane from a non-stop stream of customers for my entire shift. I mean really? Are you loving surprised that I'm tired and not thrilled to death about having to work extra hours? I just don't get this mentality. I wouldn't walk into their job and be like "You're not cheerful enough, be more cheerful! CHEERFUL!" I probably didn't sound super thrilled, but I don't think my tone of voice was really that far beyond neutral. Really this seems to be part of an overall mentality that somehow since I'm at that counter, I'm not human but some kind of cashier-bot that doesn't need bathroom breaks, food, water and has no emotions other than I LIVE TO SERVE YOU! (with a big rictus grin). On the bright side, my hours have been cut down to a nice sweet spot where I still get an OK paycheck and I also get like 4 days off a week. I'm still looking for other stuff, but I'm not losing my mind anymore. Kimmalah fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Jan 17, 2013 |
# ? Jan 17, 2013 19:54 |
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NaturalLow- I feel like you get me. Today is my first day off since Friday. I was supposed to be off a couple times since then, but I always get called in on my days off. Always. I used to always say yes. I am starting to say no pretty frequently now, and they aren't liking it. We don't have very many people we can call on if someone calls off. I am generally that person. I have been sick for over 2 weeks. I haven't slept well that entire time. I am tired. I NEED to clean my bathrooms. I had plans to go out to eat tonight. My 10 year old is DYING to spend time with me. I'm not loving going in! Quit calling me! Next, they'll have the DM personally call me and remind me that I had mentioned I like working lots of hours because I need the money. They can smell weakness. I will not, NOT!, go in tonight!
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 20:05 |
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ThreeFish posted:NaturalLow- I feel like you get me. I also tend to feel guilty if I say "no" to a call in. If there's a day I really need, sometimes I just won't turn my cell phone on at all if I can help it. Or if I can't and I feel compelled to answer, I just tell them I'm busy and I really can't. I know there's this expectation in retail that you have no life and are on call 24/7, but they scheduled that day off for you in advance. It's not unreasonable (for normal people anyway) that you might have plans on a free day. Sometimes I still say yes and come in, but only on days that work for me. You just really have to put your foot down and set boundaries as much as you can. It may feel "mean" but you have to take care of yourself and your family. My company is really cracking down on hours, so I've had 4 days off this week (so lovely in principle but nice for me). Which I needed since we've got a cold sweeping through the entire store right now and everyone is sick.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 20:22 |
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NaturalLow posted:I've never really been a big smiler either and I've gotten poo poo about it from people all my life, so maybe he's just one of those weirdos? I don't know what they expect, apparently I'm supposed to smile 24/7 or somehow it ruins their day? I say, gently caress it, make them feel bad. "You'd look nicer if you smiled!" "I just found out my sister had leukemia." Somebody pissed me off with that the other day and I told them I had just found out a loved one was missing. They changed their tone immediately.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 20:22 |
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I should. I've been getting that from people since I was a young child. Maybe my neutral expression is sad looking? I've never been able to figure it out because I've never seen anyone walking around smiling all the time but they zero in on me for the "Why don't you smile?" thing.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 20:36 |
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A manager one day called me on not being more cheerful when dealing with customers, so I pointed out how I am 6'4", yet every counter in the store is built for people who are ~5'2"-5'11" thus I have a lot of upper back pain from hunching constantly just to do my job. Being tall actually kind of sucks, I'm not going to lie.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 20:40 |
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In high school I worked for Grand Union during one of their many bankruptcy restructurings. They paid us with vouchers (that looked like checks) that we took to the service desk and they would give us cash. I don't know if it was because of the bankruptcy and they didn't want to pay transfer fees with banks, but it was weird.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 21:22 |
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I got poo poo in school and still do in everyday life about not smiling and looking " angry" as my default expression. I always thought it'd haunt me in retail, but rarely did my bosses say anything. But I sure did get those smile police customers, more so when I worked in the parking lot of a theme park. Now I'm tempted to try the make them feel bad approach.
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 21:34 |
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I do really admire the self restraint of you guys out there. I'd just be all "you should try smiling yourself sometime too" and undoubtedly get fired. If there was nothing to lose, like after winning the lottery or something, it'd be an interesting experiment to see how long someone with my sarcasm levels would last in retail over there. "oh I'm sorry, I was just mirroring *your* expression"
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# ? Jan 17, 2013 23:16 |
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GargleBlaster posted:I do really admire the self restraint of you guys out there. I'd just be all "you should try smiling yourself sometime too" and undoubtedly get fired. Probably not long. I normally have a lot of restraint and have no problem holding my tongue but there have been times when it was incredibly difficult to do even without the lottery factor. Kimmalah fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Jan 18, 2013 |
# ? Jan 18, 2013 00:13 |
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ThreeFish posted:I do shop at my store for items I can. I buy a fair amount of personal products like soap and shampoo at Dollar Tree. I also buy snacks and candy there, but I don't buy a lot of candy anymore since I literally have a 10-ream box full of the poo poo because it's so cheap. I used to be a huge smiler myself, and people that see me on webcam still tell me I have a gorgeous smile. However, I don't like to do it in person because during my brief stint at college, my dental hygiene habits slipped and I now have several cavities the size of a crater which I can't afford to get fixed and refuse to let anyone else pay for (my fuckup, my expense). But people still tell me at least once or twice a week how pleasant I am. Also, on a lighter note, we had a lady from another store helping us out today. She looked like the gargantuan butt baby of John Lithgow and Vincent Schiavelli with a little Dumbo DNA mixed in. It was all I could do not to snicker.
