So, I refuse to state where I actually work (for fear of getting in all sorts of trouble), but I work for a retailer. It has not been an awful place to work overall, but it does have more than its share of issues. Since Christmas, full-timers have been cut down to thirty-four hours per week. For those of us who are used to working forty (uhhh, me?!), this is a huge cut. This means that every month, I am $300 shorter than I had been before. Times this by the three months that it's been going on, and yeah, it's pretty awful.
It has really been getting to me in the last couple of days, since the bosses seem to expect more and more out of us, give us less hours to do it, and since we each have less hours, we spend more of our hours alone (since everyone else has less hours as well). Aggravating, to say the least. Customers are fed up, because there is rarely anyone on the sales floor to help them find what they are looking for, and rarely enough cashiers to ring them up. When we do have people working in the departments, we are pulling them to run register, wrangle shopping carts, greet customers at the door, work in other areas, etc. So basically, we are screwing ourselves and, more importantly, our customers. But, the powers-that-be can not seem to see this, and slash our part-time peoples' hours even more every single week. I broke down and cried today, because it is just putting way more stress onto us than it ought to. WAY more stress.
Well, I ran into a manager today, and mentioned my concerns to her today - a rumor that full-time peoples' hours are being cut even lower, and the fact that with what I am making now, I can not even pay the bills that I have. Her comment to me?
"You think YOU have it bad?! I don't have any people in my areas, so I actually have to DO WORK."
Wait. What?! You still make the same amount of money you did before (lucky salaried bastards), and have to pull a little more weight. Right. And you are comparing that to my situation, and how I will probably end up having my electric, cell phone, and internet all shut off soon, due to lack of payment. Right. Our situations are exactly the same. Exactly.
*headdesk*. I like how she's complaining about actually having to "do work"...like its something she never has to do normally. Not to mention that, like you said, her situation and your's are completely un-comparable. Even if she has no control over the situation (which I'm assuming she does), she could have at least been remotely understanding/sympathetic.
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