Boss complaints

[GSLeloo]

I meant to post this last night but I was a bit too annoyed.

So yesterday was my mother's 50th birthday and she asked if I could get off work just a little bit early. I say to my boss Debbie "If it's possible at all could I leave work like 10-5 minutes early. I understand if it's not but I'd appreciate what you can do." I'd say it was pretty polite and just a request and understandble if she can't.... her response was just nasty. It was basically like us cashiers drive her nuts and what she can do is kill me.

Now I'm not Ginny... I barely call out ever and I never go home early or ask to leave early or claim to be sick to go home early. I come, I do my shifts without bitching, and I do what I'm asked. I thought asking to go home 5 minutes early wasn't that big of a thing.

Now it was busy yesterday but we get to the last hour and it died. Rachel and I are working the same shift and she was taken off register... Kenny was taken off register, and Heather was taken off register. Three other cashiers that could be open. Even then we weren't busy. I easily could've gone home and there would've been no problem. Of course she doesn't let me go ten minutes early.

So it gets to 5:55. All cashiers close five minutes early because we have to clean our registers and then clock out. I close my light and she goes to me "No keep it on till the next cashier arrives." Once again... both Heather and Kenny aren't on register and we no lines at all. Basically she had me stay open out of spite. I wait five minutes till Rachel came over to me and then I was just so pissed that I shut my light and left.

Now this whole rant is.... she purposely had me stay open because I politely requested to go home.... Ginny asks to go home and when they say no she leaves and cries to the store manager, she does this once a week. I never ask to go home and I was asking for a small amount early and she was a horrible bitch to me. Now am I wrong for thinking her behavior was absurd?

[Soulpieced]

Quit and get a better job than a cashier?

[GSLeloo]

I get benefits, time and a half, holiday pay, personal days, two paid weeks of vacation, and in april $10 an hour. It's just the best money for right now for me... Our bosses just suck.

[AnticorRifling]

Originally posted by GSLeloo
I get benefits, time and a half, holiday pay, personal days, two paid weeks of vacation, and in april $10 an hour. It's just the best money for right now for me... Our bosses just suck.

If you get all that you need to STFU about having to work a full shift.

Hell if I was your boss, you asked me and I told you no and you got bitchy about it I'd tell you to kick rocks. It's the real world, it doesn't revolve around and it never will. You want to attend every little event and function don't work.

[GSLeloo]

I didn't get bitchy about it at all. I smiled as if she was joking at what she said and went back to working. I was very polite about it and I didn't complain when she didn't let me go home early even though I easily could have. I didn't say a word to her and did everything she asked me without complaint. I am bitching now because she tried to make me stay late when I had already said to her that I needed to leave early... I didn't leave early but I expected to leave on time and when she had two other people that both could've been open and she tried to make me stay late, that was bullshit. That was done out of spite.

[Jazuela]

I'm a cashier too, and yeah some bosses blow and suck at the same time. I don't think there was anything unreasonable about you asking to leave a few minutes early. The store manager where I am usually asks for volunteers when it's dead at the last hour of the shift, since we don't get paid for the time we don't work. It's a fair system for the most part - if someone else has been leaving work early for the last few times he asked, he makes sure people who didn't get to leave early are asked first.

This way, we all get a chance to clock out early if we need/want to, and he saves a few bucks not having to pay us.

Okay, what is the moral of the story?

Jobs like this suck dick and lots of it. This is why I absolutely refused to work them. Never will I have some wannabe big shot working in retail telling me what to do. In your position? I'd be all like, "CUNT U WANNA BE ST00PID?!?!?!?" punched her in the throat and yelled out "FUCKING PWNED!!!!!!!!11111111" over the store intercom. $10 an hour is just sorry.

- Arkans

[Mini-Spir]

Damn, this is the holiday season you think you people could be a little nicer.

[Tsa`ah]

You were taught a lesson, but it didn't take apparently.

Your mother's birthday comes around the same time each year. Why wait UNTIL the day of her birthday to ask about leaving early?

