• Doug [he/him]@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    Once at a Waffle House in Florida I had a waitress that said she gets to work whatever shift she wants now because she did overnights for more than twenty years.

  • copandballtorture [ey/em]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    Did five years in the Starbucks mines and another year on a pizza freighter. I’ll serve burgers before I fold a graphic tee. The solidarity during/after a rush forges comrades

    • autismdragon [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      I think the opposite for me mostly because rushes are really bad for ND people (at least for me anyway, dont want to speak for all of us, but Ive read that this is often true). Like I worked Burger King and it was constantly hell on me mentally.

      Though I will say, I never worked the truly hellish retail jobs like Kohl’s or something. My retail job experience was two years at Hollywood Video, which had its badness but was a relatively chill job other than having to push the rental subscriptions. (Also a brief stint at a nonfranchise local toy store but I hardly count that).

      Also worth noting though that the BK I worked at was a failing location with releativly few customers and even that was hell on me. I absolutely fucking hated it. It stressed me out so fucking much. Having to clean the dining room while the boss was counting down the drawer and there was only one person i kitchen and me out front. And then DING the drive through thingh goes off when im in the middle of wiping a table and it murdered my fucking head every time. Absolutely hellish environment for me.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        10 months ago

        Also worth noting though that the BK I worked at was a failing location with releativly few customers and even that was hell on me. I absolutely fucking hated it. It stressed me out so fucking much. Having to clean the dining room while the boss was counting down the drawer and there was only one person i kitchen and me out front. And then DING the drive through thingh goes off when im in the middle of wiping a table and it murdered my fucking head every time. Absolutely hellish environment for me.

        My worst manager knew I hated drive-thru so they deliberately put me there even though I was the fastest and most error-free food prepper they had, by that manager’s own charts. They just hated me that much because I called out health and safety code violations.

        FUCK I hated the drive thru DING.

        “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH” grillman

        “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH” grillman

        maybe an awkward minute later

        “ARE YOU THERE? HELLO HELLO?!” grill-broke

        And don’t get me started how hellish it got when a bunch of giggling WASPy teenage girls were packed into one vehicle and keep squealing over each other and contradicting each other’s orders and probably changing their minds after driving up and wanting to split the bill across 3-4 credit cards and maybe trying to speed off without paying. agony-4horsemen

        • autismdragon [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          I never had the option to work kitchen instead because the roles were strictly divided and I wasnt trained in it anyway. I probably would have preferred it.

          Honestly if I could have just stood in ONE PLACE and just focused on JUST up front orders or JUST drive through it wouldnt be so bad. Drive through sucked for many reasons and you touched on some but it wouldnt have been so bad if i could have just focused on JUST that but i had to at MINIMUM run back and forth between drive through and front and bag all the orders, and thats when I didnt have to do extra stuff like cleaning dining room or trays. It was the juggling tasks that killed me more than anything.

          • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            10 months ago

            Honestly if I could have just stood in ONE PLACE and just focused on JUST up front orders or JUST drive through it wouldnt be so bad.

            Me too, me too. Even if it was a nonstop hectic pace all day, I’d have preferred that. I think people working at In-N-Out are a bit like that.

            Having an asshole boss expecting the floors and tables cleaned while “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH” grillman is building up the timer which faults me (and risks getting me a write-up) if the transaction takes too long when there’s nothing I can do to speed the grillman up and attempts to do so may also be a write-up if the grillman complains really fucking sucked. Also the floor not getting cleaned might be a write-up and there’s also nothing I could do about that if there was a chain of “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH” grillman waiting behind the first one. stress

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      The solidarity during/after a rush forges comrades

      It actually does. I’ve made lifelong friends from such experiences. solidarity

  • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    Working retail is 1000% easier than working food service. Especially if the food service is anything that runs at night/weekends/holidays.

    You will never ever get me to work food service ever again.

      • GaveUp [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        10 months ago

        Feel like the average retail worker does not experience that though

        Average food service is probably way more intense than average retail

        Edit: actually, I’m Canadian so the average American retail worker probably does have a way worse experience than up here, I’m so sorry💀

        • Nagarjuna [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          10 months ago

          the average retail worker does not experience that though

          I’ve never been shot at but knives are common as is people shoving you out of the way for liquor.

      • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        10 months ago

        I’m not competing, sorry if it came off that way! I mean this for me obviously, I’m comparing my experience with my experience. They’re both shit but oh my god I will take going back to retail over food service, I genuinely think I would do something to myself.

