Way under/over staffed?

[blas]

Alright everyone, time to tell tales of times when your store or place of work has been either severely overstaffed or severely understaffed and how fun it is to work when our moron managers can't make a proper schedule to save their lives!

Every summer where I live, there are 3 major concerts not too far away (along with Drunk Fest every year, but that's always on Father's Day). Two country music fests, and one rock one. Anywho...

I was working at the grocery store the summer of '04, and it was the middle of July....aka, the weekend that BOTH a country fest and the rock fest was going on. Of course, every employee and their brother had requested that weekend off. Now, normally, on the request off book, only up to 5 people could have a certain day off, to ensure that the store would stay properly staffed. But no........the dumbass schedule manager gave ALL 30some people that requested that weekend off the weekend off! (you could see in the request off book, the pages were filled to the brim with names).

The manager simply said, "It's ok, it will be slow. We are the farthest store away from the fests anyway."

WRONG.

For some ODD reason unknown to us, everyone at both fests decided to come to our humble town, and go to OUR grocery store. No lie....our store, way the hell out of the way (the competition grocery store is conveniently located downtown, hello!). We got SLAMMED. We only had 3 cashiers and 3 baggers to cover from 2 pm to midnight (of course, only 1 checker had to stay till midnight, though).

Everyone went on break late. Everyone fought over who got to go first. We were so completely slammed. Tourists were complaining that this store was too slow, too busy, etc etc etc.....I thought to myself "just get the hell out of here and go somewhere else!"

Another time was New Years Day 2005. The weather was predicted to be decent, and the manager thought everyone would be too hung over and too tired to grocery shop. She put 4 cashiers and 4 baggers on to cover until 5:00 pm. All was slow and nice until the weather all of a sudden went bad.

The roads became glare ice. The temperature I swear went down about 15 degrees in a matter of minutes. Snow drifts began blowing around everywhere. You know what that means right? Everyone in town gathers up the entire family and drives like a crazy moron in a big hurry to the grocery store to load up on milk and bread. We got swamped in a matter of minutes. I was forunate enough to be able to go on break, and I sat in my car and watched the intersection get plugged up, so many vehicles were waiting to turn left/right into the "plaza" where the grocery store was. Traffic was unbelievable. It was almost like rush hour, but everyone was headed to loot the grocery store.

Needless to say, I wanted to strangle that manager for being that dumb.

[JoeKnows]

The weekend both Fests ran was this weekend for us, and we somehow came out unscathed. It did not mean we didn't see interesting things the first time around, though.

I'm going to reach back to the weekend around the first Fest, where we had someone take two flatbed carts worth of soda and beer, and it took two instock and one cart crew member to help them haul it out to their truck. At 50 cents a can for soda (or more, if they really wanted to), they probably made out like bandits.

However, it was July 4th that really bit it for us. We got KILLED early in the day, and we spent my first hour there trying to play catchup, but then after that, we had to find work for people to do because they were "so bored." Here's the kicker: We scheduled it as if it were a regular Monday, and we also had to deal with a bunch of people still on the schedule that were never going to show up, having quit or gone on leave, but yet were still in our system, so they LOOKED like they were filling holes, well, to management, anyway.

[Spiffy McMoron]

I remember my first year working at Crappy Tire, the calendar finally rolled around to the summertime. In the time I was working, my little burg hosted two well-known festivals: one country and one rock. The country one was pretty good for business: alot of the people going had gone for years, and knew what they would need, what they wouldn't need, and what they might need.

The rock crowd was an entirely different matter.

That crowd had one sole purpose: to cram as much sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll into one weekend as humanly possible. So naturally, this meant not packing a tent, because that would infringe upon the beer-carrying capacity of your buddies truck.

The year before, it was nothing but scorching temperatures for all four days of the rock festival. So, as we all know, the weather patterns never deviate from year to year, and it would again be scorching. So all of the kids packed up flip-flops, money to buy beer-bongs (we had them pre-made ), trendy pink cowboy hats, and as little clothing as possible. Unfortunately, very few of them brought such items as rubber boots, rain jackets, umbrellas, or tents. (!) So naturally, the heavens opened up and let loose with torrential rain for most of the concert.Every single one who was out there had to come in to buy something to protect themselves from the elements.

