That sounds like a you problem for not having enough staff.
this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2025
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That was always my complaint when I was a retail manager. I'd try to schedule enough people to be able to operate short-staffed, and corporate always said "no", so when someone called in sick we had to panic.
That extra staffer that at 9-12 bucks an hour (this was a while back) didn't seem so wasteful when being short one employee due to illness could cost a couple grand an hour in lost income.
"But if you have too many employees to keep everyone busy, they won't be working as hard!"
"Okay. Great!"
Employees cost far more than most think, and that cost is the employers number one expense. Add it all up and $9-$12 comes out more like $16-$22. But the upfront costs in hiring a new person is the real kicker.
Advertising, interviewing, HR and IT onboarding, extra unemployment taxes on the initial income, training, all that stacks. Also, consider how useless a new employee is vs. one that's been on task for some time. And that employee is taking valuable time from an experienced worker!
Would being short one employee really cost thousands an hour? Can't think of such a retail space. ?
But yeah, low-end employers are damned short sighted. Given the upfront costs of new employees, shouldn't they be working hard to retain folks? Speaking of costs, at the employment firm I worked IT at, we'd charge higher rates for payroll if a company had shit turnover. We knew we'd be paying extra unemployment insurance, and don't quote me, but I think there was a higher worker's comp cost. In any case, if turnover was high, that was a sign of a shit employer who would be a shit client.
I worked in a destination outdoors chain. My departments I ran at different points were firearms and marine electronics. Both were high-dollar purchases that usually involve 1:1 interactions with workers.
When someone doesn't buy a $4000 sonar unit because nobody was on the floor in that department it hurts.
Ah! Never worked high-stakes retail like that. I get it now.
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Agree with this take 100%. Retaining employees also retains institutional knowledge. I worked in a call center for a vision insurance company. I lasted 5 years where most new hires lasted less than 1 year. By the time I left I had in-depth knowledge about materials used in eye-wear, wholesale costs, how prescriptions translated into the type of correction being performed and how that would impact lens thickness, claims processing, medicaid billing rules, HIPAA, and how the affordable care act worked. The company decided to pass me over for multiple promotions, had no raises, refused to allow me to take my PTO, get paid out for my PTO, or let my PTO roll over. Just got fed up one day and rage quit. I moved to a medical insurance company that paid 5$ more per hour, ($18 vs the $13 I was making at the first place,) to obtain all that knowledge. I learned even more at the new company, until they started pulling the same shit. So I rage quit again. All of that knowledge left with me, and I got a state job that comes with a pension, fuck tons of sick, vacation, and personal time that rolls over and no one questions when I need to use it, along with a $10 per hour raise, ($18 per our at the old place, $28 per hour at the state job.) I'm much happier and much less stressed now. What's sad is that all it really would have took to make me happy at either of the first jobs was being able to take my PTO. I was willing to overlook a lot of the other bullshit like the lack of wage progression and growth. These bean counters are penny wise and pound foolish.
Fucking yes! Hang in, get the experience they're paying you to steal, run away. It's crazy that people focus on employers fucking us when we can be fucking them!.
I wish I had learned to jump ship sooner instead of swallowing so much bullshit. The social contract is dead. Right to work cuts both ways bitches. Quit with no notice when employers haven't done shit to earn your loyalty. The bridges we burn today light the path forward.
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don't quote me
This. Businesses running leaner and leaner to comical levels so the C-suite can make more profit. It's not my problem if they're too shortsighted because of the dollar signs -- my vacation time is a necessary component of my employment agreement and my compensation.
Late last year my company switched to "unlimited PTO." Ironically this happened just before I had saved up 120 hours (specifically vacation hours separate from sick days or anything else) to go visit my fiance abroad without question. A couple weeks ago HR sent out a message to the managers that "unlimited" (which includes sick days, bereavement, etc) basically means 25 days at max, but we should "encourage" around 15 days.
When I brought up that "Unlimited PTO" was gonna be real bad news for us, my coworkers didn't really believe it, but now some of them are getting pushback or outright denied on trips they had planned last year. If you are applying for a company that says "unlimited PTO" ask exactly what that means. And if they say "manager's discretion" ask what the HR recommendation or policy is to the manager. It's meant to be a profit-increasing tool to get new recruits to sign on, as well as ensuring that they can cut you off from taking days off when they feel like.
It also eliminates the vacation pay-out when someone resigns.
Ah yeah totally forgot about that too, definitely
any company that advertises unlimited PTO just don't bother applying. you'll never get that PTO and there's nothing to pay out when you quit. add to the fact that they're clearly saying "we prefer to hire idiots"
This. Imagine a company advertising "Unlimited wages (manager's discretion)". Would you seriously think that's a good deal?
"Unlimited PTO (manager's discretion)" is exactly the same thing.
My ex was so happy when they went to unlimited PTO, but she's overworked as it is and nobody does her job when she's not there, on top of her boss just dumping her work down on her. So she has to do extra work on the day before and after, so she just quit taking days off until HR told her she needed to take 4 days off in the next 2 weeks and that just meant 8 days of busting her ass, and she was livid.
She should just do less. Sounds like she's a good worker, they won't fire her. Standards are lower than we tend to think
She has ADHD like me. She won't stop and she gets taken advantage of.
