Same issue treated differently

[siamesecat2965]

I still think that's an issue between an employee and the person who hires/pays them.  Yes, it's my money that keeps them in business, but I'm not in charge of the agreement they have with the person who hires them as to what they will do all day.

My boss pays me according to what he sees fit to pay considering my work.  If I'm not worth what he's willing to pay, things change.  But that's between me and my boss - not a 3rd person.

I used to work in a retail shop (summer in-between college semesters) that had quite a bit of downtime.  It was a specialty shop.  And when there weren't customers in there, I did all I could do - I made sure the store was clean, I rearranged merchandise to get some of the stuff in the back up front, so it got noticed and possibly bought, I made sure the storeroom was clean.  I did everything I could think of to do.  But, even with all of that (and even as the only employee in the store), there ended up being a lot of downtime.  So I read.  I tried to read some of the books we had on the subject relating to the store (so I could be knowledgeable about our product and things like that).  But, when all else failed, I read my own books.  And put them aside the second a potential customer came in.  My boss - the owner of the shop - deemed it worthwhile to have me there despite the fact that there was downtime in which I didn't have anything to do in the shop.  It allowed her to leave and do things for herself.  In fact, I was given a key to the place, and there were weeks where I wouldn't see her at all; I was, seriously, the only person running the shop.  It was no one else's business what she paid me or if I had enough to do; it was solely hers and my business alone.  Even if the customers' money was financing my paycheck.

I also work in retail, PT. I work nights and saturdays (sometimes day, sometimes night) There are many guidelines from Corporate as to how many people are scheduled, when, etc. Many nights, there are 3 of us plus a manager on, and we have no customers. It's just not busy. So we will straighten the store, etc. but even so, there sometimes is downtime. managers then have the option to send people home, but they don't always, in case it DOES get busy.  We sometimes joke its silly to pay all of us and that it costs more to pay us, and keep the store open than we actually sell, but we have no control over that at all. its just the way things are.

Howefver, we are not allowed to read or do anthyihng like that on the sales floor.

[miranova]

In any situation where an employee must be available at all times, regardless of the actual traffic to the store, there is a potential for downtime.  Downtime is not a sign that anyone is overpaid or that the store is not using their resources wisely.  As a customer, I would much rather have someone available at a variety of hours than have a store only open a few hours a day so that they can be sure they are always super busy and getting their money's worth out of their employees.

One summer I had a 2nd job in the afternoon for about 2.5 hours after the main boss wanted to leave for the day.  It was an office job and consisted of answering the phone and dealing with any walk in customers that had questions.  Sometimes the phone would not ring for hours.  However, they still wanted me there when it did and were willing to pay for it.  So, yeah, I had to do something with my downtime or I quite literally would have fallen asleep.  So I read.

I think if my manager had insisted that I do nothing but wait for the phone to ring, I would have found another job out of sheer boredom.

I do see a difference in a bank however and I can't quite pinpoint why.  I think if I were the manager I would offer other activities that you could do to fill time if necessary.  That way you don't have to be totally bored in between customers.