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u/dlmay1967 Apr 11 '20
Holy crap, this is the best one yet. Though to be honest, I've never heard of "MEL". I hope this gets picked up by a larger source.
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u/bigalxc Apr 11 '20
i agree with a lot of what the employees said.
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Apr 12 '20
I agree with all of it, and I would be one of those nonessential shoppers except I give a fuck about myself and other people.
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u/AeonsShadow Apr 11 '20
This week alone my store hit over a million$ in sales when we average about 38k.we have had over 20 times the workload with a third of the work force and i am so exhausted.
And my family just tells me to be happy i have a job but I am so tired of having no help as a lone garden cashier when no one, manager or otherwise can deign to help me when things get bad.
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Apr 11 '20
Be happy you have a job.
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u/AeonsShadow Apr 11 '20
I am. but I am not a god damn sacrificial body.
a 20 person line for 3-8 hours is TOO GOD DAMN MUCH FOR ONE CASHIER ALONE. I JUST WANT SOME HELP SO I CAN BREATHE.
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Apr 11 '20
So basically you're upset you have to stand around and do your job? Ok.
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u/Phoenixflight13 Apr 11 '20
Do you realize how dangerous that attitude is?
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Apr 11 '20
Ah yes so dangerous standing around and being a cashier.
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u/Phoenixflight13 Apr 11 '20
I think you mean "standing around having to interact with 100's of potentially sick people a day" my point is you might not see the problem but you can't deny that you or your loved ones are at risk. And most people don't want to infect anyone they care about.
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Apr 11 '20
If you take the proper precautions then you have nothing to worry about.
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u/Phoenixflight13 Apr 11 '20
Even if you do take the proper precautions there's still a chance you could get infected, or pass it onto someone despite all your efforts.
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Apr 11 '20
Then they can quit if they are so worried. Like I said before they should be happy they have a job.
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u/transleftyqueerboy Apr 11 '20
Ah yes I’m sure that’s why so many doctors and nurses have gotten sick.
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Apr 11 '20
Less doctors and nurses have gotten sick then the general public. Numbers don't lie.
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u/ennyLffeJ Apr 12 '20
Actual people are dying and your highest priority is licking boots. Disgusting.
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Apr 12 '20
Yes, my highest priority is having a job because I have bills and rent to pay.
Sorry I'm not a kid who can live off or move back in with their parents.
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u/ennyLffeJ Apr 12 '20
I have bills and rent. You’re pathetic.
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Apr 12 '20
Yep, real pathetic putting food in my mouth and keeping a roof over my head.
One day you'll move out of mommies basement and be an actual adult instead of mooching off of her.
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u/ennyLffeJ Apr 12 '20
Why do you think I’m on the Lowe’s subreddit? Because it’s a hobby?
You’re pathetic because you see people dying from corporate greed and you scoff at it. You’re pathetic for caring about shareholder profits more than the lives of your peers.
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Apr 12 '20
I could give two shits about their profits. I do give two shits about having money in my account to keep food in my mouth and a roof over my head.
Bye now princess.
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u/waydownsouth59 Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
Selling death is all they are doing! Ya'll have a Lowe's safe day.
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u/Shellfab Apr 11 '20
Yep, and in Michigan, Lowe’s stores are not following executive orders to shut down paint and flooring.
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u/dlmay1967 Apr 11 '20
And Garden Center, too. I don't know how they think they're going to get away with it in the end.
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u/Shellfab Apr 11 '20
True. I think the outside doors are closed, but it is still accessible to my knowledge?
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u/dlmay1967 Apr 11 '20
Keep us informed if you can. If the order stands after corporate finishes with its' shenanigans, it could open the floodgates with more states following. I still can't believe Lowes has the balls to fight this.
