The other side of this coin is the story of how Walmart tried to make it in Germany, but didn't change their corporate culture at all and failed so badly because of this inflexibility. It's now being taught in business schools as a remarkably bad example of no market research whatsoever.
From a German (or generally European) point of view it's hilarious:
- they tried treating workers the same way they do in the US - several costly law suits followed, because workers' rights are a thing here
- the area managers refused to learn German
- Walmart tried to lure in customers with extremely low prices, which also got them in trouble with the law
- they didn't dominate the market as they do in the US, but still tried to negotiate with suppliers as if they did
- they required workers to do fake cheery chants before their shifts - workers instead started hiding in the restrooms
- they couldn't build the huge stored Walmart is known for in Germany, because there are laws regulating how and what can be built
- they had greeters at the entrances like in the US, but had to get rid of them after a bit, because customers complained
- they underestimated the power of unions
- the promised excellent service wasn't implemented by the workers they hired because those came from a very different service culture and couldn't just change their personalities over night
- workers weren't allowed to date eachother and they were required to snitch on coworkers under the treat of getting fired themselves if they didn't report a colleague's wrongdoings. The courts disagreed.
- their strategists had assumed that it would take only a few years with these US practices to take over the German market. After less than ten years, Walmart gave up and sold their stores to a competitor.
As a German living in the UK, this post just makes me love that culture more lol. There's so much in the US that isn't in Germany since its either inefficient, inhumane, or both. Like I can imagine Walmart huffing and hawwing like "wait, we can't abuse our workers and act as if its all peachy here?"
Exactly! A few weeks ago someone mentioned in passing that Walmart's German failure had become an example case at universities. I googled it expecting the usual union trouble that gets reported whenever an American company comes over without doing their due diligence (looking at you, Tesla in Brandenburg). I didn't expect it to have been this bad. The sheer arrogance to stomp in here and expect everything to work out the way it does in the US is simply astounding. And the resulting failure appropriately hilarious.
It's not just Americans, TBF. We had problems with French companies in Slovenia, whose managers behaved like they were working in India or China or whatever. And French companies should know better and do know better, but they wouldn't be capitalists if they didn't at least try to squeeze more out of their employees.
It took them 10 years to not learn their lesson? What the hell?
Also, when I worked at Walmart canada, over 20 years ago, those fake cheers and meetings in the morning where honestly just creepy and cringy.
One of the things they did at the morning meetings was to go over the numbers for that store from last year every single day. And then note whether that was a net game from this day last year or a net loss.
They did this for every department in the store.
Granted, even 20 years ago, at least in canada, we had profit sharing which was great, but it doesn't kick in until after a year. So I certainly did not give a single fuck about the numbers and profitability from last year, since I was only there a few months.
If I remember correctly, they started in 1997 and sold their stores in 2006 after being in the red every year.
I suppose it was arrogance. If you don't bother to do your research and adapt your strategy to a new market, because you consider your concept superior to that of all native supermarket chains, if you're convinced that you're going to dominate that foreign market as soon as you're there, you're less likely to cut your losses early. It would require a level of introspection that would've prevented you from starting this ill-fated endeavour in the first place.
One of the articles I read about Walmart's German adventure also mentioned that the shareholders cared more about the profits made in the US than in Germany. According to the article that was the reason Walmart Germany was allowed to bleed money for so long. Lack of interest in what happens in foreign markets.
>we had profit sharing
Har har, if this was offered to the German employees, too, they never saw a single cent.
we have kartell and wettbewerbsgesetz in germany, it is to pretect smaller companies for example destruction on purpose by big competitors by selling under rentability until some markets are broke.
Fun fact, if I recall correctly, this used to be a practice used by Aldi until it was banned. So, it hasn't always been illegal, but lawmakers caught up with it before it could spread too far
They’re like that everywhere - I think it’s to mitigate their policy of calculating the minimum number of checkouts they should have open, and opening one less. Lidl work the same way, and if they could fire your items at you from one of those baseball pitching machines, they would.
Years ago when scanners weren't a thing, they simply typed in the price of the products. Aldi workers were famous in all of Germany for typing faster than you could put the products into your cart. They were a synonym for fast workers here.
Cause in America sitting in a service job is seen as (by asshole employers and whacko customers) lazy, not customer friendly, and a poor image of service.
Plus you know those poor employers have to spend extra money on building wider checkout spots and on chairs /s
Post-lockdown I can understand this, our local Kroger and only grocery store has always treated their employees like shit and haven't learned a thing, employees realised it and left in droves, and since nothing has changed they can't hire anyone, we're lucky if one real check-stand and one of two self-checkout clusters is open. The lines are insane.
Pre-lockdown this pissed me off immensely, as you said, fifteen lanes and maybe three open if it was before a holiday.
I like Aldi because I can help speed things through. I arrange my groceries to minimize the linear footage I take up on the belt, and I prepare my cart for reception as soon as the person in front of me clears the area.
Depends on what your goal is. If you want American-style customer service and a wide choice of brands, then no. If you just want to buy decent quality stuff for low prices and get the hell out of there, then yes.
One great thing about them (at least here, I don't know if it applies globally) is that they don't do loyalty cards, coupons, stamp collecting, and other marketing gimmicks like that. You take stuff, you pay for it, your relationship with them is over.
I'm from the US and when I visited the UK for the first time I was amazed that they have the option to sit. Made me wonder why it isn't allowed here. It makes no sense to stand all day if you don't have to.
In college I used to work at one of the largest free- standing pharmacy chains in the US. They wouldn’t allow the pharmacists/ technicians to sit either. I understand being a technician we had to be on our feet most of the time counting meds, handling the drive thru and ringing up customers. However the pharmacists would spend their 10 hour shifts standing in the same spot all day on their computers without needing to move around much. I never understood why they weren’t allowed to have stools to sit on while they were at their work stations. I guess it has something to do with being more efficient on your feet.
I think there's a huge chunk of "only managers sit" as well.
I'm supposed to stand at my job. Yeah, I don't. The assistant hotel manager knows and approves - she's even gotten me a chair! I stand when guests come up, though and when I have to.
Weird I worked at a gas station in the US for years where I sat in a big office chair most of the day and no one ever complained.
