Empire Records &
The Holiday Hire
by Peggy Aycinena
Last summer, my son made us proud by holding down not just one, but two retail jobs each part time. That's what every kid should be doing between their freshman and sophomore years of college holding down a job and mastering:
a) the corporate work ethic, and
b) the art of getting up out of bed early enough to be on time for work.
Some days my son would work both jobs, logging in a 13 or 14-hour day between the two stores where he was employed. When he get off at one job, he'd have 30 minutes to rush to his other job and start his next 6 or 7-hour shift.
It was hard, but to do that for 3 months wasn't going to kill him as far as his folks were concerned. We were proud of his initiative, his stamina, and his apparent understanding that college is expensive. We're trying to do our share towards paying his tuition, and he was doing his share as well.
Towards the end of the summer, we could see that he was getting pretty burned out. Not surprising. He was working bunches of hours, but at $5.50 an hour, he wasn't bringing home a lot of cash to show for his efforts. At the end of a 12-hour day, for instance, he'd have $66 in his pocket, before taxes.
One day, he got a parking ticket. He'd been feeding the meter, but the next guy who was supposed to take over for him was 30 minutes late. So, my son was late getting out to the car. The parking ticket was $25, but he'd only earned $22 on that shift. That wasn't a great day.
On another day, somebody else arrived late to take over for him at his first job. So, my son delayed leaving and then was late for his second job, which earned him a 'point' on his record for tardiness. If he got 3 points, he'd be terminated.
What did my son learn from this past summer? Well, I can't know everything that he learned, but I do know of two things.
First of all, he become convinced that somebody who wants to earn above the minimum wage, most likely not always, but most likely needs to get a college education, so that hopefully they can qualify for something like a professional-track career. White collars jobs aren't the only kind of jobs that can be meaningful, but getting an education so you're not relegated to working retail standing on your feet and earning minimum wage your entire life may provide some guarantee that you'll be able to sit down at work once in a while. Or at least use your mind.
The second thing my son learned this past summer had to do with the time clock and the corporate machine. Both of my son's jobs were at big retail outlets, but one of them was at a *really* big retail outlet in the mall. The company policy towards tardiness there, as I mentioned, was pretty harsh. If you were more than 5 minutes late, more than 3 times, you could be dismissed.
Now there was a kid a young man working in my son's department at this *really* big retail outlet in the mall, who was 21 years old. He'd been with the store for over 2 years, had a 1-year old child of his own, and had been called up and was being sent to Iraq in September.
In August, this young man was late for work for the 3rd time clocking in 6 minutes late for the 3rd time and he was promptly laid off. No matter that this young man had 2 years' worth of knowledge about that department, about the merchandise in that department, and about the customers the young man was 6 minutes late for the third time, and boom he was out. My son came home after witnessing that dismissal consumed with anger and grief.
It wasn't just that a good and knowledgeable employee had been let go, it was that he had a kid to support, and was being sent off to Iraq for a year crushed and dis-spirited, leaving his wife and child behind.
There was no consoling my son. No explaining that this policy of 3-strikes-you're-out is good for the nation. It's good for corporate discipline. It inspires an excellent work ethic. It keeps employees' feet to the fire about promptness and tidiness in their timelines. My son would not be consoled.
And, really, why should he be? Why should I try to undermine his sense of justice and his sense of right and wrong? In fact, I couldn't have even if I'd wanted to. Which brings me up to today, December 5th.
We've just finished remodeling our kitchen. After 10 months of living elsewhere, we're finally back in our house. The granite counter tops are lovely, as are the appliances, the lighting, and the 8-foot patio doors. (Everything ought to be lovely the project was supposed to be finished 4 months ago!)
In any case, I decided to go to work as a holiday hire in a local retail store that sells inserts for drawers and cupboards. I could earn a little cash and get 40% off a bunch of merchandise I was going to buy anyway. Besides, why should my son be the only one who's qualified to work retail?
So, I got myself hired for the season. I started two days ago, and I quit today.
Why did I quit? Well, when I showed up for work this morning cheerful and ready to greet customers in my little red apron the first thing I was told was, "Oh by the way, you need to sign our Employee Attendance and Tardiness Agreement."
