I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

[The Chef]

I work at a big box retailer and have currently ran into a problem that seems to be getting under my skin more and more, and to be perfectly honest Im not sure what to do at this moment. I put in a request to get Sundays off approx. 1.5 months ago and it was approved by a manager, thought everything was fine and went ahead and made some financial obligations, one of which involved switching to Directv to get Sunday Ticket, got other obligations on Sunday as well, but my Dad and I enjoy watching Niners games and havent had the chance to do so in years and with me moving to Tennessee in the near future, this may be our only chance to kind of kick back and enjoy ourselves on Sundays. Fast forward to approx. 2 weeks ago and a scheduling screw-up at work led to them requesting that I come back later that evening to close even though I was there at 7 am and that was when I was scheduled, unfortunatly I had prior commitments and couldnt come back later that night, that same morning my direct supervisor decided that the previously approved availability form didnt matter and she went straight in and had it denied by her, 3 weeks after it had been approved. Personally this seems like an open and shut case of retaliation, my store manager doesnt agree and went as far as to tell me that I either work on Sundays or find a different job, HR hasnt called me back at all and they continue to stick it to me every single Sunday. When I went and talked to the store manager I was told that all PT employees need to have completely open availability on weekends, unfortunatly I know of many PT workers that cant work on Sundays as it is.

I really feel dumb posting something like this on OS, but for the amount of unusual topics Ive seen on here I figured it was worth a shot. At this point, what would you do? Im at the point where I really dont even feel like giving my 2 week notice and just walking, but at the same time the job market here sucks so bad that its tough getting anything in this area. Whats even funnier about it all is my availability is still input as no earlier then 1:00 on Sundays but apparently that window from 1:00-7:00 is a big deal for me and only me, Im at my wits end with this place. We seem to have a lot of professional people on this board so hopefully someone can give me a professional reply. Thanks to anyone that can help.

[oldpro]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

Well, I have managed " Big Box " eletronic retail stores before and most of the time you will have gutless managers turn their backs on you when the crap hits the fan. Do you have any documentation which supports your claims? I would suggest you call the openline ( if your company has one) but remember you may become a marked target for them to try and fire you. Have you seen any bias treatment towards any other employees?
Always put in writing scheduling and any other issue which may become a grey situation. You can always go above your store manager's head, but be very careful how you handle the situation. If you are doing your job consistently well, I would call the EEOC and see if you could file a complaint. The EEOC would let you know if you have a legitimate complaint. Good Luck, I hope this helps.

[The Chef]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

Well, I have managed " Big Box " eletronic retail stores before and most of the time you will have gutless managers turn their backs on you when the crap hits the fan. Do you have any documentation which supports your claims? I would suggest you call the openline ( if your company has one) but remember you may become a marked target for them to try and fire you. Have you seen any bias treatment towards any other employees?
Always put in writing scheduling and any other issue which may become a grey situation. You can always go above your store manager's head, but be very careful how you handle the situation. If you are doing your job consistently well, I would call the EEOC and see if you could file a complaint. The EEOC would let you know if you have a legitimate complaint. Good Luck, I hope this helps.

Thanks for your reply, I actually have everything documented, I learned to cover myself whenever anything like this happens. Ive gone to HR and they were going to call me back and its been 4 days and they havent returned my call at all, its weird, you call their HR department and you get some call center that takes a message down and it gets forwarded to a case agent who calls you back, its the weirdest thing to think that they have outsourced their HR department, just weird. Im dumbfounded by all of this, without going into the dreaded religion area, I know for a fact that one PT employee there who practices a religion other then my own gets every Sunday off, meanwhile Im told to either work it or find a different job, you would think the slightest chance of a lawsuit, coupled with the fact that Im already getting nearly half the day off anyways, would drive them to just do it and move on instead of making a war out over nothing. Im at the point where it seems that there is very little professionalism in the workplace anymore, and this is another sign of it imo.

[TimmeH]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

Professionalism at a big box retailer? Haha, that's funny


I'm currently stuck as a manager in a big box retailer(trying to find a second job to save up and get out lol), I gotta admit it ticks me off big time when all the part timers think they don't have to work weekends and nights, when in reality that's what they're hired for.

However, at least you're making yourself available for Sunday mornings...so I really don't see the problem.

And if they approved it, they should have to honor it. That's why I always keep all my request off slips on file lol.

If by calling the "help line" or whatever your store calls it doesn't help, I'd just say f' it and leave. Granted, I don't know your financial situation so that may not be an option, but it's only a part time retail job...this time of year those jobs are a dime a dozen. And most retailers won't give out references for their ex-employees anyway, just a verification that they were employed there, so it's not like they can hurt you in that aspect. Just keep in mind that if you just up and leave, they won't ever take you back so it maybe best to put in a two weeks notice if you think you might need that job back eventually

[The Chef]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

Professionalism at a big box retailer? Haha, that's funny


I'm currently stuck as a manager in a big box retailer(trying to find a second job to save up and get out lol), I gotta admit it ticks me off big time when all the part timers think they don't have to work weekends and nights, when in reality that's what they're hired for.

However, at least you're making yourself available for Sunday mornings...so I really don't see the problem.

And if they approved it, they should have to honor it. That's why I always keep all my request off slips on file lol.