        …I did not like food service

      • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        10 months ago

        I have been physically assaulted and shot at working retail.

        I’ve worked a convenience store during late shift for a few years. That shit happened to me to and also happened outside in the parking lot. You just have to keep going, remembering why that window was replaced. Again. And remembering details of the robbers for when a badge is flashed at you. Again. doomer

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      Especially if the food service is anything that runs at night/weekends/holidays.

      Psychological horror is slow burn. The jump scares of Sunday lunch rushes still fuck me up when I remember them. agony-4horsemen

    • D61 [any]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      At least with a chunk of retail positions, you can just walk away. If you’re in a kitchen… you’ve got nowhere to go.

  • TerminalEncounter [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    Depends on boss and your own temperament. I’ve had shitty bosses as a line cook and as retail store manager - out of the two I’d pick a shitty retail boss. Shitty kitchen bosses get in your face and shit too much.

    Solidarity on the line is way stronger and if bosses push too hard we can just do a line smoke break until they cool off. That was always cool

      • D61 [any]@hexbear.net
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        10 months ago

        My best guesses:

        1. You’re more likely to be working more hours than you’re scheduled. Sometimes you’ll be staying later than your scheduled hours and other times you’ll be called in to cover for somebody that didn’t show up for their shift. IF you’re going to get overtime pay, the boss wants your over time to cost as little as possible.

        2. Keeps turnover high for most of the positions.

  • FakeNewsForDogs [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    Working in kitchens was probably the most degrading shit I’ve ever done. Couldn’t cope without cigs and alcohol, and my anxiety was still dialed up to 11 pretty much constantly. Pay was absolutely abysmal too. Bad times.

  • Pastaguini [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    When I worked retail one time a woman, probably in her 50s, started yelling at me because we were out of something. She demanded to know my name and I told her (it’s a Biblical name) and suddenly she calmed down. She thought that I was sent by God because of my name. I actually ended up being able to find a suitable replacement and she cried tears of joy. It was a package of bedsheets.

  • redimk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 months ago

    I worked at a pizza place for 3 years and couldn’t last 4 months in a Ralph Lauren store.

    Worse thing I remember is a guy completely out of his mind and SCREAMING at me because, his words: “how is it possible that I can’t try these underwears in the fitting rooms?!!??!”

    He reported me to my manager when I said he just can’t due to sanitary reasons, then told me “at least you could have one pair of underwear on some sort of hanger so people can try it and it’s not unsanitary because it’s just one pair and nothing can spread”

    Never again I will work in retail.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      Worse thing I remember is a guy completely out of his mind and SCREAMING at me because, his words: “how is it possible that I can’t try these underwears in the fitting rooms?!!??!”

      He reported me to my manager when I said he just can’t due to sanitary reasons, then told me “at least you could have one pair of underwear on some sort of hanger so people can try it and it’s not unsanitary because it’s just one pair and nothing can spread”

      Dare ye enter his magical realm? sus-torment

  • Bnova [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    I never went into retail, but my wife did and now works at a grocery. I did work sales, then Starbucks followed by a brief stint at a French cafe before moving more into academia. While both suck, I think the main takeaway for me has been that the things people do to bathrooms will haunt me for the rest of my life.

  • SpiderFarmer [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    Godspeed to you retail workers. My brand of ADHD makes foodservice chaos click with me, but simultaneously keeps me from focusing enough to ever be a chef. Coffee is my strong suit, but some of the customers (the briefest taste of retail) had me looking up the Unalive Hotline in the bathroom on particularly bad days.

  • autismdragon [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    Would rather continue to live off disability than work either ever again lol. Unless I can get back into working with kids or maybe some sort of like entry level office thing I’m probably just going to keep subsisting on the government’s teat. Maybe theres some other low impact thing that ND people can actually do out there. But only working with kids gets my passion and drive going anyway so.

    • bigboopballs [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      Would rather continue to live off disability than work either ever again lol.

      same, even though I haven’t managed to get on disability yet (will find out by early next year). I am never working a dog-shit job again. I would rather be completely homeless and destitute.

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    10 months ago

    I worked at Sports Authority for a year before they imploded

    Was decent going for the most part

    Only problem was people thinking that I liked sports enough to follow them

    The only sports I pay attention to are my beloved Green Bay Packers and even then, I’m not the sort of weirdo who pays attention to things like rosters and games and seasons