29 October 2014
Lunch Break
This Retail comic strip is not an exaggeration:
True story from my time as a retail store manager:
One Christmas season we hired a woman whose name I don't remember, but let's call her Jane. I gave Jane the tour (showing her the layout of the store, the break room, etc.) and we finished at the daily schedule. The daily schedule had two parts: The left side showed where everyone was working that day, and the right side showed the break schedule. Everyone had a fifteen minute break first, then a thirty minute break later. Jane asked if she got a lunch break. I looked at the schedule, and showed her that she got a fifteen minute break at 11:30. She said (whined), "But don't I get a lunch break at noon??" I explained, as nicely as I could, that we can't all take a break at noon, because we have to take turns for our breaks. She asked again about a break at noon. Again, I pointed to her 11:30 break. She complained, "But that's only fifteen minutes. That's not enough time to go get a lunch!"
First of all: I have never, in my entire life, started a job without a bagged lunch. You never know what the facilities are going to be like.
Secondly: My boss came and found me halfway through the day and asked what I thought of Jane. I said, "Please make her go away". He said, "How about I pay her for the hours she's worked today and then fire her". I said, "That'll work". First and only time in my life I've gotten someone fired.
True story from my time as a retail store manager:
One Christmas season we hired a woman whose name I don't remember, but let's call her Jane. I gave Jane the tour (showing her the layout of the store, the break room, etc.) and we finished at the daily schedule. The daily schedule had two parts: The left side showed where everyone was working that day, and the right side showed the break schedule. Everyone had a fifteen minute break first, then a thirty minute break later. Jane asked if she got a lunch break. I looked at the schedule, and showed her that she got a fifteen minute break at 11:30. She said (whined), "But don't I get a lunch break at noon??" I explained, as nicely as I could, that we can't all take a break at noon, because we have to take turns for our breaks. She asked again about a break at noon. Again, I pointed to her 11:30 break. She complained, "But that's only fifteen minutes. That's not enough time to go get a lunch!"
First of all: I have never, in my entire life, started a job without a bagged lunch. You never know what the facilities are going to be like.
Secondly: My boss came and found me halfway through the day and asked what I thought of Jane. I said, "Please make her go away". He said, "How about I pay her for the hours she's worked today and then fire her". I said, "That'll work". First and only time in my life I've gotten someone fired.
# posted by mamurd @ 10:47 PM 