"Really?" I said. "What agreement is that?"
"Well," I was told, "that's where you agree that if you're late more than 3 or 4 times, you'll be terminated."
"But," I said, "what if I have a sick child? Or what if, my car breaks down? And what constitutes being late?"
"Well," I was assured, "it's not that harsh. If you have a sick child, or you have transportation issues, we can work with you. But not clocking in within the 5-minute window within which you're assigned to arrive, means you'll get written up. After the third time fourth time with extenuating circumstances it's grounds for dismissal."
"But," I said, "how do I know the clock's correct? When I clocked in this morning, I didn't get a paper ticket to indicate that I clocked in. I can only trust that the clock was accurate, and that my card actually swiped correctly. How can I know your system is reliable?"
"Oh, we take care of that. You can trust us," I was assured.
"Yeah," I said, "but yesterday when I was ringing up merchandise, repeatedly the prices listed in your system were wrong. Or the computer crashed. Or a particular item wasn't in your system at all. Why should I trust my employment status to your system when your system's clearly flawed?"
"Oh, don't worry," I was told. "Our merchandising system needs a little work, but our clocking-in system has never been wrong."
"Yeah, but also," I said, "I wasnt told about this policy when I was hired. Today's my third day and I should have been told before I started that these were the terms of my employment."
"Oh," I was told. "We just instituted this policy this past Wednesday."
"But I was called on Wednesday to tell me that I had the job, and I started on Friday," I said. "I should have been told that I had to sign an agreement either Wednesday by phone, or Friday when I showed up in person."
"Oh that's not a problem," I was told. "You can sign it now."
"No," I said, "I can't sign it now. I disagree completely with the spirit of this thing. Either you have faith in your employees, or you treat them like potential criminals. If somebody were in a white-collar job and they were five minutes late, in general they'd work an extra 5 minutes at the end of the day. Most of your employees are young people. Do you want to teach them to work in an atmosphere of fear? Is that the way you teach people a positive work ethic?"
"You're reading way too much into this," I was told. "It's just not that big a deal."
"Well, if that's the case, then I shouldn't have to sign this," I said. "But, as I dont think I have that option, I better hang up my apron and go."
"But you seem to be enjoying the job so much! And, you clearly enjoy talking to the customers! Why would you want to quit?" I was asked.
"Well," I said. "I don't like this policy. I think it's unnecessary and counter-productive. I also think it's disrespectful and aimed at your young staff. If we have enough faith in our young people to send them off to war, we should have enough faith in them to know that they'll do their best to be on time and to do a good job. Thanks for the opportunity to be here and I wish you all the best, but I gotta go because I just don't agree with this thing."
And with that, I shook the manager's hand, hung up my apron, put on my jacket, left the employees' break room, and left the store.
Of course, before going out the front door, I had to have my purse checked and my pockets patted down by the floor manager. You never know when an employee might be walking out the door with some stolen merchandise. No matter that our middle-aged customers are never frisked, nor their handbags checked for a wayward roll of shelf liner, a stolen spatula, or a shop-lifted spice rack all employees are frisked as they come and go.
Shrinkage is a big problem in retail.
As is management.
As is employee morale.
As is the work ethic among our young people apparently.
The moral of this story? I don't have one, but if you have 'young people' in your life who are foraging out into the work world particularly into retail I have one movie that I would recommend. It's not a perfect movie and it comes complete with some pretty raunchy language and behavior, but if you're over 30 and you want to know how young people should be treated in the workplace, I would recommend that you see "Empire Records."
As that movie would indicate, it's not always easy, but it's also not brain surgery to show respect, tolerance, and empathy for our young working people in this dark and confusing world. It's the least we can do considering what they're facing in the years ahead.
Go watch the movie. It won't kill you, and you might learn something about the people who are going to be helping you to purchase most of the items on your holiday gift list this year.
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"Happy Holidays."
"Are you finding everything you need today, and do you know about our in-store specials?"
"My name is Peggy."
"Please let me know if I can be of any help."
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December 5, 2004
Peggy Aycinena owns and operates EDA Confidential. She can be reached at peggy@aycinena.com
Copyright (c) 2004, Peggy Aycinena. All rights reserved.