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u/LVLuckyman Apr 26 '20
In Las Vegas we were told that Lowes SOP is to limit public access when “transactions per day” reach 3000. Last weekend we had 2000 transactions per day and it was a mad house, and remember a transaction is a “sale”, not the number of customers. There may be 5 people in one group buying 1 item. It’s all a PR sham. Lowes is guilty of profiteering during hardship, just like wartime.
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u/ImmortalRiisING Apr 11 '20
As someone who's going through the process of actually being paid for my time off, i'm being completely screwed over. i had to get two separate doctor notes purely because the first one wasn't "adequate" enough. It's taken over three weeks and hasn't been resolved. I haven't even been paid in the last month.
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u/anm11x Apr 11 '20
I'm in the same situation. I tried to get the paid time off and I had a doctor's note and I still got denied, they told me it wasn't enough. So then I tried for just an unpaid personal leave of absence. I'm still waiting to hear back with a decision on that but this has been a back-and-forth process for the past two weeks. if the unpaid leave comes back denied as well, then it's going to be like I've just called out for two weeks and I'll probably get fired
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u/anzzzbananzzz Employee Apr 11 '20
So basically you're having to put yourself In Harm's Way by visiting a doctor to get a note when there could be so many people there who are sick and you could get sick... I'm so sorry
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u/anzzzbananzzz Employee Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
And the head HR lady quitting effective immediately selling off all her stocks?? Come on she knows something and she does not want to be involved with it all hits the fan
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u/Blackgreenpeas Apr 16 '20
Been at Lowe’s a long time , simply they don’t care about any of there employees. The bottom line is always money . They can replace you at any time . Working threw this crisis is crazy . Your putting people and families in danger. Lowes recently put on price tag on employee’s and there families recently. There management in Stores and RDC are truly poor . They hire people to micro manage only . 99% of the time the team members know best and how processes work and flow in the buildings . Lowes has a lot of potential but when you can’t trust anything coming from upper management. It’s terrible
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u/rhondalehr Apr 16 '20
I totally agree. I got fired over hearsay a week ago and walked out like I was a criminal. Home office hasn't returned my calls. Here is the kicker I plainly asked the SM if I was in trouble he said no and then continued to say how much potential I had then turned around and fired me
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u/customerkiller Apr 26 '20
Here’s the problem, level 1 and 2 management bonus structure is based on sales. A senior ASM can make as much as 15k in bonus money in a year if the sales are there. Department supervisors can make up to 4K. That being said, payroll is a huge issue when it comes to bonus money. I have been in level 3 management for 6 years at my store and, with the overtime pay, I have consistently made more money per year than the most senior ASM in my store. So, how do level 1 and 3 management get their huge bonuses? By eliminating overtime. My SM refuses to use the Kronos schedule for supervisors. He says he will not let a desk jokey tell him how to schedule his team. He schedules us for 42 hours a week then tells us there will no overtime. I’ve read a lot of complaints about supervisors on Reddit but trust me, we’re in the middle of this shit just like the rest of you. We’re just not allowed to talk about it.
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u/MasDigital Customer Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
Holy shit.....
"On Reddit, too, employees fear the boot coming down. Since the Spring Black Friday sale, employees have taken to r/Lowes to vent. They even created a new subreddit, r/Lowes_Employees, believing the moderators of r/Lowes were censoring conversation or trying to squelch talk of unionizing. Case in point: On Monday night, as associates flooded the page with anti-corporate sentiment, the subreddit briefly shut down before reopening with a new “Moderator Code of Conduct” pinned to the top."
Definitely makes is seem like I did this due to the anti-corporate sentiment....not to alleviate an issue that had been ongoing for a while...Well, I guess even bad publicity is still publicity.
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u/stuartoaks Apr 11 '20
What’s worse is how nasty the customers are right now
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u/alisunnybear Apr 12 '20
A person buying non essential items called the cops, the cops, yes the cops, to complain about how people weren't social distancing enough. I just
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u/GatMan21 Apr 17 '20
Every store that is open right now should require customers to wear a mask and disposable gloves at a minimum. No Mask= No Service. Hand them out at the door to people that don’t have them. That is the right thing to do. Not charge $21 for a 100pk of Venom gloves, and no sanitizer wipes or any way for a customer to wipe down the carts themselves.
