Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

SpasmFingers t1_j923m3c wrote

My first job was bagging groceries at a kroger. Baggers don't get mats to stand on, only the chercker gets that luxury. Now kroger is all self checkout with a camera in your face and they scan my ID every time I buy beer. Fuck em

142

Hamsternoir t1_j92pyf2 wrote

Stand on? Don't they have chairs?

22

butterfly_burps t1_j92qrjt wrote

There's this absurd, unfounded belief in the US that sitting down puts off the impression that you're lazy, and some retail businesses will fire you for taking a seat, no matter how long or short that seat is.

157

TwoFrontHitters t1_j92t0ah wrote

I remember working in the oilfield in the US back in the early 90s. If you were seen sitting down you were fired. Must be in your feet all day, no matter what. When lunch time came it was more about resting your body than getting some calories. They'd call you "magnet ass" if you complained and wanted to sit.

57

immalittlepiggy t1_j9408ik wrote

I stock shelves at a supermarket and have seen people get questioned for sitting on the floor to fix something on a bottom shelf. Still working, just doing it comfortably instead of kneeling on a concrete floor.

26

Hamsternoir t1_j92sapv wrote

Is this a recent thing or has it always been this way?

I don't think I've ever seen it at larger supermarkets in the UK

16

AvianLord t1_j92svil wrote

As far as I'm aware it's always been that way in the US

52

Jd771 t1_j92u06s wrote

The only grocery store I've ever seen cashiers sitting down in the US is Aldi.

42

FuzzyBacon t1_j92sfm5 wrote

That's how it was 15 years ago when I was bagging at one of their competitors.

11

BeautifulType t1_j9461wd wrote

Doesn’t help that everything is designed at standing height but a high chair solves that

7

Quarryman58 t1_j974fbm wrote

The managers at the warehouse I sometimes work at have this belief. We sometimes go there (we have three warehouses around the city) to help produce our products which literally has us standing in one position not moving unless to grab a small box a few feet away…and when we complained about no chairs (which the main warehouse we work at has), they said it would slow down production. I’m literally putting a product in a box and handing it down a line to get batched and put in master cases. I don’t move most of the time and they still want us to stand for the entirety of the day. Oh, but the managers can sit down just fine

4

Junimo15 t1_j9phbk1 wrote

Yep, this is what gave me chronic plantar fasciitis that required me to have surgery in both feet 🙃

1

PatacusX t1_j92sg1x wrote

As far as I know Aldi is one of the only chains in the US that let's cashiers sit. Makes sense since it's not a US company

115

FCHansaRostock t1_j92w4vr wrote

In Germany, cashiers usually sit.. there are only very few exceptions and those have a reason for the cashier to be on his feet other than "look busy pal".

48

docmedic t1_j92u754 wrote

I think Winco does as well, but it's been a while since I've shopped there.

Ethnic grocers don't have chairs, even if it’s the ethnic owner running the checkout, so it's not necessarily just a US thing.

3

Cindexxx t1_j93swzv wrote

Some of them do. My local tiny place has a chair. They hardly speak English and they stand while checking you out, but then they just sit down and chill.

10

CinemaAudioNovice t1_j933gth wrote

My mom worked for a grocery store for over 40 years, it wasn’t until major damage and doctors orders was she allowed to have a chair (which she had to provide) for the last 5 years. Not only that, but she was harassed for those 5 years by management, her chair was often lost, stolen, or mysteriously broken.

45

Trance354 t1_j94c5o3 wrote

A woman in her late 60s was trying for the golden ratio of years worked in the union(Kroger subsidiary). There's a point where we were finding her things to do, other than check people out. She was so ... damn ... slow. She required a walker to get to her spot, and was the single slowest checker we had. I mean, I get trying to get to retirement with the most work credit so your union stipend is liveable, but killing yourself to get there defeats the purpose.