Schedules are made for a reason. Yes, it sucks that other people fake being sick to go home early. It sucks when other people don't stick to their shifts. You are not other people and are held accountable for you. That means asking ahead of time.

Last minute plans on a birthday? I understand that, tell your mother to be understanding to your job and not plan things last minute. Doing so is detrimental to your employment.

[AnticorRifling]

Originally posted by Tsa`ah
You were taught a lesson, but it didn't take apparently.

Your mother's birthday comes around the same time each year. Why wait UNTIL the day of her birthday to ask about leaving early?

Schedules are made for a reason. Yes, it sucks that other people fake being sick to go home early. It sucks when other people don't stick to their shifts. You are not other people and are held accountable for you. That means asking ahead of time.

Last minute plans on a birthday? I understand that, tell your mother to be understanding to your job and not plan things last minute. Doing so is detrimental to your employment.

Ding, Ding, Ding!

[Adhara]

Ok I have to ask... I've been wondering since I first read it and I really can't even imagine what a good answer would be so...

What would you do with those 5 minutes? Get to spend 5 minutes more with your mother? I mean, wanting to spend more time with her on her birthday is nice but I wouldn't have bothered my boss for 5 minutes. An hour maybe...

Of course that's not the point. From your side of the story, it sounds like she's a bitch and kept you late out of spite. We'll never know what you would sound like in her side of the story. Either way, never count on a boss being nice or agreeing to special requests and it will save you a lot of tears in this harsh world.

[Latrinsorm]

Originally posted by Tsa`ah
You were taught a lesson, but it didn't take apparently.When someone asks you to help them up, do you step on their throat?

She's not complaining that she wasn't let go early, she's complaining that she was purposefully held late.

I hope I never have to live in the Midwest.

[Tsa`ah]

Originally posted by Latrinsorm
When someone asks you to help them up, do you step on their throat?

She's not complaining that she wasn't let go early, she's complaining that she was purposefully held late.

I didn't state or imply that what the boss did was the right approach, just that what I am guessing was the reason. I'm willing to bet some cash that I'm right.

I wouldn't have handled it in that fashion. If it were the first instance and the employee asking for the favor was wet behind the ears ... a talk would have been in order.

I'm sorry no, and this is why. You know when occasions are well in advance, well before I do. Let me know before the schedule is written up. Not while it is being written up, not when it is posted, but before the work goes into the schedule. Emergencies are one thing, pre-determined events are another.

I'm sorry this is a last minute thing, but the schedule is there for a reason.

Now, if she were a good employee and we died ... I'd tell her to scoot. If she sucked and she was a problem, she's finishing the shift.


I hope I never have to live in the Midwest.

Fear the corn bitch!

[DeV]

Your complaint is valid from what you have explained, Leloo. When a supervisor creates an atmosphere of allowing others to get away with calling in to work repeatedly or requesting to leave early and doing so despite being told no and are still working there, the response does seem absurd.

However, this should teach you a valuable lesson in that you need to go through the proper channels and request any time off early in advance so you won't put yourself in a situation like this again.

[GSLeloo]

Basically my mom wanted me to be home any bit sooner so I could change and get to dinner with them. Did I personally think the five minutes early would make a difference? No but I don't argue with the menopausal birthday girl.

And Tsa'ah I am aware that you go by the schedule and that's it. My whole point is as said above that she purposely tried to make me stay late basically because I asked to leave five minutes early. And as I stated I never leave early, I barely ever call in sick, and I don't pull stupid stunts. You'd expect since they're so desperate for more employees that they wouldn't make their current ones feel like they should quit. Her behavior was inappropriate especially the part where she said she wish she could kill me and all the cashiers.

[GSLeloo]

Oh also about the bad employee thing, that was the other thing... I never bitch, I never complain, I never ask to go home early, I rarely call out sick unless I really am. These two bosses just have absolutely no people skills at all. We have kids come in 2 hours late or come that day and say they have to leave 2 hours early. Debbie is simply a bitch and I didn't care that she didn't let me go home even five minutes early but she purposely tried to make me stay late when she knew I wanted to leave at least on time.