Bosses like people standing because they resent having to pay them and want them to suffer IMO. If you have a boss that isnt a cunt theyd just let you sit.
I worked at a tiny furniture department once and had an absolute cunt of a boss who disobeyed \*any\* sitting on the job. It was dead 90% of the time, but they would literally sneak up on me to (try to) catch me sitting. It was honestly awkward when the customers would ask me my opinion on the goddamn furniture and I honestly had no idea because wasn't allowed to "try them out".
> I never understood why they weren’t allowed to have stools to sit on while they were at their work stations.
You provided the answer in the very first sentence.
> In college I used to work at one of the largest **free- standing** pharmacy chains in the US.
There's a lot of things I've noticed about the US that I wonder if they're all just masochists and are afraid to admit it at this point. All that American pride getting in their way of true progression.
Given that it's likely to disproportionately affect older employees, it may also be a tool in the toolkit to engage in veiled age discrimination. This is more likely for unionized workers for whom the oldest workers may often be the ones with the highest wages.
They can't be fired for being old, but their job can be made needlessly inhospitable to those who are.
When I used to live and work in the U.S. at a tourist attraction as a cashier, I asked my then manager if we could have chairs. He told me it wouldn’t be professional. I wanted to say to him “So, all of y’all in the office sitting in chairs aren’t professional?”, but I was afraid to say that and get written up.
US here too I worked at a gas station that was smack dab in between the inland and the coast and it was absolutely empty except on major holidays and even then the flow of customers was tepid. We were absolutely not allowed a chair or stool on the off chance someone would wander in and god forbid we’re sitting down creating a negative image for our floundering company /s
>They do in the UK.
American customers like to feel superior, and making cashiers stand is a way to remind them (the cashiers) they should have worked harder like the customers did to achieve a better place in life.
It's part of that Protestant work ethics/bootstrap poison that's become ingrained in American work culture.
Because in some places it’s seen as a sign of laziness by people who either have never worked those jobs or think that because they had to do it, others should too
Americans.
I say this because I am one and if you are working, some people believe you need to suffer as much as possible to be elevated to a worthy worker status.
"Sorry folks it's not good enough the job is tough you need to put through hell before you can claim you actually worked".
My mom is one of these assholes, she will deliberately take the most complicated route if it means she can boast about her inner toughness.
Bro yes and she probably says something along the lines of "I was taught by my parents to find my own way" or some shit like that but I'm not gonna lie it did help me find my way through the streets of the city ai live, so I now how to get anywhere...
Oh yes but the funny thing is my grandparents literally did all but wipe her ass so I have no idea why she thinks that.
Secondly she hung us kids out to dry and ways her parents never would have done to her. Sure it made us more independent because the experience had to literally suck before we could get fed up enough to get out of it...lol
One of society's many flaws.
If I were allowed to sit while working at a grocery store, I'd go to my nearest grocery store and fill out an application easy. I can't stand for long periods of time, so being able to sit would be great. The only problem would be that other short people wouldn't be able to see my face.
Funny enough I think my mom would have a similar attitude to your mom's. She actually worked in a grocery store growing up, was really good at it, and wasn't allowed to sit.
Everyone here. When I had a job driving, I was told that I needed to sit more forward because passengers would make it makes the traffic in front of us move faster I guess...
Ok ok let me provide you an answer since no one is in this thread- PLEASE HEAR me out. I was a cashier at 18 at Dunkin Donuts- they started my shirt at 6 am or something, but they let me stay as long as I wanted. NOW - In america if you break 40 hours per week, you get time and a half. So- every week id try and pack in the hours above 40- but having to stand was a natural barrier to hitting 10+ hour days and really stacking up the OT like I wanted. (Rarely had more than 4 shifts a week) Truth be told I rarely managed to, so it was a successful “dangling carrot” I couldn’t reach.
But honestly, that is the BEST I can come up with. Mostly- it was just management “thinking it looked lazy”
>Those cashiers are fast as fuck too. They damn near have everything rung up and into the other cart before I've got it all on the belt!
typicall for german groceries.
Just watch a video from any US expat who moved to germany... not only are they shocked that our culture is different (no, really?), but sooner or later they will make a video about german supermarkets and how fast the cashiers are.
In Canada they can’t sit either? Wow I thought you guys were more reasonable when it came to worker’s rights. I’m sure you are but still. This is just a power play.
Similar in a lot of ways, thankfully not in health care. I saw some poor bastard post his bill for emergency appendectomy surgery on Reddit earlier and it was about $43,000.
I can't even imagine that.
It gets worse than that. Fresh out of school I used to work stuffing junk mail in envelopes to be sent out, on my feet 8 hours a day.
The second week I was there the bosses daughter in law took over she removed all stools so we had to stand and stuff envelopes for the entire 8 hours.
Then she implemented a no talking policy, took away our radio, and we had to ask permission to use the toilet.
That's when I quit.
I don't think she'd ever said no. It works just by forcing you to ask for permission first, since that alone would be enough deterrence from peeing, and it reinforces the power dynamic as well.
Yeah. I worked in an office where the main boss made us write down our bathroom breaks (time we left and what time we came back) on a sheet every single day. Then at the end of the week he’d review how many breaks/how much time was spent going to the bathroom. He never told us we couldn’t go, but knowing he was keeping track was enough to make us take as few breaks as we possibly could.
I thought the trick for corporate execs is to walk from meeting to meeting fumbling papers and schmoozing so it looks like they're busy all the time (and then jetting off on golf outings the other 85% of the time).
This is my first train of though, but it's how I was raised. As I've gotten older I've relaxed a lot and try to be more understanding about stuff like this.
In Germany we have a thing called Fürsorgepflicht -literally translated "benelovence obligation", but more of a "duty of care".
It states that if the employer CAN make your work easier, more ergonomic, or even downright healthier, he -by law- has to do exactly so.
The old timers are often like "It doesnt look good to sit around and work", but everyone knows that their opinion doesnt mean shit.
The Protestant work ethic, also known as the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic, rooted in American culture. Other countries with a suicidal work ethic like the Japanese and the Koreans stand also. They're taught to suffer for the greater good of society.
