Sure, an employee might flirt with customers here and there, and maybe ask one out on occasion. When someone isn’t interested, though, it’s time to drop the matter. And when they remind you more than once that they’re under age, it’s really time to drop it. Such subtleties were not obvious to a 33-year-old AT&T store worker who wouldn’t stop texting a 16-year-old who came in one day to get his iPhone fixed. [More]
Getting Your iPhone Fixed Is Not An Invitation To Be Sexually Harassed
By February 26, 2013
Court Denies Walmart Appeal Of $187.6 Million Judgment
By June 14, 2011
Pennsylvania Walmart employees scored another victory against the company in their case that accused the company of substandard labor practices. A state Superior Court judge panel denied Walmart’s appeal of a $187.6 million judgment in 2006. [More]
An Open Letter To You From An Employee At A Liquidating Bookstore
By May 6, 2011
Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of a clerk behind the register at your favorite bookstore which is being liquidated in a bankruptcy sale? What do they make of all of it? What are their hopes and dreams? Are they just mentally picturing making everyone’s head explode? Well nows your chance to plumb those depths, as McSweeny’s has published a humorous open letter written by an employee at one of these stores *cough* Borders *cough*. [More]
Walmart Worker Gets Run Over Trying To Stop Robbery
By October 21, 2010
They’re not paying you minimum wage to be a hero. [More]
Is Rudeness Inevitable In A Service Economy?
By August 16, 2010
The funny thing about a service economy, writes Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Journal, is that it’s created a world where people who interact with the public are deliberately trained to be rude and compassionless. She thinks it’s partly because we threw out manners right as we reached a cultural moment where we interact with strangers more than ever. But that’s only part of it–she also notes that clerks are trained to get in your face and aggressively push for higher sales, and that the dreaded “Dead Face”–that stony look that’s used to shut down any communication at all–is probably taught by consultants as an efficient way to handle people. [More]
Goodwill Fires Worker With Down Syndrome After His Mother Buys Him A $3 Shirt
By July 31, 2010
The Goodwill in Washington Iowa fired a thirty-year-old employee with Down syndrome after his mother bought him a $3 shirt. Goodwill initially refused to sell the shirt because of a policy banning employees from making purchases on days they were working. Another employee intervened and approved the sale after the employee’s mother explained both that she was a family member and not an employee, and that the employee with Down syndrome had no interest in buying clothes. When the employee reported to work the next day, he was fired. [More]
Is Bringing Your Dog To Work At PetSmart "Theft Of Services?"
By January 19, 2010
A former PetSmart employee says he was terminated for “theft of services” after he brought his dog to work on an overnight shift that he was doing as a favor to the store manager — and left the dog in the pet day care facilities. No other employee was working at the time, so he was supervising his own pet. Should this count as “theft?” [More]
Stores Worried About Employees Using Gift Cards To Steal
By December 31, 2009
Gift cards may encourage spending, but they also make it easy for employees to steal, writes the New York Times.
Among the variations of such crimes, cashiers often do fake refunds of merchandise and then, with the amount refunded, use their registers to electronically fill gift cards, which they take. Or sometimes when shoppers buy gift cards, cashiers give them blank cards and then divert the shoppers’ money onto cards for themselves.
Not All Fired Target Employees Who Went Zhu Zhu Crazy Got Their Jobs Back
By December 29, 2009
Target fired employees for prematurely buying Zhu Zhu Pets, then hired them back. Ellen says her son, a former New Jersey Target employee, got the former treatment, but not the latter. [More]
Macy's Cheerfully Helps Customers Get Parking Tickets
By November 27, 2009
The employees at the Macy’s in Washington, DC, sure were helpful earlier today! They showed customers where they could park for up to two hours while they shopped. Unfortunately, it turns out Macy’s employees are not well-versed on parking rules in DC, and the manager there doesn’t really think it’s Macy’s problem. [More]
'I Stopped Denying People': Ex-Bank Of America CSR Tells All
By November 27, 2009
Here’s a testimonial from a former Bank of America customer assistance employee. She was fired on Monday for offering repayment plans to too many customers, even those who “deserved” the 29.99% APR for making late payments. After hearing her story, you might conclude that this job was never a good fit for her skills. The next time you run up against a dead-sounding CSR, though, remember that people like Jackie don’t make for profitable collections department employees, which is why they don’t stick around for long. [More]
Geek Squad Agent Doesn't Have Time To Look For Multimeter, Let's Just Send Off Laptop For 3 Weeks Instead
By November 11, 2009
The usefulness of Best Buy’s Geek Squad depends entirely on the competence of the employee you get when you go in for help, and unfortunately Scott landed one of the lazier ones. Here’s his sales pitch to Scott over a laptop that wouldn’t start: “It’s going to take at least 10 minutes for me to get the multimeter or another adapter. It’s going to be a problem inside the computer, let’s just send it in.”
Honeybaked Ham Fires Employee Shot In Store Robbery
By September 26, 2009
A North Carolina Honeybaked Ham store manager was shot in an attempted store robbery in April, and has been recovering on worker’s compensation since the shooting. Now that his benefits have run out, the store very thoughtfully has terminated his employment. (Update: Honeybaked Ham sent us a statement with their take on this situation, which is appended at the end of this post.)
The 7 Types Of Employees You Meet At Best Buy
By July 10, 2009
Gizmodo paired up a former Best Buy employee with a professional illustrator and created a taxonomy of seven Best Buy employees you’re likely to meet whenever you shop there. The two who probably get the most coverage on our site (and who are probably the most annoying in general): Pervy Geek Squad Guy and Slick Careerist Manager.
Slate Investigates If It's Really Illegal To Fart On A Sandwich
By April 19, 2009
Nina Rastogi decided to look into food tampering laws in the wake of our Domino’s Pizza story last week. It turns out you can spit in food in Ohio without fear of jail time so long as you don’t have a communicable disease. Ohio is clearly the place to work if you are an angry restaurant employee, and the place to avoid if you’re a diner who easily angers waitstaff.
Best Buy Employee Arrested For Stealing Credit Cards
By February 10, 2009
Uh oh, another Best Buy employee has been caught swiping data from customers. Unlike the woman last August who went on small time shopping sprees, this woman was caught using a card reader to swipe and store info on as many as 4,000 customers at the Best Buy store located at 1880 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd in Palm Beach, Florida.