[AnticorRifling]

Take it up with your boss' higher up. If you want it to change you have to let it be known. Careful though the old "Squeeky wheel gets the grease" line isn't always the case because sometimes the "Squeeky wheel gets replaced."

[GSLeloo]

They wouldn't replace me they're too damn desperate right now and I think the fact that I've never complained and never had a problem would speak volumes. But it also comes down to that since Patti and Debbie became front end managers we've had half of the cashiers quit.... If they were going to transfer either of them they'd have done it already (Although I've heard talk of removing Patti)

Never over estimate your worth to a company. Teenagers trying to make piss poor pay are a dime a dozen.

- Arkans

[GSLeloo]

Actually at this point we're not. We have five people quitting next month and they never found replacements for the six we lost in September. If you don't think it's true then think of this... Psycho Ginny who was in a mental hospital for a year is still working with us, she calls out at least twice a week, asks to go home early almost every day and when told no she cries and goes to Jen (Our store manager) and then goes home that way. Ginny has been put on suspension several times but we keep taking her off. Why? We have no one else.

I'll bet my last lunch that if push comes to shove, the store will not only fire you, but still not go under. Large businesses have a way of attracting new teenage workers.

- Arkans

[CrystalTears]

Keep this in mind. "Everyone is replaceable." Everyone is expendible. No one "needs" anyone in this day and age, when there is always someone out there who can do the job better and willing to do it for less money.

And don't assume that not putting in replacements means that the company is suffering in any way. We've had 5 people in the course of the year quit and they haven't been replaced. Why? Because if the people still in the jobs can handle the load, then why spend money on people that are just going to sit around and not do as much?

As for your mental friend, they may keep her to avoid a lawsuit and waiting for a legal and good reason to fire her (or enough suspensions before and after her breakdown to justify it). If they just fire her, they may be afraid that she'll come back suing them, saying that it was because she has mental problems, or maybe it's something else. Just because you see certain things doesn't mean you see the whole picture.

You're making way too many assumptions about what's going on over there. You seem a tad too confident that nothing will happen to you, and that's when something will go wrong.

[Edited on 12/13/2004 by CrystalTears]

[Parkbandit]

5 to 10 minutes early is nothing. If it's a habit of you to ask for 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there.. then perhaps she simply needs to coach/council you on how important team work is and what your role in that team means. If this is a one time thing and it happens rather infrequently.. then the boss is a stupid bitch for creating an environment where her employees do not respect her.

In either case, I wouldn't have handled you in that manner. You have a horrible boss that will always run stores that under perform, have high turnover and unhappy employee climate surveys.

[Keller]

Originally posted by Parkbandit
5 to 10 minutes early is nothing. If it's a habit of you to ask for 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there.. then perhaps she simply needs to coach/council you on how important team work is and what your role in that team means. If this is a one time thing and it happens rather infrequently.. then the boss is a stupid bitch for creating an environment where her employees do not respect her.

In either case, I wouldn't have handled you in that manner. You have a horrible boss that will always run stores that under perform, have high turnover and unhappy employee climate surveys.

DING, DING, DING!

God, my thoughts to a T. Scary.

[CrystalTears]

Oh I agree that the way the manager took care of it was petty and mean. I was responding more to the other stuff.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

Originally posted by Tsa`ah
You were taught a lesson, but it didn't take apparently.

Your mother's birthday comes around the same time each year. Why wait UNTIL the day of her birthday to ask about leaving early?

Schedules are made for a reason. Yes, it sucks that other people fake being sick to go home early. It sucks when other people don't stick to their shifts. You are not other people and are held accountable for you. That means asking ahead of time.

Last minute plans on a birthday? I understand that, tell your mother to be understanding to your job and not plan things last minute. Doing so is detrimental to your employment.

You sure you don't wanna relocate to KC and do workforce planning for me? ;)

[GSLeloo]

PB is actually right... all the cashiers and baggers hate both Patti and Debbie. For example if you call out sick Patti will hang up on you. They both talk behind your back and trash cashiers to other cashiers. They are both highly unprofessional.