Best reason ever to never shop at Kmart

[Skwim]

"Kmart To Employee: ‘If You Do Not Come To Work On Thanksgiving, You Will Automatically Be Fired’"

Kmart will open its doors at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day this year and remain open for 42 hours, meaning that many employees will have to come to work to staff shifts. While the company says it tries to fill the slots with volunteers or seasonal hires, workers are reporting that the reality on the ground is very different.

Jillian Fisher, who started a petition on Coworker.org asking Kmart to give her mother and other employees the flexibility to take the holiday off, surveyed 56
self-identified employees from more than 13 states. Of those, just three said they had the option to ask to take the holiday off. In a press release from the petition organizer, one employee said human resources has told them, “if you do not come to work on Thanksgiving, you will automatically be fired… I made the request to work a split shift on Thanksgiving and was denied.” Another said, “Our manager stated at a staff meeting: ‘Everyone must work Thanksgiving and Black Friday. No time off.’” At one location, an employee says signs have been posted in the break room saying workers can’t request time off on Thanksgiving or Black Friday and that everyone has to put in at least some time on both, while at another signs have been posted saying no one can request time off between November 15 and January 1.

“I am a lead at a Kmart and it is mandatory for me to work on Thanksgiving,” another employee said. “If I were to call out I would be terminated, and requesting off is not allowed.”

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Then there are these

And these

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[The Hammer]

I have personal integrity, I would let the idiots fire me, and I would go get a job elsewhere after Black Friday. *shrug*

I don't care how long I have worked for a company, I spent the last 6 years working most holidays, I wouldn't continue it as a civilian.

Could you imagine the backlash if half their employees just said No and walked out. Fire 'em all, go ahead, see how many new hires you get after that.

 

[Parsimony]

I think that's pretty sad. I don't shop on Thanksgiving anyway, so there's that. Thankfully, I always have that day off!

 

[Riverwolf]

...you know what blows my mind the most of all from those pictures?

You've giving Gamestop something I can praise it for.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I fail to see what is wrong here. An employer should work whatever day the company needs them to.

 

[Skwim]

I fail to see what is wrong here. An employer should work whatever day the company needs them to.

I assume you meant to say "employee." So, why "should" they?

 

[Riverwolf]

I fail to see what is wrong here. An employer should work whatever day the company needs them to.

It's a Federal Holiday, for one.

They have a primary responsibility to the well-being and morale of those employees. If any other day can be requested off without fear of getting fired, but not National Holidays, they're exercising far too much power than they should have.

Besides, they can just hire workers or volunteers for that day. Not like they have to close up shop.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I assume you meant to say "employee." So, why "should" they?

Yes I did, my apologies.

I feel that when you sign up for a job, you must be prepared to work when they ask unless there is something truly important happening or have vacation days, etc.

 

[Skwim]

Yes I did, my apologies.

I feel that when you sign up for a job, you must be prepared to work when they ask unless there is something truly important happening or have vacation days, etc.

And obviously you don't feel a federal holiday, who's purpose is to give people the opportunity to set aside time to give thanks for one's blessings with their loved ones, is important. Okay. Thing is, unless there was an explicit understanding that working on federal holidays was solely the discretion of the employer, it should at least be a matter of negotiation, and at best it should not be expected of any employee---some necessary occupations such as fire and police protection, not withstanding. Federal holidays were initiated so as to give federal employees a paid day off so as to celebrate the nature of the holiday. Private employers can follow suit or not, with the vast majority doing so. Those who do not are pretty much regarded as greedy ********. It reminds me of Walmart's food drive for their underpaid employees.

source and story​

Note, that this for those fortunate few who don't have to work at Walmart on Thanksgiving.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I've heard Radio Shack was on the other side and pledged to not be open. Hobby Lobby is also not going to be open on Thanksgiving. But anyways, **** any company that is making their employees work on a holiday.

I fail to see what is wrong here. An employer should work whatever day the company needs them to.

It's the fact that these companies are so greedy that they are requiring their employees to forfeit a holiday that is traditionally spent with family. It also happens to be a federal holiday. These people already give up every other holiday (Christmas is becoming more common), birthdays, kid's events, and many other things. **** these companies that are expecting them to give even more, especially when these companies are not giving wages that fairly compensate them, especially not for the **** hurricane of black Friday sales. It's already stressful enough to have to deal with the chaos on Friday, making your workers even more stressed by requiring them to skip family time on a holiday is a slap in the face, being spit on the face, kissed on the check, stabbed in the back, and all other similar phrases in one. Trying to describe it as these companies saying that obviously they do not care about their employees is a severe understatement.

 

[columbus]

As I post this there is an ad for Black Friday Exclusive Deals at the bottom of the page from Target.

Tom

 

[Shadow Wolf]

As I post this there is an ad for Black Friday Exclusive Deals at the bottom of the page.

Tom

I wonder if I could share a certain Bill Hicks joke on this thread (what he suggested those in advertising do)?

 

[columbus]

I wonder if I could share a certain Bill Hicks joke on this thread (what he suggested those in advertising do)?

Sure.
Tom

 

[Riverwolf]

Yes I did, my apologies.

I feel that when you sign up for a job, you must be prepared to work when they ask unless there is something truly important happening or have vacation days, etc.

Spending time with family on a nationally and culturally accepted day wherein that is the primary thing being celebrated, I think is very much a "truly important happening".

Being an employee doesn't necessarily mean being a servant.

 

[Riverwolf]

Trying to describe it as these companies saying that obviously they do not care about their employees is a severe understatement.

Far as I could tell, if these companies had it their way, it's right back to the way things were at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

With all the child-labor, up-before-dawn/home-after-sundown hours, no federally recognized minimum wage, and all the other stuff that quite literally tore whole countries apart, and in its own way thus contributed a great deal to the Cold War, so someone could have a slightly nicer house.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Sure.
Tom

It's "dark," has some language, but he made some good points once you get past the first few seconds.

 

[collectivedementia]

Problem is, the idiots who flock to the stores to get in on all the super "deals" could really care less about the workers who actually make it possible for them to spoil their children and impress their peers. We should all hope and pray for no one to show up at these stores on T-day, nor on black Friday. Yeah, I know, wishful thinking.

 

[McBell]

Problem is, the idiots who flock to the stores to get in on all the super "deals" could really care less about the workers who actually make it possible for them to spoil their children and impress their peers. We should all hope and pray for no one to show up at these stores on T-day, nor on black Friday. Yeah, I know, wishful thinking.

I disagree.
The shoppers do care.

Don't believe me?
Go to a Wal-mart on Thanksgiving day and hang out around the cash registers and you will hear them whining about how there are not enough cashiers.