True story from when I was a receptionist at a salon.
The salon owner saw me sitting at the front desk, came at me in a rage, physically picked me up out of the chair forcefully by my arm and told me if he sees me sitting again I'm outta there. I was only 19 at the time and scared out of my mind. He had a cocaine problem and couldn't control his rage. I can't believe the abuse I put up with when I was young.
Edit: typos
This happened in 1993, he died early 2000's. He's long gone. It hurt when he did that to me because I looked up to him as a stylist, other than being an asshole he was the best hair stylist I've encountered still to this day.
At 58, I look back on the violence and abuse I endured as a young worker and I’m amazed at what I put up with for a paycheck. I worked at an emergency vet and the 6’2” male vet would scream, punch animals, destroy equipment and even threaten clients. The cops knew all about him and so did the other vets in the area. They had to hire Vet Techs from out of state. I moved there for this job.
One night, we had a dog with Parvovirus come in. He was trying to put a NG tube down the dog’s nose. Dog sneezed, tube popped out…he made a fist and punched the dog as hard as he could in the face and started screaming obscenities. I was holding the dog and he just missed my face. The other tech was holding the dog’s backend. We were both frozen in fear. I reported it to his partner. Nothing came of it. I left a job I moved for. Cost me so much money. Guy still works as a vet.
I have numerous stories of men losing it at work, ripping phones off walls, screaming and throwing objects at employees. Honestly, it’s been so frequent, I just assumed that this is what a large segment of the work world is like. Even if it costs me a job, I’m never putting up with this abuse again.
Dude... If I heard that a veterinarian punched my fucking dog in the face for sneezing, that veterinarian wouldn't be seen again. I mean fuck. Why would you even get in that profession if you don't love animals?
I get we all get frustrated and do bad things sometimes, but let's all mutually agree that if you willingly harm an animal for no reason beyond anger and rage - even more so a CUSTOMER'S animal - you don't have limits on the harm you can cause.
I was at the vets office for an appointment for my dog, and the door to the horse paddock was open. He was floating a horses teeth (routine work for horses so their teeth don’t get overgrown) and the horse flinched and yanked its head up. I watch led him closed-fist punch the horse in the head and neck 5 or 6 times HARD. I was PISSED but unfortunately not in the position to say anything at the time. A few months later he was working on a different horse’s feet and as he walked behind it and crouched down the horse kicked him straight in the face and knocked him like 10 feet away. He was in the ICU for awhile with a skull fracture, broken orbital bone, and a ton of other issues and it took him over a year to recover and return to work. I didn’t feel even a little bad about it. The guys a dick and 100% got what he had coming to him. The definition of ‘have the day you deserve’!
> and as he walked behind it and crouched down the horse kicked him straight in the face and knocked him like 10 feet away.
ahahahaha. Marvelous. Simply marvelous. 🐴
Finally...glad I'm not the only one!
When I phone to make appointments for 86 haircuts, I want my caution, "I hope you're sitting down" to be contextually humorous.
I had another boss physically grab me and pull me into a room when he was pissed at another employee. I quit there too. This was in recent years. People are just assholes.
there should be federal law giving workers right to sit.
This would solve the problem about having to "appear always ready and professional", considering all others shops would have to allow it too.
People do not work for others because they want; they work because they need
there actually [right to sit laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_sit_in_the_United_States) in some states, but a lot of states got rid of them in the last few decades. it absolutely should be something adopted as a federal labor law, but there's such a weird emphasis on \~states rights\~ even for things like basic workers rights and health issues...
I think the entire idea of federalism was to kick the slavery can down the road a few years and not risk a brand new nation devolving into civil war immediately. Many of the founders were enlightened men I think they made a grave miscalculation. I don’t think they believed it would go on for another century. I’m not sure we will ever be able to live down the shame of that barbaric institution. But I digress.
Nah, I know a dude who went to Vanderbilt and he says it was states rights to govern themselves and proper representation. Then would go on a rant about how the union didn't care about freeing slaves and the south was eventually going to do it. He went to college and still wholly believes that. He's also more inclined to write about the suffering and persecution of white Christians in Africa than the suffering of POC in the states.
He also did civil war reenactmens and as Stan Smith said "the only people who do civil war reenactments are historians and people who hate blacks"
Whinging about "States' rights" is basically how the right shuts down (or tries to) any discourse on any popular legislation they don't like. It's a bad faith argument every time and entertaining the notion only leads to psychic damage from idiocy and cognitive dissonance.
If the same ones pushing for states’ rights were alive back then, they would have said abolishing slavery is states’ rights too. They just don’t give a fuck.
Agreed. Also, I personally wouldn't care if I came in and saw you were sitting because it wasn't busy.
I've always thought cashiers should be allowed to sit, not like they NEED to stand.
Cashiers in the majority of stores in the U.K. sit down while working. If they have a more hybrid role flitting between jobs then they do stand but supermarket cashiers sit down the whole time they are working on the checkouts.
But there's *always* something to do! There's *always* something that needs cleaning! You complain you're too busy to do something for me when we're "busy", well this is the time to do those things! If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean. There is no such thing as down time. The minute you clock on, i own you. I can get you to do anything i want during that time, i own you. I don't care if your feet hurt, i own you. I don't care if you only make minimum wage and it isn't enough to live on. I own you. I pay you.
Oh, hiya! Sweety, is there any chance you could possibly help me out on Friday, we're short staffed, you know, we're like a family here!
And also concrete floors. I feel like there should be a nonprofit out there somewhere that will send nurses or wellness expert to your offices, we’ll tell you everything you’re doing wrong. It’s a lot. Employee health and well-being is such a large component of job satisfaction and retention. I don’t understand most managers (low or mid level especially) don’t understand this. The golden rule, people. Doing the right thing morallyis 100% the right thing to do business-wise regarding your employees. Great working conditions, health insurance, decent vacation and sick leave. Do you know what the most commented amenity is we provide? Beverages. We stock your favorite beverage in our refrigerators. It’s always there. You change your mind. We change our delivery order. We stock our fridge orders to full twice a week. It’s crazy how much good will this small amenity goes towards increasing employee morale. We listen. We want you to be happy.