If by calling the "help line" or whatever your store calls it doesn't help, I'd just say f' it and leave. Granted, I don't know your financial situation so that may not be an option, but it's only a part time retail job...this time of year those jobs are a dime a dozen. And most retailers won't give out references for their ex-employees anyway, just a verification that they were employed there, so it's not like they can hurt you in that aspect. Just keep in mind that if you just up and leave, they won't ever take you back so it maybe best to put in a two weeks notice if you think you might need that job back eventually

Thanks for the response, just to clarify, my availability when hired was 1:00-7:30, I put in the request to extend that for the day so I could get the entire day off. Here is my problem with it, if I went and said I was a specific religion that cant work at all on Sundays then wouldnt they be forced to either deal with it or get rid of me? The thing with this place is they wont fire you, period, they would much rather cut your hours down to nothing and hope you quit, I presume its to help fight unemployment if and when that employee attempts to collect it. What really sucks is that I made a lot of sacrafices for this job because I enjoyed it in the beginning, but there really is no such thing as loyalty in the workplace anymore, its unfortunate.

Its just a bad workplace, the GM of the store favors women over men and cant seem to tell the truth to his employees, I cant count the amount of bs he has tried to feed me just over the last month or two. In the end I dont think Im asking for the world, I dont think Im asking for anything that numerous other PT workers have asked for and received, but because Im either not a woman or part of the "in" crowd Im screwed. We will see how it goes I guess, I just wanted to hear some different opinions because Im split on what to do at this point.

EDIT- To add to my availability, Im only not available on Sundays, Im open to work any shift on any other day of the week, Monday-Saturday.

[CS10029]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

Any update on your situation yet?

[DocHolliday]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

Throw a shoe at the manager. F em

[The Chef]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

Any update on your situation yet?

Yeah, today I worked my shift and said the hell with it at the end of it and walked out. I spoke with a manager and explained my concerns, I was as professional about it as I could considering the circumstances, and he said he understood my situation with the lack of hours and the entire Sunday issue. Ironically enough, during this conversation I also found out that pretty much any PT employee who didnt have completely open availability was going to be re-classified as a seasonal employee and therefor would drop down to approx. 4-8 hours per week until mid November, and of course that would have included me. He even told me that he would enter me into the system as being available for re-hire if at some point I wanted to come back and was eager to shake my hand once it was all said and done.

I was pretty sure this was the outcome that this was going to come too, especially after HR hung up on me yesterday, but once I saw my hours were going down the toilet that pretty much sealed the deal for me. From the outside it may appear that it was another form of retaliation but in reality I wasnt the only one getting cut, some of the brown nosers were actually cut as well, so I would like to believe they and myself were going to become a victim of circumstance. Its funny, he comended me for not coming in there and basically giving him the bird, cursing him out and walking out, apparently thats the norm when you work where I did. Now I have to hope the job market doesnt really cost me, but Im pretty sure I could make the same money from my house that I would have made working there for 4 hours or so per week. Thanks for those that offered their opinion on the matter, I appreciate it.

[PVarck31]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

let me guess, Best Buy?

i worked there about 5 years ago. i put in a request to work the morning shift(s) the day after thanksgiving. i know everyone has to work that do i figured it wouldnt be a big deal to have the evening off. That night my sister's high school basketball team was in a state playoff game a the Q or then it was the gund. thats a once in a lifetime thing and i wasnt going to miss it.. so i spoke with the manager and made my request. it was approved. the request was made at the beginning of october. so that weeks schedule came out and sure enough i was scheduled 4pm to 12am. i went to the manager and told them about it and they said sorry nothing we can do.. so i said well sorry find another bit@h to do you work.

[The Chef]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

let me guess, Best Buy?

i worked there about 5 years ago. i put in a request to work the morning shift(s) the day after thanksgiving. i know everyone has to work that do i figured it wouldnt be a big deal to have the evening off. That night my sister's high school basketball team was in a state playoff game a the Q or then it was the gund. thats a once in a lifetime thing and i wasnt going to miss it.. so i spoke with the manager and made my request. it was approved. the request was made at the beginning of october. so that weeks schedule came out and sure enough i was scheduled 4pm to 12am. i went to the manager and told them about it and they said sorry nothing we can do.. so i said well sorry find another bit@h to do you work.

You are correct, unfortunatly our stories are similar and so is the outcome that came because of it. I have so many stories from there but now that Im done with the place I think Im just going to move forward and avoid dwelling on the past, its done and over with at this point. What really sucks is I actually enjoyed the job itself, I enjoyed 99% of the people that worked there, I just seemed to come to an impass with the 1% that I couldnt get along with. Hopefully you went on to bigger and better things after it, Im in hopes that the same will happen for me as well.

[fredropro]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

Damn man thats crazy......I worked at best Buy in jensen beach Fla from 2005-2007 I worked only 1 day a week for the discount.......what was crazy was the last shift i worked was Black friday of last year 2006 and i was in the system still buying stuff until last week and they still want me back.

[Dallasin2K3]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

I wouldn't waste very much time working in a situation you hate like that. It's not worth it in the long run. Struggle if you have to in the meantime but I would always be on the lookout for new work until I found something I was satisfied with. I would never settle for misery on something you're spending a lot of your waking hours on. It sounds like you made a good choice.

[The Chef]

Re: I cant believe Im doing this, but I need an opinion

I wouldn't waste very much time working in a situation you hate like that. It's not worth it in the long run. Struggle if you have to in the meantime but I would always be on the lookout for new work until I found something I was satisfied with. I would never settle for misery on something you're spending a lot of your waking hours on. It sounds like you made a good choice.

Someday I will finally get into a job that makes a difference, as dumb as it may sound, Im at the point where thats all I want, just something that is worthwhile and makes a difference in some capacity, my problem is Im not sure how to go about doing that or what to look into. I appreciate your feedback, its done and over with and my stress level is much lower now that Im not dealing with certain things associated with where I worked, and thats always a plus.