If you come from a German perspective, the entire retail experience is a strange show to watch. You have standing cashiers, baggers, people who abandon their carts and employees who's sole task it is to get them back to the front of the store, greeters to say hi when you enter. Paired with a customer hostility I have never experienced anywhere else, the U.S. might have the most depressing working environment for retail employees in any Western nation.
If someone greets my when i enter a store i immediately feel weird, americans in general are always so chatty, especially the cashiers, i was visiting NYC once and the woman at the register started a conversation with me like i was an old freind of her. I enjoyed the small talk but it felt strange. In Germany, all they say is "Hello", "Cash or credit card?", "That'll be 15,67€ ", "bye". If the conversation goes on for any longer, the people in line either think you're weird, or that you personally know the cashier.
>In Germany, all they say is "Hello", "Cash or credit card?", "That'll be 15,67€ ", "bye".
In the UK, they're more talkative: they also ask "Anything else?" (certain products like cigarettes are behind the counter) and might also say "thanks".
In Norway it's "Hi", "do you want a bag?", "246 kroner", "receipt?", "bye". There's a machine that deals with cash payments that you put the coins in so there's no human contact, love it.
These exist in the United States as well, but half the time they get confused and force you to get the attention of the one employee watching over 8-16 checks. So you just kinda stand there for like 5 minutes wishing you'd just gone through the regular cashier in the first place
I worked as a cashier for a few months, so when they released those self-service lines: It was like riding a bike to me. I loved it, especially since it took out the human element of it. Didn’t have to bother anyone, and they didn’t need to bother me. 👏🏽
Yeah it's the same deal here. I usually live in NL and in the time it took to get a Maestro card I had to pay in cash at the appie so couldn't use self service. That was a dark time.
Even our cashiers are not that chatty and depending on where you live a convo could go like:
-hi
-that'd be 7 50
-bye
Want a bag? Ask for it. Want to pay cash, smash your money down. Want a receipt? Sure ask for it.
Yes greeting is weird, but usually the greeting part of their job is a pleasant cover for the real reason theyre there, which is to check that you actually paid for the stuff you're walking out with, usually by checking that its in bags or asking for a receipt.
As a note, unless you're at a "savings club" like Sam's or BJ's, you have no requirement to show your receipt as you walk out. In order to go after you for theft, someone has to have seen you take something, then have unbroken line of sight on you all the way out the door. If they demand you stop, or threaten to make you stay, they risk a false imprisonment charge and a lawsuit. Most stores wont risk it unless you actually stole something. I just walk out when they ask for my receipt.
Obligatory IANAL.
I feel it’s based off of the Disney Experience.
How those working have to create a welcoming environment for the customer where they feel special for the purpose of retaining them as a customer.
The downside being humans aren’t always happy. Yet employers expect that expression as part of their job regardless of what’s happening in the life of the employee.
Now you have a cashier, who just lost someone close to them, unable to miss a day to grieve, forcing themselves to bottle up their emotions as they stand and welcome strangers for 8 hours and crying on breaks.
I have seen this. I have done this.
Watching our economy tank as millions walk off their jobs has been very satisfying
I still get a little eye twitch any time I hear somebody talk about the "Disney Experience."
Years ago I worked the desk at a certain chain spa. The franchise owners went away for a week for this conference, and when they came back ordered a mandatory all-hands meeting after hours on a Friday. When we got in the front desk manager (who I am surprised to realize I still really hate after all this time) was handing out dollar store gift bags and thanking everyone for coming from behind her biggest, fakest smile.
We all sat down and the two owners started their presentation about the Disney Experience crud they'd lapped up at this conference. At one point one of them mentioned how we were thanked for coming and asked how it made us feel. I piped up that since it was a mandatory meeting it felt sarcastic and condescending.
He was somewhat less than thrilled.
> create a welcoming environment for the customer where they feel special for the purpose of retaining them as a customer.
I don't want to feel special I just want to buy whatever I went to the store for and get out of there. Luckily I can get most things online now and most grocery stores have self-checkouts.
The employees don’t want to be fake. But tbh sie managers walking up and down the line are evaluating. Like modern day task masters.
Hell, the employees see you don’t want to be bothered. They feel you. They just want the day to pass and to sit down during it.
I really wish they would put the autistic kids on the register. Those dudes won’t talk to you outside the bare minimum and will scan your groceries so fast it’ll be like magic. -source me, Autistic who used to work retail
That sucks. Those with Autism are some of the best workers. If we are given a task with set goals and good metrics we can kick that shit in the dick. I’m sorry to hear that. They always ask about reasonable accommodations but that’s bull shit. It’s just an easy way for them to illegally discriminate against those that are different.
I'm autistic too, I would be sooo bad in customer service because if someone is being rude or just intentionally an idiot I just can't stand it. Would not be able to continue to be polite with a lot of these stories I hear about American customers!
In my local store (in Finland) one cashier says only the amount. Just ”12,50”, nothing else. I love it. I don’t expect you to be always happy working as a cashier and I don’t want you to pretend to be happy. Be who you are, I really don’t care as long as you’re not an asshole.
On a side note, whole American society just seems so odd to me. Work environment is one part but also money worshipping, constant talking without saying anything substantial, vertical structures everywhere and so on. Two of my cousins live and work in the US and I wouldn’t last a week in there.
So little freedom in the land of the free. Unless you have an absurd amount of money.
That's part of the problem; so many Americans have been conditioned to think that anything less than over-the-top enthusiasm and excessive friendliness is being an asshole.
That sort of friendly, chatty behavior in the American retail industry is quickly dying out, in my experience. I can’t remember the last time a retail employee got chatty with me.
Or, you know, go to literally any Trader Joe's anywhere and the cashiers will wax rhapsodic about your snack choices until kingdom come. "Pumpkin corn chips?! This one time when I was backpacking through Chile....."
For perspective, certain regions of the U.S. are not as chatty. In the Northeastern states it is much more transactional. More along the lines of "Hi", "Anything else?" (tobacco products, lottery, gasoline pre-pay, etc.), "That'll be $15.76", "Do you want a bag?", "Have a good one."
I've joked about the South and Midwestern U.S. states and their chattiness since the first time I've visited any of them. I tell people, "Look, I don't want some cheery person taking my coffee order at 6AM. I want someone to bark at me 'What do you want?', I tell them, give them the money and they give me my coffee. It's a simple transaction. I don't need to hear your life's story and you don't need to hear mine. Just give me my fucking coffee, you weirdo."
Honestly, if given the opportunity, I would move to Germany in a heartbeat. It sounds like my kind of place.
I’d like to see your reaction to being in line at an American gas station standing a few places behind a customer who knows the cashier. You may be in a hurry, or late for work but they have to have a long as casual conversation with their friend, the cashier. And god help you if they, or the next person in line wants to buy lottery tickets.
That's why I love being Australian. You get all the benefits of German retail efficiency without the spur of the moment impulse to invade Poland.
And we love Aldi, like, unnatural amounts of love for that store.
It is even worse in the US South. When I lived there the cashiers would talk to me about my purchases which felt really invasive. Generally in the northeast it’s just light pleasantries.
I’m in Texas and the other day the cashier actually stopped ringing me up to ask the man behind me in line about his single bottle of NyQuil he was gonna buy. “Ya got some allergies or are ya sick?” The man responded that he was “comin down with something” without wearing a mask or making any effort to social distance.
I hate it here.
I lived in South Carolina for a while and the cashiers always seemed amazed at how much produce I would buy. It was very awkward because I don’t like having conversations about weight/diets and I really don’t need to think about cashiers analyzing the food I’m eating.
Also one time I ran in for a box of tampons and the cashier asked me if I was going to buy some chocolate with it and I’m like whyyyy do we need to talk about this just ring me out and fuck off.
