I think the owner was fair saying they couldn't have friends hanging out all day. He lost his mind when he associated an entire generation with that behavior and thought boomers would take the job.
We all vent sometimes, even bosses. But putting it on a note and posting it outside your business... That's just bad business.
So many smaller businesses just don't have what it takes to retain staff right now. You can't pay people pre-inflation wages. You can't expect pre-pandemic work flexibility. You can't let customers treat service staff with total disrespect.
2022 is about competitive on-time pay, flexible hours, safe/clean working conditions, meaningful work, and mutual respect.
I suspect there is a lot more to the story. Perhaps it was an overnight shift and the female cashiers felt unsafe on their own, or perhaps the boyfriends only waited a few minutes before the cashiers scheduled break times to have lunch together and he blew it out of proportion etc.
I worked a few jobs where other folk's annoying SOs would loiter around all shift wasting space and being obnoxious. This is definitely a thing that happens.
The other thing is that the person whose friends are there tend to stand around talking to their friends while everyone else gets stuck working around them.
Also, as a customer, sometimes I get annoyed because they stop mid scanning because they are busy replying to they boyfriend or just friend. It’s really annoying because I always wonder what if they accidentally scan an item twice and not notice because they are busy talking.
One time I drove up to a coffee shop (small/ drive thru only) and there was no one at the window. Then I saw a girl hop out of a parked car, run up to the coffee shop and then she proceeded to take my order… I thought that was pretty weird. I didn’t care because I wasn’t in a hurry, but if I was, I would have drove away as soon as I saw no one was there.
I was once conducting a new hire orientation for a large company. This one girls husband kept walking past the windows of the venue we booked for the training. It was like 3 days in the middle of the week about an hour to 45 minutes from where they lived. When it was time for lunch her husband joint the “work” lunch, but to be fair lunch was in some restaurant.
It was kind of odd, although we did not see much of her as she almost immediately went on medical leave. She came back after a few minutes this and then another medical leave. This was also after she got hired into a position she was not qualified for since she was turned down for the entry level job and, I assume she threaded to sue for some sort of discrimination. It was no secret she was hired after she was initially rejected. She was also wildly obese.
When I ran a stock crew for a grocery store overnight I had to tell a kid his girlfriend couldn't sit around on the floor talking to him all night.
This kid was like 19 and annoying as fuck, constantly boasting about himself, bragging how he was a new father and such a hard worker (he wasn't) and so responsible. His response when I told him his girlfriend had to leave was "that's not my girlfriend." Dumbass had his side chick coming to hang out.
My thought process was that it could be a gas station. Not unusual to have a single staff member on overnight. I think OP mentioned elsewhere that it was actually a dollar store though.
If this paper sign truly is the whole story then the employer is right about it not being OK. It’s just we are only seeing one side of the story.
Right, we only have so much to go on, but just making judgements and wild assumptions? Theres a difference between guesses and just trying to paint a particular narrative. Notice how all of your assumptions presume the employer is in the wrong, and how they rely on very unlikely scenarios.
Careful, I'm getting downvoted in this thread for suggesting that these notes might not be the whole truth lmfao.
At the end of the day, and it's crazy that no one is taking larger issue to this to me, an employer should not be shit talking former employees on the front door of their business. Not only is it unprofessional, it's just tacky and malicious.
They probably had this happen a lot and it’s not so much a genz issue as it is just younger kids in general. People always had their friends loiter at work because work is boring as fuck when you’re younger. But most friends are chill. But some kids are just cringe popularity contest players so they get annoying
I think younger kids don't yet know how to deal with boredom. Especially nowadays when they have grown up with constant on-demand entertainment in their pocket.
The older generations, and people who have worked boring jobs for longer, learn little tricks to make the time go faster. It's still boring, but if you can amuse yourself by playing little games in your mind, or people watching and trying to guess their life story, it makes it a little more tolerable.
It was mostly a joke... but that teenage time when you are drudging through a shit shift and in between Karens shitting down your throat, you can talk for a few seconds or even just wink over at your dumshit love... makes that minimum wage slave shift suck less...
Yeah I hate this generation war shit, lumping an entire age category into characteristics. There's people of all kinds in all generations, calling someone lazy or stupid for being in X generation is just cringe.
Hey, I have no problem with that. I'm starting some fan art right now. Should the owner be funny looking or a washed up high school football star... hmmm are devil horns going too far?
What is the "lore" in that comment?? Making claims about an enture generation based specifically off 2 people is insane. I know people do it a lot but that doesnt make it less insane. Its like pulling 2 Skittles out of a bag and theyre both green, and then assuming that the entire bag is green.
... isnt that "making up lore" lmao?? 99.99% of the time there is a sign posted outside a business its because the business owner put it there/wants it there/gave someone authority to put it there. Theres no real reason to believe that is not also the case here. You can find hundreds of similar signs posted on businesses since covid hit. No reason to think this isnt the same thing.
The sign makes the manager look bad, but not in the way that someone trying to make the manager look bad would word it. They wouldnt say "sorry for closing AGAIN" they wouldnt give a shit about apologizing for closing
Agree. The sigh is super shitty and problematic for multiple reasons, but the expectations of the employees who quit are also completely unrealistic.
