Can I have my break...please?

[Dreamstalker]

Now that I'm a cashier, I've found that about a quarter of the time a manager doesn't notice that I haven't had a break until my shift's almost over anyway (in that case what's the point?). It's considered bad form to actually ask a manager if you can have a break (I got snarked at by A last week for asking 5 hours into an 8 hour shift, a customer actually told her to send me on break), but if they aren't paying attention... SM's policy is that cashiers are to be on register for no more than four hours without some sort of break.

I realize that the cashier breaks are staggered so we don't have the whole front end out at once, but today I was scheduled from 12-4, wound up staying til 7:30; FEM didn't let me go on break until 5 and I had to convince her that I was supposed to take 30 minutes as SM had me on the clock for 7.5 hours total. Had I been scheduled until 4 I'm doubting I would have gotten a break at all as A didn't seem to know or care that I was scheduled late. This has happened twice so far (tends to be when A is on the front end).

In theory if a manager drops the ball and someone doesn't get a break at all we're supposed to be able to clock out early with no penalty (just let an upper-level store manager know what you're doing and why). In practice that's not really possible (crazy rushes, plus there's never a manager with the override card where and when you need them).

Eh, just a random rant. Me being used to taking breaks on some sort of schedule it's odd to have to make sure managers know.

[Solumina]

Does this seem to happen when a specific manager is on, is it whenever things are extra busy, or does it seem completely random? Also it sucks that you would get flack for just asking when you could expect a break when you are over an hour overdue for one, sorry you have to deal with that.

[Geek King]

SM's policy is that cashiers are to be on register for no more than four hours without some sort of break.

I'm going to suggest you have a quiet word with your SM about not getting your breaks. Once in awhile is an accident, or just things getting too busy, but if it happens all the time, there's a planning issue that needs to be addressed.

Give your SM a heads up that something isn't running correctly. Just the fact that SM has a 4-hour rule hints that they'll care enough to do something about it.

[NateTheChops]

The break situation is always a tricky one. I especially get tired of it when I've been working for six hours straight and the relatively inexperienced, (or power trippingly oblivous) front end suprevisor can't understand why I'd like to take a lunch now.

Fortunately at my current job the breaks are enforced.

[NotAlBundy]

Based on your location, I googled MA meal break laws and it looks like you are required to take a 30 minute unpaid break for every six hours that you work. Other rest breaks are not required, but many employers allow people to take them.

My company I guess got into some trouble with not following meal break laws and now they are strictly enforced. If I do not clock out by the time my shift hits the magical number and it's my fault for not paying attention, I get written up! As a manager, I schedule everyone's meal breaks in advance so that we do not violate state law. Of course, things happen sometimes and I have to switch breaks around, but all my employees know what time they clocked in, and what time they HAVE to clock out.

So, yeah... it sounds like you need to talk to someone...

[NotAlBundy]

And on a side note... 6 freaking hours? That's a long time. Our magical number is 5, but I still try to schedule the meal break in the 3-4 hour range.

[Aethian]

When I used to work at a grocery store the front end head cashier had a schedule of who was where. On that little schedule had the place of lines where they could write in break times.

Like this

Name IN Break Lunch Break Out
*name* *time* ____ ____ _____ *time*


If the person wasn't scheduled long enough for all three the ones that weren't needed were a line of x's instead of a space. Every morning the head cashier would get the print out, and then with a pencil write in the times in two hour increments since most of the people were there for 8 hour shifts. The cashiers on one page, the baggers (when we had em) were on a second page.

Every fourth or fifth cashier on the list was a four hour newbie who was primarilly there to jump from register to register (with their own drawer) to handle breaks and lunches of the other cashiers. I'm sure you can imagine how well that worked out when we had call in's.

[Dreamstalker]

I think there's a schedule at the front end, but it (or the FEM) doesn't seem to be able to handle when people are asked to stay late. My last job was 30 minutes for every 6 hours (I think it's also 15 minutes for every 4 hours at least that's what SM told me, but there have been a few times where I was on a four-hour shift and never got a break).

After about 4 hours straight on register (less if I'm dealing with 'difficult' customers/co-irkers more than half of the time) my brain sort of glazes over and I run the risk of making dumb mistakes.

[DerangedHermit]

I notice this problem a lot when I'm doing 1-6 on selfscan. It's not uncommon to get sent on break at 4:30 or 5. It pisses me off more so on weekdays though, since there's rush hour...

It also doesn't help that they've been cutting hours like crazy, so that screws up breaks even more. I've had no problem getting 20+ hours per week, now I struggle to get 16.

[raudf]

This is one of the things I hated as a cashier. Depending on which CSMs were working, breaks would be totally forgotten unless we pushed for them. By pushed, I mean, I've turned off my light, walked away from the register and told her that if I didn't get my break in the next 5 minutes, there would be hell to pay. We had several diabetics who needed those breaks and we pushed for them too.

Didn't help that our ass manager was trying to run every cashier off that he could. Not sure if he was doing it on purpose, but it seemed that way to us and we had the highest turnover rate during his reign. Newbies were only lasting days, rather than weeks and even the tenured cashiers were threatening to transfer or quit.

I will praise the CSMs who bent over backwards to make sure we got our breaks no later than 15 minutes after the scheduled time. Hey, rushes happen, we all know it! But these were the ones that would, if necessary, jump on a register themselves and put us on break. Even the previous assistant manager was known to hop a register when necessary.