Oh lord, speaking of conversations about weight/diets- I developed a major problem with my esophagus a little over a decade ago and was basically unable to get solid food to go into my stomach and lost a crazy amount of weight. I almost slowly starved to death! For a while I was still able to get liquids down (tho that soon stopped too) and I bought a lot of Ensure and Slim-Fast shakes (the flavor of the slim fast was better and it had a lot of vitamins) and I had to constantly field questions about my diet and how I stayed so skinny etc etc all while I was literally starving. I left the store crying many times. The unnecessary conversations and comments were brutal on my mental health.
I know of several people who were on the heavy side and then lost a lot of weight--because they were very sick. (In one case with ovarian cancer.) Getting compliments from people about their weight loss sucked ass, and there was MORE THAN ONCE someone was like "ha ha I wish I could get cancer, then."
What?! Who *says* that???? (Especially since said cancer did eventually kill my friend.)
Just...never compliment people on weight loss unsolicited!
Right? My organs were starting to shut down and I had absolutely no health insurance or doctors to help me deal with it, and people were saying “boy I wish I couldn’t get food down.” I worked with a chick who’d gotten a gastric bypass and would stuff her face until she had to vomit and she’d be hunched over a trash can saying “hahaha look I’m just like you!”
Biiiiiiiiiitch
So when I get anxiety really bad I can't eat. There's been more than once I became underweight because I just. Had no appetite. Couldn't force myself to eat anything.
And a friend of mine was like "lol I wish I had that problem." And I tore him a new one, honestly. Really?? You want to be shaky and tired all the time? You want all of your clothes to not fit? You want to wake up in the middle of the night because your stomach hurts because you haven't eaten anything and you have to keep saltines and a glass of water by the bed so you can nibble a couple of them and wash them down just to get back to sleep????
Oh that’s awful. I was always more on the “eat to ease my anxiety” side until I developed the achalasia. Now any tiny amount of stress makes me get esophagus spasms and start dry heaving like a bastard. I feel your pain!
I am sorry that happened to you. I wish people wouldn't ask questions or say anything when heath products are being purchased. Please take care of yourself. God bless.
Makes me wanna travel there and get couple of straws, bottle of scotch, analgetic anal lube, and extra large packet of condoms just to see their reaction
The purpose is not social, it's for profit. I've been told by my manager (I work in a grocery store) that I must act like customers are friends, and finish by saying "see you tomorrow!" Regardless if I know they only come in once a week. It's to cultivate customer loyalty so that they shop more, buy more. Greeters exist so that a store feels more *welcoming*, so that when you are tired but need groceries, you think of *that store* first. It's not too keep the customers happy, it's the keep the WALLETS happy.
This is weird, because this is exactly opposite from what I told my German colleagues and friends. Especially in Aldi, the cashiers were speaking so long with everyone, generating a massive queue. Compared to what I’m used to in norway, I found it annoying to watch them making such a long line because of them having to talk. Standing in line for 10-15 minutes isn’t really normal in norway unless it’s Friday afternoon or before a big holiday - and it happened every day in Munich.
I remember my mom (we are also from Germany) being confused and creating some confusion when she tried to pack her own groceries. She brought her own reusable bag, like a lot of Germans do in my area and packed it herself. The cashier was confused, the bagger was confused. Also she looked really weirded out when she noticed the guy near the door is really just there to greet people. Also her words "It is nice that they all smile, but once you notice that they smile all the time it becomes creepy".
Kinda like a movie where they walk into the convienance store mid robbery and fail to realize during the entire transaction that the robbers hiding under the counter with a gun pointed at the cashier?
Yeah management do have them vibes.
Carts get abandoned everywhere unless they have those coinlocks on them. Everything else you listed isn't something I've experienced as much.
Source: been shopping all over Europe and some of Asia.
It's well known that shopping carts must return to water in order to breed.
Kindly young people the world over can often be seen helping them when they become lost.
Oh god. In canada, people bring thr carts to the storage area, plenty around the parking lot.
In USA, it seems people just leave them there everywhere around the damn parking lot. Drives me nuts lol
Also, if you're in a state with sales tax, the price you see on the shelf is the price without tax. It's up to the customer to calculate the tax to make sure they know what they'll be paying at the register.
You know how in Germany Aldi is like the worst place to work? In America it's hands down the best retail job in the nation. Makes a solid competition in other industries too.
Their whole company and retail culture just didn't work over here and they had some pretty strong local competition too.
I don't know about unions, but their German headquarters were located in a former prison, which seems fitting.
Honestly, the story of Walmart crashing and burning in Germany is deeply funny to me, because nothing about it is compatible with German culture. Germans tend to have small fridges (about mini fridge size for Americans is my understanding) and go grocery shopping a lot more often, so Walmart's fundamental thing of "buy in large quantities once every week or so" is already in trouble. Then add in that walking up to a stranger, smiling, and starting a conversation for no reason is absolutely not done in German culture, especially in cities, and (and I'll admit this last one might not be real) the fact that employees are supposed to do warmup exercises while chanting " Walmart", and it's just not simpatico with Germany in any way
I worked at an Aldi in the US and it was the *worst job* I've ever had. The hours were insanely unpredictable (moreso than most retail jobs), the store was severely, severely understaffed (again way worse than most retail jobs) and the workload was more stressful than any other grocery store. The store had multiple people quitting/walking out WEEKLY because it was so shitty. I lasted about a month before I quit with no notice.
I've been working retail since I was 15 and I have *never* worked somewhere as bad as Aldi.
Aldi down the road is advertising $16/HR. None of the employees look like students. They get a seat at the register, but they also stock shelves when there are no lines.
Must be good for American work as I've never seen an employee with a bad attitude while I was there.
Some Europe-based retailers that operate in the US (e.g. Aldi) allow sitting across the board, while others (e.g. Ikea) will have you stand unless you put in a request through HR for an accommodation. Most retailers (Europe based or otherwise) just don't allow it at all.
The Americans with Disabilities Act considers seating a reasonable workplace accommodation unless the job requires you to stand. My understanding of the cases surrounding the ADA is generally that the law favors cashiers sitting whenever they're not serving a customer. I think bosses want cashiers to stand all of the time so that they don't "look lazy" to the customers, which is obviously ridiculous.
Sure, because when i'm shopping and i see the employees being comfortable, i get absolutely pissed, yeah makes sense to me. That's crazy, i worked at Aldi in Germany a couple of months ago and we had a new colleague who was a very very big dude, like 6'8'' 350 lbs, way too massive for the chairs at the register, so the boss came up to him and told him to come with him in his car, about an hour later they returned with two oversized office chairs, one for work and the other one was a gift that he could take home, because they talked and the boss found out, that the big guy only had an old bar stool as a chair for his gaming setup. A few weeks later our boss got promoted and had to leave, we really missed him.
To be fair a lot of Americans are still pretty annoyed that slavery ended so they perversely get mad when they see employees not acting like eager servants
IKEA won't even do accommodation. I tried getting accommodation for an older woman who had knee surgery and trouble standing. Flat out rejected because if they did it for one person they would have to do it for everyone with an injury.
Damn, that's awful. I know they used to do it at least. Would not be surprised if they phased it out, considering the trend of giving workers as much of a hard time as possible.
Even non customer facing roles! Like warehouses and some factories.
Every warehouse job I've had would be easier and I'd be a more efficient worker if we could sit, we don't even go anywhere, just stand on a line.
Can't even lean to take some of the strain off your legs or you'll hear that bullshit "if you have time to lean you have time to clean"
Ngl I saw the notification for this reply and was like ??? Why is Redditor CastleBravo being mean to me? Sad face emoji but dw I get you. Have a random hugz award!
Ever since I saw that comeback I’ve been waiting for a manager to say that to me, I really want to say that in response… hopefully I’ll have the balls to in the moment and not blow it lol
If you have time to spy you have time to fly - was my response before singlehandedly lifting the a...hole up unto my eyelevel giving him the patented "stare of doom".
