[extralego]

These places are just awful. I went in one last summer and the girls working there were drenched in sweat. The management refused to set the thermostat below 80 degrees! And the cashiers had to stock shelves when there are no customers at the cash register so of course they were sweating. Usually when you go in one, the only employees will be somewhere deep in the store and you have to wait a long time until they check the register for a line.

The idea is to have no stock room so they don’t have to hire stocking staff, and make the cashiers do it when they aren’t actively checking people out. The trucks unload everything right in the store so aisles are always blocked with giant piles of boxes. It’s gotta be a nightmare for someone in a wheelchair.

But the worst part is of course the way they treat employees.

[loco5niner]

> And the cashiers had to stock shelves when there are no customers at the cash register so of course they were sweating.

> The idea is to have no stock room so they don’t have to hire stocking staff, and make the cashiers do it when they aren’t actively checking people out.

What's wrong with cashiers stocking shelves? Seems perfectly reasonable to simply keep working while you are on the clock.

[stagger87]

Sweating is common for manual labor positions.

[extralego]

Since when was “cashier” a manual labor position? “Stocking staff” might be, and is consistently paid a higher wage because of that. These people are hired as cashiers. The “additional job duties” are where the manual labor comes in.

We are literally talking $8.00/hr. before taxes. This looks inhumane to me.

https://www.job-applications.com/dollar-general-cashier/

[loco5niner]

Seems like DG is pretty straightforward as far as informing potential employees what is expected.

As far as the hourly rate, that should be motivation to work on their marketable skills (work/study).

Sounds like a great high-school job, and if you're still working a high-school job at 35, something is wrong.

[extralego]

Never seen somebody younger than me working at a Dollar General.

My point is that something is definitely wrong.

But to blame this on the workers is immoral, heartless, definitely a sign you have something wrong with yourself.

So I’m assuming that isn’t your point.

They are doing the work. They paying is someone else’s job.

Who said this is a “high school job”? What’s that?

[loco5niner]

> But to blame this on the workers is immoral, heartless, definitely a sign you have something wrong with yourself.

Yes, I am blaming the workers. Making personal attacks against me doesn't change the facts.

The fact is, the reason people make minimum wage is because they haven't developed (or proven to the right person that they have developed) marketable skills.

That's why it's important to study hard in school and to work hard in your job. People get paid what they are worth in the marketplace.

I don't know anything about DG's business practices, but if the workers are not satisfied, there are other places they can get a job.

I do realize that some people face inherent difficulties in life. They weren't born with the same advantages or they were born with disadvantages. Maybe they made some mistakes in life. I'm not saying they shouldn't have a chance. I'm saying that there are things (education, discipline, etc) that they can take advantage of to better their situation.

Maybe they are content in their situation. That's fine too.

[palferrari]

who do you suggest should work there during the day while school is in session?

[loco5niner]

Someone who started working there in high school and completed it. Hopefully prior to 35. Hopefully while continuing to improve their marketable skills.

[dsfyu404ed]

Meh. Those conditions are par for the course in jobs like that. IMO it beats working fast food any day of the week.

Working at a franchised establishment (like Dollar General or Walmart or Wendy's) is usually pretty middle of the road because they use their scale figure out how to optimize for every last but of productivity and that usually means working employees as hard as they can reasonably work. However, at the same time the franchise usually decrees something like "thou shalt not drag the brand name through the mud by running your location like a sweatshop." Small businesses have much more deviation in quality. If you think getting minimum wage for doing retail work in an 80deg store is a particularly bad deal then you're probably living in a little bit of a bubble.

[sonofblah]

>If you think getting minimum wage for doing retail work in an 80deg store is a particularly bad deal then you're probably living in a little bit of a bubble.

Is this a joke?

[dsfyu404ed]

No. It's not a joke. There's tons of jobs out there that pay the same and involve more labor and/or a work environment with a less pleasant temperature. Pretty much any outdoor manual labor job and many food service jobs will meet those criteria.

[extralego]

This was not an act of nature. It was the manager cutting the costs. 80 degrees is not a normal accepted indoor temperature. This is unusual punishment given the context and norms.

Expecting something different from a job outdoors or in a kitchen would, I agree, be a little ridiculous. The wage should of course be adjusted accordingly, but this is just disrespectful.

Middle of the road? Try $8.00/hr.

https://www.job-applications.com/dollar-general-cashier/

[GW150914]

I’ve worked some spectacularly shitty minimum wage jobs in my life, and never came close to the conditions of a Dollar Store. Being asked to come off the register and restock is normal, but the rest just sounds cruel and weird. 80 degrees indoors is also messed up, not just for staff, but for customers. Given how poor air circulation is in a lot of those places, it must get really stuffy and grotesque too. Then the pay is abysmal.

Almost any job would be better, including being a cashier at a competing store that at least pretends not to hate you. Working in hot weather or bad conditions is acceptable only if you’re being paid well enough to make it worthwhile. $8 an hour before taxes? You can make more doing almost anything else, including McDonalds or begging on a corner, and neither of those things sound like they’d be any more dignity-destroying than what’s been described here.

[deadmetheny]

>If you think getting minimum wage for doing retail work in an 80deg store is a particularly bad deal then you're probably living in a little bit of a bubble.

I can't even begin to elaborate on how fucking delusional this sentence is.