#schedule problems

???

Whyyyyyy????

I’d also like to open up this to any followers who dealt with similar problems. I’ve been taught to fight for the time deserved off, not to take no for an answer, to be assertive. But again, each company is different as are the bosses/managers/higher ups. So I ask everyone - have you dealt with any issues in requesting and ultimately being denied time off? How have you handled it? Does anyone have any other suggestions or advice on the situation?

I mean, aside from actually agreeing to going into work early. My store is SUPER specific with us clocking in and out. We have 5 minutes before and after our scheduled shift to clock in or out. So like if I had to be in at 3:00, I can clock in between 2:55 and 3:05. Not before, not after. And if we miss that time frame or if we agree to come in early or stay late, we can't just ask the supervisor running the front end or someone at customer service to clock us out or in. We have to actually walk around the store to find whichever one manager is in and have them enter a specific code to clock us in or out. And no, we cannot have customer service page that manager to come to the time clock. We can ask customer service to page the manager that's in for their location, but it's still on us to go to that manager ourselves. The supervisors and customer service coworkers do know the code but are under STRICT orders not to use it unless they're given permission. I'm talking strict as in, if they do it it's grounds for termination. Because apparently people abused the code in the past to give themselves more hours. Anyway. Onto why I'm ranting about this problem. One day I agreed to come in 2 hours early. I walked into my store with 5 minutes to spare. I asked the supervisor where one of the managers was. She said check the office. So I walked to the opposite side of the store and up the stairs to check the three offices. No one. Went back downstairs and back to the front of the store. Told her no manager. She said check the back. So I wanderd to the other opposite end of the store and checked the back, where we get the deliveries. No one. Not even any coworkers to ask if they've seen the manager. Walked back up to the front of the store. Was told to check the office again. Back to the first opposite side of the store and upstairs. Checked all three offices. No one. Proceeded to wander around the ENTIRE store looking for the damn manager. Nowhere to be found. By the time I made it back to the front end, it was 15 minutes later. Supervisor just clocked out and the night shift supervisor came in. He asked what I was doing. I said I was looking for a manager to clock me in and checked literally EVERYWHERE. He told Customer Service coworker to page the manager for their location. Guess what? NO ANSWER. So Night Supervisor made Customer Service Coworker clock me in with the code they're technically not allowed to use because the manager didn't want to show their damn face. I was BEGGED to come in early. I came in exactly when I was supposed to. There were all of TWO cashiers, one of which had been waiting over an hour for his break but obviously couldn't go anywhere because it was so busy. But despite the fact that I came in early, no one could bother to actually clock me in and I wasted 15 minutes of what was supposed to be my shift aimlessly wandering around the store looking for a ghost. That's 15 minutes of 2 extra hours I agreed to work that I didn't get paid for. I know, 15 minutes of minimum wage probably isn't even a lot of money in the grand scheme of things because it's part time and minimum wage but it's the principle of the thing. I hate that I agreed to go into work early, rearranged my schedule before work to make it so I COULD go in early, did my part and the higher ups couldn't even be bothered to get me clocked in and on a stupid register to back up my coworkers. Yes, that's retail for you. But in my 5+ years of working in retail, let alone at my current store, it's NEVER gotten that bad. I conclude my rant with a hard earned lesson - don't go into work early.

Ok a lot of things. But the thing in particular today that I hate is when I make plans on my day off and not only does work try to call me in, but they pressure and/or guilt trip me into showing up. I made plans to go to the movies with one of my friends, since it was the only day we could coordinate our schedules at all. An hour before we left my manager called asking if I could come in. Now if I have no plans I'm fine with going in; more money for me. Or, at the very least, I try to compromise; like, no I can't come in in the next 15 minutes but I can come in in an hour. Whether that's "good enough" or not is on them. This particular instance, I apologized and said I couldn't come in. But this manager? "Why not? Your availability says you're available today. You SHOULD be able to come in!!" You know what, boss? If I didn't have plans with a friend I only get to see a couple times a year to see a movie and go out for dinner then yeah, I'd be happy to help. But if I'm not on the schedule,I assume I'm not going in. I'm not gonna sit on my a$$ and wait on my days off for you people to call me in just assuming I'll just at the change to come in the second you call. Don't tell me what my availaibity says - I set it. I KNOW what I said my available hours and days to work are. You want me to come in so bad? Put me on the damn schedule and stop screwing me out of hours and then getting mad one of the rare times I actually say no. Screw you, manager! Rant over.

Tonight my store only has two people working for the last 3 hours until closing time. One of those two people is the manager. And that manager that's closing tonight is the one who MADE the schedule. This is the same manager who pushes her work on other people, has snuck out of her responsibilities to hide in the office and talk on the phone, and do her personal shopping while on the clock (just to name a few things). How the F are you gonna explain to customers that only self scan is opened for 3 hours - not all of which work by the way - and the only other person who can POSSIBLY open on register, aka the manager, who is SO into chatting with customers and giving them such a GREAT checkout experience when she's on register, is gonna do jack sh-t? Not to mention it's against the protocol of my store to have only one person besides the manager on the front end let alone the whole store. I feel sorry for my coworker who's gonna have to deal with all this sh-t tonight but the manager who made this all happen in the first place can go to hell. Or, preferably, at least 3 stops past hell because hell's too nice for her.

Because that thing that had to get done was so much more important than me getting the hours I'm contractually obligated to get and it's known by almost every employee in the store that hours are being cut no matter what.