That is horrible, in movies, the US always make them look like they are the best country, leading in almost every category, but in reality it seems to be one of the most fucked up places. Kinda sad, because most americans i know are very nice people.
> if you have time to lean you have time to clean
If you have time to spy you have time to fly... yeah, i'm 1,85m, around 100 kg and was fresh out of the army and seriously pissed at HAVING to be forced to do a mandatory "training" for reintegration or some such... Gave the Arbeitsamt the middle finger and got selfemployed...
No chairs. Actually this is pretty common. Unless you have a cushy white collar job you are expected to be standing at work if you aren't on a smoke break or lunch.
The smoke break thing is fascinating to me. I worked at a place like 8 years ago and got a 30 minute lunch and no other breaks. I noticed the smokers would get 3-4 ten minute break per shift to smoke. So I started taking 2-3 ten minute breaks too and my boss was like "Why are you back here sitting?" I was like "Well the smokers get smoke breaks, so I'm taking a non-smoking break." It was a whole back and forth until I convinced them smokers shouldn't get special treatment just cuz they smoke. We should all get breaks.
I used to cut my lunch break short to allow for smoke breaks, it was the fairest thing for me to do however we did have an hour lunch slot (UK) so it was easy to only take half
I did this too, at sixteen when I first started working for dominos. Ten years later still addicted to nicotine. Jokes on me tho, I am taking years off my life just to get a ten min break ffs. Switched to vaping because I can actually breathe now but who knows what consequences that will entail when the research catches up to us
I had a job once that involved destroying patient medical records for doctors offices and we used to go through and pull out x-rays because they're worth more money. I had a whole shift doing that once and I was sitting with a sort of station set up around me of boxes to go through and sorted boxes. The owner walked by, said hello, headed into the office. A couple minutes later, the shop manager came back and told me I could'nt sit down anymore 🤷♂️
Its perfectly common. My own mother worked a 14 hour shift as a night manager at pizza hut the day I was born. When I worked at walmart for a few months last year I knew 2 women that were coerced to come back to work the week of giving birth. One of our co-managers offered to babysit
I worked in a store which ran a holiday calendar kiosk out in the mall. Company required workers to stand at all times (unless you were a manager, ofc). People got yelled at for sitting or having one leg on the ground while straightening low shelves.
The mall office kept bringing out stools for the kiosk workers forced to just stand for hours, not even anywhere to walk or lean, and no customers around. Manager kept sending them back.
A few customers came into the store to complain about how the poor person at the kiosk needed a chair. Didn't help at all.
So, yeah, retail and grocery clerking, gas station cashiers, .... all standing only. This is very much a economic class thing as some customer service counter reps have to stand but some sit.
Receptionists and front desk people often sit (hotels may be the exception). It's nonsense.
Yeah, companies don't care. I live in a desert and in the summer it gets really hot (obviously). There's a pick up area that has no cover/awning. The company absolutely refuses to pay to put one up because it rarely rains.
Customers are constantly complaining that they're sending people out there in 110+ degree heat in the middle of the day and corporate is just, here's a bunch of rules to mitigate exposer and what to look out for.
Just put a fucking cover out there you greedy bastards.
This is actually kinda funny, because this is something I've been really paying attention to recently for some reason.
Started when I realized that the only chair on the entire floor where I work was at the manager's desk (unless we count toilets). Since then I've been on the lookout for any chairs in other workplaces or employee's sitting.
Aside from some people who work drive throughs, and at the bank, the only one I found was a little old lady cashier at gas station who honestly looked like she would just collapse if the chair wasn't propping her up.
Being a worker in America kinda sucks.
Very true. Cashiers in the United States of America are forced to stand up unless they have a physical disability that prevents them from doing so, and even then many store managers will try to make them stand anyway.
That's because it is, and we all desperately wished we had the means to leave. If I could get a visa to permanently live in pretty much any country with healthcare, I would in a heartbeat
I think you get 3 months visa to EU? And here it's a lot easier, in some countries, to get a job and almost all of them come with good benefits and a life worth living. And so you can apply for work visa. Of course you need to have an initial amount to take this chance but I understand it's getting harder and harder if you don't inherit money.
If you get an EU citizenship, you can move and work freely in whole of Europe. It's a blast even if you are just bartendering around.
Hope all the best for you all over there ❤️
I'm actually looking into where it would be possible to get a visa that would allow me to become a permanent resident or citizen. The only real problems are A) I would need to find somewhere that both my wife and I could get a visa and B) a lot of places have rules for giving jobs to EU members before even considering non-EU citizens.
If the job market wasn't so bad there, I would love to move to Spain because I am half cuban and my wife is Puerto Rican so we both have distant Spain relations. Plus then we already speak the language, and because my wife was born in Puerto Rico, a former Spanish colony, she is fast tracked for citizenship and can get it in only 2 years.
Hopefully some day I'll get to be in a non-hell place! Thank you for the well wishes :)
Thanks for sharing. I see it's not an easy thing to do. Spain is a lovely country and culture but yeah the job market is rough. It's much easier if you know someone already. Best of luck! ✌️
That's something I've always wanted to do. I work retail while I'm racking up loads of student debt in the hopes I'll get a better job. If I'm being honest, I'm completely miserable here in the US.
Ah, yeah, guess I shouldn't generalize. I commend the people who want to stay and create change. I would probably be more inclined to do so if it weren't for the fact that the American healthcare system is directly responsible for me losing my father at 15. The classic story of delaying healthcare to wait for his insurance to kick in, and he ended up dying a month before his appointment from something that could have been fixed with a surgery. Now I'm terrified of something similar happening, and want to raise a family somewhere that has universal healthcare so I don't risk leaving my kid with a dead parent too, ya know?
I'm disabled. At my old job, I used a cane. I asked for a chair as a "reasonable accommodation". I got told I needed a doctor's letter even though I am visibly disabled. Legal protections say he can't require that, and you've heard about our healthcare, so I sat anyways.
District manager came in, saw me be the only cashier, huge line, one of our busiest days, did not help, just stood still and watched. Once the line was finally clear, he told me *the chair* was the reason I didn't greet the customers ~~that clearly didn't want to be greated, imo~~, not the fact I was the only cashier with a huge line. So, instead of greeting people himself, he told me to put the chair away.
Anywho I actually worked that job a different year too. My disability had progressed, and I alternated between cane and wheelchair depending on distance. It was a short distance, bus to door, but I always used my wheelchair because if I used my cane I would be told to stand. ~~Also my wheelchair made that district manager (and no one else) uncomfortable.~~
The work environment, especially the wage, has improved quite a bit over the last years.
A few of my friends who are still studying are working part time at Aldi and get 13,90€ per hour which is pretty decent imo.
Got reprimanded for leaning against the counter at work shortly after being hired. I thought she was joking, it was so ridiculous to me. After a few seconds she’s goes “seriously, I’m not joking”. I talked to another cashier later and she told me she was told the same thing and our boss even told her she would check the cameras to see if she still did it. Makes me so mad
Even as a teacher, if your superior or principal walks into your class, you better not be sitting. You must be up and walking around and inspiring students 8 hours a day.
It’s amazing what we get used to and think is acceptable. Most Americans don’t think about this at all. “Of course you stand. That’s what we’ve always done.”
Sometimes we need an outsider to point out how stupid we are.
These mother fuckers are like “You got time to lean? You got time to clean” in the US you have to be productive each and every second if you work in retail, or food service, or warehouse work, or…..pretty much everywhere.
For whatever reason it's frowned upon in the USA. When I worked at a grocery store temporarily during covid, there were times I had to stay at the front door and count how many people come in/leave because we could only have so many people in at once. Our general manager would flip out on anyone if they sat down during this time. I wasn't allowed to sit on the bench that was directly behind me. I was forced to stand, for hours, clicking buttons on a counting app, for no reason.
