My experience as a 'exploited employee'

Took a job in early March at a new grocery store chain looking to branch out across Long Island. Was hired at the lowest hourly wage at full time. This is the slowest time of the year with my side work so i was content to stay busy. Income i made was enough for bills and permitted me to tap into very little of my savings.

This company expects all employees to work six days a week at nine hour shifts. Overtime pay comes into affect once the employee breaches forty hours.

Was trained at one of their stores roughly thirty miles from my apartment. The new store was located two miles away from me.

Individual in charge of the hiring was aware that i spent six years as a deli clerk prior to my hiring. My first day of training consisted of me mainly getting back into the groove of such a job since i hadnt done it in nearly five years. Additionally i was hired to have my single day off on Mondays.

On day two of my training i was comfortable enough to start observing business practices. It became apparent that instead of hiring a single skilled worker they would hired multiple people for such a position. The saddest part was that while these individuals were clean cut, they came from low income homes. In many instances these employees didnt speak english and or were just out of high school with a kid.

Upper management consisted of friends or family members of the owners. First run in with them was on my fourth day of training. My time card (they used the old school punch in/out cards) went missing when i came back from lunch on Tuesday. Informed the kid in the office (who i believe was the owners son) on the situation and immediately asked what the pay week was, Sunday - Saturday. He yes'd me to death and was more content on looking at his phone. Once i pressed the issue he finally relegated the task to the cashier manager.

Cashier manager asked me to check for it twice which i obliged. Let him know after both attempts my card is still not there. Sadly he had to tend to one of the cashiers so i was stuck waiting for that task to complete. In which another office manager saw me standing there, asked what was wrong and told me "well standing there isnt helping". I was stunned, for it showed a complete lack of decency. Quickly replied to her on the situation to only hear a "Oh, i'll go get you another one".

I trained with six other people. Two quit after the first day, one quit on the stores grand opening day, another was fired on day two (guy should of never been hired) and the last two found better work only three weeks into the new store.

To back track slightly. On my fourth day of training i informed the management i was going to be unable to work weekends an if they wish to part ways with my employment i'd understand (for context, the employees i was training with an those who were seasoned employees thought i was a manager at the new store).

So the new store opens, im making two dollars an hour less than my previous deli clerk job at double the hours and at two thirds more responsibility.

After one employee quit that i enjoyed working with her i began contemplating quitting myself. The lynch pin was that they altered all our scales in the department that required people to sign in for every single use. However they werent unique in characters. They used numbers one through ten with the same number that identified the employee as their password. An hour in i informed the deli manager im putting in my two weeks notice effective immediately.

This was a week after the last two people quit for different jobs. As i expected they pulled me aside an offered me a raise. After i informed them i needed some time to think about it they came a day later upping the price. Now the pay was the highest of their non-management full time employees. An they even suggested a higher position being available at another store they planned on opening.

Was able to get weekends off on my fourth day of work. An now i was able to get a pay raise (which hourly was equal to my previous deli clerk position). I dropped hints during the short negotiations that i would only be willing to stay if i get major holidays off. The new pay raise and the non-guarantee for holidays sealed the deal for me to part ways.

On a side note management only showed respect to me once i put in my two weeks notice. An once it was clear to them i wasnt accepting the terms they avoided me at all costs.

Grand opening week one deli manager from another store was helping out an offered me the highest praise. Was stocking away a delivery in the back while he was talking to a vendor. Vendor questioned him on letting me do it solo. He replied with "He's the only hire they got right, one out of thirty aint bad".

First paycheck was sent to the new store. Meaning i had to go there to get it. First words out of that manager mouth ever to me on requesting my check was "It may be your last".

One manager in particular (who was a minority owner) was equally condescending in every instance. Prep work for grand opening he asked me to do something in passing. This instance i already had five other tasks to complete. Went to him a few hours later asking him to show me the location of the product he wished to have stocked. Received a nice reply of "I asked this to be done three fucking hours ago", followed by me saying "excuse me" to him changing the subject.

Same guy even dropped a gem to me a week later. Deli manager asked something to be stocked in a specific location to which he changed the location minutes later. Once the deli manager came over i informed him of the change only for this manager to see the conversation happening an jump in saying "Dont confuse him".



Some minor gems:

Each stores department had a single employee working twelve hour days with one day off. They were considered 'assistant manager' but didnt have such a title and from my deductions were only making in the ballpark of twelve an hour.

If a good looking woman/girl applied the same manager would interview them; he never did interviews.

Same line was consistently used during the hiring interview. "Do this work and you gain the experience for a restaurant/caterer"; which was a bold face lie.

Each upper manager had contempt for their staff that echoed in their verbal communications to them. Upon a employee quitting they took every opportunity to belittle them in front of the staff immediately.




I can go on, but chances are those with ADD have already hit their page back button.

 

*an...

 

boo hoo

 

Well then. That killed some time.

 

Cliffs: TS got a job.