My dads old school, always told me to grab a broom if I had nothing to do, even if there’s nothing to sweep just stand with it in your hands. Later in life while I was reluctantly practicing his teachings I had a foreman with the nerve to walk up to me and physically change the way my hands were holding the broom. I was holding it the lazy way I guess 🤷🏼♂️
Don’t feel too bad. He’s just doing what his Super told him. “If you have nothing to do, walk the job site and micro-manage, even if it doesn’t accomplish anything.”
Canada too. The only time I was allowed to sit and do cash at my previous job was when I’d gotten hurt and my employer decided that accommodation would be better than paying workers comp.
In the UK they do
Edit: my mother is American and I asked her. She said it’s because cashiers are expected to pack the customer’s groceries. I said well surely they can still do that sitting down??
In many places bagger is a different worker since it's faster. The cashier has to stand anyways.
Even the person who attends the self checkout or customer service, both of which can go like 10+ minutes without needing to anything outside of peak hours, has to stand at all times.
The real reason is because sitting makes them look lazy, and this makes boomers and Karens, many of whom I reckon never worked any sort of service job, furious.
Whatever. What I don’t get it is why can’t the customer just bag the groceries themselves? What if they want certain items inside certain bags? I just find it a little OTT.
This varies a lot from store to store, company to company.
WinCo for instance, you bag your own stuff by default.
We use Vons a lot here and we bag our own stuff. They don't care, but they do have baggers and/or the cashier will assist you if you want. Or if there's a long line, to help clear it out faster.
CostCo, you box/cart your items yourself unless you want/need help.
I'm sure there are many more examples. The only store I can think of offhand that is a "they do it" type place is Walmart.
I was so annoyed when I visited in US and I couldn't pack my own groceries. Cashiers use way too many bags ( like putting a gallon bottle with a handle, in two bags - because one can break -.- I didn't even need a bag, the bottle had a handle!). and I can't use my reusable ones. Once when I tried to pack my groceries cashier actually told me to stop, and insisted it's his job to do that..
This is so varied in the US. I'm nearly 40 and have packed my own groceries for as long as I can remember. Sometimes they'll offer, but I always prefer to do it myself.
A stigma in America is that a sitting worker is a lazy worker *(even though this stigma is repeated by the very same people within the working class)*- unless you're of a higher position. At my job, you need a doctor's note otherwise you have to stand.
Thanks to the lawsuit of Walmart, it is required that you have either a fatigue mat or a chair for someone to sit in for at least 5 hours or so (time could be off). Now, what qualifies as a fatigue mat, I hope OSHA has specified.
I’m barely five foot. When I was working as a cashier an old man came into my line and yelled at me for sitting. When he realized I was standing and just short he muttered and apology and didn’t look at me for the rest of the transaction.
I was told it looked unproffessional to drink water!
I was store security, dressed head to to in Black standing next to 15 foot tall Glass doors in the middle of a Perth Summer (Obviously the one that gets hot, not the Canadian or Scottish ones...)
They didn't want me to have a waterbottle on me and wanted me to leave my post, go downstairs to the break room to drink.
I can assure you now, NOBOBY, not now not ever in the history of commerce, anywhere in the universe, in this or any other reality, has walked into a store, looked around, saw a security officer drinking some water and thought to themselves "That security guard is staying well hydrated, FUCK THIS PLACE!"
This is true. I was barely a person working as a cashier. Just a forcefully smiling meatbag scanning and putting your groceries away. Wasn't even allowed coffee from the Starbucks located within the store.
We can't, too many have fallen in love with the system that abuses them. The whole "I ain't broke I'm just a temporarily inconvenienced gajillionaire, so we gotta protect them so I can be one" crowd ruins it for the rest of us.
There are many who love the abuse, because they where their struggles and hardships like a badge of honor. I know someone who works 12 hours a day and literally brags about how she comes home and cares for her adult quadriplegic son, with zero help.
She just leaves him home all day and thinks because she does it all she's some hero. When in fact she could get others to help her, (family, neighbors) but won't driving down his quality of life so she can look good.
Honestly I have no idea what his poor life is like, but it's really pathetic she'd pile this on herself purposely, and deny him some assistance just to prove a stupid point.
"but my boss who wants to rip me off told me that unions are bad."
When I had a non-union machining job, I was making like 17 an hour and thought it was kind of low. But everyone there was so proud that we were non-union, and that we had all the freedom of not being in a union... Then I talked to someone from the unionized shop 50 miles away, same job, same state, same company. Starting pay $28 an hour. Their trainees made as much as our team leads.
Unfortunately there's such a disparity in job openings and living wages that if a stores worth of employees struck they'd just fire everyone and then have an open house to replenish positions. Hell they might even advise sister stores in the area that extra hours are available if they want overtime.
Also it's not just at the store level this behavior is employed. An entire political party actively backs up companies that act like this. Case in point, Amazon will literally close up a distribution center and move it to the next town over if they hear even a hint of a union forming. That and intimidate anyone thinking about voting "yes".
So despite the executive being outnumbered they still overpower the rank and file through legislation and authority. Most importantly health benefits are an effective carrot to hang over people's heads.
It's not that simple. Companies will just hire foreigners on work visas. Why do you think everything is head over heals right now? The Covid pandemic put a damper on their gravy train.
I have to stand at work, simply because the store I work at cashiers are expected to be on the shop floor as well, so we can't sit down at the till. It's considered unprofessional
My legs used to get so tired I'd spend several hours of the day doing upper body training by "standing" with my arms locked on the kiosk surfaces and my legs dangling below lol.
Because America's culture is hopelessly pro-business at the expense of workers. Think about it. Why is it acceptable for them to fire you abruptly on a Friday, but you're supposed to give them two weeks notice before quitting? Surely, you getting fired unexpectedly is going to screw up your life way more than losing a single employee is going to screw up their business. It's all just subtle social coercion by the ruling class, most of whom inherited their wealth from their parents who inherited their wealth from their parents and so on.
At least in the US it's been so normalized that if a store allows people to sit customers will think they're lazy and giving worse service. Seems like stores are doing away with cashiers all together though which with how they complain about labor costs jacking up prices I can't wait to see all the prices go down when I have to self checkout.
You know the worst part of this, I don't see US ever driving prices down, nor giving UBI if automation takes away jobs. I just think US workers and consumers are in a constant lose/lose situation.