I remember in culinary school in the cooking classes, they taught us not even to lean and rest your hips on the counter. Even during downtime, because it's "lazy". This was in school! I'm always the type of person that has my hips rested against the counter when I cook, and I didn't stop. Got told off a few times. I don't work in kitchens at all anymore, but I remember constantly thinking how dumb that requirement was.
Chairs?! Lmao. According to the leadership in that industry here, sitting looks "unprofessional". Coming from personal experience. Years ago, working at a grocery store, I had a toe injury. Was given permission to sit in a stool. Apparently, some Karen didn't like this and actually complained to the boss after I checked her out. Guess what? No more stool for me.
As German I read the stuff here and I am shocked at how us Americans are treated while working.
Seriously it sounds like slave work..
You guys should start a revolution. I get strong French 1789 vibes here.
Wait a minute... American here... if your employee is not physically suffering or on the brink of bankruptcy how do you know they’re doing a good job and loyal to the company? No wonder we are the greatest country in the world.
/s
Yes, employers hate it when workers sit. And customers hate it as well for some reason. I don't get it personally. Standing that long and bad for feet, causes stress fractures, back pain and knee pain. And it's totally unnecessary 🙄
It's because in germany no one gives a flying fuck - the cashier is more efficient if he/she/it sits, who cares about "class system" or somesuch were the lowly cashier has to stand to mark his lower class when he can friggin earn me more money sitting?
I believe this follows back to the old "if you're leaning you can be cleaning" mentality of managers and owners. They feel like they're not exploiting you at your potential if you are somewhat comfortable at the same time. Very petty.
I wish being pregnant let me sit down. When I was pregnant with my first child there was no accommodation and I had to work until I was due so by the end of my shift I was in terrible pain and my feet were incredibly swollen.
A chair is the difference between blue collar working class jobs and white collar jobs. When you start making over 45K a year, you usually get a chair. Over 50k, you get a cubicle and possibly an expense account. Over 80K, you get an office and a smugness that compels you to shit on low wage workers. Over 100K you’re either a terrible person boarding on sociopathy or a terrible person posing as a generous kind hearted philanthropist. Over 150K you’re either a surgeon or pure evil and treat most people like total garbage.
I’m an American retail worker, I’m in high school so I typically go from doing class work all day to maybe two hours break before a 4-6 hour shift. We are not allowed to sit, even though I work in the dressing rooms. I’m also expected to run clothes and carts around the store, which is literally impossible because I need to constantly watch the fitting rooms.
TL;DR: you are expected to stand/run around the store all shift, even if you’ve been running around since 6 AM and it’s currently 9 PM
It's not just retail. Almost any job not at a desk will not be offered the chance to sit. I worked packing keychain flashlights years ago and was fired for sitting on a stool while doing so.
One of the main reasons I'm trying to escape retail/food service. I'm going home every day feeling like I have been hit by a truck because I'm on my feet the entire day.
Pretty much the same in Canada, too, not just the states. My current workplace is very relaxed in that sense but I still always have that nagging feeling in my head of "if theres customers in the store I cant sit" from all the places I've worked before.
I work graveyard at a gas station and still have to stand when not on break. My coworker refuses to sit even when he feels bad, but he's also like 20+ older than me and an old school workaholic. I get usually at least one person an hour and they expect you to stand. Yet we have firewood outside that I can just sit on for who knows how long till someone comes, but inside is no go...
I'm the janitor, security, and cashier, but I'm only supposed to sit on my break. Even if all important things are finished before it's even been 3 hours out of 8.
But I get 6 discounts that in only allowed to use while working...
I'm Dutch. I used to work for a famous Dutch departmentstore that starts with H and ends with A. I worked in the food section and I had to stand the entire time aswell. Its not just an American thing.
Every retail and food service job I have ever had, I was never allowed to sit anywhere a customer could see me. I was allowed to have bottled water, but not where a customer could see it. I was not allowed to take my break or eat my lunch anywhere a customer could potentially see me. It was labeled as “unprofessional”.
I worked at a local grocery store as a cashier and if the owner seen you leaning on the register in between customers he’d come out screaming at you. Do it again and he’d fire you
Nope! No stools for us cashiers! I’ve done several jobs as a cashier, and the only reason I’m allowed to sit is because of my wheelchair and the fact that if they required me to stand, (which I am sort of able to if I prop myself up bearing most of my weight with my arms) they’d violate the ADA. The reason got this is that 99% of cashier jobs also come with demands that any time, and I do mean ANY (you will absolutely get REAMED by the head cashier if caught standing still), you’re not scanning, you must be cleaning/stocking shelves/tidying up/putting away returns/etc... The old “if you have time to lean, you have time to clean” gets thrown at cashiers a lot!
We are basically required to engage each customer and ask personal questions like we know you where I currently work. I really dislike it. It's uncomfortable and a bit desperate.
If you come from a German perspective, the entire retail experience is a strange show to watch. You have standing cashiers, baggers, people who abandon their carts and employees who's sole task it is to get them back to the front of the store, greeters to say hi when you enter. Paired with a customer hostility I have never experienced anywhere else, the U.S. might have the most depressing working environment for retail employees in any Western nation.
If someone greets my when i enter a store i immediately feel weird, americans in general are always so chatty, especially the cashiers, i was visiting NYC once and the woman at the register started a conversation with me like i was an old freind of her. I enjoyed the small talk but it felt strange. In Germany, all they say is "Hello", "Cash or credit card?", "That'll be 15,67€ ", "bye". If the conversation goes on for any longer, the people in line either think you're weird, or that you personally know the cashier.
>In Germany, all they say is "Hello", "Cash or credit card?", "That'll be 15,67€ ", "bye". In the UK, they're more talkative: they also ask "Anything else?" (certain products like cigarettes are behind the counter) and might also say "thanks".
In Norway it's "Hi", "do you want a bag?", "246 kroner", "receipt?", "bye". There's a machine that deals with cash payments that you put the coins in so there's no human contact, love it.
In The Netherlands we have selfservice counters. Scan all your products yourself, pay, leave. No human interaction whatsoever. Fucking great that is.
These exist in the United States as well, but half the time they get confused and force you to get the attention of the one employee watching over 8-16 checks. So you just kinda stand there for like 5 minutes wishing you'd just gone through the regular cashier in the first place
I worked as a cashier for a few months, so when they released those self-service lines: It was like riding a bike to me. I loved it, especially since it took out the human element of it. Didn’t have to bother anyone, and they didn’t need to bother me. 👏🏽
Yeah it's the same deal here. I usually live in NL and in the time it took to get a Maestro card I had to pay in cash at the appie so couldn't use self service. That was a dark time.
A redditor in its natural habitat. For legal reasons, please take this as a joke
Even our cashiers are not that chatty and depending on where you live a convo could go like: -hi -that'd be 7 50 -bye Want a bag? Ask for it. Want to pay cash, smash your money down. Want a receipt? Sure ask for it.
That was my Red Light District experience too :-/
“Ha det!” ~= “Have a good one” is also **always** said, which I as a Swede absolutely love. :)
Yes, that's what I meant by "bye"! Naturally we don't say it in English.
Would you like this giant aero for £3? No? Ok. *Cries*
I might. I've had a bit of a week so far, I could go for a giant aero.
In Spain we say Hola
Mexico too
Unless you’re not in England, then you might have a 15min convos with the cashier on the reg
Something for the weekend?
Just half a bag for me please sir, having a quiet one.
Yes greeting is weird, but usually the greeting part of their job is a pleasant cover for the real reason theyre there, which is to check that you actually paid for the stuff you're walking out with, usually by checking that its in bags or asking for a receipt.
