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  • Labor Day

    Not wanting to threadjack another's post I'm putting it here.

    We had a woman come in and bought a computer from me. She is a regular and this was her fourth computer in the past two years (one for home and three for kids in college). After she finishes getting the computer from me, she demands to speak to my boss.

    I get him out and she complains that it's a shame and an outrage that my boss is making me work in the store on Labor Day. That as an Asian immigrant, if he wants to live here he needs to understand what Labor Day means and why we have it off. For that matter he shouldn't have us working on ANY holiday that the banks are closed on.

    Before my boss could answer I pulled the receipt from her last computer purchase which was the day AFTER last Labor Day and reminded her of the hissy-pissy-bitchout that I got from her last year when we were closed.

    I looked at her and said "You were upset and yelling at us when we weren't open for your convenience last year. You are upset and yelling at us now because we are open for you this year. Since neither of the two options we have chosen in the past pleased you, please feel free to tell us what you want us to do for you. Is there a list of holidays you'd like to give us saying when we can and cannot work?"

    This got her very huffy and she took her computer and left. My boss looked at me and busted out laughing.

    But that wasn't the best part. She complained to the school that uses us for their IT work to bitch us out for being insolent and for working on a public holiday and that they should drop our contract with them. The superintendent of the school called up and let us know that she complained. He really called to describe the look on her face when he told her the reason we were working that day in the first place.

    A MASSIVE t-storm took out their server the Friday before school started as well as 30 workstations. We were doing an emergency build so they could be ready for the kids on Tuesday.
    I never lost my faith in humanity. Can't lose what you never had right?

  • #2
    Quoth Mongo Skruddgemire View Post
    I looked at her and said "You were upset and yelling at us when we weren't open for your convenience last year. You are upset and yelling at us now because we are open for you this year. Since neither of the two options we have chosen in the past pleased you, please feel free to tell us what you want us to do for you. Is there a list of holidays you'd like to give us saying when we can and cannot work?"




    Don't you just LOVE being able to do things like that?
    Unseen but seeing
    oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
    There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
    3rd shift needs love, too
    RIP, mo bhrionglóid

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    • #3
      I want Mongo's job -- well, the ability to say what one must to a customer - internal or external!!
      Teach a SC to fish... and they will whine about you not catching, filleting, frying, and serving it up on a silver platter for them. - EvilEmpryss

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      • #4
        Quoth Mongo Skruddgemire View Post
        I get him out and she complains that it's a shame and an outrage that my boss is making me work in the store on Labor Day. That as an Asian immigrant, if he wants to live here he needs to understand what Labor Day means and why we have it off. For that matter he shouldn't have us working on ANY holiday that the banks are closed on.
        Welcome to America! Where we complain about everything that doesn't fit our mood at that exact moment and where holidays have just become excuses to have more sales.

        Labor Day: The day well-paid Americans take a day off so those of us with some of the lowest wages can work ten times harder slinging food and pushing sales.

        Memorial Day: The day we honor military men and women who have fought and died for our freedom by tossing flowers on the ground in a cemetery on our way to the mall where we will fight our own wars over furniture and electronics sales.

        Christmas: An entire month of retail madness, beginning with standing in line at 4AM in the dark and cold pre-dawn with a stomach still full of Thanksgiving turkey only to stand in another line two hours later to buy stuff. This is followed by a month of frenzied shopping for the best gifts and another long line on Christmas Eve with a few last obligatory gifts for co-workers, neighbors and distant relations. But the true meaning of Christmas? It's the day before we get to go return all the gifts we don't want, even though someone was probably standing in line at 4AM to get them for us.

        If you ask me, Labor Day is a joke. There is no way we could come up with a holiday on which everyone could take the day off (especially not in health care and related fields). And even if we could, it would work for one year until the big-cheeses at retail corporate offices figured out how to turn it into a sale and make us work anyway.

        /rant

        On a lighter note, I love being able to catch customers in hypocrisy like that. It doesn't happen often, but it sure does feel good.
        I suspect that... inside every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants everything his own way.
        - Bill Watterson

        My co-workers: They're there when they need me.
        - IPF

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        • #5
          Oh, you forgot that now some stores (and outlet centers) open at MIDNIGHT on Black Friday! hahahaha

          I hear ya, i requested Labor Day off, simply becauase I thought I might take the day after off from my regular job, so I would have 2 free days, but offered to work both Sat and Sun...turns out i'm not taking Tuesday, working Sat 5-10pm only, and not sure about Sunday, but the powers that be are trying to figure out if its worth it to stay open until NINE PM on Labor Day; this mind you, when all the other stores in our center will close at 6.

          Stupidest thing I've heard; i suspect business sucks, so they're trying anyting they can, but they will use more payroll hours than they will get sales, I;m betting, if they opt to stay open late.

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          • #6
            Quoth HawaiianShirts View Post
            Christmas: An entire month of retail madness, beginning with standing in line at 4AM in the dark and cold pre-dawn with a stomach still full of Thanksgiving turkey only to stand in another line two hours later to buy stuff. This is followed by a month of frenzied shopping for the best gifts and another long line on Christmas Eve with a few last obligatory gifts for co-workers, neighbors and distant relations. But the true meaning of Christmas? It's the day before we get to go return all the gifts we don't want, even though someone was probably standing in line at 4AM to get them for us.
            Let us not forget about our Canadian breathren, who have to cut short their Chirstmasses in order to get up in time to serve the massive lineups at our Boxing Day Sales. In addition we get to here the stories of people in the lineups who will wait until December 26 to buy certain Christmas gifts or who convinced the family to have Christmas a day early so they could get a good night's sleep before waking up at 4 in the morning.