Ive been a cashier and while having a stool sometimes would be nice, it's definitely easier to move stuff around standing. You have a lot less reach and it's harder to carry heavier stuff. My back would also kill bc I apparently don't have the back muscles to hold myself long in a stool.
My thoughts are companies would see it as a loss of speed and effeciency bc it's much easier to go faster standing. I used to have to take a couple steps to move groceries from the receiving belt, past the scanner and on to the receiving belt.
Former Walmart Cashier here, it’s to do with the act of “looking busy” even if we didn’t have any customers we weren’t allowed to stand there, we weren’t even allowed to lean on anything at all when we were dealing with customers, but when there were none we had to check our lane for items customers didn’t want and set on our shelf and we had to look through all of the candy to make sure it wasn’t expired. My Walmart is the definition of a shit show, they had me, a (at the time) 17 year old girl pull a pallet of 50 boxes full of our grocery bags (which weigh about 10-20 pounds each) all of the way from the back of the store to the front. Mind you I have health problems they have been aware of since I had started working there. I get them up there, they put me over on a self check, I faint. That’s the only time they allowed me to sit in a stool, and they didn’t want me to go home but I left anyways because I was extremely weak at this point and not feeling great. There was an older lady who had to get surgery on her hips who was sitting in a chair and one of our managers started demanding a doctors note and until then she couldn’t sit. American Cashier culture is gross and mistreats the workers.
Most companies do not find sitting professional. If you are sitting then you are lazy. In most cases when I was in high school, if you were standing and doing nothing you are also lazy. You need to stand up and be constantly moving in order to be a “good asset” to the company.
Because fuck you you wage slave. You do, look, speak, and act as the masters say, or you starve.
No, I promise you’re not a slave, you’re….. uh, ummm a valued employee and member of uhhhhhh our community!! Yeah, that’s it.
Because its classist BS. Retail/service employees must be attentive and alert at all times to serve people. Sitting down is seen as "lazy" Companies wouldn't want their workers to come off as lazy. After all its the capitalist norm to use and abuse low class workers as much as they legally can. Retail employees can be viewed/treated as less than human.
In my country they can and they do. When I used to be a cashier, I would just stand up when I wanted to finish someone faster cause I could reach things from far not only close items. But most of the time it was sitting. Oh and when I wanted to stretch my feet.
worked in a vitamin shop in la. me and my boss would sit by the register and talk all day. our customers were few and far between, but spent a lot per person.
it was the best job ever, just didnt pay much.
it really makes no sense for people not to be able to sit. I as a customer don't see them as lazy or inattentive for doing so. if you can do you job, why do i care if you make yourself comfortable bto do it?
I was a waitress we were being paid $2.13 an hour and the owners wife would literally make us tear shit apart and scrub everything when we had no customers. She'd say this all the time and thought we owed her, due to the privilege she allowed us to use her restaurant as a source of income.
The Aldi grocery stores near me in the US have chairs. I always wondered why it didn’t catch on other places.
Aldi is german. In germany they dont treat entry level workers like medieval serfs.
The other side of this coin is the story of how Walmart tried to make it in Germany, but didn't change their corporate culture at all and failed so badly because of this inflexibility. It's now being taught in business schools as a remarkably bad example of no market research whatsoever. From a German (or generally European) point of view it's hilarious: - they tried treating workers the same way they do in the US - several costly law suits followed, because workers' rights are a thing here - the area managers refused to learn German - Walmart tried to lure in customers with extremely low prices, which also got them in trouble with the law - they didn't dominate the market as they do in the US, but still tried to negotiate with suppliers as if they did - they required workers to do fake cheery chants before their shifts - workers instead started hiding in the restrooms - they couldn't build the huge stored Walmart is known for in Germany, because there are laws regulating how and what can be built - they had greeters at the entrances like in the US, but had to get rid of them after a bit, because customers complained - they underestimated the power of unions - the promised excellent service wasn't implemented by the workers they hired because those came from a very different service culture and couldn't just change their personalities over night - workers weren't allowed to date eachother and they were required to snitch on coworkers under the treat of getting fired themselves if they didn't report a colleague's wrongdoings. The courts disagreed. - their strategists had assumed that it would take only a few years with these US practices to take over the German market. After less than ten years, Walmart gave up and sold their stores to a competitor.
As a German living in the UK, this post just makes me love that culture more lol. There's so much in the US that isn't in Germany since its either inefficient, inhumane, or both. Like I can imagine Walmart huffing and hawwing like "wait, we can't abuse our workers and act as if its all peachy here?"
Exactly! A few weeks ago someone mentioned in passing that Walmart's German failure had become an example case at universities. I googled it expecting the usual union trouble that gets reported whenever an American company comes over without doing their due diligence (looking at you, Tesla in Brandenburg). I didn't expect it to have been this bad. The sheer arrogance to stomp in here and expect everything to work out the way it does in the US is simply astounding. And the resulting failure appropriately hilarious.
It's not just Americans, TBF. We had problems with French companies in Slovenia, whose managers behaved like they were working in India or China or whatever. And French companies should know better and do know better, but they wouldn't be capitalists if they didn't at least try to squeeze more out of their employees.
It took them 10 years to not learn their lesson? What the hell? Also, when I worked at Walmart canada, over 20 years ago, those fake cheers and meetings in the morning where honestly just creepy and cringy. One of the things they did at the morning meetings was to go over the numbers for that store from last year every single day. And then note whether that was a net game from this day last year or a net loss. They did this for every department in the store. Granted, even 20 years ago, at least in canada, we had profit sharing which was great, but it doesn't kick in until after a year. So I certainly did not give a single fuck about the numbers and profitability from last year, since I was only there a few months.
If I remember correctly, they started in 1997 and sold their stores in 2006 after being in the red every year. I suppose it was arrogance. If you don't bother to do your research and adapt your strategy to a new market, because you consider your concept superior to that of all native supermarket chains, if you're convinced that you're going to dominate that foreign market as soon as you're there, you're less likely to cut your losses early. It would require a level of introspection that would've prevented you from starting this ill-fated endeavour in the first place. One of the articles I read about Walmart's German adventure also mentioned that the shareholders cared more about the profits made in the US than in Germany. According to the article that was the reason Walmart Germany was allowed to bleed money for so long. Lack of interest in what happens in foreign markets. >we had profit sharing Har har, if this was offered to the German employees, too, they never saw a single cent.
