For everyone who has never worked in retail... [View All]

Here is a list of the typical things a good dependable hourly retail worker has to do in any given week (sometimes all in one day!) (this list is not all inclusive):

Helping customers, cash register, return desk, customer issues, big ticket, unloading and loading trucks, keeping an eye out for shoplifters, straightening the shelves when they get messy, watching people's kids (because God knows many parents don't watch their own kids while in a store), taking calls from customers, taking calls from other stores, looking up to see if an item is in stock, marking clearance items, rearranging clearance on the clearance rack, setting up the new merchandise according to the company standards, going back to that new display five minutes later and finding it in shambles, helping helpless people find an item that was right in front of their face the whole time, being told what a worthless slob you are because you work in retail, daily inventory, making everything look perfect for a visit from the big dogs, checking perishable items for sell-by date, throwing away all expired items, vacuuming the floor, taking out the trash, cleaning out the backroom, printing and setting up sale signs, checking emails from corporate several times a day, dodging bullets from armed robbers, calling 911 when a customer manages to hurt themselves, talking to the cops, helping people carry their stuff to the parking lot, helping break into the car for the woman who left her keys and her two year old child locked in there, cleaning up food and drinks and urine and feces and puke from the aisles, plunging the toilet that keeps getting clogged, replenishing the TP and paper towels in the bathrooms, recovering what is left of stolen items, gathering the carts scattered all over the parking lot, sending and receiving mail, sending large boxes of merchandise via UPS or Fedex Ground, counting out the money in the registers during the change of shift, closing all the registers down, cashing everything out, making sure there were no discrepancies, dropping off the deposit, make sure everyone gets a lunch break, and more.

If you think there is one employee for each of these jobs, or even one employee for TEN of these jobs, you are kidding yourself. When I worked at Toys R Us, I did all of these things -- sometimes all in one day, definitely within 2 or 3 days -- and more. My job description was Sales Associate for the Clothing Department. The most I ever made was $9.50/hour, and I was one of the highest paid people in the store outside of management. I also was trying to muddle my way through 15-18 credit hours per week at school, about 10 hours of homework every week (and that is if there were no tests coming up or papers due), and make sure my house didn't become a pig-sty, and take care of my dogs. Oh, and sleep, sometimes. FORGET a social life.

Now, an average sized retail store might have 10 people scheduled for any given shift (on a good day), 2 or 3 of those people will call out (on a good day), 2 or 3 of the others will come in up to an hour late (on a good day). 90% of the employees are part time (very few retail stores have full time workers outside of management), these things must all be done in 30 hours or less per week per employee, and overtime is NOT allowed under almost any circumstances. I was allowed overtime TWICE in FIVE years at Toys R Us -- and that was only because the CEO was making a visit to our store and everything had to be absolutely pristine!

Each store is granted a certain number of hours to divide among every employee in the store. When the payroll cost goes up and the sales go down, the store is given even LESS hours to divide among the employees and the SAME amount of work has to be done. When a store consistently goes over the allotted hours, the manager will be written up. When the manager gets written up there is hell to pay for all the hourly employees.

And it is virtually the same way in any retail store; TRU, Target, WalMart, K-Mart, CompUSA, Circuit City, Best Buy, PetSmart, etc.

Do you STILL think it's a good idea to "leave a cart behind"?