I really did work eleven days in a row at the department store
And I worked twelve hours in one day
The eleven days was the most extreme time and unusual
Seven to eight was not really unusual though
About once a month
I would be asked to work well over the five day work week
the eleven days were proof of how understaffed they were
and how they overworked the staff they did have
the only other full time employee’s brother, who she was taking care of, had died of liver cancer
all the other employees were part time,
although they worked closer to full time schedules
my manager had planned a vacation at the same time as the other employees brother happened to die and I was the only one there to pick up the days
some overtime would have been nice, but as the clock starts back over at zero on Sunday, whether you have had a day off or not, you don’t work over the forty hour work week
I was actually told to go home half way through my eleventh day because I would have gone into overtime, they never ever pay you overtime
They tell you to go home if you work over the forty hour work week
Which is the only way you get over time
This just means you have to work forty hours between Sunday and Saturday because on Saturday the clock starts back over at zero whether you have had a day off or not
Thought I’d repeat that again
the day I worked twelve hours, was the day after Thanksgiving super sale day,
they had us come in at 4:30am and instead of letting us go home at say 1:00pm they kept us till 5:00pm
there were many times I worked over the normal eight hour work day
this is normal for salaried employees at desk jobs of course
but any job where you stand the whole time, it is tiring
the store makes a great deal of money, as does the one where I work now
they tell us what there sales are and such and they do great
It’s just another way to keep costs low.
It was really tiring
It was a physically demanding job,
I worked in a busy section of the women’s clothing department
we moved tons literally of clothes,
Again all the clothes are made overseas in places South America or China
they mark the stuff down till they are practically giving it away
And they move a lot of clothes that way
The store was always really crammed
You could barely walk for all the racks
People would complain, people in wheel chairs forget it
No way through
Management allowed for no standing around
And they are quite harsh about it
They are understaffed so you are constantly really busy
And you get barked at a lot
No matter how hard you work
Again management style is basically we can replace you at anytime
Retail jobs too there is always some hidden situation
where you are required to come in early to do markdowns
or stay till 2 in the morning doing inventory
I worked at Bath & Body Works and every month or so we had to do floor sets
Floor sets required us to rearrange everything in the store to change with the seasons
There are a lot of seasons at Bath & Body Works
About two a month it seemed like
So we would have to stay till two am to do it
It used to make me really nervous coming home at night because I lived alone then
My job now, I don’t get out till midnight
which leaves me tired of course
It’s depressing I guess to think that all the fun stuff at Bath & Body Works is set by exhausted college students getting paid 6.50 dollars and hour
who risk being mugged in the parking lot
But it’s even more depressing to think about the sweat shops in Guatemala or China where most of what you are wearing is made.
So anyway I’m not exaggerating
i think this how they get a lot of the staff at PV honestly
I'm not making excuses for them
I'm just saying
