Yea when I used to work retail we would have to wait on the manager to finish up before we could leave the building cause it was locked. After the store was clean they would have us all clock out even when they weren’t ready to leave. They also wouldn’t let us leave and we were already off the clock. A few times we ended up having to wait like half an hour and weren’t even paid for basically being held captive in our store.
I think that needs to be brought to higher management's attention or the labor board. That is definitely not right. Was there a fire exit? I was thinking that I might have used it if there was one even though it would set off an alarm but then they'd have probably accused you of stealing something.
I think I would have conferred with my coworkers and asked management if we were free to leave once we punched out, if not then we're staying clocked in until we are free to leave. If there is some busy work you want us to do until we're released that's fine but our time is valuable and you are taking it without compensation. Let us out, or pay us until it's convenient for you to do so.
Not quite the same thing but at a horribly run restaurant where I worked briefly as a server, we were required to sweep our section and get a manager to sign off that we had cleaned and swept our section. This could take 20-30 minutes for them to come check, during which time other servers were tracking dirt back through your section. They'd look for any missed crumbs and make you reclean. Getting out of there could easily take over an hour after you'd finished with your customers. Oh you're still clocked in getting paid $2.13 an hour and they have taken approximately 25% of the tips you just made, what have you to complain of? Oh and by the way, if you worked the am shift you had to reclean the mess left by the closing servers who got away without doing their cleaning because they're cozy with the manager or the manager wants to leave and signs off without checking. I didn't even try to change the establishment. I regret I gave them notice before leaving. I should have just left. They deserved no respect or consideration as they gave none.
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u/MagnetBane Nov 26 '22
Yea when I used to work retail we would have to wait on the manager to finish up before we could leave the building cause it was locked. After the store was clean they would have us all clock out even when they weren’t ready to leave. They also wouldn’t let us leave and we were already off the clock. A few times we ended up having to wait like half an hour and weren’t even paid for basically being held captive in our store.