We had another, a cart wrangler, who also was hitting retirement age. She was running her body ragged to complete her 20 years. Yes, you get less if you are not in that "golden ratio," but you also are less likely to be found half-eaten by your cats when the firefighters do a wellness check, after you miss 2 days' work. Her attendance record was spotless before that, so something was wrong.

17

evanwilliams44 t1_j95bp2h wrote

We had an employee like that. When I started she was 72 and a machine, but 10 years later was really struggling and would not quit. It got dangerous because we work with hot food and her knee would give out randomly. I was afraid she would fall or spill something on herself. She did eventually quit but is now struggling financially. She really needed the money I guess.

8

ComplaintExcellent89 t1_j93kskw wrote

Most grocery stores do not allow employees to sit. Some employees like assistant managers work 10 plus hours

10

dudeedud4 t1_j92ymjo wrote

Krogers is not all self checkout... And yea they look at your ID, they have to. If you wanna complain about that complain to your government.

14

SpasmFingers t1_j9368p5 wrote

I don't mind a person looking at it, they have a somewhat new store policy to always scan it into the system. It's invasive.

−7

dudeedud4 t1_j936d2e wrote

Invasive? Nothing on their is private. It is ALL public record.

7

SpasmFingers t1_j936yrr wrote

Their system now knows every time you buy alcohol instead of a person simply verifying your age. It is not the same.

−1

dudeedud4 t1_j9379fz wrote

Then don't buy alcohol from there? Everywhere you go is going to check your ID. They will all have varying ways to do it. Scanning is a security check to make sure it's real. Speedway does it, and apparently so does the Krogers you go to aswell.

10

DearFeralRural t1_j9495xx wrote

Hey we have this in the Northern Territory, Australia. And they can refuse to sell you alcohol under the banned drinkers legislation. But geez if u just want a nice wine to go with your meal, doesnt matter.. you must produce photo id and its scanned into the gov database to determine if u are allowed to buy. This is for every single person who wants to buy alcohol in the NT. Cigarettes just need photo id to prove age.

−1

hydrochloriic t1_j94aux0 wrote

It’s definitely not a corporate policy then. The ones near me in Michigan don’t do it, they just do an age check.

6

ProfessionalHour3213 t1_j92w35b wrote

To be fair, and its probably why they make them do it, but standing up is way better for you than sitting down

−31

isawagoose t1_j92xhmv wrote

Standing up for long periods on a hard surface is not at all better for you than sitting. For people without medical conditions, alternating regularly between sitting and standing is the least harmful.

43

SpasmFingers t1_j936qyv wrote

May be the case for the original corporate decision, but the manageres made sure we knew to never be seen sitting. I got in trouble several times for leaning. They also made us scan pur fingerprints to clock in and out EVEN FOR BREAK and if you did it a minute early or late you got in trouble because it messed with their billing or some shit. Then you get to break and they've got fuckin judge judy on the tv

3

Cindexxx t1_j93tmfa wrote

I work on those systems. It messes with nothing. They are liars, plain and simple. It integrates with payroll software and requires exactly 0 extra work if you're off. It's actually more work to track and punish you for it.

There's a slight exception sometimes, if you're a full time employee at exactly 40 hours a week, if you get one minute extra that one minute is calculated as overtime. In corporate structures that punish managers for overtime they could be in trouble for a single minute. Still stupid.

6

Relative_Ad5909 t1_j96hs8l wrote

Not just overtime, it also means you worked full-time hours. Many of these retail stores intentionally keep people below 40 hours so that they never have to consider giving them benefits.

Back in my retail days, I worked exactly 39 hours per week, every week. If I was approaching 40, a manager would tell me to clock out and go home, regardless of whether or not I was needed.

2

Junimo15 t1_j9phg57 wrote

This is not true. For me personally it gave me chronic foot issues that only surgery in both feet was able to fix.

1

ProfessionalHour3213 t1_j9qom5m wrote

Probably diffent for some but generally people who do their work sitting down are worse of, based on the research ive seen

1