Flexible Hours and its Disadvantage on Part-time and Full-time Workers

** I’ve used this same piece to apply for The Edit, but I’ve never received an email back. I figured since it’s my work I should publish it on my website.

Last week I met up with a good friend of mine at our regular taco spot. She has been working numerous overtime since the holiday season, while simultaneously attending school. It has been over a month since we last talked face to face.

“How have you been?” She asked, “I heard you quit that pizza place.”

“I quit after a month” I answered as I sip my iced water.

What?” she yelled, “You said you were saving for a car!”

“How am I supposed to save when I am not guaranteed hours?” I replied “Huh? Answer me.”

“Why are you so snarky?”

“I’ve found a new place” I reassured “It’s only temporary for now, I’m still applying for a new job”

After months of applying to jobs, going to mediocre interviews, getting denied because of “no previous work experience”, I finally found a “job”. My first official job was at a popular pizza franchise. I was a Customer Service Representative (fancy ass name for cashier).  My friends advised me to stay away from the food service industry, but I did not want to acquire plenty of student loans, so, I took the job.

Apart from school, I was available for more than 25 hours a week. For the first payroll, I received a total of 13 hours. It was never addressed how much I was being paid per hour (I did ask the manager, he just ignored me), but I figure it must have been Florida’s minimum wage of $8.25. When I received my first direct deposit, it was around $100. I sat down and calculated my spendings, I spent around 105 dollars going to work and my phone bill of $60 was due the following week.  During my next shift, I decided to talk to the manager regarding my hours, he suggested I get a second job.

You might be wondering, how can one spend 105 going to work while only working 13 hours? I was scheduled for average 4 hours shifts, and I was always sent home 2 hours earlier because they “did not need the services for the time”. Since a Lyft ride was around the same as my hourly pay, I was just paying to go to work. On the third week, I was scheduled to work one day for 2 hours. I was furious, I pulled out an old receipt and started doodling. Why? I’m not sure, but I think I was passed the point of respect for the job. My manager came over and started yelling and demanded I go home and come the next day. I clock out, grabbed my purse and waited in the cold for my ride. That day I unofficially quit, I never showed up for that 2-hour shift.

“So where do you work now?” She asked

“A toy store” I replied “I’m dealing with the same mess again”

Two weeks later with no reference, I was hired for a major toy company as a seasonal cashier. The hours were decent. I was getting 25-30 hours a week, and 8 hour shift days. I was excited, I kept calculating how close I was to pay my books and other fees. After seasonal, they fired over half the crew. I was one of the “lucky” ones who they managed to keep. Over half of the regular workers also quit, and I soon realized why. I was used to 30+ hours, when I received my schedule for 12 hours, I was taken back.

“Not this again,” I said

The schedule sheet was public, I had the lowest hours amongst the cashiers. For retail, scheduling hours are determined by metrics. If you managed to get a customer to sign up for a credit card and other services, you were guaranteed more hours.

During the time when managers were pushing credit cards, there were reports that our store was going to close. If you are any person in their right mind and you hear a store is closing down and going bankrupt, it is wise to avoid signing up for long-term deals, especially credit cards. Nobody wanted credit cards.

Over half of the staff were underaged high school students who were always calling out. I remembered one of them specifically asked me “Why are you always working?”. I barely had hours and I was always covering people just so I could build an emergency fund for next semester because I knew the store was going to close.

At the beginning of the spring semester (January), many of the workers changed their availability to afternoon shifts since we were all going to school. This resulted in many being called to cover shifts outside of their availability hour. You might be wondering, why don’t they just hire morning people? Apart from the managers, the majority of the workers are students. With mediocre hours and low pay, not many adults want to work retail.

This is a problem that many part-timers face in America. Many of us want better hours, but companies refuse to move employees to full-time in order to not receive any benefits. To deal with this “dilemma”, companies force workers to push credit cards and hire multiple part-timers with flexible schedules to fill in certain time slots. Those hours are never permanent. One might work 20 hours this week, and 5 hours the following week.

The waitress brought our bill and I glimpse at it. I sigh and gave my debit card.

“We should go to the movies this week or maybe ice skating”

“I can’t, I’ve already spent my entertainment budget for this paycheck”

 

 

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