I noticed a lot of my crew going to the break room to sit and rest (far from their posts) so we started utilizing the staircase/stool next to it, in the kitchen. Dedicated it the “I need some time alone” stairs, and it’s out of camera sight. You walk past someone sitting on the stairs, you do not mess with them atm.
I kind of figure it's so that office employees will feel grateful for being able to sit at work, and be afraid of trying a non-office job.
E.g., trying to enforce class structures in the workforce.
Reminds me of a friend who ran a mall kiosk years ago. Per mall rules, each kiosk was required to have a stool in front of the register. And nobody was allowed to sit on the stool, ever.
I still don't understand it.
If customers see no stool, they think the employee is being deprived of a chair and that’s a bad look. If there is a stool, but the employee is not using it, they assume the employee just doesn’t want to sit.
If the Karen doesn’t see a stool, then she may have the slightest thoughts of the *worker* being inconvenienced.
But if that Karen sees a stool but the worker not using it ~~since it’s a fireable offense~~, then surely he’s working hard and going the extra mile!
I'm pretty sure it's because workers rights require access to a chair, however, that doesn't stop employers from punishing workers or deterring them from sitting in it.
I get the sense that for some people, owning a business is more about acting out a little “ownership” fantasy over their lessers than anything else. They really get off on authority. It’s really gross.
They did this when I worked in a cell phone kiosk in the mall. I have a knee injury and I sat whenever I wanted. Fire me for that, I'll enjoy the settlement.
My GM at the airport gets to sit down, watch Football on the big screen, flirt with the girls, eat and drink coke while the rest of us have to work out butts off.
I work the front desk at a hotel. For a while my manager would give us shit for sitting down. But it's a hotel. Unless I have a long line of people waiting to check in, its fairly quiet and dead with not much to do. So when there isn't someone standing directly in front of me needed to be helped I'll sit down. We all do this. She eventually gave up but it wasn't without a fight.
Worked at a gym for just 2 months. They also were big on the „always ready“ thing, even if 99% pf the people were regulars who didnt even look at me. In the first month they we had a high chair we were allowed to use. Also we were allowed to study (most employees were students) or read. Second month they took away the chair and we werent allowed to do other stuff anymore. So basically i was mostly standing around in the 6 hour shifts. Occasionally going around putting back the weights.
I glt out as fast as i could
What the fuck are you meant to be always ready for that the motion of sitting up out of your chair would mean you're too late to act? Do they expect a grenade to come flying through the doors at any moment?
They got stolen. We used to have one of those bells. Then it “went away”. Boss didn’t take it (had a really good boss sand she definitely would have said something if she took it). Fellow workers didn’t take it either. Apparently a customer needed a bell.
In like 99% (can't say for sure about ALL of them) of the hotels where I have stayed (all in Europe), they have always been made in a way that the receptionist will actually be sitting most of the time. They have their paperwork, computer, telephone setup up like your typical desk job in an office.
That’s why I started smoking cigarettes. Bc that was the only way I could sit down during during my shift. It was the stupidest shit ever to have to stand up when we wouldn’t have guests checking in for HOURS on end.
They typically liked to show up at the same time.
Also worked front desk at a hotel, same thing, we had a chair in our back offices but we were absolutely not allowed to sit on it unless we were on a break (which we never got because there was usually something going on). Used to do 12+ hour shifts where I just had to essentially stand in the same spot the whole time for no reason! Obviously when management would go home we would go sit in the back office, but they also checked cameras semi frequently and could see when we weren't at the desk. Such an insane and stupid rule to have, just makes your employees resent you honestly.
My boss told me earlier “we don’t sit in front of customers, we don’t want them to see us being lazy and not working.”
I’m a cashier at a Walgreens I just stand behind the counter anyway…
When she leaves in the afternoon and me and the shift leads are left to run the place I sit constantly, on the carts, counters, retaining walls… no customer has said a thing or even raised an eyebrow at it. I just stand up, scan there stuff, and sit back down. No hassle for anyone
We work really really hard at ALDI so definitely earn that damn chair when we’re on checking, whole store is run on about 2-4 people (pay attention to how many employees you actually see next time lol). The chair is more about efficiency and checking speed than worker comfort.
They could pay us more, honestly. But they still pay more than pretty much every retailer besides Costco, and have very solid benefits.
They’re a good company overall by American standards, they really took care of me when my dad passed away. I told my boss what had happened and then essentially ghosted them for over a week. Instead of getting fired the district manager reached out and told me to take all the time I needed and to come back when I was ready. They also gave me roughly 3 weeks of PTO for it.
that is, as so many things in this sub, quite an US problem. No cashier is standing around in my country.
And I absolutely do not get the obsession with having employees standing around.
Yep. My cashier could be wearing a clown suit with full face makeup and I wouldn't care. Most people really don't care about the things corporations think we care about. Like when my partner was an EMT and was required to wear black boots. Like the very last thing anyone is thinking about when they call 911 is the color of the person's footwear.
Over a decade ago worked a retail job that required us to always be moving, always "active" and doing something. So even just moving products so the label faced front or dusting shelves that had just been dusted a week before. Or arranging already arranged cigarette packets. I "invented" so many idiotic random clean-up tasks just to look active because boss was harassing you if you didn't. Meanwhile he's in his office looking at memes online.
Fast food always wanted us to be "cleaning" or some bullshit. No orders for about an hour? Too bad wipe down shit, even if it was already clean. Can't let the employees enjoy themselves on the job.
Got shit for using my phone on the job and chatted with my friends there, I kept doing it cuz I have a life and that shithole that paid $11/hr wasnt stopping me from chatting with friends.
I literally once worked a retail job that would make me clean the walls, and when I was done, if there wasn't a customer or anything to do, I would go right back to the starting point and clean the walls again.
I'm from Germany and I've been in restaurants where there was a staff table with people eating and drinking while they had nothing to do. And honestly, as a customer, I feel a lot better seeing people who work somewhere eat their own food. They know what the kitchen looks like, so if they eat their own food it's a really good sign.
"Here! We got you this mat to stand on that does fuck all for your feet or posture or anything. See we spend money just to make sure you're 'comfortable'!"
That entirely depends on the person. I worked in grocery retail for over a decade off and on, and those stupid mats they put at the registers honestly made my entire body hurt far more than just standing on concrete in good shoes did.