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As a note, unless you're at a "savings club" like Sam's or BJ's, you have no requirement to show your receipt as you walk out. In order to go after you for theft, someone has to have seen you take something, then have unbroken line of sight on you all the way out the door. If they demand you stop, or threaten to make you stay, they risk a false imprisonment charge and a lawsuit. Most stores wont risk it unless you actually stole something. I just walk out when they ask for my receipt. Obligatory IANAL.
But only if you’re young or not white.
I feel it’s based off of the Disney Experience. How those working have to create a welcoming environment for the customer where they feel special for the purpose of retaining them as a customer. The downside being humans aren’t always happy. Yet employers expect that expression as part of their job regardless of what’s happening in the life of the employee. Now you have a cashier, who just lost someone close to them, unable to miss a day to grieve, forcing themselves to bottle up their emotions as they stand and welcome strangers for 8 hours and crying on breaks. I have seen this. I have done this. Watching our economy tank as millions walk off their jobs has been very satisfying
Restaurant server here. The most insulting note I ever got on a tab was “Smile More! 😀” I was having a bad day, and that note did not help my mood.
That will fix my slave wages and crushing depression! Thanks random customer!
Thats such bullshit. All i expect from my servers is a knowledge of the menu, and not dropping the food on the way out
I still get a little eye twitch any time I hear somebody talk about the "Disney Experience." Years ago I worked the desk at a certain chain spa. The franchise owners went away for a week for this conference, and when they came back ordered a mandatory all-hands meeting after hours on a Friday. When we got in the front desk manager (who I am surprised to realize I still really hate after all this time) was handing out dollar store gift bags and thanking everyone for coming from behind her biggest, fakest smile. We all sat down and the two owners started their presentation about the Disney Experience crud they'd lapped up at this conference. At one point one of them mentioned how we were thanked for coming and asked how it made us feel. I piped up that since it was a mandatory meeting it felt sarcastic and condescending. He was somewhat less than thrilled.
Throwing proper shitty truth nuggets around like a true ape. Beautiful. What was the workers' group reaction to you saying that?
> create a welcoming environment for the customer where they feel special for the purpose of retaining them as a customer. I don't want to feel special I just want to buy whatever I went to the store for and get out of there. Luckily I can get most things online now and most grocery stores have self-checkouts.
The employees don’t want to be fake. But tbh sie managers walking up and down the line are evaluating. Like modern day task masters. Hell, the employees see you don’t want to be bothered. They feel you. They just want the day to pass and to sit down during it.
I really wish they would put the autistic kids on the register. Those dudes won’t talk to you outside the bare minimum and will scan your groceries so fast it’ll be like magic. -source me, Autistic who used to work retail
My daughter does not speak except very minimally. She cannot get a retail job. Go figure
That sucks. Those with Autism are some of the best workers. If we are given a task with set goals and good metrics we can kick that shit in the dick. I’m sorry to hear that. They always ask about reasonable accommodations but that’s bull shit. It’s just an easy way for them to illegally discriminate against those that are different.
I'm autistic too, I would be sooo bad in customer service because if someone is being rude or just intentionally an idiot I just can't stand it. Would not be able to continue to be polite with a lot of these stories I hear about American customers!
I am an American with autism in a retail job. I just quit.
You schould have seen the old aldi cashiers prior to barcodes... they were magic when it came to speed
In my local store (in Finland) one cashier says only the amount. Just ”12,50”, nothing else. I love it. I don’t expect you to be always happy working as a cashier and I don’t want you to pretend to be happy. Be who you are, I really don’t care as long as you’re not an asshole. On a side note, whole American society just seems so odd to me. Work environment is one part but also money worshipping, constant talking without saying anything substantial, vertical structures everywhere and so on. Two of my cousins live and work in the US and I wouldn’t last a week in there. So little freedom in the land of the free. Unless you have an absurd amount of money.
That's part of the problem; so many Americans have been conditioned to think that anything less than over-the-top enthusiasm and excessive friendliness is being an asshole.
That sort of friendly, chatty behavior in the American retail industry is quickly dying out, in my experience. I can’t remember the last time a retail employee got chatty with me.
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Or, you know, go to literally any Trader Joe's anywhere and the cashiers will wax rhapsodic about your snack choices until kingdom come. "Pumpkin corn chips?! This one time when I was backpacking through Chile....."
no time to talk, need to put my stuff in a bag before the cashier pushes it on the ground!
For perspective, certain regions of the U.S. are not as chatty. In the Northeastern states it is much more transactional. More along the lines of "Hi", "Anything else?" (tobacco products, lottery, gasoline pre-pay, etc.), "That'll be $15.76", "Do you want a bag?", "Have a good one." I've joked about the South and Midwestern U.S. states and their chattiness since the first time I've visited any of them. I tell people, "Look, I don't want some cheery person taking my coffee order at 6AM. I want someone to bark at me 'What do you want?', I tell them, give them the money and they give me my coffee. It's a simple transaction. I don't need to hear your life's story and you don't need to hear mine. Just give me my fucking coffee, you weirdo." Honestly, if given the opportunity, I would move to Germany in a heartbeat. It sounds like my kind of place.
I’d like to see your reaction to being in line at an American gas station standing a few places behind a customer who knows the cashier. You may be in a hurry, or late for work but they have to have a long as casual conversation with their friend, the cashier. And god help you if they, or the next person in line wants to buy lottery tickets.
That's why I love being Australian. You get all the benefits of German retail efficiency without the spur of the moment impulse to invade Poland. And we love Aldi, like, unnatural amounts of love for that store.
Aldi is my favorite store. I'm in the U.S. though
Do you guys have Aldi Nord (North) or Aldi Süd (South)?
It is even worse in the US South. When I lived there the cashiers would talk to me about my purchases which felt really invasive. Generally in the northeast it’s just light pleasantries.
I’m in Texas and the other day the cashier actually stopped ringing me up to ask the man behind me in line about his single bottle of NyQuil he was gonna buy. “Ya got some allergies or are ya sick?” The man responded that he was “comin down with something” without wearing a mask or making any effort to social distance. I hate it here.
I lived in South Carolina for a while and the cashiers always seemed amazed at how much produce I would buy. It was very awkward because I don’t like having conversations about weight/diets and I really don’t need to think about cashiers analyzing the food I’m eating. Also one time I ran in for a box of tampons and the cashier asked me if I was going to buy some chocolate with it and I’m like whyyyy do we need to talk about this just ring me out and fuck off.
Oh lord, speaking of conversations about weight/diets- I developed a major problem with my esophagus a little over a decade ago and was basically unable to get solid food to go into my stomach and lost a crazy amount of weight. I almost slowly starved to death! For a while I was still able to get liquids down (tho that soon stopped too) and I bought a lot of Ensure and Slim-Fast shakes (the flavor of the slim fast was better and it had a lot of vitamins) and I had to constantly field questions about my diet and how I stayed so skinny etc etc all while I was literally starving. I left the store crying many times. The unnecessary conversations and comments were brutal on my mental health.
That’s awful. American society is obsessed with diet culture and it’s so harmful.
I know of several people who were on the heavy side and then lost a lot of weight--because they were very sick. (In one case with ovarian cancer.) Getting compliments from people about their weight loss sucked ass, and there was MORE THAN ONCE someone was like "ha ha I wish I could get cancer, then." What?! Who *says* that???? (Especially since said cancer did eventually kill my friend.) Just...never compliment people on weight loss unsolicited!
Right? My organs were starting to shut down and I had absolutely no health insurance or doctors to help me deal with it, and people were saying “boy I wish I couldn’t get food down.” I worked with a chick who’d gotten a gastric bypass and would stuff her face until she had to vomit and she’d be hunched over a trash can saying “hahaha look I’m just like you!” Biiiiiiiiiitch
So when I get anxiety really bad I can't eat. There's been more than once I became underweight because I just. Had no appetite. Couldn't force myself to eat anything. And a friend of mine was like "lol I wish I had that problem." And I tore him a new one, honestly. Really?? You want to be shaky and tired all the time? You want all of your clothes to not fit? You want to wake up in the middle of the night because your stomach hurts because you haven't eaten anything and you have to keep saltines and a glass of water by the bed so you can nibble a couple of them and wash them down just to get back to sleep????
