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I've been mindfucked into using as few bags as possible because THEY'RE 2 CENTS APIECE ZOMG DON'T THROW THEM AWAY OR USE TOO MANY BECAUSE YOU'LL GET IN TROUBLE, so that's why I think I did that...I always follow a few general rules. - Cans on bottom. - Bread on top or in its own bag. - Bleach and ammonia never together. - Try not to mix chemicals unless I'm sure of what's in each cleaner and that it won't react if spilled. - Wrap glassware if possible. - Cards on top or between boxes, and never in the same bag as anything that can leak or anything cold. - Boxed food never with anything that can leak. - If everything can fit in one bag, it's going in one bag unless the customer says something or it's boxed food and non-leak-safe stuff. - Other general things that just make sense. I was never truly trained on this aspect of the job. It's something I just picked up as I went along and used the bare minimum of knowledge I gleaned from going to Publix on Saturdays with my parents for 16 years. D34THROW fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Mar 25, 2012 |
# ? Mar 25, 2012 14:49 |
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# ? Apr 17, 2024 22:31 |
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Testro posted:I absolutely cannot fathom standing at a checkout and watching someone else packing for me unless my arms have fallen off. Yep, same here, also UK. It's nice that I'm almost always offered help, but I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself and so I do. We have the self-service checkout things too, which is great if I've only got a handful of things but we always bag our own stuff regardless.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 14:51 |
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rolleyes posted:
Several states, particularly on the west coast, or individual cities/counties within the states are attempting to ban plastic bags. I live in Oregon and there's currently a movement that wants plastic bags to be banned from all shops (you'll always have to bring in your own bags, or get paper ones from the store). That would be fine if I didn't live in a place with more average rain fall than England. How in the hell are you supposed to get anything home when the rain pours down in sheets for several days at a time? Plastic bags are protection, drat it.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 15:12 |
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I tend to go through self service checkouts, because I don't often do weekly shops - I live so close to the local supermarkets, I tend to pop in on the way home from work and grab what I want for tea and no more. I know that there was a report over here a few weeks ago about how self service doesn't actually save any time at the checkout and I can see how that may occur when items don't scan, or people struggle with the machine - but as I'm confident and fast at using them, I find that I can speed through really quickly and it definitely shaves time off my visit. Supermarkets kept trying to seem "helpful" by offering mobile phone top ups and stamps, and offering to pack bags etc, but all that upselling has made me do is want to not engage with a cashier at all, as I don't want to be bombarded with questions that I have to say no to (how desperately English, feeling that saying no is impolite!). As Rolleyes has said, there's a push on saving carrier bags at the moment too, so you get asked if you want help with your packing and then you get asked, "How many carrier bags do you need?" - and I hate it when you miscalculate and sometimes the cashier watches you struggle(!) trying to pack it all until you ask for an extra bag, rather than offering. It seems so incongruent offering a load of "help" (for things you don't want) and then perversely watching you suffer when they could just throw an extra bag your way. The biggest problem now is that in some supermarkets (Morrisons), they've very visibly cut down on cashiers and you're left with heaving queues at self service (and their machines are awful). The few cashiers that are on have queues of 3-4 people deep, each with overflowing trolleys, so you *have* to go through self service...and that means anyone with a basket, regardless of how confident they are with the machine, has to go through; and that inevitably leads to mistakes and more queues! Thankfully, my local ASDA has been really good at keeping cashiers at tills whilst providing self service as an alternative, so it all seems to move rapidly there. Paper bags have always seemed quite odd to me; you'd think they'd rip really easily if you overloaded them. Canvas bags are really popular here now and sturdy 'bags for life', which you pay for and the supermarket replaces once they're worn out. When I do a bigger shop, I use a rucksack because I find it easier to carry anyway - and it's waterproof, doesn't cut into your hands, doesn't fray etc.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 15:33 |
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Most oldies in the US remember when a grocery trip ended with a guy carefully bagging all of their groceries, loading them in a cart, taking the cart to your car, then loading the groceries into the trunk while smiling all the time and thanking you once again for shopping at the Food-O-Rama Deluxe Mart. The transition to modern reality hasn't been easy for some of them it seems.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 15:36 |