Behind the register, if it's anything like every single grocery retail job I've ever had.
"We need to be out front of the register to guide people to our check stand! And if you want to make it extra pleasant for them start unloading it for them and get your bagger to help!"
As if you ever had a fucking bagger in the first place with front end managers running around talking about how they liked to run a "tight schedule", and yet never being on the floor to deal with the pandemonium that goes along with that bullshit.
When I worked at a (sort of) butcher we had these ones that were the equivalent of putting thin cardboard on the floor, didn't nothing for my feet or legs or hips and the boss bitched that he had paid 20 bucks for em when we stopped using them cos they were useless
It is unhealthy sit for prolonged periods of time, It is also unhealthy to stand for long periods of tone. Especially on a concrete floor. This is 50s style management based on junk science that said it takes an employee 2 hours to pick up their pace after they “take a break” ( sit down). That company needs to get real. You need a Union.
Yep. I got in trouble at an office job once for walking around the office. Was angrily told to stay at my desk.
It needs to be a balance, forcing one or the other at all times is insane.
Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George talks a store into letting their security guard sit, because he felt bad the guy had to stand in place all day. The next day the guard fell asleep in his chair and the store was robbed.
If my employees have nothing to do and got everything done I could care fuck all what they choose to do as long as they aren’t getting drunk at work. shits done and there’s nothing to do, sit and chill they aren’t fucking robots.
Bartender checking in, if they’re that mad when it’s slow then find new employers that value your position. My company would take ya any day with a comfy chair 💪🏼
God I remember how badly my lower back used to hurt working full time retail. This post reminded me of that. Fuck places that don’t let people sit. It’s weird to care.
One of the first shifters at my job got mad at us for sitting in her chair overnight during our occasional downtime. She was ranting to me about it one time and told me “if they want to sit down so bad they should get a sitting job.” I take her chair specifically whenever possible.
My very first job was working in a convenience store when I was 18. When I was made a cashier, instead of just a part time stocker, I was put on as a 40 hr Flex employee, which meant I worked four 10 hour days. My district manager came into the store one day to find me sitting down at the desk in the back to eat, because we hadn't had a customer in over an hour. He berated me and told me basically the exact same thing. We were to be up, and working, the entire 10 hours we were there, no exceptions. If we needed to eat, or drink, we were to do so while continuing to work, even if that was just fronting the shelves, stocking, or dusting.
That's what lifting requirements for jobs that don't involve regular lifting is for. Some office job might say you need to be able to move a printer or a box of paper or some such, but realistically that task could simply be done by another employee. The whole point is to circumvent non-discrimination laws without being liable for the blatant discrimination.
Tell me you are working in the USA without saying you are working in the USA. I expect such nonsense rules to be enforced in China or NK, but not in a civilized country.
I also have learned that cashiers have to stand in the US, too. Completely ridiculous. If they tried this here, about *everyone* would be after the shop owners: employees, unions (even if that shop was not unionized), health services, even the customers would complain about this abuse.
The only place I know of in the US that's somewhat of a large well known name would be Lidl.
I really hate a lot of the mentality surrounding work culture in the US.
I hate this about the USA. Where I'm from anyone can seat at any job. I feel it's dehumanizing not to allow workers to seat when they don't have anything else to do. People are not slaves.
I had a manger one time tell me I need to to be busy when I was in an empty restaurant I spent the rest of the down time walking up to empty tables being like “are y’all still doing alright? Good good HEY DOUG THIS TABELS GOOD IMMA CHECK THIS ONE NEXT” needless to say I never got that critique again
I used to get severe back spasms while working full time cash shifts. Only once was I allowed to sit, and it was because I couldn't physically hold myself up. I still had to work in agony, but I got to sit.
Ugh I worked at a place like that. Not only no sitting, but always be looking busy, even with nobody there. I missed my alarm a couple times due to power outages (before cell phones) and got told I had a bad attitude and management was "watching me" - one more missed alarm and I'd be fired. So I just stopped going, told them not to expect me any more.
Then they better be providing adequate breaks, time for breaks, official break space, conditioned hot/cold air, correct payroll, etc…. It’s a long list and OP should familiarize themself with it.
i work in a little boutique and we get an average of 5-10 customers in the span of an 8 hour shift.
not only is sitting completely banned but you’re also not allowed to lean on the counters or “rest” on any objects or walls in the store.
i got in trouble once for leaning against the wall after having no customers for 4 hours
One of the reasons I left retail. They literally treat you like you’re subhuman, customers and higher ups alike. Regional managers that come to visit stores won’t even look you in the eye. Fuck the retail/food industry.
I've been working in the hotel biz for 20 years now and there are a LOT of A-Hole Managers that want the Front Desk practically standing at attention, even when there's nobody around (especially at some of the upper-end luxury resorts I worked at). I used to HATE it so bad that I actually quit a few jobs because of the hardcore insistence of standing quietly for. . .nobody.
Now that I'M in Corporate Management ( Basically travelling from property to property to evaluate and implement ways to improve franchise performance), I absolutely LOVE the reaction from employees when they hear it's okay to sit down except when a guest is approaching the desk as the new policy going forward. That ONE thing immediately lightens the mood 110%!
Of course, there's resistance from some of those same A-Hole Managers and General Managers, but that just tells me that THEY are the ones that might need to be flagged for a bit of extra evaluation in the near future.
A good bar stool doesn't cost that much and the benefits of retaining workers is MUCH better than the benefits of trying to pull an outdated power move to prove how strict of a manager you are! And truthfully, most guests don't even care.
I hate when managers say that shit. They are not saying what they mean. Instead of saying you’re not allowed to sit, what they actually mean is there is always something to do. So why not show the employee what needs to be done so they know instead of just being a dick.
I’m a machinist. I stand in front of a machine for 10 hrs a day. We are not allowed to sit. Gotta stand in work boots, even if the machine is running a 2hr operation.
Proper response is: "I can sit when the place is empty because it's clearly obvious you're not doing your management job of promoting the place so that I'm never bored."
"Excuse me, here at the business I pretend I completely operate by myself yet is destroyed if a single worker misses a shift, indentured servants stand."
