But you work here!

[Groezig]

I wish customers would understand that if you are out of dress code, not wearing a name tag, and not doing any type of store related work, you are not on the clock and they need to look for someone who is and they are the ones who should be asked. I get this constantly when I come up to the store in casual clothing when all I want to do is buy my product and leave. For some reason, they think that if I am there, I am always supposed to help them and when I don't assist, they get mad and file a complaint with me the next time I work.

[d962831]

If they want me to stay later or add more responsibilities to my job, then they must pay me accordingly.

this is why I said no, and also why I've hardly been working lately. I go in for one scheduled job and in that time frame I end up doing several other jobs on top of the one I'm supposed to be doing. I get paid no extra for this, and so I've only been working a couple days a week and looking for a new job.

[MadMike]

I outted myself in the shop down from my office the other day.

My dad outed me once when we were shopping at my place of employment on my day off, for supplies he needed to build an addition to his house. He couldn't understand why I got so upset. Someone asked my dad, from one customer to another, if he knew where something was, and my dad said he didn't, but that I worked there and would know. I said that I hadn't been working there that long, and didn't know off the top of my head, and kept moving.

Granted, it was a simple question, but if I would have helped them, then someone else would have expected me to help them, and then someone else...

That's really has to be illegal. No way in hell would I do that.

Pretty sure it is, and I may have gotten a manager fired for that sort of thing once. Not my manager, but someone my ex used to work for. She took a waitressing job at a local restaurant, and she was without a license at the time, so I'd drive her over there, drop her off, and then pick her up when she called me.

One night she called me to pick her up, but when I got there, she was still rolling silverware and napkins. What happened was her manager told her to punch out, so she naturally assumed it was time to leave. But when she went to leave, he told her she still had to roll the silverware and napkins. In other words, he was expecting her to work off the clock.

At that point, we decided that job just wasn't worth it. She wasn't getting much in tips, and what she was making probably didn't cover what I was spending on gas to get her to and from there. So she quit that same night.

They gave her an exit interview form to take home, which she filled out, pointing out how she was made to work off the clock, but never sent it in. One day when I was cleaning the apartment, I found it, and mailed it.

A couple weeks later, I stopped by there to get something to eat, and happened to look at the sign that had the restaurant managers listed. For some strange reason, her old manager's name was no longer there.

[smileyeagle1021]

you know I'll sometimes work off the clock... several times when I was in fast food I'd take trash out on my way to my car, and in retail I'd occassional do a favor to the cashier by doing a price check or something on the way out, but it was always a favor to my coworker who was still on the clock, not a favor to my employer. I take that back, at my hotel job I have once worked off the clock... and that was because I had forgotten to run one of my reports and they didn't even have to ask me to do it off the clock, I wasn't going to clock back in because I honestly did have enough time to do it during my normally scheduled shift and to be frank, I do have integrity and if I said that in an 8 hour shift I'll get this done then within 8 hours it will be done... and I would not consider poor memory an appropriate excuse to get out of that.

[MadMike]

I take that back, at my hotel job I have once worked off the clock... and that was because I had forgotten to run one of my reports and they didn't even have to ask me to do it off the clock, I wasn't going to clock back in because I honestly did have enough time to do it during my normally scheduled shift and to be frank, I do have integrity and if I said that in an 8 hour shift I'll get this done then within 8 hours it will be done... and I would not consider poor memory an appropriate excuse to get out of that.

Now that you mention it, I guess I technically worked off the clock myself once, in a similar situation. I worked a morning-to-afternoon shift one Saturday, and after I got back, someone called me to tell me I had forgotten to order for my aisle.

Like you said, it was my own fault that I forgot, not theirs, so I didn't think it would be right to clock back in to do that. Plus, it only took me a few minutes, so it really wasn't worth clocking back in.

[ShootMePlease]

Hey Leztwerp -

Your company doesn't pay you to come to store meetings ? What kind of garbage is that ? When I go to a store meeting , I have to wear my uniform.

Why ?

Because they're paying me to be there.

That means I am on the clock.

Having said that, that does not excuse your customer's ignorance .

[Fiyero]

It all depends what is asked. The ones where managers are asking for work off the clock would be a definite no-no but if a customer were to ask something simple I would help them (something I could answer there and then, no need to go out the back etc...)

[sms001]

I've worked off the clock in the same way as several others here - point something out, do a quick favor for a co-worker, etc.

BUT.

Be extraordinarily careful about what you do and don't do "off the clock." If you are injured there could be a legal can of worms for liability. I would NEVER run a slicer or a forklift or such unless it was crystal clear that I was a paid scheduled clocked in employee.

[Difdi]

I've had this happen to me... I went in one day on my school lunch break to pickup my check and deposit it, I go in, and since it's the high school lunch time, it's pretty busy. I sneak my butt in the back, grab my check, as my manager wheels around and tells me that if I want my check, i'll have to pack a few orders. I told him to shove it, took my check in hand, and left. I went in later on my scheduled shift, got told that I was getting written up for not helping earlier.... so i gave my two weeks then and there. There was no way I would get written up for not helping when I wasn't on the clock.

That "you can only get paid if you help out off-clock" is extremely illegal. It's also hazardous to you, since the store's insurance won't cover you if you hurt yourself while moving stuff around.

If someone tells you to do off-clock work, tell them you'd be happy to clock in first. If they get pushy, mention that the labor board dislikes people working for free, and corporate really hates managers who bring the labor board down on them.

[Victoria J]

Someone asked my dad, from one customer to another, if he knew where something was, and my dad said he didn't, but that I worked there and would know.

What gets me is that my mother sets me up for all this extra unpaid work and then acts like she's helping me out

Victoria J