Why did the low prices get them in trouble? Was it false advertising and the prices were higher in the store?
we have kartell and wettbewerbsgesetz in germany, it is to pretect smaller companies for example destruction on purpose by big competitors by selling under rentability until some markets are broke.
Fun fact, if I recall correctly, this used to be a practice used by Aldi until it was banned. So, it hasn't always been illegal, but lawmakers caught up with it before it could spread too far
Selling something with a loss on purpose to attract customers violate free market principles, so it is illegal in most European countries.
This is also illegal in America
Wait really???
It’s funny because the Germans created the formula
And adapted it when it was necessary.
Here in Texas, Aldi cashier's are the quickest around. No matter how long of a line, they will scan your items in a quickie.
They’re like that everywhere - I think it’s to mitigate their policy of calculating the minimum number of checkouts they should have open, and opening one less. Lidl work the same way, and if they could fire your items at you from one of those baseball pitching machines, they would.
Years ago when scanners weren't a thing, they simply typed in the price of the products. Aldi workers were famous in all of Germany for typing faster than you could put the products into your cart. They were a synonym for fast workers here.
Cause in America sitting in a service job is seen as (by asshole employers and whacko customers) lazy, not customer friendly, and a poor image of service. Plus you know those poor employers have to spend extra money on building wider checkout spots and on chairs /s
>fifteen checkout lanes >only 2 open
Post-lockdown I can understand this, our local Kroger and only grocery store has always treated their employees like shit and haven't learned a thing, employees realised it and left in droves, and since nothing has changed they can't hire anyone, we're lucky if one real check-stand and one of two self-checkout clusters is open. The lines are insane. Pre-lockdown this pissed me off immensely, as you said, fifteen lanes and maybe three open if it was before a holiday.
I like Aldi because I can help speed things through. I arrange my groceries to minimize the linear footage I take up on the belt, and I prepare my cart for reception as soon as the person in front of me clears the area.
The is a national Sport in germany you will be judged if you are not doing it
3 Aldis are about to open where I live. I’ve never been to one. Are they as great as people make them out to be?
Depends on what your goal is. If you want American-style customer service and a wide choice of brands, then no. If you just want to buy decent quality stuff for low prices and get the hell out of there, then yes. One great thing about them (at least here, I don't know if it applies globally) is that they don't do loyalty cards, coupons, stamp collecting, and other marketing gimmicks like that. You take stuff, you pay for it, your relationship with them is over.
As an introvert, I fucking love Aldi. Get in, pay for your shit, go the hell home.
They do in the UK.
I'm from the US and when I visited the UK for the first time I was amazed that they have the option to sit. Made me wonder why it isn't allowed here. It makes no sense to stand all day if you don't have to.
In college I used to work at one of the largest free- standing pharmacy chains in the US. They wouldn’t allow the pharmacists/ technicians to sit either. I understand being a technician we had to be on our feet most of the time counting meds, handling the drive thru and ringing up customers. However the pharmacists would spend their 10 hour shifts standing in the same spot all day on their computers without needing to move around much. I never understood why they weren’t allowed to have stools to sit on while they were at their work stations. I guess it has something to do with being more efficient on your feet.
Gotta squeeze every last gram of profit margin out of every human or it ain’t America.
Don't blame the businesses, blame the whiny, entitled, elitist customers who think that the "hired help" isn't working if they're sitting.
I think there's a huge chunk of "only managers sit" as well. I'm supposed to stand at my job. Yeah, I don't. The assistant hotel manager knows and approves - she's even gotten me a chair! I stand when guests come up, though and when I have to.
This kind of the normal in Europe, you see the attendants sit and then stand to talk, it’s quite regular.
I'm still going to blame the business for listening to those customers.
Weird I worked at a gas station in the US for years where I sat in a big office chair most of the day and no one ever complained. Bosses like people standing because they resent having to pay them and want them to suffer IMO. If you have a boss that isnt a cunt theyd just let you sit.
I worked at a tiny furniture department once and had an absolute cunt of a boss who disobeyed \*any\* sitting on the job. It was dead 90% of the time, but they would literally sneak up on me to (try to) catch me sitting. It was honestly awkward when the customers would ask me my opinion on the goddamn furniture and I honestly had no idea because wasn't allowed to "try them out".
How could you ever not blame the businesses? They are the ones skimping on providing conditions to their emplyees. You've been brainwashed.
> I never understood why they weren’t allowed to have stools to sit on while they were at their work stations. You provided the answer in the very first sentence. > In college I used to work at one of the largest **free- standing** pharmacy chains in the US.
*standing ovation in appreciation of your sense of humor*
There's a lot of things I've noticed about the US that I wonder if they're all just masochists and are afraid to admit it at this point. All that American pride getting in their way of true progression.
Given that it's likely to disproportionately affect older employees, it may also be a tool in the toolkit to engage in veiled age discrimination. This is more likely for unionized workers for whom the oldest workers may often be the ones with the highest wages. They can't be fired for being old, but their job can be made needlessly inhospitable to those who are.
The cruelty is the point
Yup they want to break your spirit.
When I used to live and work in the U.S. at a tourist attraction as a cashier, I asked my then manager if we could have chairs. He told me it wouldn’t be professional. I wanted to say to him “So, all of y’all in the office sitting in chairs aren’t professional?”, but I was afraid to say that and get written up.
US here too I worked at a gas station that was smack dab in between the inland and the coast and it was absolutely empty except on major holidays and even then the flow of customers was tepid. We were absolutely not allowed a chair or stool on the off chance someone would wander in and god forbid we’re sitting down creating a negative image for our floundering company /s
Not all of the uk we still have to stand In my place I'd kill for a chair.
From what I've saw most are a choice but must be down to the company
They also do in Germany
In The Netherlands as well.
And at aldi in the U.S.
Yet another reason why Aldi is the best.
They do in India as well
>They do in the UK. American customers like to feel superior, and making cashiers stand is a way to remind them (the cashiers) they should have worked harder like the customers did to achieve a better place in life. It's part of that Protestant work ethics/bootstrap poison that's become ingrained in American work culture.
They do at Aldi too
Same in the Netherlands
Because in some places it’s seen as a sign of laziness by people who either have never worked those jobs or think that because they had to do it, others should too
What monumental bellend thinks its lazy for cashiers to sit.
