Is it too much to ask to be allowed to leave on time?

[IHateStupidCustomers]

I'm out of retail for my main job, but I'm working part-time at a mall kiosk for Christmas (just selling glass figurine crap) and there is this girl I work with that is ALWAYS late. Everyday. She was scheduled to relieve me on Saturday. And because I have a million places to go for Thanksgiving, one group of family was doing the dinner Saturday, and I HAD to be there. Shouldn't have been a problem, because I get off at 3, dinner is a 4. She calls me at like 1 o'clock and says she can't be there until 5:30 or 6. WTF??? She thankfully did find someone to come in from 3-6 until she got there, but if she couldn't, I would have had to stay.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I'm happy to report that at my store, if the person relieving you doesn't show up, you don't have to stay. You just punch out and go.

Luckily for me, I can leave when I schedule myself to leave. If I schedule myself until 4, then I'm leaving at 4 if not a couple of minutes before. One of the advantages to working your own department.

I do not miss those days on a register one iota - I had to put up with relief people not showing quite often and end up having to throw a near conniption to have my register closed off so I could pull my till, get it counted and get the fluck out.

Way back when, I'd stay a bit longer if asked to. But after so many times of doing that, I quit doing it and just tell them point blank: No. Can't do it. It's not my fault that so-and-so doesn't want to come in - that's management's problem.

The way I look at it is this: if management can't find a replacement, then someone from management can get their happy butt on a register themselves and run it and let those who have already worked their scheduled shifts go home when they're supposed to.

[Shengirl]

The way I look at it is this: if management can't find a replacement, then someone from management can get their happy butt on a register themselves and run it and let those who have already worked their scheduled shifts go home when they're supposed to.

Go easy on us front-end supervisors. It's not our fault when some retard teenager - or a mother who should damn well know better! - decides to ditch work or conveniently forget their schedule. And not call to say something beforehand, and not answer the phone when we try to figure out what's going on. And then you TRY to call people in, but every time you try to access the employee list and even LOOK at the phone, there's another Western Union customer or lottery freak, and no one can come in anyways...

Yeah, I let you go on time, but don't blame me if I at least TRY to ask you to stay. I have other things to do besides spending a few hours in a row on register. Like running the desk ('cause the store managers love it when they have to do that for me) or counting the safe. I'm only supposed to be on register in spurts.