A few years ago, I worked a crappy customer service job for a large jeans manufacturer that was based in Merriam, KS (but has since moved). We were under staffed, underpaid, and corporate didn’t give a crap about us.
On the bright side, we’d recently gotten rid of our toxic supervisor and my co-worker “Nicole” was our new boss. She was fighting hard to make positive changes for us, but her manager, “Jackie” was a micromanager who made things difficult.
The Company was closed on Thanksgiving and the Friday after Thanksgiving and we received holiday pay for those days. However, (understandably), Corporate decided they wanted our department to be staffed on Black Friday. Jackie called a meeting to give us details on a special incentive.
Jackie told us they couldn’t force us to work that day since it was a company holiday, but if we signed up and worked, we’d get time and a half. We‘d only be open for 6 hours, so it wouldn’t even be a whole day. A sign-up sheet was passed around and by the time it got to me, all five of my co-workers had signed up.
Knowing how crappy the company typically was to us, I asked, “So, to clarify, we will get 8 hours of holiday pay and 6 hours of pay at time and a half, correct?”
Jackie: “Well, no, you get holiday pay if you don’t work, time and a half if you do work.”
Me: “So, if I work, essentially I am giving you six hours for one hour of pay.”
Jackie: “No! You get nine hours of pay for only six hours of work!”
Me: “But we lose 8 hours of holiday pay that every single other person in this company gets.“
By this point, my co-workers had grabbed the sign-up sheet and crossed their names off, and Jackie was getting very pissed off at me. “No, they are generously paying nine hours for only six hours of work!“
Finally Nicole said, “Jackie! Stop! Listen to RumBunBun! Do the math. She is right. Corporate is screwing them.”
Jackie calmed down. I said, “Jackie, let’s say I make $15 an hour. If I take the holiday, I will sit at home and make $120. But if I work 6 hours at time and a half, I will make $135, right? So essentially, I would work 6 hours to make only $15 more than if I stayed home. Correct? Figure in gas and taxes, I don’t even make an additional $5. Can‘t you see that this is not a good deal for me? Would YOU rather get $120 for doing nothing or $135 for working 6 hours?”
A lightbulb came on. She finally admitted that corporate had not thought this through (I believe they knew damn well what they were offering, and it almost worked). To her credit, Jackie came back to us the next day and told us if we wanted to work, we’d get 8 hours holiday pay + 6 hours @ time and a half + a floating holiday to take after the holidays. Jackie worked the Friday with us (not that she was much help, but it was a nice gesture), and she had lunch brought in for us.