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dee eight posted:Most oldies in the US remember when a grocery trip ended with a guy carefully bagging all of their groceries, loading them in a cart, taking the cart to your car, then loading the groceries into the trunk while smiling all the time and thanking you once again for shopping at the Food-O-Rama Deluxe Mart. When I worked at a grocery store in my early 20's (2004 - 2005), this was actually a big part of my job. Working weekdays I saw nearly all elderly women with little to no muscle tone, who would request one - two cans per bag. Then I'd take them out to the car for them, load them in, and try to figure out how they were going to get the groceries into the house. 90% of customers requesting service out to the car fell into the category. Another 5% were parents and visibly disabled non elderly adults. Usually mothers, trying to grocery shop with a baby and a toddler. I'd load the groceries into the car while the parent got the kids wrangled into car seats. The last 5% were the worst. Middle aged, decently healthy, physically fit (the worst of these were two people I saw at the gym at the college nearly every day) who would demand service out to the car, GET IN THE CAR while I packed the groceries in, and half the time start the car. Exhaust flying in my face, sometimes a huge dog staring balefully at me, and not a single acknowledgement from the customer.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 16:11 |
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There's still a lot of places here (southern US) where the person who bags your groceries will at least offer to take them to your car as well. I can think of at least two chains I frequent that have this, and no matter how busy they always seem to have people available except maybe overnight in 24 hour stores. I love self-checkout, but I've known people who absolutely hate it. I just can't stand when someone packs my groceries and will put a bag of chips and a box of alcohol pads in separate bags, I guess because of the thing they're taught about chemicals? It's isopropanol and they're in mylar packages inside of a box, they aren't going to put a dent in this sturdy bag of chips! Gay Poops posted:How in the hell are you supposed to get anything home when the rain pours down in sheets for several days at a time? Either get a sturdy canvas bag from somewhere, one of those big nylon bags they sell in grocery stores, or a duffle bag made of neoprene or gortex or something. You would be able to fit more groceries in any of those than in a plastic bag and a lot of places give you a small discount for using your own bags, or charge you extra if you didn't bring your own.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 16:18 |
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Testro posted:The biggest problem now is that in some supermarkets (Morrisons), they've very visibly cut down on cashiers and you're left with heaving queues at self service (and their machines are awful). The few cashiers that are on have queues of 3-4 people deep, each with overflowing trolleys, so you *have* to go through self service...and that means anyone with a basket, regardless of how confident they are with the machine, has to go through; and that inevitably leads to mistakes and more queues! In my local TESCO I almost always see an entirely different problem. It's a "Metro" store, not huge but not one of the really small ones either, so a good chunk of people are only stopping in for a few things. As a result, they have five or six checkouts and about 12-15 self-service stations with plenty of staff to help people using them. However, when I've had to do a big shop there I've found that loads of people refuse to use the self-service stations for whatever reason, leading to huge queues of people with a handful of items in a basket or even actually just in their hands. People with big loads end up waiting for much longer than they would if people just got over it and used the drat things. They're really not that hard to use.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 17:38 |
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I've only recently started working with self service machines from a staff perspective (not retail) and the way some customers act when they get in front of one honestly makes me wonder how they can dress themselves in the morning. I am starting to fear getting middle aged if it means you can't cope with reading some simple instructions on a screen and following them.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 18:02 |
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For the most part I think it's because they never did something of a similar nature growing up. Not because they were privileged or haughty but because the menial jobs before their career did not involve as much technology. But I can look at a self-check out and go as fast as the machine will allow me because I've done retail checkout before with a laser scanner/scale/etc. I reckon that I'm going to experience the same thing when I become 60. Hell, I already hate technology and young people, and I'm only 29!
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 18:35 |
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Robzor McFabulous posted:In my local TESCO I almost always see an entirely different problem. It's a "Metro" store, not huge but not one of the really small ones either, so a good chunk of people are only stopping in for a few things. As a result, they have five or six checkouts and about 12-15 self-service stations with plenty of staff to help people using them. However, when I've had to do a big shop there I've found that loads of people refuse to use the self-service stations for whatever reason, leading to huge queues of people with a handful of items in a basket or even actually just in their hands. People with big loads end up waiting for much longer than they would if people just got over it and used the drat things. They're really not that hard to use. I can use the self-service lanes perfectly fine, but I don't. Even if I'm just buying a few things I go through a lane with a cashier. Since the self-service lanes have been installed the express lanes are never open, and half the regular lanes are closed too. I hate seeing friends lose their jobs because they've been replaced by the self checkouts. I know that a lot of jobs have been automated, and that's not always a bad thing, but it feels more personal when people I actually know have had their hours slashed or been laid off.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 20:12 |
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Yeah, my grandma refuses to use self checkouts and ATMs because "they're taking away people's jobs".
