My store's in a suburban strip mall, near a bunch of other stores and restaurants that close up around 9. At 10 PM, like clockwork, we get rushed by people with fairly large orders-- employees of those stores who went shopping after work. The FES used to schedule a cashier until 11 to cover, but ELMS came in and said "lol no, we know your store better than you do, SCO only after 10."
I'm topped out on pay thanks to prior retail experience. So I've come up with a nice little paycheck boost that hits corporate where it hurts, and I cannot be so much as rebuked for it because I can excuse it as providing f-u-c-king top-notch customer service. Customer first am I right?
I work 2-10 a lot and know how to run a register, so I just arrange to help out the front end at about 9:30 if it looks like they'll need it. Shut my light off at 9:55. But the people keep coming like lost sheep, standing in line because it's a line and their order can't possibly be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It would be terrible customer service to turn them away or just leave them standing in front of an abandoned register, so I'm stuck there (as if it's not exactly where I want to be.) I turned my light off at an appropriate time, it's not my fault they don't respect that.
Overtime starts ticking at 10:07 PM, and by then I'll typically have a line five customers deep despite keeping up a steady pace-- one cashier with no bagger can only do so much, and the 10 PM rush is real. I've literally had management walk by on their way out the door, look at the lines, and thank me for staying. Meanwhile, I'm earning $24/hr doing this simple job.
On a good week, one when I have a lot of 2-10 shifts and the stars align to keep me scanning until 10:53, I can earn close to a hundred bucks extra on a paycheck and I'm still out reliably by 11. There's no practical difference between getting off at 10 and getting off at 11; everything that would be closed is just as closed and I'm not a bar-hopping alcoholic. My gym's two stores down the strip and open 24 hours, so no opportunity lost there.
And all corporate has to do to stop it is let the FES do his job and schedule that $10/hr cashier an hour later instead of forcing him to precisely follow the dictates of a stingy computer program that doesn't know **** about the store's actual needs. But they won't. Because they're stupid and short-sighted and would rather pay me overtime pay, at my topped-out rates, or piss off and eventually drive away our loyal customers by forcing them to SCO with their big orders.
Oh, well. More money for me, less money for the suits.
Right there with you, it seems at times they want to save pennies, to cost them dollars in the long run. I can say cost Front End Leads know exactly what "minimal staffing" level is needed to run their departments (without having people stand around/without being overstaffed). You always want to have "more staffing" at prime-time and after 9pm/10pm, since you never know what customer might appear. Having an extra cashier later in the evening only allows a better level of service, please cleans up the loose ends. If the companies hasn't figured it out yet, the most dedicated customers are the early mornings/late evening customers.....they are in the stores like clockwork!
Bless you. I would love to schedule folks later but they cut my hours because the company knew best how late I need to schedule people.
The problem is it's killing Quevision. The district knows it but won't give me hours because they're not allowed to. The result is AWFUL service after 8pm in my store when we stay busy usually until 10pm.
I hate it. It's bad enough management won't go anywhere near front end to see the angry customers and long lines but our hands our tied. Either we use too many hours and get in trouble or we fail Quevision and get in trouble. It's a NO WIN. They know what's really happening but the are told to threaten my job if I can't fix Quevision or if I overuse hours.
