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Employers give below-inflation "merit increases" (a paycut basically) and employees do the same in return. Why would a retail worker bother if his pay now buys

by akomtu 4y ago

Employers give below-inflation "merit increases" (a paycut basically) and employees do the same in return. Why would a retail worker bother if his pay now buys half as much?

_8j50 4y ago
Again, for low pay and hourly work I get it. But still, pay or not treat customers right or go work in a warehouse or something. Treat others the way you want to be treated, if I am in a retail store or a restaurant I don't give a shit how much they get paid they don't have to work if they don't want to. They can form unions, have strikes etc... but taking it out on me their customer is called being an asshole. If anything, I am growing less and less sympathetic to pro-labor movements because of this. The scale at which this is happening means it has no effect other than to be mean out of spite and empower laziness. I can't go to another business to encourage better pay at this one and tbh, if you mistreat me because you don't get paid enough I only want permanent unemployment for you and nothing more. If you work for amazon and meet your minimim metrics though, power to you. I have no problem with packages being delivered late lol.
- SauciestGNU 4y ago
  As someone who has an extensive background in costumer service (I worked in and managed restaurants before grad school), I think customer-facing jobs often get the worst of things like this. Yes, I believe there is a baseline of professionalism for those positions, but the public is frankly abusive to service workers and I will never blame them for acting indifferent or less than enthusiastic. To your point of "go work in a warehouse" I mean fair, and that's why restaurants are hemorrhaging staff to the cannabis industry. But it's the customers who need the attitude adjustment. In what world do these people live where it's ok to berate, insult, sometimes assault, and otherwise demean workers? The public are pigs, and by the time you personally receive bad service from a worker they've probably been taking abuse from entitled jerks for the bulk of their shift.
  - _8j50 4y ago
    I am not talking about rude customers, those get what is coming to them. I worked in a customer service position many moons ago myself, I literally quit right after a guy verbally abuser me for hours, I am no stranger to this. But, if you take one customer's mistreatment of you on another customer that is doing their best to do right by you or you have a shitty jaded attitude work elsewhere or fix your attitude. Fake smiles and politeness if you must, that should be your default. And they stereotype people and presume shit all the time which is very unfair. And I am supposed to feel sorry for them because other customers mistreat them? I think not, they treat others in a mean way without cause and they got what was coming to them as well. You know in essence, this is the core principle of justice that even if a million people that fit a pattern are guilty, for the sake of the one innocent you treat them all with fairness and without prejudice. So long as retail/service workers and peope like you continue to justify mistreating people as a default, while in principle I am very much for more pay for them (glad to pay proprtionally more as well as less profits for their employer), unions, better hours and treatment, because of the default hostility against the few that are polite and tip well I will only advocate for worse conditions. Perhaps we could shop more online and ghost kitchens delivering home can adequately replace restaurants.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  > I don't give a shit how much they get paid they don't have to work if they don't want to The counterpoint to this is that you do not have to patronize businesses where you get bad service. You are free to patronize businesses that offer better service, or hire assistants to provide you the service. But just like you cannot afford better service, the employees you are dealing with cannot afford a better job. Maybe you and they deserve it, maybe you and they don’t. For a long, long time, American voters have prioritized lower prices and lower taxes and an eat what you kill ethos above all else. It is no surprise that the country now reaps what it sows, and that is unless you are in the very wealthiest cohorts, you should expect decreasing quality of goods and services.
  - _8j50 4y ago
    That's my point, all the businesses have bad service now because of this "movement" that penalizes innocent customers instead of pushing for proper unionization and labor laws. I am willing to pay more for better sevice and I can afford it, the employees don't give a shit because it isn't their business. I would have to be repulsively wealthy and show it off to get good service basically. Treat others like you want to be treated. Money is not an excuse to be lazy or mistreat others. I don't expect anyone to put up fake smiles and toletate me when I am being rude but I do expect to be treated with best effort service, respect, dignity and politeness. It shouldn't matter if I a hobo or a millionaire either.
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      > all the businesses have bad service now because of this "movement" that penalizes innocent customers instead of pushing for proper unionization and labor laws. The movement does not penalize customers in a vacuum. The “movement”, and I do not really know if it is one, is just a size-able portion of the population waking up to the fact that they should not expect to own land, find a life partner, healthcare, have children, grandchildren, etc. In my opinion, it does not entirely justify one to half ass work, but I can see being demotivate by the odds facing them.
bojangleslover 4y ago
There is no such thing as an "employer" who can simply press a red button and give unlimited wage increases.
- welshwelsh 4y ago
  You could have employers that tightly tie compensation to performance and deliverables and update salaries on a weekly basis. You completed 10% more story points than expected this sprint? Nice, here's a 10% raise, but you can only keep it if you stay at this level of output.

by akomtu 4y ago

Employers give below-inflation "merit increases" (a paycut basically) and employees do the same in return. Why would a retail worker bother if his pay now buys half as much?

