Just found out that the same manager who was hostile with me today made the same kind of threat to another coworker. Basically the, “If you don’t like it, then get another job.”
She told me she was just uncomfortable with having to basically force people to get into our rewards program. She was talking abut kids, specifically a nine year old, that she basically had to manipulate to sign up.
Apparently two managers ganged up on her, telling her it was basically harmless and yada yada.
And then she got the standard, “This is your job. If you don’t want to do it, quit.”
That statement will always rub me the wrong way.
Firstly, in this particular case, except for the managers and cashiers, EVERYBODY is trying to get either a second job or another job. We are not paid enough to live off of just this one. Many of us are just trying to get enough to pay bills. No one needs the threat of losing our jobs looming over our heads (especially when we’re already forced to do something that makes us uncomfortable.)
Secondly, I get that managers have a lot of work to manage, but people like us at the bottom of the pole get the grunt work. That’s what we’re paid (and not very well) for. What that means is we do the most physical work, we spend the most time with customers, and most of the problems are on our heads. And, again (and I will stress this point until the day I die) we have all this stress with little compensation.
Thirdly, people aren’t toys. If you don’t like the one you have you can’t just throw them away and purchase a new one. Actually, you can, and that’s the problem. These are people. People whose entire livelihood depends on their job(s). In my specific case losing a couple of hours could mean the difference in rent and eviction, and based on conversations I’ve had with my coworkers it isn’t too different from them.
I feel like a lot of managers have trouble comprehending this because (at least where I work) their pay is pretty fair. If I told them, “Hey, I need two more hours this week or I won’t make rent,” I imagine most of them would look at me like I grew a second head. They don’t understand the stress of a minimum wage job because, though they work in a place that pays minimum wage, they don’t have a minimum wage job. They think finding and starting another job is easy, because their job security has made them ignorant to the reality.
Saying, “Even if you’re uncomfortable with something, do it or get another job,” is a matter of practicality to them. It’s just business, and there is no humanity in business.