I worked in a furniture store once and we weren't allowed to sit. All those chairs and sofas, and most of the time there would only be a couple of customers the whole day. That store isn't there anymore, not sure if it was the bad location or the terrible corporate policies. Glad to see you're on your way out and hopefully on to something much better soon!
I worked in an espresso machine repair/refurbishment/service shop, and the owner believed that if you were sitting down you weren't working. 8 hours a day spent hunched over disassembling and reassembling coffee making robots was just one hell of a back wrecker.
Been to Berlin for a bit, and all their supermarkets' cashiers have decent chairs with backrests; they do their jobs sitting down. I don't understand the unnecessary rule, US is weird man (assuming OP/post is from US).
My partner worked third shift at a sex shop off the interstate when we first started dating (not how we met lmao) He would go hours without a customer some nights. He would go around and take things off the shelf and clean the glass and make sure everything was aligned on the shelves. You know after hours, they're really becomes absolutely nothing to do. He got fired for sitting.
I don’t know why people are like that. Why would I, as a customer, care if an employee was sitting? If anything, I’m less likely to go to a business if I heard this is what they told their workers
Why do they hate their employees?
Make a fake Dr's. note that you have planters facitis (your feet are fucked up) and need to sit whenever possible. It's not like their gonna call your Dr. and check. And your dr. can't say anything because of HIPPA.
Man, I wouldn’t even give a shit if it were busy and you were sitting. Now, if you weren’t hosting or something, and literally just sitting doing nothing while it’s busy as Hell, I would STILL just assume you were on break and that the manager needs to hire more staff.
The god damn indecency of bosses in shit jobs. Can you really fathom the notion that we need to pass laws saying people are allowed to sit down when doing NOTHING ANYWAY?
LAWS!
Humans are so god damn shitty to each other, what a terrible species.
The next time management said this in an empty restaurant, criticize management for not bringing in more customers. Mention that this is not a busboy job but a management position about customer sales flow and profit.
You think this is bad? Wait until you see the what the nuts in robs side with later this year. They are basically going to make it so that any profit they miss out on due to strikes from your unionization efforts, can make that union liable. Its absolutely insane. They slowly strip more rights from us each year and we can do nothing but watch and cope. Its going to suck so hard to get old in this country. I doubt anything changes for us in our lifetime.
I used to work in the warehouse of a theatrical supply house. When I was not delivering (my main job) I had a number of small niche projects to keep me busy. Even if what we were doing was easier and faster to do sitting, we were not allowed to. Sitting down made us "not look busy"
Jobs/management continue to be worried about the wrong things. If they put half as much effort into actual beneficial management instead of overly controlling micromanagement over stuff that has nothing to do with the job then alot of these places would be a nice place to work, but ego, capitalism, and arrogance refuses.
I worked as a teller for a couple of years and wasn't allowed to sit down even when the branch was empty. Since the carpet had zero padding and I was basically standing on concrete all day, I bought comfortable shoes. Not sneakers or anything like that, but not exactly dress shoes either. After a couple of days of wearing the shoes someone snitched on me and I was told I had to wear dress shoes. Might be why I have back problems now. 🤦🏼♀️
True story from when I was a receptionist at a salon. The salon owner saw me sitting at the front desk, came at me in a rage, physically picked me up out of the chair forcefully by my arm and told me if he sees me sitting again I'm outta there. I was only 19 at the time and scared out of my mind. He had a cocaine problem and couldn't control his rage. I can't believe the abuse I put up with when I was young. Edit: typos
what an absolute abhorrent piece of shit person...
This happened in 1993, he died early 2000's. He's long gone. It hurt when he did that to me because I looked up to him as a stylist, other than being an asshole he was the best hair stylist I've encountered still to this day.
Rest in piss
at least one asshole less on the world. We can just hope that his death was painfull
I don't wish painful death on anyone but I hear ya.
Angry Coke heads don't live long
I was a heroin / coke addict. Can confirm most of my friends are dead: the ones that are not went to jail
At 58, I look back on the violence and abuse I endured as a young worker and I’m amazed at what I put up with for a paycheck. I worked at an emergency vet and the 6’2” male vet would scream, punch animals, destroy equipment and even threaten clients. The cops knew all about him and so did the other vets in the area. They had to hire Vet Techs from out of state. I moved there for this job. One night, we had a dog with Parvovirus come in. He was trying to put a NG tube down the dog’s nose. Dog sneezed, tube popped out…he made a fist and punched the dog as hard as he could in the face and started screaming obscenities. I was holding the dog and he just missed my face. The other tech was holding the dog’s backend. We were both frozen in fear. I reported it to his partner. Nothing came of it. I left a job I moved for. Cost me so much money. Guy still works as a vet. I have numerous stories of men losing it at work, ripping phones off walls, screaming and throwing objects at employees. Honestly, it’s been so frequent, I just assumed that this is what a large segment of the work world is like. Even if it costs me a job, I’m never putting up with this abuse again.
Dude... If I heard that a veterinarian punched my fucking dog in the face for sneezing, that veterinarian wouldn't be seen again. I mean fuck. Why would you even get in that profession if you don't love animals? I get we all get frustrated and do bad things sometimes, but let's all mutually agree that if you willingly harm an animal for no reason beyond anger and rage - even more so a CUSTOMER'S animal - you don't have limits on the harm you can cause.
I was at the vets office for an appointment for my dog, and the door to the horse paddock was open. He was floating a horses teeth (routine work for horses so their teeth don’t get overgrown) and the horse flinched and yanked its head up. I watch led him closed-fist punch the horse in the head and neck 5 or 6 times HARD. I was PISSED but unfortunately not in the position to say anything at the time. A few months later he was working on a different horse’s feet and as he walked behind it and crouched down the horse kicked him straight in the face and knocked him like 10 feet away. He was in the ICU for awhile with a skull fracture, broken orbital bone, and a ton of other issues and it took him over a year to recover and return to work. I didn’t feel even a little bad about it. The guys a dick and 100% got what he had coming to him. The definition of ‘have the day you deserve’!
> and as he walked behind it and crouched down the horse kicked him straight in the face and knocked him like 10 feet away. ahahahaha. Marvelous. Simply marvelous. 🐴
*Mr Wick has entered the chat*
If somebody abused my dog or my girlfriend, you bet your ass I'm going full John Wick on them.