We did not expect the onslaught that occured. People were coming in and buying anything that they could get their hands on. As we sold out of tents, people bought traps, then sheets of plastic. We couldn't keep up the demand for rubber boots, so we finally desided to throw all we could find into a giant box, and let them pick over it. Even after they were all sold out, the owner went to the next town over, bought them out, and came back to re-sell them. We even sold out of the insulated, $50 ones.

And for the whole day, it was just three of us in the departement that had both camping stuff and rubber boots, and being run off of our feet.. But at least we got to hear the best line of the day, spoken by one ditzy, barely-dressed, whore to another: "Which rubber boots make me look the sexiest in this outfit?"

[Lulu]

Oh how I love scheduling!

As I type, I'm on day 7 of a 12 day stretch with ONE day off (and that was only because we don't open on Sundays). I now have (including today) 6 days with NO cover, NO breaks and I have to work this saturday ON MY OWN. Why is this you ask ? Because the manager (who booked her holiday in march and therefore KNEW when she wouldn't be here) allowed the saturday kid to book her holiday at the same time. There are only 3 of us to start with, when 2 of us are on holiday, that means I am literally the ONLY member of staff left to run the shop. Joy.

I ask you, would a TEENY bit of planning not been advisable ?! Perhaps that's just too sensible...

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

Alright everyone, time to tell tales of times when your store or place of work has been either severely overstaffed or severely understaffed and how fun it is to work when our moron managers can't make a proper schedule to save their lives!

ALL THE TIME. Seriously.

[Lace Neil Singer]

A couple of years ago at *supermarket*, we had a really useless manager. He'd not only nitpick about stupid things, ie trying to stop cashiers from wearing wedding rings or earrings not in the lobe, but also he was completely unlikeable. Right at the beginning of the summer, a whole bunch of staff left cuz of him. This happened at the same time as corporate's wonderful idea to save on the money paid out to people on holiday by having an overtime ban and not hiring any temps.

This meant that we were severely shortstaffed, with over half the tills empty on weekends and sometimes only a quarter open during the week. There was no-one spare to cover breaks so when you went to break, your till was closed. This of course meant that all the remaining cashiers were super stressed, partly due to overwork and partly due to being shouted at by customers. The queues were massively long... about 8-10 was the norm. However, it wasn't our fault.

[Rubystars]

A couple of years ago at *supermarket*, we had a really useless manager. He'd not only nitpick about stupid things, ie trying to stop cashiers from wearing wedding rings or earrings not in the lobe

Cashiers wearing wedding rings is a risky thing really, they could end up in a customer's bag. Another cashier told me she lost hers that way and of course it was never returned.

As for earrings not in the lobe, I'm sorry but that's NASTY. It creates an unprofessional appearance. I get disgusted by the fact that bosses at some of my jobs have allowed unnaturally colored hair, visible tattoos, and ugly piercings. It degrades the whole work environment and makes me want to just give up trying to seem professional sometimes. I know we're just cashiers, but supposedly these jobs are springboards into higher paying jobs. Shouldn't people be expected to have some level of decorum to prepare them for their futures?

[Lace Neil Singer]

I don't see why it affects how you do your job. I have 4 upper ear piercings; I cover them with my hair when working, which is red with blond bits in front. I fail to see how that makes me a poor worker. As for decoram and springboards, yeah, right. As for nasty, that's your opinion... however, I find it offensive that you're judging me purely on having upper ear piercings.

Second, the manager we have now allows earrings as long as they are sleepers or studs, and wedding/engagement rings. If you lose yours on the job, that's your problem. You choose whether or not to wear it or not.

[Becks]

As for earrings not in the lobe, I'm sorry but that's NASTY. It creates an unprofessional appearance. I get disgusted by the fact that bosses at some of my jobs have allowed unnaturally colored hair, visible tattoos, and ugly piercings. futures?

You probably wouldn't have liked to be near the Goodwill I worked at, then. We had a guy who dyed his hair hot pink, a girl who dyed her hair purple, and me, with my burgandy hair so dark it looks totally unnatural "but it works" for me.