            Also, they'll bitch about how cold it is standing outside at 5 am on the morning of December 26 in Canada. >.<
            I pray for the strength to change what I can, the inability to change what I can't, and the incapacity to tell the difference -Calvin, Calvin & Hobbes

            Being a pessimist and cynical wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't right so often!

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            • #7
              I liked working the minor holidays...time and a half plus an extra day off somewhere else in the week!

              I have gone in at 6 am (twice) the day after Christmas to get things ready for the post-holiday markdowns...which entails stickering all the calendars and the gifty bargain books with 50% off stickers, and putting up signs advertising such. Comfort and joy.
              I don't go in for ancient wisdom
              I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
              It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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              • #8
                As a part-timer, I get four hours of extra pay on holidays, regardless of whether I work or how long I work. So the only incentive for me to work on them is my empathy for other human beings and my protestant work ethic. Also, because calling out on a holiday WILL get you fired if my boss is in that kind of mood - and I support that. I do not need to work even harder than I would already have to on Thanksgiving until we close at 3, just because some teenager thought he'd be clever and call in sick.

                But yes, anyone who says, "They shouldn't make you work today!" gets the stony expression and a falsely cheery, "Well, sir, if people wouldn't shop today, corporate wouldn't make us open."

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                • #9
                  Ah the dreaded Monday Holidays. Normally not a problem for me since Monday & Tuesday are my days off, but this year may be a problem.

                  The guy who normally works all the holidays we are open for is on vacation.
                  Of course the fact he got a vacation is proof miracles do exisit.

                  So far, not a single sales floor worker, sorry associate , has signed up for Labor Day. They do offer time and a half for holidays, but since I average about 8 hours overtime a paycheck, I would allready have that. One lesson I learned early on was that Extra hours may mean extra money, but you are so exhausted you can't spend it or you end up spending it at the clinic when you get sick from the exhaustion.

                  I made thru today without anyone asking, so one down, four to go. Of course knowing our management, they will probalbly call on 9am Monday morning to ask why I am not at work.
                  "First time I ever seen a chainsaw go down anybody's britches,"

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                  • #10
                    Holidays? What are those?

                    Those of us who slave in the grocery stores don't know what that is . . . unless you count Christmas and even then we're usually too wiped out from dealing with last minute madness and lines of cranky, scroogy customers all day to even fully relax and enjoy that one day a year we are CLOSED.

                    As for Labor Day, I'm scheduled off anyways . . . it'll be just a normal day off after working all this weekend, so there's no difference to me.
                    Human Resources - the adult version of "I'm telling Mom." - Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (NCIS)

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Spiffy McMoron View Post
                      Let us not forget about our Canadian breathren, who have to cut short their Chirstmasses in order to get up in time to serve the massive lineups at our Boxing Day Sales. In addition we get to here the stories of people in the lineups who will wait until December 26 to buy certain Christmas gifts or who convinced the family to have Christmas a day early so they could get a good night's sleep before waking up at 4 in the morning.

                      Also, they'll bitch about how cold it is standing outside at 5 am on the morning of December 26 in Canada. >.<
                      Ah, yes, but we have our Thanksgiving earlier so we have more time to shop for Commercialmas... I think I saw Christmas items being brought to the front in preparation for stocking as early as July this year.
                      Check out my webcomic!

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                      • #12
                        Quoth Spiffy McMoron View Post
                        Let us not forget about our Canadian breathren, who have to cut short their Chirstmasses in order to get up in time to serve the massive lineups at our Boxing Day Sales.
                        I hate Boxing Day with a passion. Why do stores need to be open? There is no reason why people can't go two consecutive days without buying shit. Seriously, its not gonna kill anyone.

                        And its not fair to retail employees, some of whom work until 11 pm or midnight on Christmas Eve and then have to be back into work by 6 am on the 26th. Merry Christmas, are you conscious?

                        I refuse to work Boxing Day at my store. And there's nothing they can legally do about it.

                        If you have to ask, it's probably better posted at www.fratching.com

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                        • #13
                          I was supposed to have Labor Day off, but thanx to our newbie who decided she needed her next Saturday off, it scrambled the whole schedule and now I'll work 5am to 8am on Labor day.

                          Means I gotta be up at 3 am to make sure I'm awake enough to drive to work.
                          Now would be a good time to visit So Very Unofficial!

                          "I've had so many nasty customers this week, my bottomless pit is now ankle-deep."-Me.

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                          • #14
                            They got me!

                            But I didn't go without a fight.

                            I will get time and a half for the hours we are open, 9am to 3pm, in addition to holiday pay (8 hours) and I get next Wednesday off, giving me a three day weekend and I get out of checking in the order for a week.

                            Now if we could go those 6 hours without a single customer maybe, just maybe they would decide that being open is a waste of time on Holidays.

                            Yeah right
                            "First time I ever seen a chainsaw go down anybody's britches,"

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