TL;DR – my manager is enforcing one rule for some, but not for others. And we are on the brink of some sort of mass exodus because of it.
Where to begin, eh?
The company I work for is a large franchise that seems to be ever expanding, but the specific shop I work in is in one of the quieter areas where more people know each other – whether that be multiple members of staff dating/ being friends. To colleagues recognising customers as family or friends etc.
As such, pretty much all the members of staff get on with one another, including with the managers, who we can banter around with easily.
I should preface, however, that the rule I’m specifically referring to is no mobile phones on the shop floor. Which is a reasonable policy! I have no complaints about that! My problem is how it’s utilised.
See, in our place of work, we tend to have our phones on the shop floor anyway, because we have an up to date website that has accurate stock counts and detailed descriptions of items. This helps greatly in the efficiency of helping customers, as we have strict time regulations to pass the mystery shopper, and if we get caught in a department we are not too knowledgeable of – we can just use the website on our phones to help the customers the best we can until trained members of staff arrive to aid instead.
Our manager has never once before enforced this rule, despite it being in our terms of agreement, as they understood the practicality of having phones on us, so what isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
Anyways, a staff member in my place of work had a customer complaint come through head office about the fact that they were on their phone in the MIDDLE of serving a customer.
That sounds quite bad, right? And i agree, it is! it was absolutely ridiculous that they felt they could get away with that. Not only that though, they were on tik-tok with the volume up, and they were scrolling down their feed whilst the customer is waiting for them to get served at the till.
My manager, got wind of the emailed complaint and immediately made the staff leave their phone up the stairs…EXCEPT for managers and supervisors. Hmm, hold on. How did they work that one out?
I go into work the next day (I wasn’t in when the complaint happened) and get told to leave phones up the stairs because of the previous day’s shenanigans. The main manager wasn’t working that day, so the deputy mangers called me up to the office to explain this, and that mangers & supervisors kept their phones on them. They also said if I have a problem with that, they can phone the main manager anyway to let them know my intentions to keep my phone on me – which I ask them to do.
About 15 minutes later I get a call to go to the office again – surprise surprise, the manager insisted that phones be kept up the stairs, and if I problem with that I can go home without pay. I start to dig a little and ask why do normal members of staff have to keep their phone whilst management and supervisors get to keep theirs?
I quote this next part:
Manager – “because we have to check for emails throughout the day”
Me – “alright, then use the computers, we’ve got loads of them and you can check emails on them easily”
Manager – “everything your phone can do the guns can also do”
“Guns” are the devices we call as you can price stock in real time and it also tells you how much stock we have of the item in question. They’re very handy, but they don’t give descriptions of items, and they’re extremely clunky.
The conversation continues until one of the duty managers inform me that multiple other members of staff (not including the one that the complaint was about) have admitted to using their phones for purposes other than work. Right, okay, is that really that much of a surprise?
I ask them the same question, and they both nod and agree that they have!!! Yet they’re enforcing this rule but get to keep their phones as well? Fuck off.
I let them know that their reasoning is stupid, because of the whole needing to serve mystery shoppers in a time frame and describing stock well etc.
But I cave and leave my phone in my locker as I knew my break was in an hour or so, then when I came back from it I’d just “forget” to leave it in my locker.
The day passes by when I realise that members of staff that were NOT supervisors had their phones on them because of potential emergency reasons regarding their children.
How the fuck is that fair? Why wasn’t it enforced on them too? So I just get my phone anyway because Uhm I also have a family, it shouldn’t matter than I have children or not, an emergency is an emergency.
The duty managers get pissy when they realise that multiple members of staff kept their phones on them despite having in been told to leave them upstairs. So they make us stay late after close to rebel against us… rebelling? Seems petty.
Today roles around and the main manager sends out an email about a new phone that a manager would carry about all day would be used for next of kin to contact in case of emergency – bascially cementing that this rule was here to stay.
Remember that this rule has NEVER been enforced before. And supervisors and managers keep their phone regardless. He also links us to a section in our terms of conditions that states NO member of staff should have personal belongings on shop floor.
Guess what it doesn’t say?
“This does not include supervisors and managers”
HAHAHAAH you couldn’t make this up.
As I’m typing this post the work group chat is going OFF (remember how I said all staff are close including with management? Yep, some managers are in our group chat, trying to explain themselves) as it stands, we potentially have 5-6 members of staff not coming in for their next shifts, including me, because it’s absolute fucking horseshit that certain members of staff get special fucking treatment and the normal staff get reprimanded for one colleagues stupid error.
The head manager is public enemy number one, and unfortunately the duty managers (who disagree with the rule as well) have the same amount of backbone as a fucking noodle – and just let it happen.
The main manager is on a total power trip, when he could have dealt this this in a much more logical way – such as reprimanding the member of staff who the complaint was about in the first place? And not punishing select staff because of it.
Am I being unreasonable? I feel like the decision is totally unjust and he’s abusing powers but idk. I’m interested to hear takes on it. Thanks for reading this novel :).