Correction: TS got *an job

 

Just eat your weight in liverwurst and get back to work.

 

So? Whats the problem?

Doesnt sound that bad to me.

The family members/ management get a better deal than you, thats life.

I dont see where you were exploited in any way shape or form. You are paid for your time, whether cleaning bathrooms or bagging groceries.

 

At least you're not working in a sweatshop or coal mine.

 

Well, how did it end?

 

can you file a lawshuit or something?

 

Ts mad because people were rude to him. Uh, hello life?

 

What can you do, America sucks.

 

All jobs suck, but that one sounds horrible.

 

So what's the issue here???? I don't see u being exploited in the least bit.

 

6 years working as a deli clerk?
now this?

how old are you and how come you can't get a decent job?

 

It's stories like this that make it perplexing to me when people say college is useless or not worth it.

My jobs and how I was treated:
Warehouse clerk. $11 an hour (above minimum wage but the physical aspect was taxing). Every time I disagreed with my supervisor or manager, even if it was in a completely professional manner, we were sent to the back of the store to sweep the floor even if it was clean.

Cashier at Target. $9.50 an hour.
I got scolded for 30 minutes and sent home early because a woman had her child in the cart incorrectly and he was going to fall off on his head, and I told her, "Ma'am, would you mind if we get your son into the child's seat of the cart properly?"
The worst part is, they DID ask her to do it (my supervisor) but because she complained and got pissed that someone told her what to do with her kid, they had to blame someone. That someone was me.

Blockbuster Video. Minimum wage (whatever it was in 2006/2007).
I got sent home early, cut hours and treated like shit if I didn't sell pre-orders for a new movie. Clean the store, answer questions about movies, check people out, hold reservations, good customer service? NONE of that shit was as important as pre-orders. My friend had a consistent 5 star customer service. People literally drove 25-30 miles to come to this store for his recommendations and service. He got passed up for a full time slot over someone who hit strong sales numbers for pre-orders that had FOUR complaints of "inappropriate behavior" to female customers, who never cleaned, who was always late.

Then I went into technical disciplines.

Best Buy Geek Squad. $11.00 an hour plus an insane discount on electronics and cables. Plus retail edge, plus paid certifications.
I was the last line of opinion before official supervisors/managers. Don't know if something is going to work or not? Need a discount on something that's not drastic? (Most employees don't know this, but Best Buy Geek Squad even non supervisors can key in dollar amount discounts on a lot of items. I consistently took $3~4 off new games for customers, $10-25 off televisions) Dispute with another employee about recommendations?
They would come to me. And pissing me off was a mistake. Someone got all butt hurt and told me to leave home theater. I went there because they were getting swarmed and no one was answering this guy's questions. As soon as my boss saw me back at the bench, he said, "Hey I thought you wanted to help out HT?" "I guess they don't need it?" I asked him. He stormed over and chewed them out. It wasn't about them not needing my help. It was about them respecting me.

Systems Engineering Student Worker - University Hospital. $16/hour part time.
One of the researchers two floors up was having an issue with his instruments. I went up there to take care of it and set up his sensors so they would notify him at home if the machine went down since he was going to be between two different locations.
While I was on my way back up, the office manager of that floor saw me in the area and started getting all puffy with me. "Why are you up here? You shouldn't be here without authorization." Just started treating me like shit. I didn't tell my boss because after all my minimum wage experience, I was kind of used to getting treated like shit.
But one of the research assistants overheard it and told my boss. He stormed up there like fucking Roger Huerta after that fat guy knocked that girl out and regulated her ass.

Some highlights:
"The day you can do what he does in an hour, in a day of your life, will be the day you can talk to him like that."

"A college freshmen can replace you."

I think you need a career shift because ever since I got into the technical disciplines, I've had nothing but respect in every job I walk into. The more training and specialization you require for the job you do, the less likely people are to fuck with you. At the end of the day, anyone can look at a clipboard and fill in hourly shifts for drones. But not just anyone can hardwire and install a network of over 100 work stations with secure connections, special licenses and sensors to warn technicians of potential failure.

 

where was the exploitation?

 

i actually loved working, what was for me when i was in school, menial jobs. i worked at kmart, at a one-hour photo, as a shoe salesman, you name it. the worst one was probably the shoe salesman gig. that one was boring as fuck! lol. it was at a sporting good store, and very few people came in. i'd end up bullshitting with the staff and throwing the football around lol. it was easy work, but the time dragged on.

it shouldn't be a surprise that places like these are run as badly as they are. what i've found, is that the people who are management at places like these, came up through the ranks, so they have no management skills.

 

if you're doing grunt work, expect to be treated like a grunt

I worked in a deli for two and a half years while I was in school and it wasn't like that at all. Mind you it was a much smaller chain, and my boss was cool as hell. I got reprimanded only once and it was for a BS reason, but it wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Get into a new field TS.


P.S the worst job you can ever get is in call centers

 

Chop off your finger, sue the company, get workers comp.