Scheduling Problems in Florida
“In the last few weeks, even more have been added to my store here. Firstly, all overnight employees are now on time schedules. When we start, the manager logs us into a portable device (telzans) under that department (or isle) and tells us how much time we have to finish our work. If we don’t call him on time, it counts against us. If we don’t finish in the time allotted, it counts against us. The time given for the average worker is about right, but there is no margin for error. We can only complete the task in time if we don’t help customers and don’t take our break (the clock still counts down as we take our breaks). For example, the other night I had to mix a lot of paint for a customer. The order took 45 minutes to fill. What am I do to, tell the customers sorry, but I can’t help you because it will mess up my time frame? Do I have to fear I might loose my job every time a customer asks for help? Finally, the computerized schedules have just been activated here. Managers can no longer change your schedule and can’t clock you in. People are being screwed, especially if we don’t have open availability. We are told we need to open our availability or we might not get 40 hours. Well, now, anyone that doesn’t have open availability aren’t getting any hours. Those of us, for whatever reason, who can’t work on certain days, or to certain hours are looking at our schedules only to find blank paper. Management saying we have to have an extra day off because of customer flow is one thing, but not letting us work for weeks at a time is quite another. We are being punished because we cannot be at their disposal. The best part is, the week this new schedule goes into effect is the last week of this month. Not only is that Halloween week, but it is also about the time the freight starts getting heavy for Christmas. Between that stuff and other little things (not being allowed to use the bathroom if we aren’t on break being one of them) it’s just getting disgusting.”
