I think I'm gonna leave the video store OR The joys of retail...

The BBQ Pit
1

So I work at a video store. I’ve been there since October, at which time there was the control-freak owner who drove everyone insane, and the sweet manager who buffered the rest of us from the owner. The owner eventually wore down the manager, and she quit. Instead of hiring a new manager, he divided the duties of the manager between two clerks. This is because the owner is also one of the cheapest bastards I’ve ever met, and if he can save money on the salary of a manager and pay two clerks half of what he’d pay a full time manager, he’ll do that.

One of the things that he has those of us whom close the store do is to count the money from the day, and if the numbers don’t add up, we’re responcible. Nevermind that there are 10 people who work in the store who’s individual drawers could be off. Nevermind that the computer system doesn’t add correctly, so that the count is VERY 100% correct. It just has to be close enough to make him happy. Of course, that number changes every day.

I closed the store with another clerk last Sunday. And dispite the fact that I counted all cash twice, counted the cash box three times and double counted all credit card recipts AND despite the fact that as far as I could tell, the count was right on, the owner is now saying that it was off, and that we (one half of the pseudo-manager, owner and I) are going to have to have a “talk.” I am completely fed up with the owner, and for the amount I’m being paid (50 cents over minimum wage) it’s SOOOO not worth it.

Here is my question:

1.) Is it not a managerial task in most retail establishments to be responcible for both the change box and the daily count? Why the hell should I, who gets all the crap for being a peon, who gets the pay of a peon, have the responcibilities of a manager?

2.) Hi, Opal!

3.) Screw him. Am I right?
OK, there wasn’t any real reason for a list. I’m just livid that this ass thinks that this video store job that pays $6.75 an hour is something that I could possibly care enough about that I am willing to get reamed out for a math mistake. If he WANTED an accountant, he should have hired one. If he wanted a manager who is willing to take the heat when the count is off, he should have hired one. I am neither of those things.

Am I being unreasonable?

2

ahem. That’ll teach me to not preview.

whose
NEVER

any other grammatical/spelling mistakes can be blamed on the fact that I am working a double shift at my other job to make up for the fact that Cheap Bastard Owner doesn’t pay me enough. ::grumble::

3

Aw, sweetie, the world is full of $6.75 an hour jobs. You don’t need this kind of crap. I spent months, long ago, in a perfectly hellish Burger King job with my mother telling me, “Sweetie, the world is full of $1.50 an hour jobs. You don’t need this kind of crap.” Finally I listened to my mother and went down the street, and my life improved immeasurably.

Listen to your mother. :slight_smile:

And the other piece of superb advice my mother gave me was, “Get out of minimum wage food service jobs–move into the clerical sector.” I had touch typing in high school (they call it keyboarding now), and she pestered me and pestered me to go over to the State University and take the Civil Service Clerk Typist II exam. Finally I did, and was hired as a secretary/receptionist, for nearly twice as much as I was making at Burger King, plus health insurance, plus vacation, plus it was Civil Service so they can’t really fire you, plus no boss hanging over your shoulder hollering at you to dress the burgers faster. It was heaven.

So, move up, and move out, babe.

[sub]no, you are not unreasonable. If the Cheap Bastard wants a manager, he should pay for a manager. Ass.[/sub]

4

But, [sub]ahem[/sub] an alternative suggests itself, but only if you are a truly evil, manipulative, and aggressive person, and are very patient.

Start gunning for the Cheap Bastard’s job. :smiley:

Seriously, you can do it. You can work your way up through the ranks of video store clerks, go ahead and do all the shit details he gives you, learn the ropes, learn how to kiss ass WITHOUT compromising your soul (it is possible, I’ve done it myself–it’s called “flattery”), then when you know everything there is to know about running a video store, you can go down the street with your resume and get a real manager’s job, for probably twice as much as the clerks make.

Then after you’ve been managing one store successfully for a while, you can get a job with a really big company and manage two stores for them. And meanwhile you’re saving your pennies…

Then one fine day you go back to the Cheap Bastard and buy him out.

“Success is the best revenge.”

5

Even if not a real manager, he should promote you to some kind of “supervisor”, and give you a petty raise. LOL, McDonalds puts you through all kinds of background checks, etc before they let you be responsible for their cash…you’d think he’d want to do that, just to cover his own ass…

But I agree with what someone else said, I don’t remember who. Milk the job for all it’s worth, and quit, using the experience to get a better job with your management experience.

6

Be sure you document all the different things you do. You’ll be able to include such things on your resume. If you want to split for a managerial description, why not ask friends working in different retail places to score you their managers’ job descriptions, and see how you match up?

You may want to also keep a journal, one which Cheap Bastard doesn’t know about. There are two excellent reasons for doing this. First, should Cheap Bastard ever get litigious with you, you’ll have a chronicle which can be matched to his records and with which you can defend yourself. Second, in the professional world, accurate accounting of time spent and billable hours is common practice. So it’s good practice for you now.

As I implied in this thread, the goal of working retail should be getting the fuck out of working in retail, unless you really want to make a career of it.

