Things corporations make their employees do because they thing customers like it (hint: we donāt)
Things corporations make their employees do because they thing customers like it (hint: we donāt)
1) Verbally greeting every person who enters the store. I swear to God, the poor cashier at my local Dollar General is going to lose her voice. She probably has nightmares that includeĀ āWelcome to Dollar General!āĀ
2) Force them to wear uniforms. All it takes for me to identify an employee is a name badge, or maybe a vest or something. Thatās it. My retail purchasing brain will not crumble into righteous offense if your employee isnāt shoved into a hot, uncomfortable poly/cotton polo and gut-cinching khaki pants. There is nothing about that ensemble that creates aĀ āprofessional work atmosphere.ā Itās Wal-mart, buddy. No one is looking for a professional work atmosphere at the place they go to buy toilet paper.Ā
3) Forcing restaurant employees to take their meals inĀ āthe break roomā, even when they buy the food from the restaurant they work in. If I see staff eating at one of the open restaurant tables in the corner, you know what I think? Nothing. Theyāre people eating, just like everyone else in there.Ā They say expectations can create behavior, so maybe we should step back and wonder if the monster-customer isnāt a creation of the corporate world assuming every customer is a monster and catering to it.Ā
Iād like to add:
4) Banning employees from having a water bottle even when theyāre stuck at a till or booth and cannot leave to get a drink. If itās under the counter, I donāt see it (and itās already a mess under counters as it is, putting a water bottle into that chaos wonāt do anything). And if someone takes a drink from one, I donāt even register it because staying hydrated should be seen as normal.
5) Forcing employees to apologize for anything and everything, from stock issues to not carrying items to customers breaking shit. Demanding this from employees just strengthens the idea that retail workers are lesser beings who are never allowed to say no or call out assholes while making customers feel like theyāre superior and can do no wrong.
6) Banning employees from talking to each other. As long as theyāre aware of things and can drop it to help a customer, whatās the big deal? Itās a way better experience to walk into a place and see the employees talking and laughing than into a place thatās silent outside of the radio where the employeesā eyes are glazed over because they arenāt allowed to have a human connection while on the clock.
7) Forcing employees to stand for their entire shift, even banning leaning against the counter, even when there are no customers. There is nothing unprofessional about sitting.
8) Forcing employees to SIT for their entire shift. (Mainly in call center work Iāve found). Sitting in the same uncomfortable position at the computer for hours on end is not good for anyone, there is no reason why employees shouldnāt be able to stand up and stretch. Weāre not toddlers, someone standing to stretch isnāt going to disrupt the entire call center for goodness sakes.
i firmly believe that ācustomers like itā is just a thinly veiled excuse for american corporationsā exerting this level of control over workers. Iām absolutely certain that a no-talking-to-fellow-workers rule is a calculated attempt to prevent workers from unionizingāi believe that it was common in factories 100 years ago to have such a rule, specifically to make worker uprisings more difficult.