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# ? Jan 18, 2013 00:51 |
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Put my 2 weeks in at the old Big K! Most of my past coworkers give a month's notice, but I felt no need to tell anyone until yesterday, which lead to one of my coworkers breaking down into tears and management immediately raffling my position away Two years next month is when I started. I admit I learned a lot of skills working in retail. I had trouble talking to people I didn't know, so much so that I would have panic attacks just thinking about having to do things at work. I progressed these past two years and I'm now a much more assertive and happy person. I guess retail can either break you or make you stronger. I will be starting my new job the day after my last day. Going back into the pet care field and getting paid double the amount I make in retail. Minimum wage can suck it. Dead Pikachu fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Jan 18, 2013 |
# ? Jan 18, 2013 21:24 |
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Dead Pikachu posted:Put my 2 weeks in at the old Big K! Most of my past coworkers give a month's notice, but I felt no need to tell anyone until yesterday, which lead to one of my coworkers breaking down into tears and management immediately raffling my position away Good for you! Really! That rocks. I also have to admit that working my dollar store job has improved my life in many ways as well. Have fun with your better job! I'd love to be around animals all day. I have a question for you people in other countries: Do people generally go shopping in their (obvious) PJs? I'd seriously bet that more than 50% of my customers are clearly in their pajamas. Is this an American thing? Also- a lady tried on a bra in my store the other day. At the counter. With no shame. I was speechless. I just totally walked away until she was done. Total wtf.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 02:43 |
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Edit: Nevermind. Too E/N for a comedy forum. Avalanche fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Jan 19, 2013 |
# ? Jan 19, 2013 04:30 |
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ThreeFish posted:Good for you! Really! That rocks. I also have to admit that working my dollar store job has improved my life in many ways as well. Have fun with your better job! I'd love to be around animals all day. I was a photo technician at the store I worked for. At that point digital camera's were only starting to get popular, which meant I was developing quite a bit of 35mm. Either the customers had no shame, or didn't think we had to check every single photo for quality. We legally had to report instances of drug use or child pornography, but I didn't care about the former and thank God I never had to deal with the latter. Everything else was fair game. I had, on the SAME roll of film, prom pictures alongside grandma in a teddy baring it all for what weren't supposed to be my eyes. For a high school kid, the lab was the best of times and the worst of times. lingerie party pictures from girls in your grade? check. amateur porn pics? check. hairy asses mooning with bongs? check. Selling one of your favorite substitute teacher's KY jelly with her photos?
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 05:03 |
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Lord Booga posted:It's irrelevant. People have their own preferences and desires, and a weird misplaced sense of loyalty just helps make the problem worse (other than of course, people who genuinely want to shop/visit the company they work for, which is fine). The Lord Bude posted:This is utter crap. Walmart is a direct competitor to us. They have successfully in the past caused our stores to shut down / lose sales. When this happens, our company has to cut costs to keep up with Walmart. Those costs usually come at the expense of good wages of health benefits (which is non existent in Walmart by the way). For many people who has made retail their career or want to make it their career, this is a bad thing for them. Is it really inappropriate for me to be irked when I hear other long time employees shop at these Walmarts that have caused problems? In my opinion, it is justified for me being upset when they shop at Walmart. I could go on and on how horrible Walmart is to communities, but you can google about it. If I heard my coworkers talk about going to Safeway (another direct competitor), not as big of a deal. They are part of the same union and have comparable wages and benefits. So out of principle, just don't go to loving Walmart. For some companies, it is quite relevant when you use services or buy products from your competitors, and for others, not so much. ijii fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Jan 19, 2013 |
# ? Jan 19, 2013 05:25 |
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Your company will succeed or fail on its merits as a business. You don't get the right to tell people where they should shop. The people employed at your workplace do work because they get paid for it. Any shopping loyalty they might have for the place they work is a bonus, not something you have any right to expect.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 06:02 |
The Lord Bude posted:Your company will succeed or fail on its merits as a business. You don't get the right to tell people where they should shop. The people employed at your workplace do work because they get paid for it. Any shopping loyalty they might have for the place they work is a bonus, not something you have any right to expect. I realize you're an Australian, so maybe you don't realize just how terrible Walmart is. But it's totally reasonable for a unionized worker to expect his coworkers to shop at places with unionized staff.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 06:09 |
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I think the point here is more that "It is (or should be) ethically wrong for any human being regardless of situation to patronize Wal-Mart for any non-extraordinary reason," and less that "employee loyalty members of same union Wal-Mart is the enemy." However, the difference in 'evil' and 'shady' scores between Wal-Mart and whatever other American-owned retail chain is really not all that huge. If you want to purchase consumer goods or foodstuffs in the first world you basically have no choice but to financially contribute to stereotypical monolithic-evil corporate interests.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 06:28 |
