Edit: TW – sexual harassment
I worked at hobby lobby 7ish years ago and wanted to share my experience.
When you’re hired, you usually start as a cashier/associate. This pays $10/hour. This is only part time. No benefits.
The next step up means you manage a department (paper crafting, framing, jewelry, arts, etc). This pays $15/hour. This is a full time position. Benefits.
It was hard to hit 40 hours but:
•36 hrs at $15 = $2160 per month, pre-tax
•20 hrs at $10 = $800 per month, pre-tax
So obviously I wanted to be a department head..
Opportunity: My manager needed someone to cover for the jewelry & wearable art dept. I had proved my “aptitude” and volunteered. Now I was under a training role, but still being paid $10/hour. (Important)
Let’s lay out responsibilities of a full time dept head:
-Mondays we put in orders to restock our dept.
-Wednesdays we get the shipment and restock. -You’re also just responsible for the section as a whole and expected to provide customers guidance and knowledge of the dept.
Idk if y’all have walked the jewelry aisle but it has 1,000+ products compacted into two aisles. Think about every strand of beads, tiny jewelry parts, etc.
So the ordering process took about 8 hours. The stocking process would take me 12+. All w/ a 30 min max lunch.
This means I was hitting my 20 hour capacity, getting paid as a PT employee for the labor of a FT employee.
I brought this to my mgr’s attention. Apart from him being a misogynist predator, he would tell me to my face that he was still deciding if he wanted to move me to full time. As I already dislike this dude because of sexual harassment claims (personal claims included), BUT I STILL WANTED $15/hour.
Made me compromise my morals and dignity to survive…
This went on for 2 MONTHS. I was livid. Struggling to eat, to live, to study, while doing the work that could eliminate most of my struggle.
One week, I told him “this is the last week I am doing this for this wage. If you want me to continue, you will have to promote me or find somebody else to exploit”. He didn’t take me seriously.
Monday comes. I show up at 7 am per usual. He passes out the iPads we use to order and everyone bee-lines to their dept so they don’t have to stay late.
I put my iPad in my locker and started random tasks around the store. Cleaning, organizing, helping the front end, etc. By 11am, this mother fucker approaches me to ask why I am not ordering. I say “I told you my demand. I will start ordering when my pay reflects the $5/hour bump.” He gets really pissed and tries to plea with me. I say, “talk to whoever you need to talk to, I’m going to lunch. When I get back, I’ll come see you and if I am paid more, I’ll complete the order”.
Pissed but he understood the assignment.
During lunch, I’m looking for other jobs, brainstorming shit I could sell to float my income, LOL obviously I didn’t eat, couldn’t afford it that day. I’m thinking I’m about to get fired, downing myself for being so hot headed and blaming my future self for making my situation worse.
I come back. Suddenly, I am a full time employee and will be paid $15/hour. I made him show me that my pay would reflect $15 as of 7am that morning. Boom. Promotion achieved.
Companies will exploit you if u let them and I’ll admit I got lucky here.
••••••••••••••
I quit later that year due to sexual harassment by the same manager. He did this to every female worthy of his gaze but the reports would go unaddressed and women were being pressured to stay quiet or told it would be handled …but there were no repercussions. The higher ups and him were buddy buddy and so they never did shit. (Update on that below)
The company also removed birth control from their health plan on the basis that it’s the “abortion pill”, and they’re a Christian company with “Christian values”. I need BC for medical reasons and it’s pretty serious so I naturally fought back (even if I was taking it to prevent pregnancy it should not matter). After many debates and attempts to educate ignorant assholes, I just decided I didn’t want to work for a company like that and I could find a “livable” wage elsewhere (by america standards)
Fast forward a few years to hurricane Harvey. Apparently a store on the southern east coast needed help after the storm so my (now ex) manager temporarily went there to work.
And the women there somehow got together and filed one big report against him. Because it was a group vs an individual, they could not brush it under the rug. MUH FUCKER WAS FIRED. BUH BYE BITCH.