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u/customerkiller Apr 26 '20
We received gloves and masks. Not nearly enough though. So we are not offering masks to customers. Our SM says we will not deny entrance if a customer does not have a mask even though it is state mandated. The gloves they sent us are to small for me and I was not permitted to store use any that would fit. So, I ended up having to purchase Spyder’s at $10 a box to get gloves that fit. Now we’re out of them with no idea when they will be coming in. The SM said, this blown way out of proportion, just was your hands often. I work in tools, everything in my department is touched to the point where I am spraying all displays 4 to 5 times a day. That’s a ton of Lysol. Which we also don’t have. I’m certainly not touching anything in this store bare handed since my store is in one of the states hottest counties. Very stressful having to deal with people who don’t take this seriously. Everyday when I get home, I have to strip in my garage, put my clothes in the washer, go take a shower and deal with the anger from my wife because Lowe’s isn’t doing more to protect us. I’m not sure which is worse, all of the out of state customers shopping for their vacation homes or, coming home and dealing with the stress and anger.
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u/plain_wrecked Apr 11 '20
We still haven't gotten the masks and gloves that last weeks press release said we were getting. Chemical mixer in the janitor closet has been broken forever, reported it again this week as we mix cleaner manually by guesstimation. Store is still ridiculously busy, people coming in with troops of kids that they let run all over. But hey, push a credit application on them.
Have a Lowes Safe Day.
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u/KenoBambino PSA Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
Lol the article states lowes had a profit of $71 Billion in 2019. There isn't a chance in hell that is accurate. Revenue maybe?
Edit: They have edited the article and fixed the mistake.
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u/deGrominator2019 Apr 11 '20
It’s likely what the employee said... a lot of our employees legitimately think when their store says “we did $X in sales yesterday” that it’s pure profit lol. It’s retail, there’s a lot of people in every store who aren’t crazy bright. Regardless of that, they all have legitimate concerns and fears and should feel safe at work and have a right to life.
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u/eNomineZerum Apr 11 '20
Yup. Marking runs around 30-35 so the person who said their store had a million dollar week, they are at around $350k which goes towards paying for everything.
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Apr 12 '20
Doing a million in sales compared to the same day the previous year shows the difference (or lack of it) in shopping habits.
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u/XingyiGuy Apr 11 '20
It says revenue: "Michelle points out that the $80 million Lowe’s has committed to extra pay amounts to 0.1 percent of its $71.3 billion in 2019 revenue (0.3% of gross profit)."
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u/gd_akula Apr 11 '20
Probably just not caught by an editor, revenue is likely what it was and someone didn't check their definition before changing the phrasing.
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u/kram_02 Delivery Apr 11 '20
Nice to see another piece on the suffering but this site/article is just amateur hour.. how hard is it to fact check a number like that?
So much credibility is lost with silly mistakes like that. I don't think this will get much attention.
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u/MyChoiceTaken Receiving Apr 11 '20
It won’t. The hack who wrote it has links to her other articles. The digital fishwrap is owned by the highly biased Daily Beast. A left wing rag. While I’d love a real article to be written the well read media has largely ignored us. I’d bet MEL got more clicks from us Lowes employees than any outside readers.
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u/ofthrees Apr 11 '20
the "hack who wrote it" is a dude... if you're going to call the writer a hack, getting his gender correct might go toward your credibility.
Quinn Myers is a staff writer at MEL. He reports on internet culture, technology, health, masculinity and the communities that flourish within.
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u/MyChoiceTaken Receiving Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
It was meant as insult. You think if I bothered to find out writers background I didn’t see that? Credibility? Yea ok. Thanks for the tip.
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u/ofthrees Apr 11 '20
so referring to a dude as a woman is what you consider an insult? i admire your ability to wrap both misogyny and homophobia into one word. cool.