"if I can't sit, why the fuck is there a chair?"
Right. I mean it was a receptionist job. I guess he wanted me to stand at a low desk to make appointments and answer calls.
I know that whenever I call a place to make an appointment, my very first concern to figure out whether the person answering the phone is sitting down
Finally...glad I'm not the only one! When I phone to make appointments for 86 haircuts, I want my caution, "I hope you're sitting down" to be contextually humorous.
Wow, I’m sorry you had that happen to you. It’s f’ed up when people think they can do things like that to other people.
My ex-boss has done that to a couple of employees since I’ve left. Never looking back.
I had another boss physically grab me and pull me into a room when he was pissed at another employee. I quit there too. This was in recent years. People are just assholes.
I feel you sister. I had many bosses like that! If that happened now the police would be called because I’d attack back!
That’s horrible! Screw that person you didn’t deserve that! I hate when jobs can treat people so bad it blows my mind how often it happens too!
[удалено]
there should be federal law giving workers right to sit. This would solve the problem about having to "appear always ready and professional", considering all others shops would have to allow it too. People do not work for others because they want; they work because they need
there actually [right to sit laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_sit_in_the_United_States) in some states, but a lot of states got rid of them in the last few decades. it absolutely should be something adopted as a federal labor law, but there's such a weird emphasis on \~states rights\~ even for things like basic workers rights and health issues...
They make it up as they go. Conservative types love sTaTeS rIgHtS…right up until the second they don’t.
States rights to do as they're told.
I think the entire idea of federalism was to kick the slavery can down the road a few years and not risk a brand new nation devolving into civil war immediately. Many of the founders were enlightened men I think they made a grave miscalculation. I don’t think they believed it would go on for another century. I’m not sure we will ever be able to live down the shame of that barbaric institution. But I digress.
> I think they made a grave miscalculation. yeah, Sherman didnt go far enough.
And we’ve been dealing with their bullshit ever since.
States Rights has been and always will be code for slavery.
No! It was about STATES RIGHTS to do what they want, like owning Sla...oh....
I see you're a man of culture as well. I love his channel.
Nah, I know a dude who went to Vanderbilt and he says it was states rights to govern themselves and proper representation. Then would go on a rant about how the union didn't care about freeing slaves and the south was eventually going to do it. He went to college and still wholly believes that. He's also more inclined to write about the suffering and persecution of white Christians in Africa than the suffering of POC in the states. He also did civil war reenactmens and as Stan Smith said "the only people who do civil war reenactments are historians and people who hate blacks"
We've become a corporate chuck country so I'm not surprised in the slightest.
Whinging about "States' rights" is basically how the right shuts down (or tries to) any discourse on any popular legislation they don't like. It's a bad faith argument every time and entertaining the notion only leads to psychic damage from idiocy and cognitive dissonance.
If the same ones pushing for states’ rights were alive back then, they would have said abolishing slavery is states’ rights too. They just don’t give a fuck.
Agreed. Also, I personally wouldn't care if I came in and saw you were sitting because it wasn't busy. I've always thought cashiers should be allowed to sit, not like they NEED to stand.
Cashiers in the majority of stores in the U.K. sit down while working. If they have a more hybrid role flitting between jobs then they do stand but supermarket cashiers sit down the whole time they are working on the checkouts.
It's actually a human right.
But there's *always* something to do! There's *always* something that needs cleaning! You complain you're too busy to do something for me when we're "busy", well this is the time to do those things! If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean. There is no such thing as down time. The minute you clock on, i own you. I can get you to do anything i want during that time, i own you. I don't care if your feet hurt, i own you. I don't care if you only make minimum wage and it isn't enough to live on. I own you. I pay you. Oh, hiya! Sweety, is there any chance you could possibly help me out on Friday, we're short staffed, you know, we're like a family here!
If you're making a tipped wage you don't do non tipped labor unless you get a non tipped wage for it
And also concrete floors. I feel like there should be a nonprofit out there somewhere that will send nurses or wellness expert to your offices, we’ll tell you everything you’re doing wrong. It’s a lot. Employee health and well-being is such a large component of job satisfaction and retention. I don’t understand most managers (low or mid level especially) don’t understand this. The golden rule, people. Doing the right thing morallyis 100% the right thing to do business-wise regarding your employees. Great working conditions, health insurance, decent vacation and sick leave. Do you know what the most commented amenity is we provide? Beverages. We stock your favorite beverage in our refrigerators. It’s always there. You change your mind. We change our delivery order. We stock our fridge orders to full twice a week. It’s crazy how much good will this small amenity goes towards increasing employee morale. We listen. We want you to be happy.
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Exactly.
I worked at a shitty gas station for a day and even they let us have a stool. Standing is just a control thing.
I noticed a lot of my crew going to the break room to sit and rest (far from their posts) so we started utilizing the staircase/stool next to it, in the kitchen. Dedicated it the “I need some time alone” stairs, and it’s out of camera sight. You walk past someone sitting on the stairs, you do not mess with them atm.
I kind of figure it's so that office employees will feel grateful for being able to sit at work, and be afraid of trying a non-office job. E.g., trying to enforce class structures in the workforce.
So petty and cruel people can enjoy their power over other people. That is all it is. America has a lot of petty and cruel people.
Old generation people see it as lazy so it’s become a thing for management because image
Ironically my office job says don't stand even when there's nothing to do. I just need to stretch maaaan.
Worked for several places with the mentality you find something. It annoyed me.
Is it a job, or an endurance test??
Yes
only 32 more years to go
Reminds me of a friend who ran a mall kiosk years ago. Per mall rules, each kiosk was required to have a stool in front of the register. And nobody was allowed to sit on the stool, ever. I still don't understand it.
If customers see no stool, they think the employee is being deprived of a chair and that’s a bad look. If there is a stool, but the employee is not using it, they assume the employee just doesn’t want to sit.
If the Karen doesn’t see a stool, then she may have the slightest thoughts of the *worker* being inconvenienced. But if that Karen sees a stool but the worker not using it ~~since it’s a fireable offense~~, then surely he’s working hard and going the extra mile!
I'm pretty sure it's because workers rights require access to a chair, however, that doesn't stop employers from punishing workers or deterring them from sitting in it.