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 21:11 |
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dee eight posted:Most oldies in the US remember when a grocery trip ended with a guy carefully bagging all of their groceries, loading them in a cart, taking the cart to your car, then loading the groceries into the trunk while smiling all the time and thanking you once again for shopping at the Food-O-Rama Deluxe Mart. The local Thriftway here still does that. Half the time I will grab my own stuff. If its a large load of stuff though I let them do it and always give them a dollar or two. Edit. Recently in the paper my town was thinking of going plastic bag free. For reference the town is so small the email to city hall about this was a @yahoo.com address. People are up in arms about this despite it being a extremely windy area, out side will always have plastic bags on fences, trees, bush you name it. I hope it happens personally. Darth Freddy fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Mar 25, 2012 |
# ? Mar 25, 2012 21:15 |
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I just thank baggers profusely and don't try to bag my own stuff if a bagger is already present to do it. Anytime I try to bag my own stuff at the store near my house, the baggers will act like they're going to get fired if they don't do it. The supervisors there seem like dicks (at least they are when they're on check), so I've started making a point to go to a store that's further from my house, but seems to actually treat their employees well. The only time I get bags is if I need something to put my kitchen trash in, but honestly I'd love it if we did away with plastic bags and started implementing a charge if you don't bring your own bags.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 21:23 |
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It'd be awesome if plastic bags were done away with. There's a field near my house that always looks like it has a flock of birds in it because there's so many bags. People in my area are trashy as hell. I see them crumple up receipts and just throw them over their shoulder on a daily basis.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 22:12 |
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We've done away with plastic bags in San Jose. It's a mixed blessing; I don't mind bringing a paper bag, but now I actually have to purchase trash bags. I'm really glad I don't work in retail anymore; I can't imagine dealing with the hordes of angry people who want a plastic bag and don't want to pony up ten whole cents for a paper one.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 22:34 |
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froglet posted:Depending on where you live, this could be 'constructive dismissal'. Unfortunately where I live (Australia) constructive dismissal doesn't exist if you're a casual employee, thus people can (and do) get hosed over by this sort of thing. I hear it's a favourite tactic at fast food outlets such as McDonalds to get rid of 'troublemakers' (i.e. people who know their rights). I'm in Australia too. And it's happened to me at McDonalds as well, although I wasn't a troublemaker, I just got older so they whittled my shifts down to nothing as I aged, and hired a whole bunch of 14 year olds they could pay a few dollars per hour less than what they had to pay me. At the moment I'm just going to sit tight and see what happens on next month's roster. I'm not in a position where I need to have a job, at the moment I could use more time to focus on uni work so I'm just using the break as constructively as I can. If I'm not on the roster next month though I'll be ringing the manager to complain.
