Would you step in?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2006
Would you step in?
14
Thu, 06-28-2007 - 9:42am

My DD is 17 and started her first summer job last month, in an ice cream shop (national chain). She really likes it and is punctual, friendly, and responsible (for a change, lol). When she was hired, she doesn't recall being told she would work a certain number of hours per week and didn't really think to ask. She knew other teens who already worked at the original location and assumed, correctly or incorrectly, that things would run the same way at this shop. Lately she has been scheduled very few hours (a total of SIX this week), she hasn't yet received a name badge or a "weekend" shirt (just a T-shirt to be worn for weekend shifts). Without jumping into paranoia,because she is a good employee and is complimented by customers every shift she works, it seems everyone else has the badges and shirts, plus they're scheduled at least double the hours she is per week. She called and left two messages, without going into detail, for the Operations Mgr. who handles the scheduling(and is not in the store, ever). She just wanted to question the lack of hours and request more, if possible. The woman has not called her back and it's been two weeks.

Now, to be fair, this is a brand new location for this franchise (there is another one across town) and they seemed to have hired nearly everyone on our side of town under the age of 17 to work there for the summer. They have a LOT of employees, and I have yet to see an adult managerial presence there any time I've been in the parking lot to pick up DD. It seems to be a shop run by 18 yr. olds. Poor management is a definite possibility here, as is being overwhelmed with a new location, lol. That's fine and good, but I think that if an employee calls a manager, then the manager has an obligation to get back to them within a reasonable amount of time to find out what the call is about. I think two weeks and counting is unacceptable, to be honest. I want my kids to handle their own matters, but I don't think my DD calling again is going to help any. Would you call yourself, if you were me? I'm not sure how my DD should handle it from here.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-22-2003
Thu, 06-28-2007 - 3:59pm
My advice to your daughter (and in my opinion, she did all the right steps) is to find another job with more hours and supervision.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-24-2006
Thu, 06-28-2007 - 4:22pm

<<< Yikes! I think in this case I'd be making an anonymous phone call. That's not only illegal but it's putting your son and other employees who are clean and straight at risk. >>>

I guess I'm not at the YIKES point yet because meth is everywhere around here. This isn't the first job he's held where employees are on dope... I doubt it'll be his last.

And besides, I have no proof, only my son's word. Have you tried turning someone in for something when you have nothing but hearsay? I guess it's good in a way... but it's also frustrating.

I'm glad your DD is ready for something else if it comes up!

zz

Avatar for weberdns0
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2000
Sun, 07-01-2007 - 1:56pm
I as a parent would step in, but I would encourage your daughter to talk to the management people and see why she hasn't gotten a name badge and shirt, and let them know that she is interested in working more hours.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2006
Sun, 07-01-2007 - 9:41pm

As it turned out, I had to step in today. For better or worse, my DD works with a bunch of her good friends, one of whom is a "shift manager." My DD was scheduled to work 5-10 this evening, as it had been on the schedule for three weeks, and we were literally walking out the door when this friend called to tell her not to come in because another girl was working that shift, a girl who just happens to be nearly attached at the hip to this shift manager/friend. This was the third time this friend had called my DD to tell her this today and each time, my DD told her that she knew her schedule, she hadn't been told differently by the manager she worked with last night, etc.,etc. So while she tried to call another manager, I ended up calling the Operations Manager to try to get an explanation of how these things work there. I didn't get into the shirt, badge and all that, although I did mention that my DD had been working very few hours as it was and needed to keep the hours she already had. Long story short, the Ops Manager told me to have my DD report for her shift and she'd find out why people were trying to mess with the schedule without her knowledge.

I don't know what happened, if anything, as DD is still at work. But I have to say how cutthroat and power hungry these kids are over something as innocuous as an ice cream scooper job. It's really sort of silly, when you think about it. She's been looking for another job, which is hard at this point in the summer, but as soon as something pops up, her ice cream days are over, lol. Too poorly managed and too much silly drama for a summer job, IMO.

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