Posted on 08/18/2006 by I may be fired for this, but I can surely live on
Viewed: 388 times
Today, I read about about the basic information about youth discrimination in the workplace. I was very pleased to see a lot of concern about this subject, but never would I have imagined that you would condemn the idea "to work more erratic, less popular hours" for most young people, whether it is the teens or twenties.
I want to share some comments about what I am going through right now at Shop Rite of Kearny. I started in November of 2005 in the Appy Department. Things have been going well until I started working more hours due to the summer (since there were no important classes to take at MSU during the summer months!). In our store there is a policy regarding hours, which says that "no body has the same hours each week" and no body has a "set schedule" However, during those months, I have had similar hours each week for almost the entire period. For example, I have had to work 4-11:15 PM every Monday or something similar, 4-10:30 PM every Tuesday or something similar, 5:30-11:15 PM every Friday. On the week of August 6, I had to work five nights, stripping me of working in the early mornings. Another concern for many weeks was working Friday nights and getting up to work Saturday mornings and even mornings and afternoons, most of the time being asked to stay because some selfish employees do not want to work, and ABUSE the calling-in sick policy (one day I had no choice but to work an extra night because my manager refused to asked anyone else bu me) Meanwhile, some of the new probationary employees, mostly female have yet to even learn how to close and the store manager fails to schedule them at night; these people are some of the most talkative that fail to do a lot of work. I do not know if this is true, but I truly believe (regardless if it is a lie or not) that is seems to be that the store manager is giving favors to these female employees by scheduling them early, while screwing the men into working evenings constantly. Some men had to work as many a five nights at one point in succession! Even the people that have worked several evenings who have gotten fired, the following week I had to work all evenings shifts for them. It is sickening.It is a mandatory thing that the new employees learn to work, because I believe that right now not having been taught how to close, if some of the women, and evey new employees such as TY and CM (for anonymity) were to close, either the place would look like it was destroyed by air raids in World War II or if they did close, it would take almost ninety minutes total. More nights mean more depression, something I do not know how to recover. The more nights I have worked, the more depressed I feel because I cannot spend a lot of time in activities or with my family, and they mean the world to me more than anything and everything else. I want to spend time with my family, but working thirty to thirty-five hours. I understand people need to work, but I can tell that the manager is fondling with a sexist ideology to have men in the evenings because men can carry more items than women. I am not asking for an investigation, but it is a good idea and something that should be considered. If I do get fired from my job because of these comments, I know my family will be upset, but I know I can live on because I only want to work with the best. However, the best do not want to teach me. I did not want to tell this to my managers. They would never believe me, and think that I am full of it. They are just selfish!
Keeping the appy department open to 11:00 PM for six days is sickening, and something should be done. I do not want to always be working every night. My focus is writing music after college, not spending another day after college serve some selfish egos.
Sorry for the outburst. I just could not contain my emotions any longer.
Anyway, I was moved by the issue altogether, and wish that somebody could help me.
POST A COMMENTavid reader(08/18/2006)
That's terribe. Sounds like they're really taking advantage of you there and that's there's an underlying discrimination going on. It really sounds like if you fight it or stand up for your rights, you may end up getting a bad deal or fired. Can you start looking for something else? I'm not abe to give you any legal advice, but maybe some of the other readers on here can help. I believe you too, that depression results from this sort of treatment and from working nighttime hours. Especially in the winter months. If you can find time to seek counselling, I know it would be of help to you. Your health (mental and physical) is very important especially because you want to be a heathy person for your family. You did the right thing in venting and not keeping it bottled up. That step alone does wonders for the soul. Best of luck to you!
labtech(08/19/2006)
My spouse works for Shoprite. You don't get the same hours each week at a Shoprite unless you are extremely lucky, you never really know what you're working each week - that's been the case for years for us. You can be put on different shifts without warning too, and given hours such as Monday: 4pm-12am, and Tuesday: 9 am-5pm (and yes, that is legal). And Shoprite fires people all the time, for little or no reason. I know one person got fired for parking his car too close to the front door. And yes, I know there's a union at Shoprite, but they're powerless. I would not get too hung up on it, and look for a job elsewhere. If you have just started out in your working career, you can make the kind of money Shoprite pays almost anywhere, especially if you're not interested in staying in Retail: Food Industry as a career. So call out sick and go on that job interview - you don't get paid Sick Days at Shoprite, after all !
the confessor(08/19/2006)
Your boss likes having the young girls around during the day...sounds like he needs more supervision! Hang in there dude!
SouthernProgrammer(08/22/2006)
> to have men in the evenings because men can carry more items than women > Nope, the boss wants to have the girls in during the day in order to surround himself with a "harem" without having any other male competition around. Not much you can do about this job except to either quit or put up with it. Complaining won't do anything except (probably) get you fired and someone else will wind up closing the store...which ironically is what you want to happen.
Fear(09/13/2006)
Tell 'em to go screw. You can get a job at a call center getting paid a little better and get a set schedule until you are done with school. They used to do this crap to me when I was in High School at Toys R' US. We (young guys under 21) had to work Friday nights and the one daytime we got was of course Saturday mornings. That was due to the tenured people, managers and people over 21 wanting to go out and party on Friday night and sleep in Saturday morning. I called in sick one day and found a new job. I quit right during the busy time during Xmas. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!! SCREW THE MAN!
the cynic(09/13/2006)
I remember that from working retail, fast food, basically any type of shift work including a residential group home. By law, you have to allow someone "8 hours between shifts." That doesn't mean 8 hours of sleep, just time off the clock, so often times I'd be on from 3-11 one day and then 7 a.m.-3 p.m. the next day. Figuring in dinner, commute, showers, etc., that doesn't allow for much break time in between.
Cuddlebears7278(10/06/2006)
I am actually a deli clerk too, but not at shop rite. They treat me the same way you are being treated, and I am female. I get all the crappy night shifts cause I don't have a family or kids. When actually, I do. I am married. No, I dont have kids yet, but that is primarily because of my job schedule. I dont think it would kill anyone if everyone worked one night shift a week, to help out on our end of things.
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