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# ? Mar 25, 2012 23:32 |
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Robzor McFabulous posted:I've found that loads of people refuse to use the self-service stations for whatever reason... I was a cashier for 8 years, so I fully understand how to use the self-service machines, but I refuse to use them too. Aside from the fact that they're "taking away jobs," it's like they're providing less service for the same cost to the customer. And, the weight sensors in them are ridiculous, so they tell you like ten times to put the item you've just scanned into a bag when you've already done it, or don't give you the option to use your own bags. I would rather queue for 10 minutes than use one, and if it was the only option, I'd leave.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 01:48 |
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For the passed five hours I've had to call in every single card because our system is down again oh and I'm by my self. Four more hours to go I hate this.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 02:45 |
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Y'ever have one of those days where you're walking out of work with a smile on your face and a spring in your step? That was today for me. I don't know why, but for once, I left in a good mood. That being said, it was interesting for a moment today when the MOD was on register and a dude demanded she pull the entire register assembly out because he dropped a nickel under it. She offered to get him one out of our cachet in the office. Not good enough, pull the register out. She offered to give him one out of her pocket. Not good enough, pull the register out. A guy behind him in line told him he'd give him the nickel. Not good enough, I want it from HER after she pulls the register out for it! Eventually he left and said he's going to call corporate. Good loving luck, tell your side of the story so me and L can tell ours and they can tell you to kindly go gently caress yourself with a cheese grater.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 03:04 |
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bee posted:I'm in Australia too. And it's happened to me at McDonalds as well, although I wasn't a troublemaker, I just got older so they whittled my shifts down to nothing as I aged, and hired a whole bunch of 14 year olds they could pay a few dollars per hour less than what they had to pay me. If you're a casual, then it will always be luck of the draw when it comes to shifts...employers typically have to offer hours to permanents before they offer it to casuals. On the other hand, if you are a permanent, reducing your hours and giving them to someone else would likely be illegal, so you should check the terms of your award on the SDA website. At the end of the day though, consider trying to move to a more civilized employer like Woolworths or Coles. McDonalds is pretty much the lowest paying job you can get in retail/fast food, they pay right on the minimum wage - tops out at about $15 for adult (age 20+) permanents. Woolworths and Coles are more likely to hire older staff members - I have only ever known a single 14 year old that worked at Woolworths, most new hires are in their last year of highschool or have started university. They also pay considerably more than pretty much any other retailer. The rate of pay for anyone aged 20 and over is $19.32 an hour, as a casual it would be $23.18. That being said as you've seen, it really isn't a great idea being a casual, especially as you get older. You are more likely to get employment if you want to be a permanent in any case.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 03:41 |
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cobalt impurity posted:
I shop for a family of 4, spending roughly $300 a month on groceries. I tried the canvas bag route last year, and they don't hold up to the abuse my family and shopping puts on them, nor do they keep the rain out when loading the groceries into the car.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 04:00 |
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Chandrika posted:I was a cashier for 8 years, so I fully understand how to use the self-service machines, but I refuse to use them too. Aside from the fact that they're "taking away jobs," it's like they're providing less service for the same cost to the customer. And, the weight sensors in them are ridiculous, so they tell you like ten times to put the item you've just scanned into a bag when you've already done it, or don't give you the option to use your own bags. I would rather queue for 10 minutes than use one, and if it was the only option, I'd leave.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 09:12 |
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Chandrika posted:I was a cashier for 8 years, so I fully understand how to use the self-service machines, but I refuse to use them too. Aside from the fact that they're "taking away jobs," it's like they're providing less service for the same cost to the customer. Eh, each to their own. I'm able to use them just fine, so I find I'm getting better service if I can zip through a self-service machine in two minutes rather than wait at a checkout behind all the people who don't want to.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 13:14 |
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Semprini posted:But a human cashier won't let you put every weighed purchase through as onions! Think of the theft you're missing out on! At least at the store I usually go to, there's four self checkout stations and then some guy who sits at a computer at the front that echoes all the stuff that gets scanned. So if someone says they're buying 40 pounds of onions and their cart is loaded with beer, they'll notice right away. The system also has a scale so it can tell if the thing scanned was not, in fact, an onion
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 15:54 |
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-Troika- posted:At least at the store I usually go to, there's four self checkout stations and then some guy who sits at a computer at the front that echoes all the stuff that gets scanned. So if someone says they're buying 40 pounds of onions and their cart is loaded with beer, they'll notice right away. The system also has a scale so it can tell if the thing scanned was not, in fact, an onion I think Semprini was talking about things like loose fruit and veg, things which aren't scanned. You could just enter anything as the cheapest possible item, usually something like onions.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 17:42 |
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Hey guys! Guess what I just found out? Natalie the keyholder from hell got another job as a fitness trainer. I think she's claiming that it's "co-op" for her schooling and she'll be working both jobs for awhile, but it's possible that if they take her on full time, she'll leave DollarDrama. Here's hoping.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 18:42 |
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What do you do when the owner of your franchise store sets local policies that conflict with corporate ones? If you're like me, you play dumb and thank god, for once, that customers have a clinical inability to process the written contents of their receipt! Can't wait for the day someone notices what we're up to and raises some hell, as long as it's on my day off.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 18:55 |
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Epoxy Bulletin posted:What do you do when the owner of your franchise store sets local policies that conflict with corporate ones? If you're like me, you play dumb and thank god, for once, that customers have a clinical inability to process the written contents of their receipt! Can't wait for the day someone notices what we're up to and raises some hell, as long as it's on my day off. What's going on?
