General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEven the convenience store/service stations can't find people to hire.
The sign on the door says hiring at $15/hr. That's not bad.
I went to buy gas. There was no sign saying the pump was out and there was a prior sale. But I couldn't get it to take my card. I pressed the help button. Nothing.
I went in the store to ask. There was only one person that I could see working in the store. I asked her what's wrong with pump 4 and she had no idea. I figured I'll buy gas tomorrow.
I decided to get some coffee. The cup size I wanted was out and I got the last lid. The only person went to the front to ring me up - there were lots of people standing around waiting to pay. No manager in sight.
If I were in her situation I'd probably be tempted to quit. Before this year this would not have happened in this store.
marble falls
(56,371 posts)... $15 dollars elsewhere trumps getting browbeaten and worse working the register in a convenience store.
EYESORE 9001
(25,812 posts)and its no surprise these jobs go infilled.
Elessar Zappa
(13,650 posts)have decided that theyre tired of working thankless service jobs. I dont blame them. If they want to attract people, they need to raise pay and benefits to whatever it takes to get people to put up with the bullshit.
Corgigal
(9,291 posts)can be dangerous jobs. When I worked 911, we had a young woman taken out of the store. Most women dont want that job at night.
stopdiggin
(11,095 posts)but (IMO) the reason a lot of people have quit these jobs is
it's a sh*tty job to start out with - working for sh*tty people (a lot of times the 'manager' at these places has absolutely no qualification - or clue - and almost nothing in the way of HR or people skills) - and then to top it off, dealing with a really sh*tty (and sometimes dangerous?) public.
And the person doing this thankless almost impossible job - soon comes to find out that the 'bread truck guy' that is stocking MsDebbies and Ho-Hos on the shelf - has a much, much better job (in all ways that matter) than she does. What on earth would incline you to stay?
MichMan
(11,790 posts)with good benefits and 4 weeks paid vacation. Everyone will want to work there.
Raise the price of gas 25 cents to make up for it. Customers might complain at first, but they will get used to it like they always do.
on all you had to say. Show me the money . . . .
Mariana
(14,849 posts)Those signs almost always say "up to" in little tiny print.
SYFROYH
(34,127 posts)greymattermom
(5,751 posts)Those signs are all lies. So are the ads. When you interview, it will be around $8/hour with random 20 hour/week shifts.
Mariana
(14,849 posts)Remember the story about the guy in Florida who applied for about 60 jobs, and got only a handful of responses and one interview - and that one had lied about the pay and the hours?
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2021/10/20/a-florida-man-applied-for-60-entry-level-jobs-in-a-month-to-prove-the-so-called-labor-shortage-is-a-myth
VarryOn
(2,343 posts)Mariana
(14,849 posts)Did it actually say that, or did it say "up to" $15/hr?
wackadoo wabbit
(1,160 posts)We need to stop normalizing the idea that $15/hr is a good wage.
Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage should be $24/hr.
Here's a link, in case anyone doesn't believe me: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/21/politics/minimum-wage-inflation-productivity/index.html
Mariana
(14,849 posts)Applicants will be told that there are requirements that they conveniently don't meet to make that wage, and they'll be offered much less.
Those signs are good PR, too, even if the place isn't actually hiring. They lead customers like the OP to believe that everyone who works there is paid at least $15/hr.
wackadoo wabbit
(1,160 posts)And you make an excellent point about the PR aspect of it, too.
pecosbob
(7,511 posts)Think the money's worth it? I was assaulted three times in two years.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)and 3 at night. The ones that get hit often tend to close at 11 and not be open overnight.
I worked at one 20 years ago. The owner changed closing time from 11 to 10pm after a holdup. It helped a lot because, all the neighborhood people who used to come in from 10-11 came in earlier. The store is safer when there are more people in it.
But I could hardly wait to get out of there.
pecosbob
(7,511 posts)is that if you try to protect yourself or the store's property you become a civil liability to the store and get fired by corporate.
JI7
(89,184 posts)I'm going to guess the gig economy might be one thing.
There are issues with it but there is more flexibility and pay is better though not regular. They might even be taking classes or trying things on their own like selling online , making YouTube videos etc.
So one of the things I'm thinking is happening is that people realize they can work less at the gig jobs but they get paid about the same or more than working longer at the retail customer service jobs.
Also many of these jobs usually had immigrants working and maybe there are less immigrants due to covid and other things making it more difficult for them to come here.
I'm in the Los Angeles area and it does look like places are understaffed and places have huge signs for job openings with starting pay at many over 15 . I believe minimum wage is 15 here.
Mariana
(14,849 posts)More than 3 million people have retired earlier than they had planned. Hundreds of thousands have died of Covid, and even more are disabled because of it, and can no longer work. Many former two-income families are making do on one income. Many former employees are now self-employed (including gig jobs). Many students' parents won't allow them to work where they have to deal with nasty, abusive, Covid-infested customers. Etc. It all adds up to an awful lot more people who just aren't available for hire at this time.
Employers need to accept this new reality. Seems like most of them are convinced that there's this vast pool of potential employees who will come crawling back any day, begging to work for low wages and in shitty conditions. They are very wrong.
madville
(7,397 posts)I mostly did Instacart, and some Uber Eats and Door Dash about 40-45 hours a week total, worked mostly peak times in good areas and easily grossed $900-1000 a week. This was mostly during a time when my regular job wouldn't let us come to work due to COVID but was still paying us full salary so an extra $3000-4000 a month was pretty sweet. Even when I went back to work full time I would do a few runs after work kinda on the way home, easy to make an extra $1000 a month.
MichMan
(11,790 posts)Last edited Mon Nov 29, 2021, 01:15 AM - Edit history (1)
if not, what do they plan to retire on ?
When my wife worked as an independent contractor for a couple years we were required to pay FICA taxes quarterly or face a penalty at tax time along with paying the SS taxes.
I always worked as a regular employee until I retired earlier this year. Fortunate to have contributed regularly to my 401k with a nominal limited employer match and plan on filing for SS in a couple months.