cashier: sorry for your wait. we’re short-staffed today
millennial: oh that’s ok no worries :)
baby boomer:
But listen that’s the thing.
We are short staffed almost 97% of the time at my retail job. Because corporate has figured out you can overwork 4 people at minimum wage instead of paying for the 8 people you should probably have to be on the clock.
Baby boomers grew up with stores that were adequately staffed, with workers who most likely had weeks of training for their jobs as opposed to the 1-2 shadow shift training we get now. Also those workers most likely were able to be full time if they wanted. Now retail, except for management positions, is mostly made up of part time workers, because you don’t have to give them benefits. So you have a workforce of perpetually underpaid, overwhelmed, undertrained people trying to do their best all while dealing with an entire generation of people who refuse to acknowledge that the system has changed and the average retail worker has NO control over that change and is being taken advantage of.
Like we got our customer surveys back, and almost every single one mentioned that they couldn’t find someone to help them or we needed more people on register because it was TOO SLOW, but what did management tell us instead of scheduling more people? We need to be quicker on register and call for backup if necessary. Which makes no sense because we can’t call for backup THAT ISN’T THERE.
FUCKING GODDAMN THIS
i’m gen-x and this trend was just starting when i got into the workforce. my parents were constantly aghast at my descriptions of perfectly normal work days. they rolled to disbelieve every time. they made excuses for the situation. they just did not want to believe this was the world their child was facing. but eventually they had to accept it, because it just kept getting worse.
when i got my first job in 1988, there was still such a thing as full-time cashier and food service jobs that got benefits and earned enough to support children – or sick parents – and have the basics of life. you had to keep your head down and kiss ass for a while to get bumped to full time, but you could do it.
those pretty much don’t exist anymore. if you don’t work in an office or a unionized industry, forget it. you’re part time, and your boss is going to screw you as much as they possibly can. you’re gonna need at least two of those part time jobs, by the way, because in addition to bennies going bye-bye, the minimum wage has gone up one dollar but your rent has doubled. kiss sleep goodbye, and don’t even think about going back to school – even if you’re ok with being in debt for the rest of your life, a degree won’t necessarily get you a job these days.
so not only are those cashiers getting yelled at for the way their bosses are screwing them – some of them are phd’s.