Do You Want a Break? DON’T TOUCH THAT CLOCK!!

Every now and then, everybody could use a break even if it is just to go use the potty.  Sometimes this easier said than done as I will explain.

Way back in the Woolworth days, if you wanted a break all you had to do was just ask.  Normally the manager just had to find someone to cover for you and you were all set.  The manager would just write down the time you left and if the manager was nice gave you some leeway to your time so that 15 minutes could be up to 20 minutes if someone gets stopped along the way.  It was a wonderful way of handling the situation and was basically fool-proof.  No complaints from me on this one.

HQ had a similar approach but the difference was that somebody only had 10 minutes (not really enough time in my book) and that included the time of getting back and forth.  I never really liked their handling of breaks, but I never had to worry about that too often.

Staples, as would be expected, is a totally different animal.  Let me start from the beginning.

Way back when I was hired back in 1996, the Human Resource person (yes, they REALLY HAD Human Resources in the store back then) Nikki told us new hires to NEVER use the BREAK punch on the time clock.  I always wondered why, but just took her word that it was bad.  About 4 years later and long after Nikki and the Human Resources left the store, one of the newly transferred Assistant Managers absolutely INSISTED that the BREAK punch be used on the time clock.  So like I fool, I decided to do it to see what happens.  The following is EXACTLY what happened and the end result.

First I was very careful to make sure that I took EXACTLY 15 minute breaks (the company’s allowable break time), carefully punching in at EXACT TIMES.  Something I noticed that was VERY strange was that when I punched out, the time clock stopped accumulating hours worked.  Yes, you heard that right:  TIME STOPPED!!  This worried me as to why this was happening.  It didn’t restart until I punched back in and then it only started accumulating time after the next minute after punching in.  So, honestly what happened here?  I also kept track of when I punched in at the beginning of the day, my lunch break (more on that in next posting), and when I left for the day.  I fed all this information into an Excel spreadsheet used to keep track of time and the surprise happened when I got my paycheck.

Nikki’s warning had become a reality.  When I received my check, I noticed that it was EXACTLY 20 MINUTES SHORTER of time than I had calculated.  When I approached the Assistant Manager that originally told me to use the BREAK punch and told her of “my check problem”.  She said “If you have a problem with the BREAK punch just don’t use it, just DON’T TELL ANYONE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!”  My first thought was “HUH?!?”.  Apparently, something was VERY WRONG and a little research got me figuring out the problem.  To make matters worse was when I asked this manager if she would make an adjustment and give me 20 minutes added on to my current check to compensate for the “error”, her answer was a flat-out “NO!”.  So much for EVER using that AGAIN!!  I also let any manager know about my problem with it whenever they wanted me to use it.  When I mentioned it, they backed off quickly like as if I knew the SCAM…YES I SAID SCAM!!

Here is what happens: 

When anybody hits BREAK OUT, the clock stops.at the point of clock out retreating to the minute BEFORE YOU PUNCHED.  When they clock back in the clock takes a minute to set itself to track again.  So effectively, you lose 1 minute punching out and 1 minute punching back in.

Now you may be saying “Larry, It is only 2 minutes what’s the big deal?!?”

Well, first I am not Larry. AND the 2 MINUTES IS A HUGE DEAL ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU MULTIPLY 2 MINUTES TIMES THE NUMBER OF BREAKS PER WEEK!!  For a full-timer, with 2 15 minute breaks a day, 5 days a week, it results in the 20 minutes I lost.  For part-timers, if they worked 5 days a week, its 10 minutes lost a week.  Consider this money that should be IN YOUR POCKET, but instead goes to the company as FREE WORK TIME!!  SLAVE LABOR ANYONE?!?

I am now going to introduce something called a self-interview.  This is where I will interview myself on topics that we have discussed or have been in the news lately of related (or not related) interest.  It will be in a different color and be preceded by the words “Interview Section”.  Enjoy..

Interview Section:

Why do you think that nobody has reported this “SCAM” yet to the Department of Labor?

Fear…fear of becoming a whistleblower to something that should not be happening.  After all, chances are that someone could get fired for reporting them.  They are that kind of company.

Why do you feel this way?

Honestly, I would NOT have been surprised if this wasn’t part of the reason I was fired even though I knew about it for years.  It just took an ass* manager to do it.

Don’t you think anybody else has ever noticed their shortage in their paychecks?

This is the funny thing. Since way back at Woolworth’s, I noticed how many employees NEVER looked at their paystubs.  They just took their check and sometimes threw away the stub without even ripping it up.  They don’t have any idea how many hours they got paid for.  It is sad to realize how many employees are SO stupid and are so ignorant on what they are getting paid or the consequences of their tossing of paystubs. 

So, Staples is praying on the logical stupidity of their employees…

Exactly.  The more stupid employees they have, the happier they are..which is probably why I am no longer with them..They couldn’t take my “intelligence”.  Sadly, this will continue until the company goes out of business or somebody finally has the guts to speak up against this abuse.

They must cheat their employees in other time ways as well don’t they?

Oh yes, and that starts my next posting topic when I discuss lunch..always a yummy topic..well usually…

 

Next Up:  Lunch Time -  Another Chance to Lose Time!!