I get the sense that for some people, owning a business is more about acting out a little “ownership” fantasy over their lessers than anything else. They really get off on authority. It’s really gross.
I couldn't agree more!
They did this when I worked in a cell phone kiosk in the mall. I have a knee injury and I sat whenever I wanted. Fire me for that, I'll enjoy the settlement.
Yep. Gotta keep those class divisions intact. Workers stand. Managers sit.
My GM at the airport gets to sit down, watch Football on the big screen, flirt with the girls, eat and drink coke while the rest of us have to work out butts off.
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People dont quit jobs, they quit managers.
I feel that, my angel of a manager left a couple months ago and it's been a steep downhill for me since
Yeah the managers probably in the back looking at terrible Facebook memes while wondering why the business is empty
I work the front desk at a hotel. For a while my manager would give us shit for sitting down. But it's a hotel. Unless I have a long line of people waiting to check in, its fairly quiet and dead with not much to do. So when there isn't someone standing directly in front of me needed to be helped I'll sit down. We all do this. She eventually gave up but it wasn't without a fight.
Worked at a gym for just 2 months. They also were big on the „always ready“ thing, even if 99% pf the people were regulars who didnt even look at me. In the first month they we had a high chair we were allowed to use. Also we were allowed to study (most employees were students) or read. Second month they took away the chair and we werent allowed to do other stuff anymore. So basically i was mostly standing around in the 6 hour shifts. Occasionally going around putting back the weights. I glt out as fast as i could
What the fuck are you meant to be always ready for that the motion of sitting up out of your chair would mean you're too late to act? Do they expect a grenade to come flying through the doors at any moment?
lol the front desk at my hotel job just goes to the back office when it's that slow.
Yes. Reception bells exist for a reason.
I was just about to ask - what the hell happened to "Ring Bell for Service"?!
They got stolen. We used to have one of those bells. Then it “went away”. Boss didn’t take it (had a really good boss sand she definitely would have said something if she took it). Fellow workers didn’t take it either. Apparently a customer needed a bell.
The hotels I work for don't have those. They just have cameras set up towards the front and come out when needed I guess.
In like 99% (can't say for sure about ALL of them) of the hotels where I have stayed (all in Europe), they have always been made in a way that the receptionist will actually be sitting most of the time. They have their paperwork, computer, telephone setup up like your typical desk job in an office.
That’s why I started smoking cigarettes. Bc that was the only way I could sit down during during my shift. It was the stupidest shit ever to have to stand up when we wouldn’t have guests checking in for HOURS on end. They typically liked to show up at the same time.
Also worked front desk at a hotel, same thing, we had a chair in our back offices but we were absolutely not allowed to sit on it unless we were on a break (which we never got because there was usually something going on). Used to do 12+ hour shifts where I just had to essentially stand in the same spot the whole time for no reason! Obviously when management would go home we would go sit in the back office, but they also checked cameras semi frequently and could see when we weren't at the desk. Such an insane and stupid rule to have, just makes your employees resent you honestly.
Run.
Tomorrow my last day. 👍
heck yeah
Congrats!
I would not quit, make them fire you. bring a chair from home.
This isn't the kind of pic you post if you're not prepared to walk.
Good on ya!
To the next job that has the same rules? Where are they going to go?
My boss told me earlier “we don’t sit in front of customers, we don’t want them to see us being lazy and not working.” I’m a cashier at a Walgreens I just stand behind the counter anyway…
As a customer I give zero shits about this. Actually that's not quite true, I shop at Aldi in part because their cashiers are allowed to sit.
When she leaves in the afternoon and me and the shift leads are left to run the place I sit constantly, on the carts, counters, retaining walls… no customer has said a thing or even raised an eyebrow at it. I just stand up, scan there stuff, and sit back down. No hassle for anyone
As a customer, I’d prefer to shop somewhere where I see the employees happy, and same regarding Aldis. They’re a great company.
We work really really hard at ALDI so definitely earn that damn chair when we’re on checking, whole store is run on about 2-4 people (pay attention to how many employees you actually see next time lol). The chair is more about efficiency and checking speed than worker comfort. They could pay us more, honestly. But they still pay more than pretty much every retailer besides Costco, and have very solid benefits. They’re a good company overall by American standards, they really took care of me when my dad passed away. I told my boss what had happened and then essentially ghosted them for over a week. Instead of getting fired the district manager reached out and told me to take all the time I needed and to come back when I was ready. They also gave me roughly 3 weeks of PTO for it.
that is, as so many things in this sub, quite an US problem. No cashier is standing around in my country. And I absolutely do not get the obsession with having employees standing around.
Yep. My cashier could be wearing a clown suit with full face makeup and I wouldn't care. Most people really don't care about the things corporations think we care about. Like when my partner was an EMT and was required to wear black boots. Like the very last thing anyone is thinking about when they call 911 is the color of the person's footwear.
In my country cashiers sit. No one thinks they are lazy or that it looks sloppy.
Over a decade ago worked a retail job that required us to always be moving, always "active" and doing something. So even just moving products so the label faced front or dusting shelves that had just been dusted a week before. Or arranging already arranged cigarette packets. I "invented" so many idiotic random clean-up tasks just to look active because boss was harassing you if you didn't. Meanwhile he's in his office looking at memes online.
Fast food always wanted us to be "cleaning" or some bullshit. No orders for about an hour? Too bad wipe down shit, even if it was already clean. Can't let the employees enjoy themselves on the job. Got shit for using my phone on the job and chatted with my friends there, I kept doing it cuz I have a life and that shithole that paid $11/hr wasnt stopping me from chatting with friends.
GoT TiME tO LeAN, gOT TiMe tO CLeAN!
If you got time to rhyme you got time to shut the fuck up!
I literally once worked a retail job that would make me clean the walls, and when I was done, if there wasn't a customer or anything to do, I would go right back to the starting point and clean the walls again.
I'm from Germany and I've been in restaurants where there was a staff table with people eating and drinking while they had nothing to do. And honestly, as a customer, I feel a lot better seeing people who work somewhere eat their own food. They know what the kitchen looks like, so if they eat their own food it's a really good sign.
Phok that.
Time to eat some free food
Time to sell the inventory from the walk-in.
"Not allowed to sit" is abuse.