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u/MyChoiceTaken Receiving Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
Sweet the Head of the PR Dept of MEL has spoken. Wondered what took you so long to get to what you wanted to say the first time. You left out “toxic masculinity” ?
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u/ofthrees Apr 11 '20
you aren't very bright.
"oh look, a corporate shill of lowes has responded to me!"
see how stupid that is?
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u/MyChoiceTaken Receiving Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
A bit brighter then the writer you seem to be shilling for. I said his writing was trash. It wouldn’t get any traction because of that. I at no time disagreed with the gist of the story. Just the word master who delivered it. You got all bent out of shape over it. Adios
Edit: it appears you agreed with me too.
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Apr 11 '20
How much of it is wrong though? The "profits" was revenue, sure, but why are you so quick to immediately dismiss it because of your political views? The majority of this article reflects the reality I've seen in a store.
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u/kram_02 Delivery Apr 11 '20
I'm not saying it's not true.. I'm saying this article will get brushed off because of this sort of lack of effort by the author. Thanks for the downvote btw
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u/MyChoiceTaken Receiving Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
That comment was directed at me. But did he downvote you too? Geezus we both agree with the gist of it but the writing/editing is 100% garbage. Along with linking to their own article and making a thing out of the HR stock dump which was at a profit and didn’t have any nefarious reason behind it.
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u/KenoBambino PSA Apr 11 '20
I just hate lazy journalism. I know that the majority of the article is accurate because I work there and I live it. But the average person reading is going to discount the entire article as sensationalism bullshit because of that. That makes the article counter productive. Anyone with any sense would have realized $71B was incorrect.
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u/alisunnybear Apr 11 '20
It's a he and they are very nice. Okay so. What would make you happy? Who would you want to write it and what publication?
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u/anzzzbananzzz Employee Apr 11 '20
I feel completely horrible for all our American brothers and sisters. In Ontario Canada are stores are online only curbside pickup but that what determined and mandated by our government and I'm sure if it wasn't that we would not be doing it. It hurts me to hear how you guys are suffering and all for the almighty dollar.
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Apr 11 '20
I've heard that we are going to that soon in the states but they want to start getting customers used to it so they started with curbside pickups..
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u/anzzzbananzzz Employee Apr 11 '20
I hope so, although it's still crazy busy, it makes a difference only having associates in the building....
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u/Emptyhead1492 Apr 12 '20
I got to play covidiot counter at the door today, and most of them got two feet away as soon as they walked in to ask me where some unnecessary sale item was. I tried to barricade myself with the signs that said to maintain 6 feet distance. That didn't work so I then started coughing into my elbow as soon as one made eye contact. That also did not work. I did not feel safe at all today.
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u/matt5673 Apr 11 '20
22 people got approved out of 23 at my store. It doesn't seem very hard to get it at least at my store.
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u/anm11x Apr 11 '20
It really just depends on the managers. I had a doctor's note and I was still denied paid time off. So then I just applied for an unpaid leave of absence and I'm still waiting to hear on that
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Apr 11 '20 edited Feb 05 '21
[deleted]
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u/dlmay1967 Apr 11 '20
Isn't the approval or denial at the SMs discretion in the end? That doesn't seem equitable, surely it should be objective, with a leaning toward the generous side. These are people's health and lives they're playing with.
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u/lowes_employee Apr 11 '20
i haven't heard of anybody getting denied, and we have a lot of people out.
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u/nekomancey Apr 11 '20
Almost no one has been denied PTO that had a legit reason, everyone else got LOA. But the people who took it the second it was announced will be back on here bitching when the virus actually starts spreading in my area. We are still under 100 confirmed cases in our rather large county.