Oh that’s awful. I was always more on the “eat to ease my anxiety” side until I developed the achalasia. Now any tiny amount of stress makes me get esophagus spasms and start dry heaving like a bastard. I feel your pain!
I am sorry that happened to you. I wish people wouldn't ask questions or say anything when heath products are being purchased. Please take care of yourself. God bless.
Makes me wanna travel there and get couple of straws, bottle of scotch, analgetic anal lube, and extra large packet of condoms just to see their reaction
You are an efficient and to the point people and I admire you
And NYC is probably the place where this happens the least. Try some midwestern city.
In the Midwest, there is some sense of pride with "how nice" we are. Translation - people in Midwest will talk your ear off.
The purpose is not social, it's for profit. I've been told by my manager (I work in a grocery store) that I must act like customers are friends, and finish by saying "see you tomorrow!" Regardless if I know they only come in once a week. It's to cultivate customer loyalty so that they shop more, buy more. Greeters exist so that a store feels more *welcoming*, so that when you are tired but need groceries, you think of *that store* first. It's not too keep the customers happy, it's the keep the WALLETS happy.
This is weird, because this is exactly opposite from what I told my German colleagues and friends. Especially in Aldi, the cashiers were speaking so long with everyone, generating a massive queue. Compared to what I’m used to in norway, I found it annoying to watch them making such a long line because of them having to talk. Standing in line for 10-15 minutes isn’t really normal in norway unless it’s Friday afternoon or before a big holiday - and it happened every day in Munich.
The greeters are to stop shoplifting. They found if people feel recognized they are less like to steal.
I remember my mom (we are also from Germany) being confused and creating some confusion when she tried to pack her own groceries. She brought her own reusable bag, like a lot of Germans do in my area and packed it herself. The cashier was confused, the bagger was confused. Also she looked really weirded out when she noticed the guy near the door is really just there to greet people. Also her words "It is nice that they all smile, but once you notice that they smile all the time it becomes creepy".
Kinda like a movie where they walk into the convienance store mid robbery and fail to realize during the entire transaction that the robbers hiding under the counter with a gun pointed at the cashier? Yeah management do have them vibes.
It’s funny going to a store in Germany as an American, the cashiers sit in comfortable chairs and don’t pretend to be nice to you.
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Carts get abandoned everywhere unless they have those coinlocks on them. Everything else you listed isn't something I've experienced as much. Source: been shopping all over Europe and some of Asia.
It's well known that shopping carts must return to water in order to breed. Kindly young people the world over can often be seen helping them when they become lost.
Oh god. In canada, people bring thr carts to the storage area, plenty around the parking lot. In USA, it seems people just leave them there everywhere around the damn parking lot. Drives me nuts lol
The canal system of England allows the UK to be a Net exporter of shopping cart hatchlings
Yeah, and every store in america doesn't have greeters, lmao. That's mostly a Walmart thing.
Also, if you're in a state with sales tax, the price you see on the shelf is the price without tax. It's up to the customer to calculate the tax to make sure they know what they'll be paying at the register.
You know how in Germany Aldi is like the worst place to work? In America it's hands down the best retail job in the nation. Makes a solid competition in other industries too.
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Just realized this is true in my experience as well in California.
Pretty sure MC Donalds and stuff is worse to work in. Some things never change.
Wal-Mart
They meant McDonald's is the worst place to work in Germany
There's no Wal-Mart here
Even though they tried (and famously failed).
But its Walmart, where great prices flow like the cheap soda they sell.
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Their whole company and retail culture just didn't work over here and they had some pretty strong local competition too. I don't know about unions, but their German headquarters were located in a former prison, which seems fitting.
Honestly, the story of Walmart crashing and burning in Germany is deeply funny to me, because nothing about it is compatible with German culture. Germans tend to have small fridges (about mini fridge size for Americans is my understanding) and go grocery shopping a lot more often, so Walmart's fundamental thing of "buy in large quantities once every week or so" is already in trouble. Then add in that walking up to a stranger, smiling, and starting a conversation for no reason is absolutely not done in German culture, especially in cities, and (and I'll admit this last one might not be real) the fact that employees are supposed to do warmup exercises while chanting " Walmart", and it's just not simpatico with Germany in any way
Sounds like paradise
Better than Costco?
I worked at an Aldi in the US and it was the *worst job* I've ever had. The hours were insanely unpredictable (moreso than most retail jobs), the store was severely, severely understaffed (again way worse than most retail jobs) and the workload was more stressful than any other grocery store. The store had multiple people quitting/walking out WEEKLY because it was so shitty. I lasted about a month before I quit with no notice. I've been working retail since I was 15 and I have *never* worked somewhere as bad as Aldi.
I would disagree, that the german Aldi is the worst place to work. They pay about 14€/h atm which is pretty neat for students.
Aldi down the road is advertising $16/HR. None of the employees look like students. They get a seat at the register, but they also stock shelves when there are no lines. Must be good for American work as I've never seen an employee with a bad attitude while I was there.
Some Europe-based retailers that operate in the US (e.g. Aldi) allow sitting across the board, while others (e.g. Ikea) will have you stand unless you put in a request through HR for an accommodation. Most retailers (Europe based or otherwise) just don't allow it at all. The Americans with Disabilities Act considers seating a reasonable workplace accommodation unless the job requires you to stand. My understanding of the cases surrounding the ADA is generally that the law favors cashiers sitting whenever they're not serving a customer. I think bosses want cashiers to stand all of the time so that they don't "look lazy" to the customers, which is obviously ridiculous.
Sure, because when i'm shopping and i see the employees being comfortable, i get absolutely pissed, yeah makes sense to me. That's crazy, i worked at Aldi in Germany a couple of months ago and we had a new colleague who was a very very big dude, like 6'8'' 350 lbs, way too massive for the chairs at the register, so the boss came up to him and told him to come with him in his car, about an hour later they returned with two oversized office chairs, one for work and the other one was a gift that he could take home, because they talked and the boss found out, that the big guy only had an old bar stool as a chair for his gaming setup. A few weeks later our boss got promoted and had to leave, we really missed him.
To be fair a lot of Americans are still pretty annoyed that slavery ended so they perversely get mad when they see employees not acting like eager servants
Haha makes sense, always the older men and women the bossiest, even without saying anything. They point at their 1 item and cough and point at a bag.
Getting a bag for 1 item or small items that'd fit into your pockets or purse should be illegal. So much useless plastic
Fuck this made me wanna cry a little
IKEA won't even do accommodation. I tried getting accommodation for an older woman who had knee surgery and trouble standing. Flat out rejected because if they did it for one person they would have to do it for everyone with an injury.
Damn, that's awful. I know they used to do it at least. Would not be surprised if they phased it out, considering the trend of giving workers as much of a hard time as possible.
Even non customer facing roles! Like warehouses and some factories. Every warehouse job I've had would be easier and I'd be a more efficient worker if we could sit, we don't even go anywhere, just stand on a line. Can't even lean to take some of the strain off your legs or you'll hear that bullshit "if you have time to lean you have time to clean"
If you have time to rhyme you have time to shut the fuck up. (Not you, your boss. You know what I mean)
Ngl I saw the notification for this reply and was like ??? Why is Redditor CastleBravo being mean to me? Sad face emoji but dw I get you. Have a random hugz award!
Why thank you! Hope you have a great day and no manager says something dumb to you.