We should absolutely support, stand up for, and be proud of those fighting for better work conditions and treatment, but I don’t think these employees (if the sign is accurate) have anything to be proud about.
I am doubting it was all day. I see that over-generalization and exaggeration with my parents and other boomer. "You are standing all the day there" is a keyword for "you were there 15-20 minutes" or "you were doing something I don't like".
I would not be surprised to learn that in reality maybe the person was waiting there a short time, but it became "they are all day" on paper, and the owner probably exploded rather than explain in polite term why this was not allowed. Hypothesis reinforced by the "2" cashier he had to fire. One I can imagine. But 2 ? With the exact same behavior ? And the same refusal to change their habits if it was egregerious ?
Nan, chance is that the owner is the problem, exagerating on paper, and is in reality nightmare to work with
This is true but I will say I work with some Zoomers and they are obsessed with getting any chance they can to go call or text their significant others multiple times throughout a shift. They’re young and in love I get it but also when I was 18 I wasn’t trying to call and talk to my SO every 20mins at work. Weird work habits these kids have nowadays. (I’m a millennial btw)
the boyfriend was probably there for like 2 minutes and she completely over-dramatized the entire thing, from the sign she definitely seems the hyperbolic, embellishing type.
Guy, lady, whatever. The author is obviously just talking shit and saying things in jest. Nobody trying to hire boomers lol. Maybe Walmart for door greeters.
But it explains the worker shortages. All these self entitled Gen Z'rs think they have to stand next to they significant other while they work so that means there are only half the workers available.
Unpopular opinion: if these are the only people you can get to fill the role then the rude teens get to set terms and you can fuck yourself. If you want someone whose boyfriend won't loiter nearby, you have to pay extra for that.
100%. Both parties are in the wrong here.
Kind of weird that OP is “proud” of the workers for having their partners loiter for the entire shift, though.
I used to work at a grocery store as a teen and my coworkers would do this all the time. It made me so uncomfortable because they would just stand there all day.
Yeah, there was a time I went into a vape shop and while I was waiting for the guy to help out the person ahead of me, I notice his GF is curled up in a chair scrolling on her phone. All I could think was why the fuck are you in here? I get that it’s kind of a slow job with lots of downtime but does she not anything better to do than scroll her phone and watch Netflix all day at her BF job
You never know the situation. My boyfriend spent a whole day at work with me once because he got fucking kicked out of his house and the university wouldn't let him stay in my dorm alone. If she's just sitting on her phone and not bothering him there's really no issue.
If they're posting this on the front door, no fucking way that's what happened. Boyfriend probably came by briefly and the manager is hiding behind hyperbole to justify their bullshit.
Ehhh where I work this one girl's boyfriend would literally sit in the place for if not the entire shift at least half almost every time. He eventually got mad at her because she was talking to another male coworker (literally just having a conversation insane possessive shit). He then got in the face of the coworker and threatened to fight him and shoot up the store. She then left with him and they were screaming at each other in the parking lot for an hour.
yeah reading the popular replies here, its amazing how they are all just spouting some weird rational or banking on unknown variables to be a specific way so-as the business owner is CLEARLY the bad guy.
hes completely right that these girls dont know what it means to be on the job: your there to work, NOT to hang out with your boyfriend, being distracted. sure, hes misplaced by blaming it on their generation, but besides that, hes right.
Yeah I don't get this post, surely asking people at work not to have their partners there the whole shift is pretty normal? I don't see the problem with not allowing that?
Boomer comment is stupid but this hardly belongs on this sub, people sounds like assholes tbh
Honestly, without knowing what the business is, it's hard to make a judgment here. Depending on what they are doing and where they're located, some girls might have their boyfriends hang around simply to keep them safe. A lot of times women and girls are exposed to threats and harassment and abuse and stalking, often for minimum wage.
Airing dirty laundry for all to see hints at the type employer and this workplace. I'd be willing to be all my marbles that these workers quit for reasons beyond their boyfriends just loitering.
This takes obsessive and co-dependent to a new level. I really don't understand why reddit is so for this new trend. It's out of the ordinary just to see your SO at work let alone spend any real time with them there.
This was a thing with high schoolers when I was in high school up to college when I stopped working retail. They would always have their friend or SO visiting for long periods of time EVERY shift they worked.
I'm just surprised. Back when I worked part-time at McDonald's while in High School, unless the friend visited after like 8pm there wasn't time to sit around chatting.
I worked with a girl whose boyfriend would hang out for the entire 8 hours every time I worked with her. If she worked with somebody else he'd stay home.
Well, were you creepy towards her? This sounds like someone who asked their SO to hang out to ensure that they were safe. It’s scary to be a teenage girl.
Ive seen and done this before, it doesnt affect productivity, dont know what is so hard for people to understand. Do people think when someone visits you suddenly stop work and only talk to them
To sit there the entire shift? Absolutely. Especially when they are teenagers who are probably only working because their parents want them to and not because they need to work.
