It occurred to me that there is something very wrong about the retail business at the Christmas season.
While working at Toys “R” Us, admittedly only for 3 actual days of work, I heard alot from the other employees, you know, the ones who work there are year long. Seems that this place, much like alot of retail places, only allows each store to have so many “full time” employees. The kinds of people who have to provide benefits for. During the Christmas season, they hire seasonal help to handle to extra load. These seasonal people are required to sign forms saying that regardless of the number of hours they work, they will not under any circumstances be considered full time employees. So I, and the 10 or so others hired for the holidays get scheduled for back breaking 40 hour weeks, while the people who actually care enough to work for the store all year round are left wondering why they can’t get more than 22 hours on the schedule. I mean, I bet they’d like some extra spending money too (safe bet, they actually told me they wanted more hours but were refused).
These stores don’t offer their normal part time workers more hours because by law if they give them 30 or more they have to give them benefits too, and yet they can work a “seasonal employee” into the ground and until what used to be his feet are just bloody stumps thumping away at the tile as they drag yet another overpriced Power Wheels toy to the front. Why is it they can’t just use the same magical piece of paper that allows them to side step the law for seasonal help for also allowing their dedicated employees a few extra hours a week?
I quit because my feet hurt. I was unprepared to do the job physically. Only minutes before I handed in my badge, another employee did the same, but because she was going to go do “seasonal work” for another store to get more hours.
Sometimes I just don’t understand.