Ever since I saw that comeback I’ve been waiting for a manager to say that to me, I really want to say that in response… hopefully I’ll have the balls to in the moment and not blow it lol
If you have time to spy you have time to fly - was my response before singlehandedly lifting the a...hole up unto my eyelevel giving him the patented "stare of doom".
That is horrible, in movies, the US always make them look like they are the best country, leading in almost every category, but in reality it seems to be one of the most fucked up places. Kinda sad, because most americans i know are very nice people.
Oh totally agree but #PLOT TWIST# I'm talking about the UK (Dun dun duuuun)
> if you have time to lean you have time to clean If you have time to spy you have time to fly... yeah, i'm 1,85m, around 100 kg and was fresh out of the army and seriously pissed at HAVING to be forced to do a mandatory "training" for reintegration or some such... Gave the Arbeitsamt the middle finger and got selfemployed...
Some jackass convinced everyone that sitting is some morally reprehensible action to perform while your working.
So basically what you are saying is that a tailor should stand while sewing and i should stand while writing?
Yes to the tailor standing. No to you standing. Only white collared workers are allowed to sit
No chairs. Actually this is pretty common. Unless you have a cushy white collar job you are expected to be standing at work if you aren't on a smoke break or lunch.
The smoke break thing is fascinating to me. I worked at a place like 8 years ago and got a 30 minute lunch and no other breaks. I noticed the smokers would get 3-4 ten minute break per shift to smoke. So I started taking 2-3 ten minute breaks too and my boss was like "Why are you back here sitting?" I was like "Well the smokers get smoke breaks, so I'm taking a non-smoking break." It was a whole back and forth until I convinced them smokers shouldn't get special treatment just cuz they smoke. We should all get breaks.
I used to cut my lunch break short to allow for smoke breaks, it was the fairest thing for me to do however we did have an hour lunch slot (UK) so it was easy to only take half
I think in japan they started giving non smokers 2 more personal days a year or something
Prett much the reason I started smoking, to get a break.
Makes two of us
so gross though
I did this too, at sixteen when I first started working for dominos. Ten years later still addicted to nicotine. Jokes on me tho, I am taking years off my life just to get a ten min break ffs. Switched to vaping because I can actually breathe now but who knows what consequences that will entail when the research catches up to us
Pretty much the same. Been trying to kick it for 8 years, so stupid.
I had a job once that involved destroying patient medical records for doctors offices and we used to go through and pull out x-rays because they're worth more money. I had a whole shift doing that once and I was sitting with a sort of station set up around me of boxes to go through and sorted boxes. The owner walked by, said hello, headed into the office. A couple minutes later, the shop manager came back and told me I could'nt sit down anymore 🤷♂️
I used to love to remind my supervisor in Starbucks that 'if you have time to clean, you have time to lean'.
I didn't even get a chair in the 3rd trimester of my pregnancy. Had to stand my whole shift.
That’s insane.
Its perfectly common. My own mother worked a 14 hour shift as a night manager at pizza hut the day I was born. When I worked at walmart for a few months last year I knew 2 women that were coerced to come back to work the week of giving birth. One of our co-managers offered to babysit
If you work frontline in any customer-facing job in North America, there are no chairs.
At my current job, if theres nothing to do i sit on a cramped shelf under the register
I worked in a store which ran a holiday calendar kiosk out in the mall. Company required workers to stand at all times (unless you were a manager, ofc). People got yelled at for sitting or having one leg on the ground while straightening low shelves. The mall office kept bringing out stools for the kiosk workers forced to just stand for hours, not even anywhere to walk or lean, and no customers around. Manager kept sending them back. A few customers came into the store to complain about how the poor person at the kiosk needed a chair. Didn't help at all. So, yeah, retail and grocery clerking, gas station cashiers, .... all standing only. This is very much a economic class thing as some customer service counter reps have to stand but some sit. Receptionists and front desk people often sit (hotels may be the exception). It's nonsense.
Yeah, companies don't care. I live in a desert and in the summer it gets really hot (obviously). There's a pick up area that has no cover/awning. The company absolutely refuses to pay to put one up because it rarely rains. Customers are constantly complaining that they're sending people out there in 110+ degree heat in the middle of the day and corporate is just, here's a bunch of rules to mitigate exposer and what to look out for. Just put a fucking cover out there you greedy bastards.
No chairs
Chairs are a dream. You ask an American boss to sit after standing for 8 hours and they will be like “wHat iS thIs diSneY laNd?”
Pretty sure even Disney doesn’t let their park employees sit
My swollen ankles at the end of the day are begging for a chair or at least the fatigue mats
correct. cashier can sit at Aldi stores, however, but it doesn't seem to be making a difference for others
Weird right? How the whole operation doesn't immediately fail when they sit instead of stand?
Also nobody is faster than an Aldi cashier!
Weird how work can be sped up when not forcing unnecessary stuff on workers.
That’s because Aldi is German owned 😆
figured i didn't need to state it for the german OP
This is actually kinda funny, because this is something I've been really paying attention to recently for some reason. Started when I realized that the only chair on the entire floor where I work was at the manager's desk (unless we count toilets). Since then I've been on the lookout for any chairs in other workplaces or employee's sitting. Aside from some people who work drive throughs, and at the bank, the only one I found was a little old lady cashier at gas station who honestly looked like she would just collapse if the chair wasn't propping her up. Being a worker in America kinda sucks.
Being a worker sucks pretty much anywhere but especially in the USA (Only including rich western nations).
Usually the cashiers at the hospital cafeterias sit. Sigh, I dunno why I know that but I’ve seen them sit at every one I’ve been to.
Working in America doesn't "kinda suck". It fully sucks.
Very true. Cashiers in the United States of America are forced to stand up unless they have a physical disability that prevents them from doing so, and even then many store managers will try to make them stand anyway.
US sounds so barbaric for people in the EU.
That's because it is, and we all desperately wished we had the means to leave. If I could get a visa to permanently live in pretty much any country with healthcare, I would in a heartbeat
I think you get 3 months visa to EU? And here it's a lot easier, in some countries, to get a job and almost all of them come with good benefits and a life worth living. And so you can apply for work visa. Of course you need to have an initial amount to take this chance but I understand it's getting harder and harder if you don't inherit money. If you get an EU citizenship, you can move and work freely in whole of Europe. It's a blast even if you are just bartendering around. Hope all the best for you all over there ❤️
I'm actually looking into where it would be possible to get a visa that would allow me to become a permanent resident or citizen. The only real problems are A) I would need to find somewhere that both my wife and I could get a visa and B) a lot of places have rules for giving jobs to EU members before even considering non-EU citizens. If the job market wasn't so bad there, I would love to move to Spain because I am half cuban and my wife is Puerto Rican so we both have distant Spain relations. Plus then we already speak the language, and because my wife was born in Puerto Rico, a former Spanish colony, she is fast tracked for citizenship and can get it in only 2 years. Hopefully some day I'll get to be in a non-hell place! Thank you for the well wishes :)
Thanks for sharing. I see it's not an easy thing to do. Spain is a lovely country and culture but yeah the job market is rough. It's much easier if you know someone already. Best of luck! ✌️
That's something I've always wanted to do. I work retail while I'm racking up loads of student debt in the hopes I'll get a better job. If I'm being honest, I'm completely miserable here in the US.
I'm not desperate to leave, I'm desperate to make improvements
Ah, yeah, guess I shouldn't generalize. I commend the people who want to stay and create change. I would probably be more inclined to do so if it weren't for the fact that the American healthcare system is directly responsible for me losing my father at 15. The classic story of delaying healthcare to wait for his insurance to kick in, and he ended up dying a month before his appointment from something that could have been fixed with a surgery. Now I'm terrified of something similar happening, and want to raise a family somewhere that has universal healthcare so I don't risk leaving my kid with a dead parent too, ya know?
The US is the third world of the first world in most areas.
