Thanks for quitting on us....

The BBQ Pit
1

As if it’s not bad enough that for the past 4 months I’ve been stuck closing 5 nights a week, I was informed today that Crystal, the part time closing manager (Thus and Fri only), quit last night. I’m one of 2 people who can close (I have lunch-close availability), and the other is currently the only manager who can open. He has complete flexibility with his schedule. So he pretty much has to open, and I pretty much have to close. We’re both pretty much slaves to the store. I’ve been pretty lucky in working just over 40 hours for the most part, I’ve been able to keep my stress relatively low. With Crys leaving, I’ll be lucky if I get one day off a week…she’s completely screwed over all of us. Her last day is Friday. Thursday night, Janet, the store manager, leaves for her 2 month paid vacation. So as of next week, we’re down 2 managers, leaving us with 6 managers. And one of them is pregnant, with the baby being due in July. We’re really screwed then.Janet’s vacation has been planned out for over a year now. Jen’s been pregnant for 6 months or so. Crystal gave us a week’s notice that she couldn’t work anymore. “The stress is just getting to be too much.” Stress? We don’t know stress…I mean, you had your 2 days to kill you…I had 5. You had a set schedule of 16 hours…I work whenever I’m needed, because I’m good like that. At bare minimum, I’ll be working 6 days now. I’m holding out for my one day off to be on the weekend…the acting store manager was trying to give me Wednesdays off every week, meaning that I close straight through, Thurs-Tues. That’s a long string of shitty nights. I don’t even LIKE working nights that much…I just do it because it’s where I’m needed. I’d love to get into opening, because then I could be out by lunchtime, but that’ll never happen. GRRRRR!

As usual, this probably doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’m tired and frustrated, so now I guess I’m going to bed. Maybe it’ll all be better in the morning?

2

That’s why I finally got out of fast food.

I managed Fast food joints for 13 years, and I can really understand what you’re going through Pammipoo. I’ve had managers just walk away from their shifts, and lots of other horrible things happen.

Hope things get better for ya, and that you get another manager to lighten the load soon.

3

Okay, first of all, the fact that Grimace was the first person to reply to a McDonald’s rant almost caused me to piss my pants laughing.

BWAAHAAHAAHAA!

Sorry.
Anyway, Pammi, your opening managers get out by lunchtime? When I managed, our opening managers got out by 1:30pm at the latest after paperwork and deposit and everything.

I hope you get to move to opening soon.

4

Gosh, this sounds horrible!

I guess that is why, when I worked retail, I didn’t ever want to be an asst. manager. Not that anyone asked, but I suspect they knew that I’d refuse to do it. With responsibility, comes this sort of shit, unfortunately! I want to be one of the worker bees, just plugging away, doing my job, and going home when it is time to go home. Of course, when I worked retail, it didn’t always work like that, because I was (God Forbid) one of the more responsible workers (so I couldn’t call in sick without them having a major cow.) And, I was good at the register, so there was some of that dreaded responsibility attached to that. If you are good at whatever you do, they will suck you dry until nothing is left but an empty husk.

At the job I have now, I would NEVER be a supervisor or manager. Too much headache, too much stress. Never never never.

Sorry, Pammipoo, I am not being much help. Hope something else opens up for you, or someone else comes to help lighten the load.

5

One of the factors that made me quit my job (ditched the fuckin’ theatre back in January so I can go to school full-time) was the sort of horrendous scheduling like this. Far too often I’d have them schedule me as closing one night, then opening the next… never fun.

My last week there, I just turned in a request slip that, basically, said, “Just have me open every day.” At least that left my evenings free…

6

My advice? Stop internalizing this. This is just a crappy job. You have no moral responsibility to work yourself into a wreck just so people can get their Big Macs and fries.

Who says that everyone else gets to set their own schedule, while you have to make up for everyone else? Just go to your manager and tell him exactly when and how long you can work, and REFUSE to work outside of that time. What are they going to do, fire you? They will try to work on your guilty feelings, but don’t listen. Guilt is not appropriate here. You are an employee, not an owner. You are NOT responsible for this restaurant.

You are probably making only a little more than minimum wage. For that amount of money, you shouldn’t have to put up with any crap. When you get paid 6 figures and have stock options in the company, THEN you work your ass off. Not for f—ing McDonalds.

The only reason you have to work these hours is because they make you feel like you have to. Well, you don’t. Tell them your hours and say that if they don’t agree you’ll be forced to quit. Not a threat, not an ultimatum, just a simple statement of fact.

7

Lemur has hit it squarely on the head. Bravo, Lemur!!!