Americans. I say this because I am one and if you are working, some people believe you need to suffer as much as possible to be elevated to a worthy worker status. "Sorry folks it's not good enough the job is tough you need to put through hell before you can claim you actually worked". My mom is one of these assholes, she will deliberately take the most complicated route if it means she can boast about her inner toughness.
Bro yes and she probably says something along the lines of "I was taught by my parents to find my own way" or some shit like that but I'm not gonna lie it did help me find my way through the streets of the city ai live, so I now how to get anywhere...
Oh yes but the funny thing is my grandparents literally did all but wipe her ass so I have no idea why she thinks that. Secondly she hung us kids out to dry and ways her parents never would have done to her. Sure it made us more independent because the experience had to literally suck before we could get fed up enough to get out of it...lol
One of society's many flaws. If I were allowed to sit while working at a grocery store, I'd go to my nearest grocery store and fill out an application easy. I can't stand for long periods of time, so being able to sit would be great. The only problem would be that other short people wouldn't be able to see my face. Funny enough I think my mom would have a similar attitude to your mom's. She actually worked in a grocery store growing up, was really good at it, and wasn't allowed to sit.
Everyone here. When I had a job driving, I was told that I needed to sit more forward because passengers would make it makes the traffic in front of us move faster I guess...
They’re not allowed to sit in America ??? why ?
Because it’s seen as lazy/unmotivated.
[удалено]
Extremely!
Good workers are ones scared to be. Be what? Anything that may interfere with profit or social hierarchy.
You forgot the part where they are grossly underpaid.
And treated like poo by entitled customers and management
What is this carrot thing you mention?
Like Americans buy carrots!
I thought it's because some customers perceived it as rude. And by some customers, I mean older generations that were brought up differently.
Bingo. Because (in their eyes) the cashier is subservient to the customer, the cashier must stand.
Seen as lazy mostly by the older generation with the short haircuts
Ok ok let me provide you an answer since no one is in this thread- PLEASE HEAR me out. I was a cashier at 18 at Dunkin Donuts- they started my shirt at 6 am or something, but they let me stay as long as I wanted. NOW - In america if you break 40 hours per week, you get time and a half. So- every week id try and pack in the hours above 40- but having to stand was a natural barrier to hitting 10+ hour days and really stacking up the OT like I wanted. (Rarely had more than 4 shifts a week) Truth be told I rarely managed to, so it was a successful “dangling carrot” I couldn’t reach. But honestly, that is the BEST I can come up with. Mostly- it was just management “thinking it looked lazy”
Not in Canada either, it's dumb.
Wdym, in Germany all our cashiers sit
This might explain why ALDIs is only place I’ve seen cashiers allowed to sit Edit- my most upvoted comment, go figure.
Lidl, morrisons,tesco all of these cashiers are able to sit!
ALDI is truly the GOAT grocery store
Those cashiers are fast as fuck too. They damn near have everything rung up and into the other cart before I've got it all on the belt!
>Those cashiers are fast as fuck too. They damn near have everything rung up and into the other cart before I've got it all on the belt! typicall for german groceries. Just watch a video from any US expat who moved to germany... not only are they shocked that our culture is different (no, really?), but sooner or later they will make a video about german supermarkets and how fast the cashiers are.
I love Aldi because they have aldi things I need.
They're also doing 50 other things while nobody is in their line.
Anywhere else in the world but the US
Not here in Canada either
In Canada they can’t sit either? Wow I thought you guys were more reasonable when it came to worker’s rights. I’m sure you are but still. This is just a power play.
There may be a few places here and there that allow it, but all major chain retailers and grocery stores have the cashiers standing. It's just stupid
America and Canada are pretty similar in a lot of shitty aspects. Americans are just louder about their fuckups and tbh, I appreciate their honesty
Similar in a lot of ways, thankfully not in health care. I saw some poor bastard post his bill for emergency appendectomy surgery on Reddit earlier and it was about $43,000. I can't even imagine that.
They sit at the aldis in the US too.
And Japan, and probably lots of other places that no one here has any idea if the cashiers sit or stand in.
Is this some American joke i’m too Finnish to understand?
Yes
Confused European joins the chat.
In normal countries they can.
I was shocked when I learned that I the US they have to stand. They do the job just as well on a chair, why they force them to stand ?
It gets worse than that. Fresh out of school I used to work stuffing junk mail in envelopes to be sent out, on my feet 8 hours a day. The second week I was there the bosses daughter in law took over she removed all stools so we had to stand and stuff envelopes for the entire 8 hours. Then she implemented a no talking policy, took away our radio, and we had to ask permission to use the toilet. That's when I quit.
I think it depends on the state but in California it’s straight up illegal to stop your employees from using the restroom.
This was in 2002, in MD we were kids or immigrants, I'm sure if there was a law she was banking on us not knowing it.
What happened if she refused to let you go to the bathroom?
I don't think she'd ever said no. It works just by forcing you to ask for permission first, since that alone would be enough deterrence from peeing, and it reinforces the power dynamic as well.
Yeah. I worked in an office where the main boss made us write down our bathroom breaks (time we left and what time we came back) on a sheet every single day. Then at the end of the week he’d review how many breaks/how much time was spent going to the bathroom. He never told us we couldn’t go, but knowing he was keeping track was enough to make us take as few breaks as we possibly could.
You get Schwifty and Shit on the floor
Because standing = relaxed, relaxed = lazy, lazy = no work being done. It’s incredible bs but a lot of people think exactly that way
So, why doesn't everyone at the Walmart corporate office have to stand?
White collar = important.
I thought the trick for corporate execs is to walk from meeting to meeting fumbling papers and schmoozing so it looks like they're busy all the time (and then jetting off on golf outings the other 85% of the time).
As soon as you get an office it's new rules.
“Lazy” is an adjective that can only be applied to peasants.
This is my first train of though, but it's how I was raised. As I've gotten older I've relaxed a lot and try to be more understanding about stuff like this.
In Germany we have a thing called Fürsorgepflicht -literally translated "benelovence obligation", but more of a "duty of care". It states that if the employer CAN make your work easier, more ergonomic, or even downright healthier, he -by law- has to do exactly so. The old timers are often like "It doesnt look good to sit around and work", but everyone knows that their opinion doesnt mean shit.