7

The thing is, Duck, that I have done the temp thing. And I hated it. I hate working in an office for eight hours. I am willing to do it at this point because I need to make money. And I think part of the reason why Cheap Bastard is the way he is is because the store is definately the hip movie store in town. It’s the type of place that when I tell people where I work, they are impressed, and always comment on how much fun it must be. And with the exception of the owner, it is. Sheesh.

Keep the back patting coming.

8

$6.75 an hour?!? Swiddles, that’s crazy talk. My retail job is mostly manual - stocking, cleaning, straightening - plus customer service. I make $8 an hour, and I don’t have to deal with money or anything. Rarely do I work hard enough to warrant the amount I get paid (IMHO), and rarely do I work hard enough to warrant free full health, dental, and vision insurance, paid floating holidays, one week’s vacation after one year, five sick and five personal paid days a year, and all the countless benefits of my job. I’m living (or working, what have you) on easy street. Look elsewhere - you don’t have to temp to make decent wages. With my job, I get paid for twenty-two days a year that I do not work! (Five floating holidays, 10 personal/sick days/seven vacation days). I’m sure you can find a job like that where you are.

I find that national or international companies usually offer the best benefits and wages. It sounds like this place is local, which might explain your shitty pay.

I’m currently working two jobs: the cake one at IKEA that, while reguarly annoying as hell and very physically demanding, is hardly worth my pay rate and covers my bills and expenses; and another job at a groovy downtown store. At my second job (16 hours a week right now), I make the same pay without any of the perks, BUT I get to wear whatever I want, I get first dibs on awesome vintage clothing and jewelry, and I get to design store windows and displays. And damn if I don’t have to do any managerial duties.

Bottom line is, you can find the perfect combination of a retail job that’s not entirely hellish and will pay the bills, and a job you love. I couldn’t find one job that fit all my qualifications, but I’m very happy working two jobs that do.

Work on your resume. And definitely inform your boss that you are thinking of leaving, looking for a higher paying job with similar duties, etc. He may offer you a raise to keep you, or he may cut back on your duties. Whatever happens, I wish you the best. :slight_smile:

9

That’s bullshit Swiddles to semi echo what Nacho said, at least cut down the hours, get another job that pays more, if you like the other job cut out the video store.
best of luck with it too.

10

Walk.

Life is too short to stay in a lousy job that doesn’t pay shit.

If more people walk away from shithead owners and managers, eventually they’ll either shape up or go out of business.

By leaving now, you’re not only doing yourself a favor, but everybody else in the labor market.

I didn’t learn this until my mid-30s. Later than I should have figured it out, but before I ruined my health, financial well-being and good humor.

The minimum wages of sin are death.

11

I quit 3 part-time jobs last year based on that philosophy (life is too short to stay in a lousy job). The first job I ever had I had from January 2000 to March 2000 and it was at Blockbuster. What a horrible job! On one of my last days, I was called into the back and was talked to by a manager about my register being short (one time I was called back because I was not being perky enough to the customers; gag me). They said my register was fifty dollars short, but attributed it to the fact that I must have switched a 20 and a 50 in one of the little sections in the register (the 50 was in the 20 slot). I didn’t have a problem with that, but the problem I had was that my Supervisor had seen the whole thing happen and she said nothing to me! She let it happen, and then told on me instead of helping me. Then I was also about to get fired because I was not good with their computer system which they had failed to teach to me properly. I ended up quitting before they could fire me, the bastards. I now go to Hollywood Video for my movies.

12

Well, “clerical” can mean other things. Office manager? If you can run a video store, you can run an office. The thing is, to get out of what is essentially a dead-end minimum wage position. Unless you make up your mind to move up and get out, you’ll be stuck working behind some counter, somewhere, all your life.

Look at this list of “clerical” jobs. Surely there must be something on there that might interest you. They’re not ALL “sitting behind a desk answering a telephone all day”.

http://www.nationjob.com/community_list.cgi/admin

13

Riddles,

Take Duck’sadvice and take a look at some civil service jobs. I was a civil servant for 12 years, and it’s good duty. Good pay, good benefits, and a chance to move up. You won’t necessarily end up sitting on your butt all day if you don’t want to do that. If you are interested in going to school, there are ways available in government service for them to pay for it! And you can get free job-related training too. It’s not completely secure - people do get laid off sometimes, and I’ve known a few folks to get fired, but you either have to screw up in a big way or have someone gunning for you, and that’s rare.

Good managers (and I am referring to the owner of the store in your case, since there is no designated manager, he’s really the one who is it) are as rare as hen’s teeth. It’s a job that takes a lot of skills that aren’t related to each other, and most people aren’t equally good at all the varied attributes managerial positions require. You have the added bad luck of the guy being the owner, who I’m sure thinks he can be as arbitrary as he wants, but it’ll end up biting him on the butt in the end when he can’t get good help. No one can run a successful business by themselves.

I’ve had managers that ranged from good to absolutely awful, and my personal opinion is that if you have a bad manager (or owner), WALK. Not only can they make your life miserable on the job, they can affect your work history too. I had one manager who failed to meet his goals for the year and then tried to blame it on me! Fortunately his bosses saw through it, and he got the boot and not me. But if they had believed his bullshit, I would have been out of a job through no fault of my own. So be sweet, do a good job - and look around for something else that you’d like to do. If you single out another place, ask people who already work there what it’s like. And good luck!