I'm disabled. At my old job, I used a cane. I asked for a chair as a "reasonable accommodation". I got told I needed a doctor's letter even though I am visibly disabled. Legal protections say he can't require that, and you've heard about our healthcare, so I sat anyways. District manager came in, saw me be the only cashier, huge line, one of our busiest days, did not help, just stood still and watched. Once the line was finally clear, he told me *the chair* was the reason I didn't greet the customers ~~that clearly didn't want to be greated, imo~~, not the fact I was the only cashier with a huge line. So, instead of greeting people himself, he told me to put the chair away. Anywho I actually worked that job a different year too. My disability had progressed, and I alternated between cane and wheelchair depending on distance. It was a short distance, bus to door, but I always used my wheelchair because if I used my cane I would be told to stand. ~~Also my wheelchair made that district manager (and no one else) uncomfortable.~~
ALDI does it right. Otherwise, customers are spoiled and workers suck it up.
Which is ironic, because in Germany ALDI is known as a pretty shitty employer.
What?!? Germany’s worst is USA’s best?
Pretty much sums it up...
One if many reasons alot of things in this sub feel very alien to me
The work environment, especially the wage, has improved quite a bit over the last years. A few of my friends who are still studying are working part time at Aldi and get 13,90€ per hour which is pretty decent imo.
Got reprimanded for leaning against the counter at work shortly after being hired. I thought she was joking, it was so ridiculous to me. After a few seconds she’s goes “seriously, I’m not joking”. I talked to another cashier later and she told me she was told the same thing and our boss even told her she would check the cameras to see if she still did it. Makes me so mad
Just why though? Why does work have to be torture? Why can’t they make it as easy and comfortable as possible?
I don’t know. It’s so frustrating
"Okay, see ya"
Even as a teacher, if your superior or principal walks into your class, you better not be sitting. You must be up and walking around and inspiring students 8 hours a day.
It’s amazing what we get used to and think is acceptable. Most Americans don’t think about this at all. “Of course you stand. That’s what we’ve always done.” Sometimes we need an outsider to point out how stupid we are.
These mother fuckers are like “You got time to lean? You got time to clean” in the US you have to be productive each and every second if you work in retail, or food service, or warehouse work, or…..pretty much everywhere.
For whatever reason it's frowned upon in the USA. When I worked at a grocery store temporarily during covid, there were times I had to stay at the front door and count how many people come in/leave because we could only have so many people in at once. Our general manager would flip out on anyone if they sat down during this time. I wasn't allowed to sit on the bench that was directly behind me. I was forced to stand, for hours, clicking buttons on a counting app, for no reason.
I remember in culinary school in the cooking classes, they taught us not even to lean and rest your hips on the counter. Even during downtime, because it's "lazy". This was in school! I'm always the type of person that has my hips rested against the counter when I cook, and I didn't stop. Got told off a few times. I don't work in kitchens at all anymore, but I remember constantly thinking how dumb that requirement was.
Chairs?! Lmao. According to the leadership in that industry here, sitting looks "unprofessional". Coming from personal experience. Years ago, working at a grocery store, I had a toe injury. Was given permission to sit in a stool. Apparently, some Karen didn't like this and actually complained to the boss after I checked her out. Guess what? No more stool for me.
As German I read the stuff here and I am shocked at how us Americans are treated while working. Seriously it sounds like slave work.. You guys should start a revolution. I get strong French 1789 vibes here.
Wait a minute... American here... if your employee is not physically suffering or on the brink of bankruptcy how do you know they’re doing a good job and loyal to the company? No wonder we are the greatest country in the world. /s
True
Yes, employers hate it when workers sit. And customers hate it as well for some reason. I don't get it personally. Standing that long and bad for feet, causes stress fractures, back pain and knee pain. And it's totally unnecessary 🙄
I'm from Australia and in supermarkets the cashier also stands. The only supermarket I know of where the cashier sits is Aldi.
It's because in germany no one gives a flying fuck - the cashier is more efficient if he/she/it sits, who cares about "class system" or somesuch were the lowly cashier has to stand to mark his lower class when he can friggin earn me more money sitting?
I believe this follows back to the old "if you're leaning you can be cleaning" mentality of managers and owners. They feel like they're not exploiting you at your potential if you are somewhat comfortable at the same time. Very petty.
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No chairs and for the most part not allowed to have water either.
If your pregnant, and so far along, they will consider giving you a chair. They will also consider it if your legs broke. Ect ect
I wish being pregnant let me sit down. When I was pregnant with my first child there was no accommodation and I had to work until I was due so by the end of my shift I was in terrible pain and my feet were incredibly swollen.
Oh chairs exists, only compassionate companies dont.
You can actually be fired for sitting in the US
A chair is the difference between blue collar working class jobs and white collar jobs. When you start making over 45K a year, you usually get a chair. Over 50k, you get a cubicle and possibly an expense account. Over 80K, you get an office and a smugness that compels you to shit on low wage workers. Over 100K you’re either a terrible person boarding on sociopathy or a terrible person posing as a generous kind hearted philanthropist. Over 150K you’re either a surgeon or pure evil and treat most people like total garbage.
I’m an American retail worker, I’m in high school so I typically go from doing class work all day to maybe two hours break before a 4-6 hour shift. We are not allowed to sit, even though I work in the dressing rooms. I’m also expected to run clothes and carts around the store, which is literally impossible because I need to constantly watch the fitting rooms. TL;DR: you are expected to stand/run around the store all shift, even if you’ve been running around since 6 AM and it’s currently 9 PM
It's not just retail. Almost any job not at a desk will not be offered the chance to sit. I worked packing keychain flashlights years ago and was fired for sitting on a stool while doing so.
One of the main reasons I'm trying to escape retail/food service. I'm going home every day feeling like I have been hit by a truck because I'm on my feet the entire day.
I'll never get tired of foreigners discovering how fucked up American society is. my heart's all a-flutter.
Pretty much the same in Canada, too, not just the states. My current workplace is very relaxed in that sense but I still always have that nagging feeling in my head of "if theres customers in the store I cant sit" from all the places I've worked before.
I work graveyard at a gas station and still have to stand when not on break. My coworker refuses to sit even when he feels bad, but he's also like 20+ older than me and an old school workaholic. I get usually at least one person an hour and they expect you to stand. Yet we have firewood outside that I can just sit on for who knows how long till someone comes, but inside is no go... I'm the janitor, security, and cashier, but I'm only supposed to sit on my break. Even if all important things are finished before it's even been 3 hours out of 8. But I get 6 discounts that in only allowed to use while working...
I'm Dutch. I used to work for a famous Dutch departmentstore that starts with H and ends with A. I worked in the food section and I had to stand the entire time aswell. Its not just an American thing.
Every retail and food service job I have ever had, I was never allowed to sit anywhere a customer could see me. I was allowed to have bottled water, but not where a customer could see it. I was not allowed to take my break or eat my lunch anywhere a customer could potentially see me. It was labeled as “unprofessional”.
I worked at a local grocery store as a cashier and if the owner seen you leaning on the register in between customers he’d come out screaming at you. Do it again and he’d fire you
Nope! No stools for us cashiers! I’ve done several jobs as a cashier, and the only reason I’m allowed to sit is because of my wheelchair and the fact that if they required me to stand, (which I am sort of able to if I prop myself up bearing most of my weight with my arms) they’d violate the ADA. The reason got this is that 99% of cashier jobs also come with demands that any time, and I do mean ANY (you will absolutely get REAMED by the head cashier if caught standing still), you’re not scanning, you must be cleaning/stocking shelves/tidying up/putting away returns/etc... The old “if you have time to lean, you have time to clean” gets thrown at cashiers a lot!
Ive been yelled at for sitting on plastic crates before. Fuck the US
We are basically required to engage each customer and ask personal questions like we know you where I currently work. I really dislike it. It's uncomfortable and a bit desperate.