LogFAQs > #914105269

IMO, the following changes would make retail SO much more bearable.

1) CHAIRS! Make it so that you can't deny employee's the right to sit down every once in a while. I've gone so far as to fake bathroom breaks just to get some weight off my feet in the past. Yet companies seem to feel that an employee taking a moment to ease the pain in their feet is 'unprofessional'. We're damned retail cashiers! The customer sees us as a necessary evil to be tolerated so they can get funyons. So long as we're not dropping our pants in front of them they don't give a crap about how 'professional' we are.

2) Management sides with employees. Do you know how... infuriating it is to have a customer do something clearly in the wrong causing you to raise your voice in objection resulting in the manager coming over and... the manager siding with the customer. Do you honestly think I would have stuck my neck out if I didn't think it was suspicious that the customer came up with 20 $3 coupons and 20 $2.99 products? But no. Instead management just doesn't care one bit about siding with the employee unless it could get them into legal trouble; and even then it's shifty. I've had managers outright sell cigarettes to underage kids and not get in trouble for it simply because they want to make as many sales/not get bad reviews. I've been chewed out for following company policy. What's the point of having a policy if, the moment I try to actually enforce it, I get chewed out?

3) Reduce the atmosphere of fear. A lot of employee's are too afraid to ask for even basic things from management out of fear of repercussion. Break your leg? Well... BETTER COME IN TO WORK TOMORROW OR ELSE YOU'LL GET FIRED! Grandma died? WELL YOU'D BETTER MISS THE FUNERAL OR ELSE YOUR ASS IS GRASS! Sure, 'officially' they can't take any action... but when has that ever stopped anyone? I've come in to work sick, missed seeing friends I haven't seen in over a year, and missed medical appointments scheduled months in advance purely out of fear of bosses who treat coming in five minutes late as some sort of grave offense.

4) Don't over-work employee's. I know this is tempting to do since it cuts down on overhead; but if you hired someone to be a cashier don't demand they do janitorial, stocking, and other departments and get upset at them when they aren't constantly working every minute of the day just so you can fire one employee to save a buck. I personally have to do the work of three employee's (counting myself) and it means I often have to stay up to an hour after my shift is done while still not finishing all the tasks. Only reason it's 'only' an hour is because the police would likely arrest me for trespassing if I stayed that late past closing... or would have to bring in a pillow to sleep in the break-room. Overworked employee's are grouchy, irritable, despondent, inefficient, sloppy, and generally taking those perfect employee's who sing to every customer and turning them into those pissy ones who look one word short of trying to smash an old lady's head through the checkout desk because she has just one more coupon to add.
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I am the gentle hand who heals, the happy smile who shields, and the foot that will kick your ***! - White Mage