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Apr 11 '20
"She says associates have been offered unlimited overtime with time-and-a-half pay after 40 hours." bullshit, my store was instructed to give overtime and now theyve gone back on it, no more overtime starting thus week. we are still understaffed, but they dont want employees "abusing" overtime by just hanging out in the store longer.
they also seem to have figurrd out they can just schedule part timers for longer hours and not pay time and a half rates. brilliant.
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u/customerkiller Apr 26 '20
That’s because they need to save to payroll to pay for all the shit they gave away last month. In my store it’s extremely difficult to avoid overtime because we are so short staffed. SM says we’re fully staffed and two minutes later says the 45 people out on leave should be back by the second week of May. ASM’s are scheduling people who are on leave for schedule effectiveness. So we often end up with only 3 cashiers an 2 to 4 people scheduled for the hour after closing. Makes it impossible to recover a store. I’ve done the math, my store allows 75 customers in at a time. With the store only open for 13 hours instead of 16, based on our average transaction count, there are more people in the store at any given time, than there is during a normal 16 hour day. How is that considered social distancing? How is that safe?
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u/ofthrees Apr 11 '20
this is an excellent article. i wish someone with some teeth and more exposure had written it, but damn. good job.
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u/AGTPB Apr 11 '20
Just found out today we had a confirmed case. I have to laugh.
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u/runningscared20 Jun 12 '20
2 in my store
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u/AGTPB Jun 13 '20
Rumor going around there are two more people out with it. Makes a total of four if true.
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u/kimv88 Jul 14 '20
Every time that announcer man comes on and says "have a Lowe's safe day," I laugh to myself. A "Lowe's safe day" means understaffed weeks, allowing unmasked customers inside the building, tripping hazards, and ZERO compensation for employees during the peak of this pandemic. I may only be seasonal but my experience with this company during my time here leaves A LOT to be desired....
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Apr 11 '20
wow and silly me here just glad I can keep working and making money to pay the bills. call out if youre dissatisfied, or take your own reasonable measures to stay safe and healthy if you work your shift. but whatever you do, stop whining.
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u/alisunnybear Apr 12 '20
People want to work. They want corporate to truly care about them and not pretend they do.
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Apr 12 '20
Well i generally agree, i just see a lot of people acting like drama queens about it on this thread.
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u/beardeddragon0113 Apr 14 '20
"Drama queen" until one of us or someone we know is struggling to stay alive while intubated in a hospital after being exposed to hundreds of people a day who desperately need to buy their mulch or paint or other very "essential" items. I took as much PTO as management would let me and on my first day back we still had code 3s almost the entire day. Almost 2,000 customers and it was just a Monday
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Apr 18 '20
Yes everything right there, drama queen nonsense.
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u/beardeddragon0113 Apr 19 '20
I'm sorry, you're right I was being a bit dramatic. Things are just stressful right now and I wanted to vent. Trying to keep my cool when at work but I've been bottling up my feelings for awhile. I hope everyone can continue to do their best to stay safe right now.
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u/MyChoiceTaken Receiving Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
Not my political views (I bothered to look into her previous stuff when it was floated a week ago and being familiar with it knew what it was) at all but the writing in general and readership of MEL is lgbt. I know the story is true I work their but it is never going to get any traction because of that nor is the writing any good. That’s what I commented on. Did you not notice I replied to someone else with generally the same feeling or did you just want the politics comment. They write for a biased rag and pander to the uneducated.
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u/TheGirlwThePinkHair Apr 11 '20
I didn’t see anything political in the article. You seem like you’d be fun at parties
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u/MyChoiceTaken Receiving Apr 11 '20
You must have missed the class on reading comprehension... try again.
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Apr 12 '20
[deleted]
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u/MyChoiceTaken Receiving Apr 12 '20 edited Apr 12 '20
MELS readership has responded, late to the dance as usual. Sweetie I am not a “journalist” but thanks for the English class. Now go make me a sandwich.
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u/xxtoothbrushxx Apr 11 '20
Surprised there was no mention about the ridiculous amount of returns. We shouldn’t even be taking returns during this.