Need advice at work

[snugglegirl05]

I have a situation at work that I would like some advice on.

The past 2 Sunday’s have been busy at the Kroger I work at. Busy at the point that taking our breaks on time does not happen.

The location I work at is not adequately staffed, and the past 2 Sunday’s showed that.

Turns out there were complaints from customers about the long lines as well as customers using too many coupons.

So, Senior Management’s response after getting the complaints was to keep the lines as short as possible. But that was not possible either day due to the number of customers who went grocery shopping.

On both Sunday’s I ended up feeling light headed since I waited too long to get my break. I was told by the front-end supervisors that I had to wait for the other employee who was on break to get back from their break.

When I get to the point that my body needs food, it affects my mood as well as my productivity. Then it got to the point that I felt light headed. I eat at work before clocking in.

I also spoke to another cashier yesterday who told me that she was not happy that she could not get her break on time yesterday because she was in pain after having stomach surgery. She was off for several weeks after having that surgery. She recently came back to work. She had to tell one of the supervisors that he had to take over for her because she had to sit down because she was in pain. She told me that this happened 5 hours into her 8-hour shift.

According to one of the supervisors, we cannot eat anything while cashiering.

Lately this seems to only happen to me on Sunday’s.

What is the best solution to this problem?

[Minflick]

What's the labor law where you are? Find out what the law says where you live, if it applies to your category of business, and print out the rules to show management. Working people to the point of pain and light headedness is a sure way to lose them! Even if it takes a long time to happen.

Here in California, we have to have a break before our 5th hour clocked in starts. It's up to management to manage such that there are no gaps in service/coverage/etc. so we can clock out. We're supposed to get a 15 minute break somewhere between starting and the meal break, but we don't sweat that too much, we just take a lazy toilet break. I work for a large corporation, and they have had to pay large meal violation fines to the state, so now they're pretty hot to trot on getting us clocked out on time. By large, I mean multi million, so it hurt even their deep pockets!

[snugglegirl05]

What's the labor law where you are? Find out what the law says where you live, if it applies to your category of business, and print out the rules to show management. Working people to the point of pain and light headedness is a sure way to lose them! Even if it takes a long time to happen.

Thank you for your reply.

I really hope that my co-worker goes to her doctor this week and talks to him/her about this problem.

I really hope that her doctor writes a letter for her to give to store management about working her to the point of pain.

[EricKei]

Seconded -- Check the laws where you live. US Federal Labor Law only mandates breaks for people under 18; for anyone else, it's up to the state and/or locality. And, yes, this means that there are states where breaks/lunches are not actually required *at all*. Companies can get into serious trouble for ignoring those laws. Check your employee handbook, as well, if you have one. Note that multi-state companies, in particular, will have their own break policies anyway -- quite often, they'll go by the requirements of the most "break friendly" state they operate in just to make things simpler.

Meantime, document, document, document -- on paper; dates and times and people (who is controlling the breaks that day?); try to keep it at home so it can't "disappear" at the store. Document every such issue ASAP.

If there is a documented medical condition involved -- as is the case with your CW -- things may differ. In your case: Might you be a fellow diabetic? That normally qualifies as a valid medical condition that should allow you to, at the very least, keep a protein bar or candy bar on-hand at all times in order to tide you over until you can get a proper meal. It sounds like all they really need to do is rearrange break order.

[snugglegirl05]

Meantime, document, document, document -- on paper; dates and times and people (who is controlling the breaks that day?); try to keep it at home so it can't "disappear" at the store. Document every such issue ASAP...

If there is a documented medical condition involved -- as is the case with your CW -- things may differ. In your case: Might you be a fellow diabetic? That normally qualifies as a valid medical condition that should allow you to, at the very least, keep a protein bar or candy bar on-hand at all times in order to tide you over until you can get a proper meal. It sounds like all they really need to do is rearrange break order.

According to my last doctor appointment in November 2016 when I had my yearly physical, which included blood work being done, I am not diabetic.

However, I am a 48 year old female who will be turning 49 this November.

I could be going through peri menopause, which is pre-menopause.

I did some research today since I am off work today, and one thing I noticed is that diet is very important, and this includes eating healthy snacks.

I want to be able to take care of myself at work, especially when it gets busy and stressful.

It seems that my mood swings have been happening on Sunday's when it is very busy, and customers complain about this.

What should I do with the documented information?

[bainsidhe]

If there are a lot of employees, then you may need to be a squeaky wheel to ensure you go to break on time. This isn't appropriate for every workplace, so keep that in mind, but when I worked at *big box retail* I sometimes would get overlooked if I didn't start chirping about my break.

[EricKei]

For the documentation -- If it turns out that they ARE breaking laws, such documentation may *cough ahem* be the only "surviving," or at least "available" proof of that to take to the local Labor Board. Having stuff down on paper, especially with dates, go a long way towards supporting such as case IF it should eventually become necessary. Hopefully, it's not.

[wolfie]

On both Sunday’s I ended up feeling light headed since I waited too long to get my break. I was told by the front-end supervisors that I had to wait for the other employee who was on break to get back from their break.

I've been too long without eating, and am starting to feel light-headed. You can send me on my break now and be short one person for a few minutes of overlapped breaks, or you can wait for me to collapse, be short two people (me and whoever is caring for me) until the ambulance arrives, one person (me) for the remainder of the shift and however many days the doctor tells me to stay off work, and deal with a worker's comp claim. Your choice.

[MoonCat]

I've been too long without eating, and am starting to feel light-headed. You can send me on my break now and be short one person for a few minutes of overlapped breaks, or you can wait for me to collapse, be short two people (me and whoever is caring for me) until the ambulance arrives, one person (me) for the remainder of the shift and however many days the doctor tells me to stay off work, and deal with a worker's comp claim. Your choice.

Frankly, this is generally what I would advise, too, but then I'm a union steward as well as having no inclination anymore to suffer fools or put up with bullshit.

[workerbee222]

If I wanted to keep this job, I would be asking if I could have my insulated travel mug with me at the register and have it filled with Ensure, or something like that. When I worked at Malwart, I think they at least allowed water bottles.

"So, Senior Management’s response after getting the complaints was to keep the lines as short as possible." Duh. That task is accomplished by having more cash registers open. That would mean scheduling more register-trained associates on Sundays.

From working retail, though, I've seen what that looks like. There are no long lines waiting for checkout, but some cashiers are going to be standing on fatigue mats looking pleasant with nothing else to do. Customers swarm in in batches, they haven't learned to trickle in at a steady pace.

[Pixelated]

I do have diabetes, but you don't need to be diabetic to react badly to lack of food. If I'm starting to feel hungry (and light-headed) I will go straight for the milk, which for me usually works. Doesn't help much, though, for people who just don't like milk, or who are lactose-intolerant (although we do have soy milk as well) or for those for whom it's just not solid enough.

Wolfie's approach is a good, direct one. You can only force people to work without food for so long before somebody collapses ... and that's hardly going to do much good for the store's image either.

And workerbee222, your comment ("So, Senior Management’s response after getting the complaints was to keep the lines as short as possible." Duh. That task is accomplished by having more cash registers open.) is much too sensible for many management types. (Emphasis mine)