_8j50 4y ago

Again, for low pay and hourly work I get it. But still, pay or not treat customers right or go work in a warehouse or something. Treat others the way you want to be treated, if I am in a retail store or a restaurant I don't give a shit how much they get paid they don't have to work if they don't want to. They can form unions, have strikes etc... but taking it out on me their customer is called being an asshole. If anything, I am growing less and less sympathetic to pro-labor movements because of this. The scale at which this is happening means it has no effect other than to be mean out of spite and empower laziness. I can't go to another business to encourage better pay at this one and tbh, if you mistreat me because you don't get paid enough I only want permanent unemployment for you and nothing more. If you work for amazon and meet your minimim metrics though, power to you. I have no problem with packages being delivered late lol.

SauciestGNU 4y ago
As someone who has an extensive background in costumer service (I worked in and managed restaurants before grad school), I think customer-facing jobs often get the worst of things like this. Yes, I believe there is a baseline of professionalism for those positions, but the public is frankly abusive to service workers and I will never blame them for acting indifferent or less than enthusiastic. To your point of "go work in a warehouse" I mean fair, and that's why restaurants are hemorrhaging staff to the cannabis industry. But it's the customers who need the attitude adjustment. In what world do these people live where it's ok to berate, insult, sometimes assault, and otherwise demean workers? The public are pigs, and by the time you personally receive bad service from a worker they've probably been taking abuse from entitled jerks for the bulk of their shift.
- _8j50 4y ago
  I am not talking about rude customers, those get what is coming to them. I worked in a customer service position many moons ago myself, I literally quit right after a guy verbally abuser me for hours, I am no stranger to this. But, if you take one customer's mistreatment of you on another customer that is doing their best to do right by you or you have a shitty jaded attitude work elsewhere or fix your attitude. Fake smiles and politeness if you must, that should be your default. And they stereotype people and presume shit all the time which is very unfair. And I am supposed to feel sorry for them because other customers mistreat them? I think not, they treat others in a mean way without cause and they got what was coming to them as well. You know in essence, this is the core principle of justice that even if a million people that fit a pattern are guilty, for the sake of the one innocent you treat them all with fairness and without prejudice. So long as retail/service workers and peope like you continue to justify mistreating people as a default, while in principle I am very much for more pay for them (glad to pay proprtionally more as well as less profits for their employer), unions, better hours and treatment, because of the default hostility against the few that are polite and tip well I will only advocate for worse conditions. Perhaps we could shop more online and ghost kitchens delivering home can adequately replace restaurants.
lotsofpulp 4y ago
> I don't give a shit how much they get paid they don't have to work if they don't want to The counterpoint to this is that you do not have to patronize businesses where you get bad service. You are free to patronize businesses that offer better service, or hire assistants to provide you the service. But just like you cannot afford better service, the employees you are dealing with cannot afford a better job. Maybe you and they deserve it, maybe you and they don’t. For a long, long time, American voters have prioritized lower prices and lower taxes and an eat what you kill ethos above all else. It is no surprise that the country now reaps what it sows, and that is unless you are in the very wealthiest cohorts, you should expect decreasing quality of goods and services.
- _8j50 4y ago
  That's my point, all the businesses have bad service now because of this "movement" that penalizes innocent customers instead of pushing for proper unionization and labor laws. I am willing to pay more for better sevice and I can afford it, the employees don't give a shit because it isn't their business. I would have to be repulsively wealthy and show it off to get good service basically. Treat others like you want to be treated. Money is not an excuse to be lazy or mistreat others. I don't expect anyone to put up fake smiles and toletate me when I am being rude but I do expect to be treated with best effort service, respect, dignity and politeness. It shouldn't matter if I a hobo or a millionaire either.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    > all the businesses have bad service now because of this "movement" that penalizes innocent customers instead of pushing for proper unionization and labor laws. The movement does not penalize customers in a vacuum. The “movement”, and I do not really know if it is one, is just a size-able portion of the population waking up to the fact that they should not expect to own land, find a life partner, healthcare, have children, grandchildren, etc. In my opinion, it does not entirely justify one to half ass work, but I can see being demotivate by the odds facing them.

bojangleslover 4y ago

There is no such thing as an "employer" who can simply press a red button and give unlimited wage increases.

welshwelsh 4y ago
You could have employers that tightly tie compensation to performance and deliverables and update salaries on a weekly basis. You completed 10% more story points than expected this sprint? Nice, here's a 10% raise, but you can only keep it if you stay at this level of output.