Should I just quit?

[Food Lady]

I’ve kept my retail job as a very part-time option because I was unsure about the new job. They tend to give me one Sunday off a month without my asking because our managers care and they don’t want me to burn out. I end up working about 50 hours a week with both jobs. I like the retail because of the discount, my coworkers, and most importantly, the extra $250 to $350 a month, which is a big concern here.

We have self-checkouts now and that helps with the fact that we’re chronically understaffed on purpose for several years now. However, customers are unbelievably resistant to them. They will use them if they feel they have to but I think they resent it. That’s obvious in the survey scores we’ve had the last couple of weekends, complaints directly tied to the SCOs. The one from last weekend is here: http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...d.php?t=117490

Last night the front end supervisor told me “About 10 minutes someone rated everything in the store [who has time for that? We don’t contract mystery shoppers] and they said the person on the SCO wasn’t friendly. Were you here 10 minutes ago?” I replied that I was on break. OK, but even so, it could’ve been me because who knows when they went through? The time of the survey doesn’t really tell us anything.

Now when I think over the night I wasn’t overly friendly at first, but I was definitely there to help sometimes without them asking. And more toward the middle I was offering big bags, paper for breakables, etc. I was friendly and even one customer said that twice; she was really pleased with my teaching her an app. I shouldn’t be, but I’m offended at the negative review.
At the office I get all kinds of complaints about the wait to talk to me, how we’ve screwed up their billing, the fact that our website doesn’t work, etc. Those complaints are legit. Our company has really messed up and the customers don’t turn it personal. I usually get surveys that are 100% satisfied with me even if they hate the company. Not so at the retail.

I’ve been at the retail 12 years and I have had enough of the whiny entitlement. I only work 10 hours each weekend. This is now supposed to be my easy job for extra money. But it’s a pain.

I can live without the extra $$ but in the case another wage garnishment goes through, I need it. Plus I have an old car that costs me and replacing it would cost. Also, I’m trying to pay off debts. If I lose the second income I have nothing left over to save or use.

If I quit I will have to find another part-time and I can only work Sat/Sun (at office past 7:00 on Fri nights). And I cannot work Sunday mornings. I actually have a perfect weekend schedule as it stands and they are flexible. I don’t know if I can find another PT job with such a limited availability. I just don’t know if I can handle this job anymore, though. I threw a mini-fit in front of customers, which I’m not proud of. (Well, managers shouldn’t bring up this stuff on the floor, either.) I had a 20-min. argument last weekend, which was off the floor, but still shouldn’t have happened. I can take a hiatus. I have a whole week off coming up, but on each weekend I still work one day. I feel stuck because I have financial goals. Maybe I need to suck it up and disregard surveys. If I can do that I’ll be fine.

[MoonCat]

Is there a date by which you'll have reached enough of your financial goals to kiss this job goodbye? Sometimes it helps to have goal you can mark on the calendar and watch as it gets closer.

Sounds like you really do need some time off, too. {{hugs}}!

[Pixelated]

MoonCat has a good point: can you get some time off? Are you owed any vacation days? That might help take some of the pressure off and help you get a clearer picture of the situation.

I can really empathize with you because I am in a similar boat ... except my office job, alone, will not pay me nearly enough to live on once I am out of Mom's house (and she has just taken a sharp turn for the worse, so that is likely to be not too far in the distant future).

I had planned to look for online work and, if successful, quit retail this fall rather than go through yet another Christmas in retail.

But ... parent company has a profit-sharing program AND an RRSP that I have never signed up for. I was thinking about signing up for it for a few more months. Then I thought, why not grit my teeth through one final Christmas season? Christmas is busy and the money really rolls in, and that will give me substantially more than I would get in just the next six months or so (not nearly as much as I'd have if I'd signed up long ago, of course ...)

Also, like you, I have some debts that the second income will help with (although not much, since some weeks I have only one short shift).

I haven't made a final decision yet. I figure I've got a few more months to think about it.

Can you step back far enough to let the complaints roll off your back for a little longer? I have stopped worrying about my sales figures. I can't drag customers in and force them to spend money. I will do my best, but ultimately my sales figures are what they are.

Good luck. I know it's a tough situation.

[EricKei]

At the office I get all kinds of complaints about the wait to talk to me, how we’ve screwed up their billing, the fact that our website doesn’t work, etc. Those complaints are legit. Our company has really messed up and the customers don’t turn it personal

We all know that nothing is EVER Corporate's fault, right? ... Riiiiight? Especially situations they've directly caused themselves.

[Food Lady]

We all know that nothing is EVER Corporate's fault, right? ... Riiiiight? Especially situations they've directly caused themselves.

That's true in a lot of companies but not my full-time job. They do know how bad the billing is, admit it, and are doing what they can to figure out more realistic stats. That's why they allow us overtime to take care of our customers. I could have so much overtime but I have very little time to myself on a weekday so I opted to keep a second job.

An update: I talked again to my retail supervisor and reiterated what I'd said: that baseless complaints are irrelevant to me and it's my fault I let them get to me. She, like many before her, said stuff like "We just want you to be happy here." I told her that wasn't gonna happen; I've never been happy there. I'm at this point going to have to disregard and let stuff roll off my back because I'm just there for the paycheck and the family (employees, whom I do love working with). My problem in a nutshell is the ridiculous customers who just ruin it despite all the good interactions I've had. There have been too many bad ones at this job; everyone I've talked to about this company has the same stories about the disproportionate number of nuts that shop with us. I told sup that I cannot be responsible for others' emotions. It's a place of business and I'm not a therapist.

And then after our talk something happened that illustrated my points PERFECTLY. So I was cashiering and a semi-regular customer was raising her voice complaining to my coworker while he was cashing her out. I looked back and recognized her and I'm 60% sure it's because she's annoyed me at some point.
First off, she was complaining that all the men in the staff were helpful but not some lady. It turns out she asked a female employee for help and the reply was that the employee was on lunch. It went on and on and the supervisor I'd talked to today said (I found out later) that she would've just helped, even off the clock. So that of course made the sucktomer feel more justified, I'm sure.
On top of that, she was saying things like "At my job I make sure all my customers are taken care of before going to lunch!" Yeah, well, I'm sure you get PAID for the time. My coworker was clocked out already. And we go to lunch when they tell us to go. It's not a choice.
I had to will myself to stay where I was and not tell her all that. If I didn't need this job anymore I would have. I am sick to death of all the entitlement. It's every single weekend now!

Oh, to answer Mooncat,: it's going to be years before I get all that stuff paid off. I owe tens of thousands.

[EricKei]

It went on and on and the supervisor I'd talked to today said (I found out later) that she would've just helped, even off the clock.

That sup had better be speaking for herself, and not for the employee who was at lunch. 'Tis illegal to even ALLOW someone to work off the clock in the US (tho, technically, full-time salaried people never are -- which might apply to the sup).

[Food Lady]

Nope, she's hourly and has drunk the koolaid.

[Pixelated]

While I have griped about some aspects of New Manager in my retail job, she does have some good points ... one of which is she is a sort of benevolent Attila the Hun when it's break time. EVEN when you are only owed a 15-minute break! I never used to take those, because I said the heck with it, by the time you sit down and actually start to relax, it's time to get back on the floor.

Now? Nope. "GO. ON. YOUR. BREAK."

Okey-dokey ...