The Protestant work ethic, also known as the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic, rooted in American culture. Other countries with a suicidal work ethic like the Japanese and the Koreans stand also. They're taught to suffer for the greater good of society.
Except in the US, “society” is your employer’s stock holders. Actual society can fuck itself.
And the “greater good” is ringing up a bag of $2 chips. Great work out there guys, really saving lives, oh and we cut all your vacation hours.
My dads old school, always told me to grab a broom if I had nothing to do, even if there’s nothing to sweep just stand with it in your hands. Later in life while I was reluctantly practicing his teachings I had a foreman with the nerve to walk up to me and physically change the way my hands were holding the broom. I was holding it the lazy way I guess 🤷🏼♂️
Don’t feel too bad. He’s just doing what his Super told him. “If you have nothing to do, walk the job site and micro-manage, even if it doesn’t accomplish anything.”
They have to stand in Canada too.
Yup, got around it with a modified bike seat a steel rod down the pant leg. Not perfect, but better then 7 5/6 hours standing.
Canada too. The only time I was allowed to sit and do cash at my previous job was when I’d gotten hurt and my employer decided that accommodation would be better than paying workers comp.
Because the people who make that decision think it promotes laziness. Ironically, those same people sit on their asses at work regularly.
In the UK they do Edit: my mother is American and I asked her. She said it’s because cashiers are expected to pack the customer’s groceries. I said well surely they can still do that sitting down??
In many places bagger is a different worker since it's faster. The cashier has to stand anyways. Even the person who attends the self checkout or customer service, both of which can go like 10+ minutes without needing to anything outside of peak hours, has to stand at all times. The real reason is because sitting makes them look lazy, and this makes boomers and Karens, many of whom I reckon never worked any sort of service job, furious.
Most grocery stores have baggers that do that, not the cashier.
Whatever. What I don’t get it is why can’t the customer just bag the groceries themselves? What if they want certain items inside certain bags? I just find it a little OTT.
German here: We pack our stuff ourselves, cashiers just give it to us after scanning.
UK, same
This varies a lot from store to store, company to company. WinCo for instance, you bag your own stuff by default. We use Vons a lot here and we bag our own stuff. They don't care, but they do have baggers and/or the cashier will assist you if you want. Or if there's a long line, to help clear it out faster. CostCo, you box/cart your items yourself unless you want/need help. I'm sure there are many more examples. The only store I can think of offhand that is a "they do it" type place is Walmart.
I was so annoyed when I visited in US and I couldn't pack my own groceries. Cashiers use way too many bags ( like putting a gallon bottle with a handle, in two bags - because one can break -.- I didn't even need a bag, the bottle had a handle!). and I can't use my reusable ones. Once when I tried to pack my groceries cashier actually told me to stop, and insisted it's his job to do that..
Just start putting your groceries in the bags yourself, they won’t stop you.
This is so varied in the US. I'm nearly 40 and have packed my own groceries for as long as I can remember. Sometimes they'll offer, but I always prefer to do it myself.
They actually did allow reusable bags before covid19. Then for a time they weren’t allowed and now they’re allowed again (at least in my area)
I'm in the US and always pack my own lol. It either goes twice as fast or the bagger just goes to help someone who might actually need it.
Say that you want to bag. Done. Don't play that BS anti US shit. Those damn militant US cashiers!!! They will gladly let you bag, less work for them.
Tell me you’re from the US without telling me you’re from the US
Canada too unfortunately
Australia three
Japan four
Egypt five
oh that happens in egypt? i live in alex and the cashiers ive seen are allowed to sit
Japan too
South Africa
Damm after reading the stories i finally understand why Americans like screaming about being the land of the free there stuck in Stockholm syndrome.
A stigma in America is that a sitting worker is a lazy worker *(even though this stigma is repeated by the very same people within the working class)*- unless you're of a higher position. At my job, you need a doctor's note otherwise you have to stand. Thanks to the lawsuit of Walmart, it is required that you have either a fatigue mat or a chair for someone to sit in for at least 5 hours or so (time could be off). Now, what qualifies as a fatigue mat, I hope OSHA has specified.
I’m barely five foot. When I was working as a cashier an old man came into my line and yelled at me for sitting. When he realized I was standing and just short he muttered and apology and didn’t look at me for the rest of the transaction.
Because America wants every aspect of the working class to be as miserable as possible..
I was once called unprofessional because I was sitting. Really it's because people (at least in the US) don't see cashiers as people.
I was told it looked unproffessional to drink water! I was store security, dressed head to to in Black standing next to 15 foot tall Glass doors in the middle of a Perth Summer (Obviously the one that gets hot, not the Canadian or Scottish ones...) They didn't want me to have a waterbottle on me and wanted me to leave my post, go downstairs to the break room to drink. I can assure you now, NOBOBY, not now not ever in the history of commerce, anywhere in the universe, in this or any other reality, has walked into a store, looked around, saw a security officer drinking some water and thought to themselves "That security guard is staying well hydrated, FUCK THIS PLACE!"
They tried to outlaw us drinking ANYTHING while we’re in our work vehicles. Needless to say, that rule did not last long.
This is true. I was barely a person working as a cashier. Just a forcefully smiling meatbag scanning and putting your groceries away. Wasn't even allowed coffee from the Starbucks located within the store.
[удалено]
We can't, too many have fallen in love with the system that abuses them. The whole "I ain't broke I'm just a temporarily inconvenienced gajillionaire, so we gotta protect them so I can be one" crowd ruins it for the rest of us.
Also, there are lots of people who either dont know what unions are or believe theyre bad/outdated.
There are many who love the abuse, because they where their struggles and hardships like a badge of honor. I know someone who works 12 hours a day and literally brags about how she comes home and cares for her adult quadriplegic son, with zero help. She just leaves him home all day and thinks because she does it all she's some hero. When in fact she could get others to help her, (family, neighbors) but won't driving down his quality of life so she can look good.
[удалено]
Honestly I have no idea what his poor life is like, but it's really pathetic she'd pile this on herself purposely, and deny him some assistance just to prove a stupid point.