As for my story about bad scheduling, I'll go with the deli, every Friday through Monday. If you take a look at my nametag when I'm there, you will notice that it says Salad Bar, NOT Deli or Appy. Whoever makes the schedule for the deli LOVES to have most of the people in the morning, or midday, NOT at night, when there are still LOTS of people shopping.

[Rubystars]

I don't see why it affects how you do your job. I have 4 upper ear piercings; I cover them with my hair when working, which is red with blond bits in front. I fail to see how that makes me a poor worker. As for decoram and springboards, yeah, right. As for nasty, that's your opinion... however, I find it offensive that you're judging me purely on having upper ear piercings.

Second, the manager we have now allows earrings as long as they are sleepers or studs, and wedding/engagement rings. If you lose yours on the job, that's your problem. You choose whether or not to wear it or not.

If you dye your hair pink for halloween or to hang out at a club or something, that's one thing, but if you're coming to work that way, that's very unprofessional.

I wouldn't allow it if I were the boss. You come to work for me with two colors of hair, you're going to be asked to go home and pick one, or never come back. (Natural looking) Red, or blonde. I might have thought that kind of thing was cool when I was 15, but then I grew up. Honestly... kids...

What looks the dumbest to me is when people have their names tattooed on them, as if they're going to forget their own name, and then have a name tag too.

[Broomjockey]

If you dye your hair pink for halloween or to hang out at a club or something, that's one thing, but if you're coming to work that way, that's very unprofessional.

I wouldn't allow it if I were the boss. You come to work for me with two colors of hair, you're going to be asked to go home and pick one, or never come back. (Natural looking) Red, or blonde. I might have thought that kind of thing was cool when I was 15, but then I grew up. Honestly... kids...

What looks the dumbest to me is when people have their names tattooed on them, as if they're going to forget their own name, and then have a name tag too.

Unless there is an employment contract in place that stipulates personal appearance, that is DISCRIMINATION!!!! You absolutely cannot tell someone that they can't dye their own hair, or have piercings, again, unless there is a contract that says so, which are very rare in most jobs.
I personally think wierd hair colours or certain piercings look silly on most people, but I respect their choice to have it that way.
One last thing. I've found that people who do that aren't worse or better workers than anyone else on average.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I think we're always understaffed for the Saturday before Christmas, which I've read may actually be the busiest shopping day of the year in terms of money spent.

I worked that day last year and all I did was run around doing carryouts and getting things for customers out of the backroom. I had no time to do anything on my mile-long task that "Harry" had given me, such as straightening and doing returns.

Of course, Black Friday is busier in terms of mass crowds of people rushing through the store and buying things, but on that day it does die down by the evening. It stayed mucho busy all day on the Saturday before Christmas and didn't let up at all.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Unless there is an employment contract in place that stipulates personal appearance, that is DISCRIMINATION!!!! You absolutely cannot tell someone that they can't dye their own hair, or have piercings, again, unless there is a contract that says so, which are very rare in most jobs.
I personally think wierd hair colours or certain piercings look silly on most people, but I respect their choice to have it that way.
One last thing. I've found that people who do that aren't worse or better workers than anyone else on average.

Thanks, Broomjockey.

[Kiwi]

every single boxing day/new years day that craft store was DEAD

full staff.... and dead maybe 1 customer an hour?

all of the other stores had massive crazy sales and we didnt.

it was great, the perfect shop, no customers. bliss

[Ree]

I think I understand at which point this thread severely derailed, but I am going to ask for it to be put back on the track.

This started out as a conversation about being understaffed, and has evolved into a discussion of whether piercings, dye jobs or tattoos are professional looking.

To me, that's another thread.

I would remind members, please, you may have personal opinions on such issues, but when confronted by the fact that the very comments you are making could be seen as attacking a fellow member, then perhaps it's best to veer away and make another thread elsewhere.
Then, if that member decides to join the discussion, they will have to accept the consequences.
When someone makes a simple, off hand comment about working for a nitpicky manger who objected to piercings, it's probably best not to run with that one small issue to the point that the member feels insulted.