Not A Fan Of Management

Department Store | Working | December 13, 2016

It is during my tenure as a cashier at a mid-to-low tier department store. Everything is run by our corporate headquarters – including, unfortunately, the thermostat. The A/C isn’t set to kick on until a set date, which means that if it gets warm early in the season, the associates just get to sweat. We aren’t allowed to have drinks at our station, and can only leave for our breaks.

It is about 100 degrees in the store. I have several very nice customers come up and ask if I would like a water bottle, and how I could stand to work in the heat. I do my best to put on my customer service smile in spite of really not tolerating heat well at all and tell them I am fine.

About midway through my shift my manager comes up to my register. To offer me some water or a break? No. To yell at me for fanning myself, because ‘you don’t need to advertise it to the customers; they already know it’s hot.’

Yeah, because I was fanning myself for the sake of the customers.

Thankfully, I was only at that store to bridge the gap before going back to school, and once I left I never went back.

This story is part of the second Heatwave roundup!

Read the next second Heatwave roundup story!