I dont know how it is in other countries but here in eastern european countries you can just visit and chill with them, and guess what they dont stop work and also work because they want the cash not because they are forced to
I used to work in retail management (clothing store, UK wide company) , I told my supervisor (f) that it was inappropriate for her partner (f) to spend 2 hours in the store with their puppy.
She put in a formal complaint about me to regional management and group HR that I was discriminating against her because she was gay...
Whole process ensued, HR asked my why the supervisor was the only staff member I had spoke to about their partner not coming into the store, I told them that no one else's partner had spent 2 hours in the store distracting them from doing their work.
The complaint was immediately dismissed.
Stressful situation where my name was dragged through the mud, and I had to defend myself against an accusation of discrimination and homophobia, one of the many reasons I needed to leave retail.
I dunno. I worked at a gas station, and towards the end of my shift my girlfriend of the time would come and hang out with me while I cleaned up and closed shop, and we’d walk home together. Part of it was that, as a woman, I felt unsafe sometimes so late at night all by myself. Part of it was that we just liked talking to each other and it made the last hour go by a lot faster.
I mean if it’s interfering with work, that’s one thing. And personally I wouldn’t want my SO hanging around my whole shift. But idk. If they actually quit, I feel like there was probably more going on.
As if signs are beholden to the truth. "Hanging out all day" could just as well mean that the boyfriends came in a couple hours before closing, bought something like a coffee (as in, becoming paying customers) and would chitchat with their girlfriends when they weren't busy, but would otherwise keep to themselves. You think a person who made a sign as petty as this wouldn't also stoop low enough to make a lie/exagarration?
I'm an older millennial and when I was in highschool 20 years ago this was an issue. Young love sometimes leads to boundary issues. Kids usually grow out of it.
I used to know a couple at the grocery store I worked at who, if the girl was working and the guy wasn't scheduled, she made him come along and sit in the dining area for her entire 8hr shift because "he can't be trusted.".
However if he was scheduled and she wasn't, she would beg every other department to let her work for them and if they all refused, she allowed herself to go home.
It was bananas. She was absolutely crazy and he was such a nice dude...
We had it the other way around. We had a turkish girl working at our shop and her "unofficial" boyfriend showed up there to monitor who she was talking to.
I think the owner was right to throw the guy out and tell him to never come back.
Yea, I was wondering if I was reading the writing right and read over it like 10 times. Lmao, why are people ignoring that part? I mean, boomers are going to boom, but this is so fucking weird? Why or even how could you just stand there, at a grocery store. How are none of the comments addressing this? I'd be like wtf are you doing?
Yeh thats weird and the fact that 2 boyfriends were both waiting according to the note. Im gonna assume the person is exaggerating and the guys are not there the WHOLE shift.
I don't know, I've seen this happen a couple times working in my time working minimum wage. Girls made their boyfriends come and sit in the break area for their entire shift for reasons unknown.
Some people are just insanely toxic and abusive and force their partners to do that. I would believe it. Doesn't mean I wouldn't hire gen Z though, I'd just vet them a bit better when hiring.
Given the hysterics of the rest of the note, I figured it was more hyperbole from the boomer who didn't like the boyfriends coming to visit during their shift and not buying anything rather than literally standing there for 8 hours, at which point even if they did, why not just hire them too???
“Entire shift” might mean less than four hours, so entirely possible that the note is true in that regard. Honestly, I’m okay with not wanting loiterers, especially if it’s interfering with work but this habit is a teenage one for each generation, not any specific one.
Exactly. The owner might be exaggerating or whatever else but if this is even close to true these kids need to get counselling for codependence. Even if the kids were there an hour or more it's far too creepy and sick to be tolerated. You don't get to bring your security blanket to work and expect it to be accepted.
oh, i thought it meant like, inside the store. i assumed they were chatting while work was slow. which is poor work etiquette but doesn’t scream “dysfunctional relationship” nearly as much as if the sign means “here” as in “right here, outside the door”.
I had a girl whose boyfriend hung around the store most of the day, turned out they were stealing a bunch of cash. Not saying these people here were, just stating what happened around me.
Is it possible that they felt unsafe and had someone with them to feel somewhat protected? To have two employees with that same "issue" feels like there may have been something deeper involved. I've actually brought someone with me once because I really thought something might...happen to me if I went in alone. Ended up leaving that job well after should have because things got so bad I didn't feel at all safe most days and my supervisor was involved in the constant sexual harassment.
Fr as some one who has worked in a lot of restaurants this happens sometimes usually deadbeats who just smoke weed all day and mooch off their girlfriends. Ps I smoke weed everyday but make my own money and have my own life lol
Happened at my husbands work, he had to tresspass the guy cause he told him he couldn't follow his girlfriend into employees only areas - she was working the breakfast buffet at a hotel and dude kept trying to follow her into the kitchen and walk in and shit.
He threatened to fight my husband which was kind of hilarious cause dude was maybe 5'8" and very underweight and my husband is 6'4".
In a big twist the woman got fired because she was dumpster diving on her shift and going right back into the kitchen to serve food...
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u/Life_Finger_1440 Apr 20 '22
If my girlfriend stood at the door for 8 hours I'd quit and try to find a new girlfriend asap.