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The Lord Bude posted:You don't get the right to tell people where they should shop. Not saying that's the case with the Walmart/other store conflict (as union involvement changes everything), but that's par for the course in most entry- and even mid-level positions in the vast majority of industries.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 06:31 |
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I just found out today that we got our first write-up for not getting enough e-mail addresses. Besides being total bullshit, I thought it was kind of unfair since the cashier has only been working since mid-November and hasn't had a lot of time to get her numbers up. I'm sure I'll be next. Looks like the job hunt will be kicking into high gear. It also turns out that the weird situation with that lady complaining about a phone call she overheard was actually some kind of elaborate scheme to scam a discount on the jacket they were trying to buy. The guy who called came in the next day and claimed that our manager that night was rude to his wife on the phone. Which I know was a complete lie because I answered the call and it was that man on the line the whole time. But of course he complained, so our store manager rolled over and gave him like 50% off just to get him out of there. The only thing I can think of is the woman who complained must have been his wife (or at least someone who was in on it somehow), which means they had to organize it so he would call right when she was coming through the register. All for a discount on a stupid hoodie. Honestly even as long as I've been doing retail it never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to just to get money off. It doesn't even have to be a good discount, just something to give them the feeling that they "won" and got their money by god.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 07:09 |
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ijii posted:Walmart is a direct competitor to us. They have successfully in the past caused our stores to shut down / lose sales in the past. When this happens, our company has to cut costs to keep with Walmart. Those costs usually come at the expense of good wages of health benefits (which is non existent in Walmart by the way). For many people who has made retail their career or want to make it their career, this is a bad thing for them. Your company sucks and Wal-Mart is better. It's pretty obvious this is the case. Wal-Mart basically increases the income of retail workers by offering lower prices. Since your wages only matter insofar as they can buy things, it's no one else's responsibility to prop up a worse company so that they can starve a little more for someone else's job security.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 07:25 |
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I would agree, from what I've heard, that WalMart is a fairly evil company. People have a right not to shop there if they disapprove of them. You don't have a right to expect others not to shop there because you don't approve of them. I couldn't begin to imagine the horror of trying to survive on the American minimum wage, but it is outrageous of anyone to demand that they should waste their meagre income by not trying to shop at whatever retailer gives them the best prices.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 08:43 |
The Lord Bude posted:You perform work, they give you money in exchange. That's where it ends. A company can by all means attempt to entice it's employees to shop there by offering a staff discount, but an employee is not the property of the company, they are free people who can do whatever the gently caress they want, and shop wherever the gently caress they want. I like to phrase it as, "You pretend you give a poo poo, and they pretend you're not worthless."
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 08:56 |
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It's especially dumb since the reason given for shopping at Walmart was that the guy was working lovely hours and only Walmart was open he was buying food.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 15:51 |
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MJBuddy posted:Your company sucks and Wal-Mart is better. The Lord Bude posted:I would agree, from what I've heard, that WalMart is a fairly evil company. People have a right not to shop there if they disapprove of them. You don't have a right to expect others not to shop there because you don't approve of them. I couldn't begin to imagine the horror of trying to survive on the American minimum wage, but it is outrageous of anyone to demand that they should waste their meagre income by not trying to shop at whatever retailer gives them the best prices. Sure, they have the right to shop where ever they want, but as soon as they brag how they got a cheap deal at a place, I have a right to voice my opinion on the matter. It's not like I go around telling people where they can and can't shop or use consumer services, I only talk about it when they talk about it. I agree that it is wrong for a company to dictate where an employee can shop through disciplinary action or by other threatening means. However it is hard for me to feel sorry for them when they get flak for bragging or flaunting that they shop at places that is actively putting us out of business and supporting poo poo wages and no health benefits. You may not realize this, but over here in our economy there's a real threat of established companies folding and thousands of people losing their jobs at once. There's no real universal health care here, so when they're out of a job, they are really hosed. So when I hear coworkers talk about shopping with a competitor (that has very unethical business practices) that is doing a drat good job forcing companies to fold, you drat right I'm going to voice my opinion. I really wish it wasn't as cutthroat as that, but it is and that's reality.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 16:21 |
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should CEOs really be posting in the retail drones thread though? Wait what's that, you aren't the owner of your company? Then why do you care so much?
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 16:38 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 22:25 |
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Pidmon posted:should CEOs really be posting in the retail drones thread though? Wait what's that, you aren't the owner of your company? Then why do you care so much? Makes sense to me why he'd want his company to remain in business and continue employing him.
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# ? Jan 19, 2013 16:42 |