Punching Out – Run, Louis, Run (Or Take Your Sweet Old Time It Don’t Matter Anymore!)

One would think that punching out would be as easy as punching in.  Depending on the company, it was.

Back in the Woolworth days, punching out was as simple as the person (usually at the mall entrance) calling “Punch Out” on the store’s intercom.  Since customers and employees were given both a 10-minute and 5-minute warning when the store closed, everybody was usually out by 10 minutes after the store closed.  What was hilarious is that one older female employee slowly made her way to the time clock as the time got closer, then ran like a train when the call was made. 

At HQ, it was just a matter of someone (usually the supervisor or manager on-duty) coming up to you and telling you to go home, even when sometimes it may be hours before your shift ended.  They really didn’t care what you had worked that day before sending you home.  In fact, I had only been on duty for 1 hour when they told me to go home.  And yes they only paid me for 1 hour even though they legally should have paid me for a minimum of 4 hours.

At Staples, as usual, was much different.  It was a matter of begging sometimes to ask to go home or dying or doing some other desperate action.  In fact, one day I stayed a mind-numbing 2 11/2 hours longer than I should have after being there already nearly 10 hours.  Certainly, this was during back-to-school season, but still is uncalled for especially for a front-end associate.  I always wondered why everybody had to stay especially since the floor people weren’t doing the job they should have been doing all day long.  But then again, Staples has never been fair anyway, which is what this whole blog is about.

Of course between punching in and punching out, you want breaks and a lunch probably.  I discuss those next couple of posts.

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