What Life on Minimum Wage Actually Looks Like in 2016

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/35422-what-life-on-minimum-wage-actually-looks-like-in-2016

Just getting hired wasn't easy for this 56-year-old guy. To become a sales clerk, peddling items that were generally well under $50 a pop, I needed two previous employment references and I had to pass a credit check. Unlike some low-wage jobs, a mandatory drug test wasn’t part of the process, but there was a criminal background check and I was told drug offenses would disqualify me. I was given an exam twice, by two different managers, designed to see how I'd respond to various customer situations. In other words, anyone without some education, good English, a decent work history, and a clean record wouldn't even qualify for minimum-wage money at this chain.

And believe me, I earned that money. Any shift under six hours involved only a 15-minute break (which cost the company just $2.25). Trust me, at my age, after hours standing, I needed that break and I wasn't even the oldest or least fit employee. After six hours, you did get a 45-minute break, but were only paid for 15 minutes of it.

The hardest part of the job remained dealing with... well, some of you. Customers felt entitled to raise their voices, use profanity, and commit Trumpian acts of rudeness toward my fellow employees and me. Most of our “valued guests” would never act that way in other public situations or with their own coworkers, no less friends. But inside that store, shoppers seemed to interpret “the customer is always right” to mean that they could do any damn thing they wished. It often felt as if we were penned animals who could be poked with a stick for sport, and without penalty. No matter what was said or done, store management tolerated no response from us other than a smile and a “Yes, sir” (or ma'am).

The store showed no more mercy in its treatment of workers than did the customers. My schedule, for instance, changed constantly. There was simply no way to plan things more than a week in advance. (Forget accepting a party invitation. I'm talking about childcare and medical appointments.) If you were on the closing shift, you stayed until the manager agreed that the store was clean enough for you to go home. You never quite knew when work was going to be over and no cell phone calls were allowed to alert babysitters of any delay.

[w0nderer]

1. this needs a big nice kick and rec n/t

[Mbrow]

2. K&R

[pscot]

3. K&R

Is this a great country, or what?

[Punx]

4. Oh, the Joys of working in retail

Decades ago I worked in retail, just starting out in my first serious job at a drug store, think along the lines of CVS. Customers could be fairly rude and managements view of those under them wasn't much better. They were so impressed with how Wal-Mart did things too. I'm sure things are much worse nowadays given the general coarsening of society and the competition for jobs now.

The company had a bad habit, intentionally or otherwise of mis-advertising sale prices, leaving us to explain to customers why they couldn't get things for the advertised price. The county finally fined us big time at one point.

The absolute worst workplace problems I've ever seen occurred at that company. They all involved management in the store and they included a number of serious sexual harassment cases, and even child molestation going on at one point.

When I went back to school and worked as a bank teller to put my self through, I thought I was in heaven.

[flying rabbit]

5. K&R

[hay rick]

7. K&R