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Tell them to quit busting their ass for a company that despises them. If the company just keeps throwing work ontop of overworked employees, task prioritization kicks in and I start asking for priority lists to determine what has to be done and what can slip. When I get told that it's all important and nothing slips, I just respond with 'hire someone or tell me what has to complete or can be missed, or I'll use my best judgement and choose what I work on'. You have me for 40hrs, maybe 45 on a bad week. If you give me 60 hours worth of work in a 40 hour week, I'm going to let 1/3 of what you give me burn. It's your choice what gets burned lol.
I loved the day that a shit manager said he'd fire me for that, and he really did not appreciate the combo response of "don't threaten me with a good time" and "lol you don't have the manpower for your work as is and are getting hell from upper management, you can't afford to lose me". Was very satisfying to quit with no notice a month later while he was talking shit about replacing me. Heard it took a few months to find that replacement too.
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"Hire taller staff 🤷♂️"
Buying a step stool would be cheaper than the inevitable height discrimination lawsuit
Sounds like a management problem to me
Managers dont even do the half ass work theyre supposed to anymore for their inflated salaries.
A lot of jobs that even require degrees and licensing are having managers ask people to find their own coverage. The managerial class is the ultimate fucking waste of space.
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I went on 4 weeks of medical leave for surgery. I'm on week 3 rn. 3 days after my leave started, I learned it was an absolute shit show without me and work was piling up because there weren't enough people to do the big tasks and the many tiny little things that I do. I get told on the daily by my two work besties that they can't wait for me to come back because of how awful it has been without me. Apparently even the big boss was saying that my presence is missed and that I do so much more than he had realized. I just try to keep myself busy so boredom doesn't kick in.
Sounds like someone is due a raise 😅
I asked for one and was laughed at and essentially told that management doesn't intend for me to get any kind of meaningful raises or advancement. I'm browsing for new jobs.
Ask again when you get back, now that they know just how necessary you are. And if they still choose to say fuck you, don't work as hard as you keep looking. After all, you're still recovering 😉
Exactly lol. I might also have gone into premature menopause because of my surgery, so I'm feeling absolutely awful and am in no mood for bullshit
Good for you on leaving, and good luck with the search!
Thank you!
This is the problem with the idea that we should always be giving 110%. Companies should have enough people to deal with staffing issues. Wtf are they going to do when you die? Just fold the company and fire everyone?
- General, we need 10000 soldiers to take that place.
- Don't worry. We'll send 1000 and tell them "if you don't do it we have another 100000 soldiers to do your job"
Right? I don't give 110%. I just do my job. I heard that we're looking to hire another person because management finally realized we need it
This is the lesson most fail to learn in their career: management will get by in the least amount of manpower required, and scrambling to keep all plates spinning just shows management you have the power to do so, even if you're only doing it half assed because some wide tie says it needs done.
I learned a decade ago that going above and beyond makes 'above and beyond' your normal. I will regularly sandbag at work when necessary to allow tasks to build up (along with keeping my sanity as intact as reasonable) while still getting core tasks completed. Because running myself at my peak all day every day will make me start prepping my Hemingway retirement plan, and who wants that.
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I remember telling my boss I would be on vacation, and when. He said I was supposed to request vacation time. I said ok, I'd like to request vacation time for these days I will be on the other side of the state, and not at work.
European version: take most of your time off during summer or we all have problems around Christmas
More like: take your time off as soon as possible.. you should always have zero days set aside
Which I always thought was weird, it's not like there aren't enough people around who don't care about Christmas (and would also jump at the holiday bonus).
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Where I live taking all your days is mandatory, by law. The company gets punished if you don’t, so the HR guys actually remind you to do it. There is a small flexibility (you can take part of your days in next year Q1) but you cannot swap your days for money, nor ‘give them’ to another employee.
Did I mention we have 25 workdays of paid vacation, by the way? ;)
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PTO = Prepare The Others
I've worked with managers like that. At first, when I was younger, they made me feel bad. As I got older, I stopped caring.
You are understaffed and taking holidays is going to cause you problems? Oh... that's too bad... Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow.
If everything falls apart because you aren't at work, then you are not getting paid enough.
That sounds like a whole lotta not my fucking problem.
Oh no. Anyway.
In college, many years back, I worked for a Home Depot that was chronically understaffed. I worked the lumber and building materials department, often during peak hours for contractors coming in to buy things for their projects and often completely by myself. Iʻd also work until like 11 at night and have to be in at dawn the next day. Keep in mind, I was also part-time (it was my senior year of college). I requested time off for Thanksgiving to see my family, something no other retailer I worked for objected to. They denied my request.
So, like Peter Gibbons, I just stopped going. I went home one night and just never came back (other than to sneakily collect my last check a few weeks later). Never answered the phone when they called. I just disappeared.
Years later I bumped into one of my former co-workers (he was working at a car rental place and I was renting a van). He said that he did pretty much the same thing not too longer after lol.
Take it up with the law, because if I don't take those vacation days you will end up paying more for it.
If you can do this to them, they can do this to you.
So take a sick leave when they do that.
"Guess you should've planned better, this probably won't reflect well on your next performance review. Anyway, see ya!"
That's when you give them the scareye & say, "you'll be even shorter staffed if I stay"
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