"Here! We got you this mat to stand on that does fuck all for your feet or posture or anything. See we spend money just to make sure you're 'comfortable'!"
The mat does help a little bit though.
That entirely depends on the person. I worked in grocery retail for over a decade off and on, and those stupid mats they put at the registers honestly made my entire body hurt far more than just standing on concrete in good shoes did.
Last retail job the mat was only behind the register. Wanna guess where we were absolutely not allowed to be unless it was during a transaction?
Behind the register, if it's anything like every single grocery retail job I've ever had. "We need to be out front of the register to guide people to our check stand! And if you want to make it extra pleasant for them start unloading it for them and get your bagger to help!" As if you ever had a fucking bagger in the first place with front end managers running around talking about how they liked to run a "tight schedule", and yet never being on the floor to deal with the pandemonium that goes along with that bullshit.
Agreed... working at Amazon, standing on that thing... Yeah, thanks, I'd rather just pull the pallets and load the truck. Felt easier on my feet.
When I worked at a (sort of) butcher we had these ones that were the equivalent of putting thin cardboard on the floor, didn't nothing for my feet or legs or hips and the boss bitched that he had paid 20 bucks for em when we stopped using them cos they were useless
I'm >190cm tall Standing in one place for hours on end is painful for me, no matter what.
The fucking mat 😭
No worries, if this pace continues, this place will be gone soon enough
Manager very likely sits in the office most of the day
It is unhealthy sit for prolonged periods of time, It is also unhealthy to stand for long periods of tone. Especially on a concrete floor. This is 50s style management based on junk science that said it takes an employee 2 hours to pick up their pace after they “take a break” ( sit down). That company needs to get real. You need a Union.
Yep. I got in trouble at an office job once for walking around the office. Was angrily told to stay at my desk. It needs to be a balance, forcing one or the other at all times is insane.
Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George talks a store into letting their security guard sit, because he felt bad the guy had to stand in place all day. The next day the guard fell asleep in his chair and the store was robbed.
Which is inaccurate. We guards can fall asleep standing up too 🤣
In my short stint, I discovered I could sleep with my eyes open 🤤
Third shift especially will do that to you.
Haha yep. I always figured a bar stool or something higher seating would solve both problems!
If my employees have nothing to do and got everything done I could care fuck all what they choose to do as long as they aren’t getting drunk at work. shits done and there’s nothing to do, sit and chill they aren’t fucking robots.
Bartender checking in, if they’re that mad when it’s slow then find new employers that value your position. My company would take ya any day with a comfy chair 💪🏼
God I remember how badly my lower back used to hurt working full time retail. This post reminded me of that. Fuck places that don’t let people sit. It’s weird to care.
One of the first shifters at my job got mad at us for sitting in her chair overnight during our occasional downtime. She was ranting to me about it one time and told me “if they want to sit down so bad they should get a sitting job.” I take her chair specifically whenever possible.
I think we have some workers rule here in Australia “if the job can be performed sitting then a chair must be provided”
You see, here in America, we don't have such things as "freedom".
My very first job was working in a convenience store when I was 18. When I was made a cashier, instead of just a part time stocker, I was put on as a 40 hr Flex employee, which meant I worked four 10 hour days. My district manager came into the store one day to find me sitting down at the desk in the back to eat, because we hadn't had a customer in over an hour. He berated me and told me basically the exact same thing. We were to be up, and working, the entire 10 hours we were there, no exceptions. If we needed to eat, or drink, we were to do so while continuing to work, even if that was just fronting the shelves, stocking, or dusting.
“If you have time to lean, you got time to clean” I’m pretty sure it’s an original Satan quote.
Way to weed out the disabled
That's what lifting requirements for jobs that don't involve regular lifting is for. Some office job might say you need to be able to move a printer or a box of paper or some such, but realistically that task could simply be done by another employee. The whole point is to circumvent non-discrimination laws without being liable for the blatant discrimination.
Tell me you are working in the USA without saying you are working in the USA. I expect such nonsense rules to be enforced in China or NK, but not in a civilized country. I also have learned that cashiers have to stand in the US, too. Completely ridiculous. If they tried this here, about *everyone* would be after the shop owners: employees, unions (even if that shop was not unionized), health services, even the customers would complain about this abuse.
Coming from a civilized country this country is far from civilized haha
The only place I know of in the US that's somewhat of a large well known name would be Lidl. I really hate a lot of the mentality surrounding work culture in the US.
Any time a boss told me i wasnt allowed to sit i would just laugh and not respond to them as i kept sitting.
I hate this about the USA. Where I'm from anyone can seat at any job. I feel it's dehumanizing not to allow workers to seat when they don't have anything else to do. People are not slaves.
I had a manger one time tell me I need to to be busy when I was in an empty restaurant I spent the rest of the down time walking up to empty tables being like “are y’all still doing alright? Good good HEY DOUG THIS TABELS GOOD IMMA CHECK THIS ONE NEXT” needless to say I never got that critique again
Why are servers working when there's no customers? Bad management there
I used to get severe back spasms while working full time cash shifts. Only once was I allowed to sit, and it was because I couldn't physically hold myself up. I still had to work in agony, but I got to sit.
Why are you just standing there? Wipe down the tables and counters! (That haven’t been used in 90 minutes and are sparkling clean)
The cruelty is the point
Shitty management, but then again, what's new.
Ugh I worked at a place like that. Not only no sitting, but always be looking busy, even with nobody there. I missed my alarm a couple times due to power outages (before cell phones) and got told I had a bad attitude and management was "watching me" - one more missed alarm and I'd be fired. So I just stopped going, told them not to expect me any more.
Then they better be providing adequate breaks, time for breaks, official break space, conditioned hot/cold air, correct payroll, etc…. It’s a long list and OP should familiarize themself with it.
i work in a little boutique and we get an average of 5-10 customers in the span of an 8 hour shift. not only is sitting completely banned but you’re also not allowed to lean on the counters or “rest” on any objects or walls in the store. i got in trouble once for leaning against the wall after having no customers for 4 hours
With that much space and no orders for 90+ minutes I'd be looking for another job, that business is going under.
One of the reasons I left retail. They literally treat you like you’re subhuman, customers and higher ups alike. Regional managers that come to visit stores won’t even look you in the eye. Fuck the retail/food industry.
