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Antiwork

Indentured Servitude aka Retail in the US

I was just in my lovely /s neighborhood discount store and in front of me in line was one of the employees in the store. She clearly had her dinner + evening water in her hand. In front of her in line was a woman arguing over the price of everything and generally being the kind of annoying human that comes to a discount store and attempts to haggle. Whatever. I felt bad for the young woman in front of me and the cashier, but I was fine. Lady finally leaves. Employee makes her purchase and then Front End manager says, “hey you know you only get 15min for breaks now, right? They changed break times for everyone.” Y'all this woman had been standing in line for her ENTIRE break because the store only had 1 line open (training the new cashier nonetheless.) I thought she was going to cry.…


I was just in my lovely /s neighborhood discount store and in front of me in line was one of the employees in the store. She clearly had her dinner + evening water in her hand. In front of her in line was a woman arguing over the price of everything and generally being the kind of annoying human that comes to a discount store and attempts to haggle.

Whatever. I felt bad for the young woman in front of me and the cashier, but I was fine.

Lady finally leaves. Employee makes her purchase and then Front End manager says, “hey you know you only get 15min for breaks now, right? They changed break times for everyone.” Y'all this woman had been standing in line for her ENTIRE break because the store only had 1 line open (training the new cashier nonetheless.)

I thought she was going to cry. She said, “but I thought I got 30? I need to eat dinner and rest my knee.” Shrugs all around.

I wanted to burn the place down for her. I was livid.

If a business can't afford to hire enough people to cover unpaid 30 fucking minute breaks, it should not be open. Period.

I remember those days. I worked a lot of retail and took a lot of bullshit “breaks” that gave me very little time to function as a human. Gotta purchase your food, eat, and take a shit? LOL GOOD FUCKING LUCK.

So, let's call this what it is. Indentured servitude with extra steps… modern day share cropping ahem share selling with extra steps?

Whatever it is, it is garbage and we as a consumer body and workforce must demand better.

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