They will suck you dry, try to make you feel guilty. But trust me, THEY DON’T PAY YOU ENOUGH FOR THIS SORT OF BULLSHIT.

At the job I have now, doing overtime is a big deal. They really rely on some of us putting in some overtime. Which is fine, some people WANT to do it. But I work for the state, so (at least in my job) they can’t make us work overtime. But they’ll sure try. Guilt guilt guilt. “So-and-so has already worked 20 extra hours this week” “I have already worked over 10 hours today” and on and on. And you know what? Whose frickin’ fault is it if these people OFFER to do overtime, and then complain and act like victims because of they are now worn out and exhausted because of it? Not my fault, that’s for sure, and I’m not going to get sucked into it. No one forces people to consent to this sort of crap.

At my last job, (working in a photo lab) we had MANDATORY overtime. We signed a contract and everything. (Very shitty.) So for several months out of the year, I had to work approx. 60 hours a week. I was exhausted, stressed out, and usually ended up with a good bout of the flu after the busy season was over. When I got out of that job, and into my current job, I was pretty much through with coerced overtime. When one of the staff members at my current job asked me how much overtime I’d be into doing, I said about 20 hours a month. (I think that’s pretty nice of me, considering that I don’t have to do any.) She curled her nose and said “20 hours a month? Is that all?” I replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “Either it’s 20 hours a month, or you guys work me to a frazzle, I end up getting burned out and exhausted in a few months, and then I’ll quit on you.” She got the message. At this current job, turnover is high, for various reasons. They can’t afford to lose reliable people. So, since then, no one really tries to hit me up for too much overtime. I WON’T do it. I’ve paid my overtime-worked-to-a-frazzle dues at the photo lab, and I don’t want to go back to that kind of living hell again anytime soon. At least not for what they’re paying me now (which is not enough.)

Sorry for the hijack, but I think some of it is relevant. You have paid your dues, you are dedicated. Now you are starting to stress out - for what? Shitty pay? Having your life sucked out of you? Don’t let them do it. They will try to guilt you out every time, but don’t let them get away with it. They don’t really care about you, they just want those cash registers full.

8

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=70185

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=66122

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=65723

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=64062

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=58151

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=50907

So why the hell are you still at this job, again? People have told you before, and they’ll tell you again…

THIS KIND OF SHIT JUST ISN’T WORTH IT.

You really should either quit, or just suck it up and admit that your job blows.

9

I tel you, fast-food places ought to get an award for how good they are at manipulating people into sacrificing everything that matters for minimum wage. It’s a one-two punch: first they flatter you wiht all sorts of little comments about how dependable oyu are, about how admirable you are, about how you aren’t an asshole like X, Y, and Z. Then, whenever they need help they come to you, and the unstated message is that if you don’t sacrifice everything for them you are an asshole just like X, Y, and Z and you can be sure that they will all talk about how selfish you are for not being part of the team. It is insidous.

Let me tell you something: They are not going to close the store down for lack of labor. By acting like every freaking day is an EMERGENCY and that you have to help or the world will end, they avoid having to actually offer decent wages, which is what they will do as a last resort.

I know assistiant managers at various places who fudge their time cards to make it look like they worked less than they did. They are told by upper management that no overtime is allowed, but upper management only oks hiring enough openers and closers to cover operating hours exactly, no give anywhere. So if there is any mishap, someone gets sick and misses a day, someone else has to work overtime and lie about it. But they go along with this, and instead of bitching about the stupid policy they bitch about the person who got sick, they tell stories “Well, I came back to work 7 hours after my hysterectomy, Jeanie’s such a lazy bitch, staying home with the flu, and now I have to work on my day off . . .” This perversion of the work ethic really makes me sick.

10

Oh Manda Jo, you are so right! This is bringing back SO many memories! I guess I am niave, I didn’t realize how common this sort of mind-game guilt crap was.

At a retail job I worked at, there was an unwritten encouragment for us to fudge our timecards, and not let them know we’d worked overtime. I wouldn’t do it. It’s illegal, unethical, the whole nine yards. And yet I got glared at for it, by some of my co-workers. What utter bullshit! And, to top it all off, THEY PAY YOU LIKE SHIT!!!

11

Yosemite and Lemur are on the money with this one.

VOTE WITH YOUR FEET.

If scumbag management is not willing to hire the proper amount of people to get the job done, then screw 'em!

It is not your own fault that upper management is incapable of planning for realistic workloads. Since they are not, you are automatically absolved of any need to feel guilty about how things are run. Unless, and here’s the kicker, YOU take ownership of this crap. Then it’s your baby.