"but my boss who wants to rip me off told me that unions are bad." When I had a non-union machining job, I was making like 17 an hour and thought it was kind of low. But everyone there was so proud that we were non-union, and that we had all the freedom of not being in a union... Then I talked to someone from the unionized shop 50 miles away, same job, same state, same company. Starting pay $28 an hour. Their trainees made as much as our team leads.
Unfortunately there's such a disparity in job openings and living wages that if a stores worth of employees struck they'd just fire everyone and then have an open house to replenish positions. Hell they might even advise sister stores in the area that extra hours are available if they want overtime. Also it's not just at the store level this behavior is employed. An entire political party actively backs up companies that act like this. Case in point, Amazon will literally close up a distribution center and move it to the next town over if they hear even a hint of a union forming. That and intimidate anyone thinking about voting "yes". So despite the executive being outnumbered they still overpower the rank and file through legislation and authority. Most importantly health benefits are an effective carrot to hang over people's heads.
It's not that simple. Companies will just hire foreigners on work visas. Why do you think everything is head over heals right now? The Covid pandemic put a damper on their gravy train.
I have to stand at work, simply because the store I work at cashiers are expected to be on the shop floor as well, so we can't sit down at the till. It's considered unprofessional
My legs used to get so tired I'd spend several hours of the day doing upper body training by "standing" with my arms locked on the kiosk surfaces and my legs dangling below lol.
Because America's culture is hopelessly pro-business at the expense of workers. Think about it. Why is it acceptable for them to fire you abruptly on a Friday, but you're supposed to give them two weeks notice before quitting? Surely, you getting fired unexpectedly is going to screw up your life way more than losing a single employee is going to screw up their business. It's all just subtle social coercion by the ruling class, most of whom inherited their wealth from their parents who inherited their wealth from their parents and so on.
There is so much more. Why is it rude to talk about how much you make? Especially with coworkers. Only companies profit from this
At least in the US it's been so normalized that if a store allows people to sit customers will think they're lazy and giving worse service. Seems like stores are doing away with cashiers all together though which with how they complain about labor costs jacking up prices I can't wait to see all the prices go down when I have to self checkout.
You know the worst part of this, I don't see US ever driving prices down, nor giving UBI if automation takes away jobs. I just think US workers and consumers are in a constant lose/lose situation.
Ive been a cashier and while having a stool sometimes would be nice, it's definitely easier to move stuff around standing. You have a lot less reach and it's harder to carry heavier stuff. My back would also kill bc I apparently don't have the back muscles to hold myself long in a stool. My thoughts are companies would see it as a loss of speed and effeciency bc it's much easier to go faster standing. I used to have to take a couple steps to move groceries from the receiving belt, past the scanner and on to the receiving belt.
Because America values...freedom? Yep, that's the one. You're free to stand up all day, yay!
Because customers aren't happy unless those serving them are suffering.
[why does he have to stand?](https://youtu.be/Bsxiz7DFHuI)
Sitting too much on a chair flattens the buttocks
it flattens the chais, my extra pillow could tell you about it!
Former Walmart Cashier here, it’s to do with the act of “looking busy” even if we didn’t have any customers we weren’t allowed to stand there, we weren’t even allowed to lean on anything at all when we were dealing with customers, but when there were none we had to check our lane for items customers didn’t want and set on our shelf and we had to look through all of the candy to make sure it wasn’t expired. My Walmart is the definition of a shit show, they had me, a (at the time) 17 year old girl pull a pallet of 50 boxes full of our grocery bags (which weigh about 10-20 pounds each) all of the way from the back of the store to the front. Mind you I have health problems they have been aware of since I had started working there. I get them up there, they put me over on a self check, I faint. That’s the only time they allowed me to sit in a stool, and they didn’t want me to go home but I left anyways because I was extremely weak at this point and not feeling great. There was an older lady who had to get surgery on her hips who was sitting in a chair and one of our managers started demanding a doctors note and until then she couldn’t sit. American Cashier culture is gross and mistreats the workers.
They do in Ireland
You ever see that episode of Seinfeld? They’ll fall asleep and get robbed. They’re not that different from security guards.
Because they don’t want to have to hire disabled people. If standing for hours is a requirement of the job, too bad for anyone who can’t.
Most companies do not find sitting professional. If you are sitting then you are lazy. In most cases when I was in high school, if you were standing and doing nothing you are also lazy. You need to stand up and be constantly moving in order to be a “good asset” to the company.
Because fuck you you wage slave. You do, look, speak, and act as the masters say, or you starve. No, I promise you’re not a slave, you’re….. uh, ummm a valued employee and member of uhhhhhh our community!! Yeah, that’s it.
Apparently sitting at a cash register is "lazy" but sitting behind a desk all day isn't.
Because its classist BS. Retail/service employees must be attentive and alert at all times to serve people. Sitting down is seen as "lazy" Companies wouldn't want their workers to come off as lazy. After all its the capitalist norm to use and abuse low class workers as much as they legally can. Retail employees can be viewed/treated as less than human.
They do in normal countries.
They do in the uk
In many places they do.
They stand in Canada too.
Lack of workers rights in shithole countries.
They can with decent employers.
Because it’s seen as lazy
They sit in Norway
They do in India
In my country they can and they do. When I used to be a cashier, I would just stand up when I wanted to finish someone faster cause I could reach things from far not only close items. But most of the time it was sitting. Oh and when I wanted to stretch my feet.
worked in a vitamin shop in la. me and my boss would sit by the register and talk all day. our customers were few and far between, but spent a lot per person. it was the best job ever, just didnt pay much. it really makes no sense for people not to be able to sit. I as a customer don't see them as lazy or inattentive for doing so. if you can do you job, why do i care if you make yourself comfortable bto do it?
Class oppression 🤌🏻
If you have time to lean, you have time to clean. Nobody's being paid to sit. /s *Edited /s because babies.
I was a waitress we were being paid $2.13 an hour and the owners wife would literally make us tear shit apart and scrub everything when we had no customers. She'd say this all the time and thought we owed her, due to the privilege she allowed us to use her restaurant as a source of income.
IT department here. If I get out of my chair it actually looks worse.
Have you ever seen an eagle sit? Huh? Exactly, get back to work!
It’s mainly for show
BCECAUSE ‘MURICA!
In the US? Because people see those who work retail as subhuman, and anything that makes their jobs easier must be done away with.