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 19:07 |
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Robzor McFabulous posted:I think Semprini was talking about things like loose fruit and veg, things which aren't scanned. You could just enter anything as the cheapest possible item, usually something like onions. Exactly. "5lbs of onions, my good machine" "Beep boop" "Haha, this foolish contraption thinks I am purchasing onions, and has charged me accordingly. Little does it know that it only detected 5lbs of weight, and I have in fact purchased 5lbs of saffron for much cheapness"
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 22:45 |
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Epoxy Bulletin posted:What do you do when the owner of your franchise store sets local policies that conflict with corporate ones? If you're like me, you play dumb and thank god, for once, that customers have a clinical inability to process the written contents of their receipt! Can't wait for the day someone notices what we're up to and raises some hell, as long as it's on my day off. semi related: I noticed a conflict between terms and conditions for a couple of products one of my old jobs sold. I wrote a short, well thought out email detailing where the difference was. The was three years ago. I think they're they're still conflicting.
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# ? Mar 26, 2012 23:22 |
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It's Monday and 7pm. I'm going to assume I did not get the job at the store that blue-balled me. I also found out I did not get the job I interviewed for last Tuesday either. Today's interview went all right, and I will find out whether I got it "within a couple days". Typical. Meanwhile I'm going back to throwing out resumes and applications like it's candy and trying hard not to go postal at my current job.
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 00:00 |
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Epoxy Bulletin posted:What do you do when the owner of your franchise store sets local policies that conflict with corporate ones? If you're like me, you play dumb and thank god, for once, that customers have a clinical inability to process the written contents of their receipt! Can't wait for the day someone notices what we're up to and raises some hell, as long as it's on my day off. If you have an anonymous corporate care line like DT does, call in, and tell them what's going on at store number X. But exactly what local policies conflict with corporate and how?
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 01:05 |
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Should've noticed I was missing some details Nothing special, just that the bossman has us put up and enforce signs detailing our return policy for video games, namely the length allowed, which is about a third of what's printed on the receipts. Helpful old me called up our tech support line once to ask how to change that part, only to be curtly informed we cannot. I assumed that might have put us on the shitlist already, but we're still doing it. We've only been called on it by one guy as far as I know, we quietly accepted the return while tittering about "gosh if that's what it says, we must have misunderstood our instructions, so sorry"
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 03:09 |
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Epoxy Bulletin posted:Should've noticed I was missing some details Yeah, you need to let corporate know directly. If and when the hammer comes down on that, everyone that enforced that is going to get the poo poo end of the stick.
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 03:35 |
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D34THROW posted:Yeah, you need to let corporate know directly. If and when the hammer comes down on that, everyone that enforced that is going to get the poo poo end of the stick. *heavily implying I was lying
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 03:37 |
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The Lord Bude posted:If you're a casual, then it will always be luck of the draw when it comes to shifts...employers typically have to offer hours to permanents before they offer it to casuals. On the other hand, if you are a permanent, reducing your hours and giving them to someone else would likely be illegal, so you should check the terms of your award on the SDA website. When I worked at mcdonalds a couple of years ago anyone over 21 got around $21 an hour, so it's actually not too bad. I mean I personally only get $21.50 an hour and I work for a bank.
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 03:44 |
Plus $23.18 as a casual isn't exactly raking it in for retail in Australia. I made that much before I was 20.
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 04:19 |
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Guni posted:When I worked at mcdonalds a couple of years ago anyone over 21 got around $21 an hour, so it's actually not too bad. I mean I personally only get $21.50 an hour and I work for a bank. If this is the case then the union must have dropped the ball big time, because the current award is nothing like that
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 04:38 |
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# ? Apr 17, 2024 22:31 |
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How stupid of an idea is it to try and get a second job that is also in retail? There's a Target across the street from where I work now that is hiring and, since I can't find any full-time professional positions that are interested, maybe a second retail job will help me cross the awesome $15k/year mark. I've pretty much given up hope of grad school at this point.
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# ? Mar 27, 2012 05:39 |