It’s why I work in the technology sector. Yes, we have workload problems too, but when the majority of people have degrees and higher education, they also have fewer excuses for being incompetent (and usually are more embarassed about it). Get your resume circulated, post formal complaints with management and refuse to have your butt worked to death.

Do you honestly think that a multinational chain like McD’s is incapable of securing the workers needed? Do you honestly think that they cannot afford to hire people? Do you honestly think that your presence will be missed for more than a microsecond? If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions you need to sit down with a case of beer and not get up for a while until you have thought things out.

You have taken ownership of a hopeless situation. Act now or pipe down and continue to hoover up the crap they hand you. I know that this isn’t very sympathetic, but you need to take action. After you switch jobs, you’ll wonder why you ever put up with this garbage. Poor management can ruin the best of jobs, which yours is NOT. So, pause and think how much easier it is to make a shambles of your situation. Is this what you want?

Again, if you have answered yes, head for that case of beer.

12

I saw this sort of shit happen all the time while I was delivering bread. My job was fine, great in fact. But I saw supermarket managers at Food Lion forced to cover everyone’s workload because the chain didn’t want to hire enough bodies to man registers and stock aisles. That’s how they pass the savings on to the customer.

Now, I’m not against hard work, and if you think you can bootstrap your way up the ladder by putting in your time, more power to you. But there are limits.

13

I’m still bitter about the time I was working at Pizza Hut (this would be about twelve years ago) and had to call in sick. Since my mom was on vacation, my dad was quite liquored up, and I judged it wasn’t safe for me to stay at home. My boyfriend (now my husband) took me to his house, where he alternately packed me in ice and poured scalding water over me.

Of course, my manager (who was a “friend” of mine, incidentally) called my house and learned that I was not there. Fortunately, my dad wasn’t too drunk to operate the phone, so he called and told me I’d be fired if I didn’t go to work, pronto.

My boyfriend drove me to Pizza Hut and I staggered in, obviously deathly ill. “Look,” I said, leaning against the wall for support. My manager had to lean close to me to hear what I was saying, because I barely had strength enough to speak. “My temperature is 104.5. I am dying. I cannot work tonight.”

He said, “Well, I’ve worked with a temperature of a hundred and four. It’s busy tonight, and you need to work.” Keep in mind here that my job was “cook”, meaning that working with a deathly illness could cause hundreds of people to become seriously ill. Also keep in mind that the training videos stress that if you have so much as a cold, you should not work. (Training videos are filmed on Mars.)

I refused to work and did not lose my job, though at that point I really wish I had.

I was working at another Pizza Hut, in Texas, when my dad became terribly ill and was on his deathbed. Until that point, I was assured that I was going to be a manager and had begun training for such, but my dad had the audacity to die on the fourth of July. Naturally, my manager assumed that I just wanted to go to a picnic, even though I’d told him during my job interview that my dad had cancer; he could die next week or six months from now, but I would attend the funeral. He was fine with it then, but he could not believe my dad died on the fourth of July. Nobody dies on holidays, don’t you know.

I had to show him my dad’s death certificate before he’d give me my last check. I hope that man is dead now.

14

It’s Customer’s Suck, all over again.

16 hours a week-I only work SIX hours a week, and I dread that…every Sunday…I freak out…I can’t take it…I hate it that much.

15

This kind of crap doesn’t just happen in retail or fast food; most office jobs are okay, but beware of Accounting departments. The temp job I’m currently with is in the accounting department of an oil & gas company, and these poor saps work from 7 am until 6 pm, most Saturdays, frequent Sundays, take no lunch or coffee breaks, and feel guilty for leaving early to attend another in the series of work-related classes they are (unofficially) obligated to take (and they’re all salaried, of course).

One guy I work with didn’t attend his MOTHER’S FUNERAL because it was year end and he is brainwashed enough to think that the department “just couldn’t spare him”. Most of the employees have spouses and children that barely recognize them. They have month end craziness every month (that usually overlaps with next month’s close), they have deadlines throughout the month that have to be met, they have a year end close that takes about 2 months every year, and for some reason, most companies treat their accountants like poop on a platter. They are terminally understaffed, which makes no sense when you consider they deal with more have to meet deadlines than any other department, and they seem to have no power or respect in the company at all.

So, if any of you retail/fast food people are in training to become an accountant-type, I’d rethink it if I were you. Look into economics or management or something instead of being an accounting grunt.

(BTW, I don’t buy into their work ethic. I signed on for a 3 1/2-day a week deal due to my carpal tunnel syndrome, and I haven’t let their obvious need for more people make me feel like I have to work more hours.)