Ok, I work in a very large grocery store chain as a cashier. At least in my district, cashier’s have to ask for donations for
various causes such as MDA and breast cancer and prostate cancer are the main three. I absolutely, absolutely hate to ask for donations
and the customers hate it as much as I do, with that said, If I fail to ASK for a donation from a customer, I can be written up and fired.
Now, what kind of bullshit requires me to ask for donations or I get fired. The whole reason for the donations is to make our
money grubbing ASSHOLE CEO Steve Burd to look good because he is thinking of running for public office just like nutmeg here in
California. The managers hate it as much as I do, but they actually get bonuses based on how much in donations the store get,
so its in their best interest to push employees to get donations. So just about every single day, some supervisor or manager gets in
my face and threatens me with being fired because I openly say, I won’t ask for donations. Such bullshit is annoying and pisses me off.
I WON’T ASK FOR THOSE FUCKING DONATIONS EVEN IF THEY TORTURE ME, I am that determined about this, I just want you to know
about this crap. PS, the union completely sucks and rolls over for whatever the company wants.
Kropotkin, I know what store you’re talking about. It’s a very nasty business. I avoid shopping there because a neighbor got screwed by the management when she worked there.
Believe me when I say they won’t torture you physically. But they will fire your ass and make a legal nightmare out of it if you try to get unemployment benefits.
One thing that strikes me is instead of putting yourself out there as an absolute martyr would there be any way to get some of your co workers to very occasionally make up excuses for not collecting for a particular charity
(for obscure religious, dietary or what ever reason - some thing that’s hard to question)
and then to very gradually escalate.
Are you getting even a smidgen of support or sympathy from anyone else there?
It sounds tough - fair play!
You might have a read of this though I don’t know if it’ll cheer you up much
kp, I know this store. There is one near me, and when I used to shop there, the clerk at the register always asked me if I wanted to donate to a charity. I always said no because I knew what a bad organization that store was and I have my own favorite charities anyway. The employees are forced to ask, and if they don’t the store can fire them and they often do. And if you get fired because you didn’t follow a rule, you are not eligible for unemployment benefits.
My neighbor two doors down worked there and had a nightmare experience when they fired her for a minor infraction of a stupid rule and accused her of stealing a bottle of juice or something. This is what stores like this do when employees stay there long enough to start becoming eligible for raises and benefits. Anyway, she got no unemployment benefits and spent two or three years taking it through legal action just so she wouldn’t have the stealing on her record. I believe it just got settled recently. I told her I would boycott the store, and so I never shop there any more.
…could you insert a suitably sublimated qualifier into the request, such as, “If you do not have more direct means of exercising charity, our store provides you the convenience of a corporatized alternative. Please feel free to use this alienated form of participation in contributing to the social good if you wish. But be sure to know that we do not judge our customers either way. Thank you for your patronage.” Ok, a more poetic version would be necessary. But in any case, it sounds like a great opportunity to be doing some philosophically applied word-crafting.
Indeed, and perhaps that’s exactly whom you might want to be having words with anyway. The technology of philosophy must be given its chance to affect the world. Big Brother may be susceptible to the virus of critique, given suitable adminstrative techniques. So, ya, a better poesis would be required. Something that appeals to BB’s vanity, I suppose.
When someone has a knife at your back, you sing their tune… Perspective: Your customers aren’t so stupid that they don’t know the game. They know you have no choice but to ask. Even if they vent, using you as the whipping post, they know it isn’t you, but the store. So ask, let them say no, and let it go. A large chain grocery in my area has this little game of putting some promotional crap at the checkout every day. The clerk is required to ask if the customer would like to try________ whatever the hell it is. If they fail to ask, they can be fired. Different issue, same bullshit. When asked I just say no, wink at the clerk, and we get on with getting me the hell out of there.
It’s too bad, really. This particular store used to be my main grocery. Today it is just a giant convenience store. I only stop there when pressed for time. I know many others who treat it the same way. Eventually, the store is shooting itself in the foot and is slowly running people off, but it isn’t the fault of the local staff. It’s decisions made by some 3 piece suit a thousand miles away.
So let it go. Play the game. Your customers are “in” on the game, and any hard feelings aren’t directed at you.
…I’d be less quick to characterize all the customers as “in on it” … not as a matter of stupidity, but simply good faith. Take, say, poor old aunt martha who, on the weekly basis of buying her bread and butter, must undergo the indignity of misplaced guilt about whether to again spare her spare change for the local children’s hospital (or whatever). It surely grates on both her & cashiers on an ongoing level which would arguably indicate some measure of critical response. At very least a passive aggressive one, no?
btw Sandpoint was beautiful! (though I killed a deer getting there )
Good point. That was always the part I dreaded about shopping there, being asked if I want to donate and always having to say no with all the attendant feelings coming up.
And when enough customers get tired of the guilt trip, they will vote with their feet. At some point, the stores will see the light when the bottom line keeps shrinking. Guilting people invites desertion. Assuming Peter needs the job, I’ll stand by my advice…
Yup, gorgeous country… It isn’t good to get into a right-of-way squabble… Hope it was a rental car!
One of the reasons I object so much is because they give a few bucks and they think they own you.
My store tells me what to wear, wear to stand, what is the length of my hear and no facial hair, what to say, I can’t leave
my checkstand. If they told me I had to stand on my head and I refuse, I can be fired, what kind of bull shit is that and all because
they pay me a few bucks an hour?
They do it because they can. You are their wage slave. There is no union to speak of. If you weren’t there, somebody else would just take your place. It’s an ugly establishment and an ugly situation.
Wal-mart and Safeway/Randalls are two of the worst stores in existence, and there aren’t really many good ones.
You gotta be talking about Safeway, although I think I’ve also been asked to donate at Save Mart or some other chain. And there are other gimmicks at other stores, like when you donate your name is written on one of the little balloons that they stick all over the walls. Anyway, I just say ‘no’ and move along, and have to admit that I’ve never, ever given it a single thought beyond that ‘no’. I noticed that the Safeway near my house now has the request on the debit card reader and you can press ‘yes’ or ‘no’ instead of the cashier asking you if you want to. But now, having read this thread, if it happens again, I think I’m gonna be motivated to express to the cashier that I think it stinks that he or she is compelled to solicit donations from customers. Then again, I don’t want to make it any worse for the cashier and I figure there are probably some who don’t mind. It’s probably good to give the manager some feedback, maybe I’ll do that instead. I remember when Safeway got publicly criticized a few years ago for forcing their employees to be so obviously cheerful and nice all the time (it was creepy) and some were having nervous breakdowns over it. The people at the store near me don’t act like that anymore, although they’ll still say ‘hi’ and ask if you’re finding what you need.
It’s called Randalls here, but Randalls is owned by Safeway. The Randall’s has had the donation option on its debit card readers for years. As I said before, I’m boycotting now. Luckily, we actually have some relatively good options here.
After I submitted my post, I thought about how I usually go to the food co-op near my office and how they handle donations in a much more thoughtful way. If you bring your own bag, they give you a little piece of cardstock that serves as a chit that you can drop into one of 5 or so boxes near the exit. Each box represents an organization like the tree foundation or a sustainable farm group, the sort of non-profits that mesh with the co-op’s mission. When the box is full, they count the chits and make the donation accordingly. It seems like a much better way to support worthy causes.
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