Please Kill me now

[Dark Psion]

First some ancient history;
Once upon a time, my store closed at 5:30pm. But one customer complaining to the owner that "we were always closing when she wanted to buy feed." led to us staying open till 6, but with a minimal crew. Of course 6pm has now become our official closing time, but half of the staff leaves at 5:30. Oh and that customer, she started coming in at 6pm.

Now some recent history;
A week ago Thrusday I was putting away my plant carts outside when they called out some potting soil and I told the guys I would get it. The lady was all upset about the way she was treated inside by the cashiers. She said they were rude, did not greet her when she came in and acted like it she was interurpting them when she was ready to cash out.

Technically, she was interupting them from counting down the registers and cleaning up and since there are only two of them after 5:30, they were both busy.
I tried to soothe her hurt feelings by, well lying , and told her that they had been short handed today and were just tired and worn out. I loaded her soil and tried a little humor and Bu-bye

And now today;
She was a fracking mystery shopper!!!!!

In the last two secret shops we got 100%, this time we got 64%. And I know just how the bosses will interpret this; "A lack of taking care of the customer" or "a need to extend our hours a little more to close down".

The real problem is that if we are open till 6pm, and people need to stay till 6pm. There was a time when they decided that we should wait till after 6pm to put stuff up because we were blocking the patio with all the stuff we have. This of course led to customers trying to get in after 6pm and the bosses let them in which is an invitation to a robbery. Also there were three days last month where I was the only guy on the floor after 5:30, everyone else left thinking one of the others was staying.

Add to this me and another guy are always the two guys who work open to close everyday we work. We don't come in at 9 (like the bosses) or go home at 4 (like a manager) and we work almost every weekend. I asked for a weekend off a month ago and still don't have one and with me needing to do a paint inventory again and the week after that is Fall Market and all the bosses and managers will be gone (silver lining ) it wil be Thanksgiving before I get off, (assuming we are still closed on that day).

I have also lost my lunch hour, I don't bother to clock out any more since they keep calling me for paint and phone calls (6 times last Thrusday). And you don't want me to even start about lunch on Saturday

[Foxglove8778]

I have also lost my lunch hour, I don't bother to clock out any more since they keep calling me for paint and phone calls (6 times last Thrusday). And you don't want me to even start about lunch on Saturday

... depending on how many hours you've worked, that is illegal.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Okay, if she really was a mystery shopper, then she needs to be reported.

[MrSunshineState]

... depending on how many hours you've worked, that is illegal.

Depends on the state. In Florida, you are only legally entitled to a break if you are a minor.

[TequilaSunrise]

Depends on the state. In Florida, you are only legally entitled to a break if you are a minor.

Actually, if you work over 6 hours, you MUST clock out and take a 30 minute meal break. Teh_Bullzeye is quite insistent on that.

[DarthRetard]

Here, at General Nutrition Centers (GNC), where i work, we're allowed to sign a waiver agreeing to taking an on-duty lunch, where we can stay clocked in and get paid for that half-hour.

[MoonChild2007]

Once upon a time, my store closed at 5:30pm. But one customer complaining to the owner that "we were always closing when she wanted to buy feed.

And she couldn't for the life of her come in EARLIER before you close? Lovely, it is not the owner's fault that this idiot came in at the last minute.

[trunks2k]

Depends on the state. In Florida, you are only legally entitled to a break if you are a minor.

There's federal regulations when it comes to breaks, and the amount of time you can work. They should be up in your breakroom.

[Andara Bledin]

There's federal regulations when it comes to breaks, and the amount of time you can work. They should be up in your breakroom.

Not only should they be posted, but it's federal law that they be posted. My company has them posted on the board where the time clock is located.

^-.-^

[Dark Psion]

And she couldn't for the life of her come in EARLIER before you close? Lovely, it is not the owner's fault that this idiot came in at the last minute.

You don't know our owner.

He will spend 30 minutes telling you the importance of shopping carts.

He will call you away from helping a customer to tell you how important it is to help every customer.

He once chewed out an employee for telling a customer where to find something we don't sell.

He was one of the management who wanted to get rid of the small engine repair, but still expets someone to take care of hs friends lawnmowers.

And last year he added an extra hour on Sundays because we were herding the customers out at closing time. Now I end my work week with a dead slow hour staring at the clock.

[Tigress]

I had two workplaces that wanted to extend the hours of business to accomodate stragglers.

First was at Cingular, when we would always have people fighting to get in right at 6 pm. It got bad enough that we would have to lock the front doors, in violation of fire codes, to prevent anyone new coming in, just so we could all go home at a reasonable time.

Our district manager wanted to extend our hours until 7 pm, but our manager shot it down. It didn't matter what time we closed, because there was always going to be someone that wanted to come into the store right when we closed to have us print a bill, check their minutes, buy minutes, talk to customer service, bitch about their phone not working, etc. And were physically incapable of traveling 5 minutes to the mall kiosk that did everything we did and was open until 10 pm.

We also were in a high-crime area and either got threatened or called the police at least once month. There was no way we were hanging around after dark when someone could jump us!

The second was with a title insurance company. One of our clients was notorious about sending their stuff in at the last possible second and then wondering why it wasn't done that day. Our office closed at 5:30, but we still had to process payments and get the mail done before the 5:30 post office cut-off. The office coordinator suggested extending our hours to accomodate them, since they were one of our biggest clients. My manager flat-out told her "no." Because if we extended until 6, they'd wait until 6 and bitch. If we extended until 7, they'd wait until 7 and bitch. If we had someone available 24/7 that acted as their exclusive, personal underwriter and jumped every time they farted in the poor girl's general direction, they'd still bitch.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Heh, we were open 9am to 11pm. Apparently 14 hours a day is not enough. People need that coffee and magazine at 11:01

[Brightglaive]

There are federal regulations (In the US, Not sure about overseas) about taking breaks. One 10-minute break for every four hours of work. Lunch regulations vary from state to state. In my state you don't HAVE to take a lunch. But the company is required to give every one the same option to take lunch if they do provide a lunch hour (or half hour) for any of their employees.


That being said if I were you, I would start taking an hour-long lunch everyday and LEAVE the store. They can then call and call and call for paint and someone will have to step up to help. If the owner complains you can tell him/her, " Well, If you want we can take it up with the EEOC or local labor board. I'm sure they'll be interested that the store is so busy X (your coworker) and I can't have breaks or lunches and are working 72 or more hours a week. If he tries to write you up then you do take it to the EEOC or local labor board.

The owner can get into a HEAP of trouble by retaliating against you if you complain about unfair labor practices or hostile work environments. All You need to do is notify them and then document everything in writing. (And Don't sign any writeups if they try and write you up for pointing out those things.)

[Boozy]

He will call you away from helping a customer to tell you how important it is to help every customer.

I had a boss like this once. For about a month. Then I quit.

He actually had all sorts of obnoxious habits, but this was the one that pissed me off the most. Its stupid, arrogant, and counter-productive. The arsehole trifecta.

[MadonnaC]

There are federal regulations (In the US, Not sure about overseas) about taking breaks. One 10-minute break for every four hours of work. Lunch regulations vary from state to state. In my state you don't HAVE to take a lunch. But the company is required to give every one the same option to take lunch if they do provide a lunch hour (or half hour) for any of their employees.

Common misconception.

Federal guidelines do not state anything about the time required, just that a break is short (5-20 minutes) and must be paid, and that lunch is a longer break (30+ minutes) and doesn't have to be paid

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require breaks or meal periods be given to workers.
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/008.htm

Note that each state may require breaks and lunches, but nothing in Federal law.