[wccrawford]

When I worked in those situations, it was never about "enslaving" the workers. It was a simple calculation made by the manager to make their lives easier.

First, scheduling was always hard. So they did everything they could to make it easier for themselves, including last-minute changes that they didn't even tell you about. You were expected to somehow check the physical schedule in the store right before the new week started, even if you weren't scheduled that day.

Second, they'd get sick of the complainers, so the worst complainers would get preferential treatment. The best workers ended up with the worst shifts, too, because they were less likely to just call in sick or quit.

I feel like there were more lessons I learned about scheduling back then, but it's been quite a while now. It was always all about the managers avoiding personal hardship, and very little about the company itself.