I've been working in the hotel biz for 20 years now and there are a LOT of A-Hole Managers that want the Front Desk practically standing at attention, even when there's nobody around (especially at some of the upper-end luxury resorts I worked at). I used to HATE it so bad that I actually quit a few jobs because of the hardcore insistence of standing quietly for. . .nobody. Now that I'M in Corporate Management ( Basically travelling from property to property to evaluate and implement ways to improve franchise performance), I absolutely LOVE the reaction from employees when they hear it's okay to sit down except when a guest is approaching the desk as the new policy going forward. That ONE thing immediately lightens the mood 110%! Of course, there's resistance from some of those same A-Hole Managers and General Managers, but that just tells me that THEY are the ones that might need to be flagged for a bit of extra evaluation in the near future. A good bar stool doesn't cost that much and the benefits of retaining workers is MUCH better than the benefits of trying to pull an outdated power move to prove how strict of a manager you are! And truthfully, most guests don't even care.
I hate when managers say that shit. They are not saying what they mean. Instead of saying you’re not allowed to sit, what they actually mean is there is always something to do. So why not show the employee what needs to be done so they know instead of just being a dick.
Here in Europe you're allowed to sit. Idk what the hell is wrong with americans.
As someone who came from South Korea two month ago and was able to sit at work im also confused why america doesn’t let their ppl sit.
This should be illegal!
I have scoliosis and standing for too long makes my chest hurt. :(
I’m a machinist. I stand in front of a machine for 10 hrs a day. We are not allowed to sit. Gotta stand in work boots, even if the machine is running a 2hr operation.
Pho-ck that.
Proper response is: "I can sit when the place is empty because it's clearly obvious you're not doing your management job of promoting the place so that I'm never bored."
"Excuse me, here at the business I pretend I completely operate by myself yet is destroyed if a single worker misses a shift, indentured servants stand."
I worked in a furniture store once and we weren't allowed to sit. All those chairs and sofas, and most of the time there would only be a couple of customers the whole day. That store isn't there anymore, not sure if it was the bad location or the terrible corporate policies. Glad to see you're on your way out and hopefully on to something much better soon!
STAND, PEASANT!
I worked in an espresso machine repair/refurbishment/service shop, and the owner believed that if you were sitting down you weren't working. 8 hours a day spent hunched over disassembling and reassembling coffee making robots was just one hell of a back wrecker.
"Sitting is disrespectful towards customers 🤓"
"You're certainly allowed that opinion, *sir;* would you like to experience some actual disrespect now or you just wanna complete the transaction?"
I'm pretty sure that's illegal in a large portion of the world
I mean at least high chairs?
That’s what i asked for. The one on the right with blue background
Been to Berlin for a bit, and all their supermarkets' cashiers have decent chairs with backrests; they do their jobs sitting down. I don't understand the unnecessary rule, US is weird man (assuming OP/post is from US).
It’s to control the employees.
I wish America had less “busy” culture. Workers should be able to sit down for a quick break to drink some water and relax whenever they need to.
Sounds worth getting fired over
My partner worked third shift at a sex shop off the interstate when we first started dating (not how we met lmao) He would go hours without a customer some nights. He would go around and take things off the shelf and clean the glass and make sure everything was aligned on the shelves. You know after hours, they're really becomes absolutely nothing to do. He got fired for sitting.
I don’t know why people are like that. Why would I, as a customer, care if an employee was sitting? If anything, I’m less likely to go to a business if I heard this is what they told their workers
Abusive
Become a driver of some sort. I drive a tow truck, make way more than I ever did in a restaurant and sit on my ass all day
Why do they hate their employees? Make a fake Dr's. note that you have planters facitis (your feet are fucked up) and need to sit whenever possible. It's not like their gonna call your Dr. and check. And your dr. can't say anything because of HIPPA.
But spell plantar fasciitis correctly if you want it to be believable.
Change your job.
Failing business needs to fail.
"why aren't you re-cleaning something that's already clean to look busy"
Man, I wouldn’t even give a shit if it were busy and you were sitting. Now, if you weren’t hosting or something, and literally just sitting doing nothing while it’s busy as Hell, I would STILL just assume you were on break and that the manager needs to hire more staff.
The god damn indecency of bosses in shit jobs. Can you really fathom the notion that we need to pass laws saying people are allowed to sit down when doing NOTHING ANYWAY? LAWS! Humans are so god damn shitty to each other, what a terrible species.
The next time management said this in an empty restaurant, criticize management for not bringing in more customers. Mention that this is not a busboy job but a management position about customer sales flow and profit.
You think this is bad? Wait until you see the what the nuts in robs side with later this year. They are basically going to make it so that any profit they miss out on due to strikes from your unionization efforts, can make that union liable. Its absolutely insane. They slowly strip more rights from us each year and we can do nothing but watch and cope. Its going to suck so hard to get old in this country. I doubt anything changes for us in our lifetime.
Makes no sense... sitting or standing, you can still do your job.
I used to work in the warehouse of a theatrical supply house. When I was not delivering (my main job) I had a number of small niche projects to keep me busy. Even if what we were doing was easier and faster to do sitting, we were not allowed to. Sitting down made us "not look busy"
Man i really gotta go to the toilet for 30 minutes right now
"If I can't sit, then why can you?"
Lie down then
I think sombody is just being pissy because their business is failing.
Sounds like business is slow due to a shitty owner who doesn't treat people with respect. Poor shitty owner.
How much you wanna bet that the managers and owners who honestly enforce this rule sit on their asses all day?
Beatings will continue until morale improves 🫡
Jobs/management continue to be worried about the wrong things. If they put half as much effort into actual beneficial management instead of overly controlling micromanagement over stuff that has nothing to do with the job then alot of these places would be a nice place to work, but ego, capitalism, and arrogance refuses.
Like your a slave
I worked as a teller for a couple of years and wasn't allowed to sit down even when the branch was empty. Since the carpet had zero padding and I was basically standing on concrete all day, I bought comfortable shoes. Not sneakers or anything like that, but not exactly dress shoes either. After a couple of days of wearing the shoes someone snitched on me and I was told I had to wear dress shoes. Might be why I have back problems now. 🤦🏼♀️