Service & Engagement Told to do another job because I voiced a safety concern

Tangled

Tangled

Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
50
Our footprint of our 8-register self-checkout has a register directly in front as you enter its floor. The register straight ahead on the way in has a wall less than a foot to its right. And it has a shelf of candy on that wall leaving a 3-foot space between the register and the shelf. If that guest needs help, they don't move out of the way when we need to access that register. They would need to back out of the corner (because of the wall and the shelf) and then go around that team member to the other side of them. That is too much to ask our guests. If you ask for space, they often just press closer to the wall and that only gives a team member 1- or 2-feet distance from their face. And how many guests wear masks? It is “for me” a frightening situation. Last March I asked my ETL if I could close that register and gave them those reasons. At one time that was acceptable. But a new ETL came on board who approached me about that register being closed. I told them why and I told them it was approved by my ETL. They told me to open it regardless. I did as I was told. No problem, right? Yet that ETL went to my ETL who called me into a private conversation asking me why I told the other ETL it was unsafe. I hadn't paraded my concerns to anyone for fear of retaliation and now I am forced to tell. So, I told them again. Because of that, and what I feared, I was told they will find me other jobs to do such as cleaning carts. I was told that others have not informed them of my concerns saying they don’t have a problem working self-checkout. I told him I opened that register as I was asked. Nevertheless, they said, my concerns will cause him to reassign me to other duties.

I was banned from self-checkout that I always did. And nobody knows why I was banned making it appear I must have done something seriously wrong. And I feel so embarrassed.

If asked I have a reply. My leads don’t treat the threat of air droplets as being as serious as medical experts tell us. They don’t think masks are necessary and some see this virus nothing more than the flu. It is all blown out of proportion some say.

After that I wondered why nobody else considered unsafe conditions. I watched one lead helping an older man who wasn’t wearing a mask (however the lead was as we are told to do.) This lead was a foot from this mans face helping him order the thermometer using our device to do so. The man was looking for a fricking thermometer! I saw that lead being foolish. If it were me, I would not have allowed that man to be a foot from my face especially without a mask, especially since he was needing a thermometer. And I watch those at self-checkout who expressed often that there is no need for masks and social distancing (as our overhead tells us every 15 minutes) who are always face to face with guests as if it is unnecessary. I heard another lead tell me that they are not concerned. I asked a young man at self-checkout to be safe, don’t let them crawl on top of you as I’ve seen. They told me they were not concerned, if they get it, they get it.

So that is why I was banned. I expressed a safety issue I have that many others think is ridiculous of me to have. As if I need to put on my big-boy pants and just do my job without all this social distancing nonsense. And I am infuriated.
 
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If being near people is an issue for you that cause you to not be able to do your job fully. The obvious thing is to put you else where and have other people that are willing to do the job. I don't see the issue here? You got what you wanted, a job that is away from people?
 
No, I love people and always enjoyed working self-checkout. It has nothing to do with that nor is it hurt feelings. It is about being safe and that is a relative issue. If you think measures taken to be safe is way out of proportion to the need, then you will see me as if my feelings are hurt and that I don't want to be around people.
 
There's safe and there's safe. Perfect safety would be for everyone to wear a physical bubble so that there is no chance of air transfer or touch transfer. Even that may not be safe enough.

Cars are dangerous but we make them as safe as we can while still meeting our transportation needs. Same with planes, we make them as safe as we can, but we still need to go long distances in a hurry. Food safety as well, there's a tradeoff between perfect safety, mass consumption, and speed of making. And that's what everything about life is - a tradeoff between safety and need for use.

Two ETLs taking such a stance over a "safety" concern voiced twice means you did not nicely and calmly state a logical assessment and then drop it. Even if it was body language and tone, you flipped a lid over germs and they saw it.

You wanted to get away from germs, you got it. I don't see why you are still freaking over having to be exposed to germs since you got away from that particular SCO. Your exposure chance is now less and that's what you were worried about.

Remember, tradeoff. Do you recall the words "flatten the curve"? We need to minimize risk while knowing and accepting there is no way to eliminate risk. You've just minimized your risk, you're just insulted with how leadership addressed your personal worry. Hurt feelings, that's what it's about.
 
"I am uncomfortable doing this thing"

- Ok, we'll have you do that thing, other people aren't uncomfortable so they can do it instead."

"I was banned from SCO."

You voiced a reasonable personal concern. They didn't bash you, they didn't stop scheduling you, they didn't steamroll you and say "well that's how it is". They took your concern and made a reasonable personal accommodation for you.

Stop playing the outrage victim card. You weren't banned, you told them you were uncomfortable doing it and they responded to that. Whether the response is valid in a more general sense considering the safety concern is irrelevant - you had a solution in mind (don't use the register) and that solution wasn't viable to them so they chose a different one.

I don't see the safety concern as a non-issue, but I don't see them handling it any better than they did.
 
BullseyeBabe said:
They are watching on the cameras and threatening to put TMs on corrective action if they aren’t social distancing. This TM voiced a valid concern.
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The concern is more than valid. However, having a valid concern doesn't mean that the TM gets his preferred way of addressing it. Since all guest advocates are supposed to be able to do all front end tasks, it's reasonable to have a concerned TM do something else and have someone else do SCO.

I have yet to see any real indication that they are actually watching the cameras. The entire fulfillment team and front end at my store would be on CAs if they watched the OPU hold area.
 
Constructive criticism is still criticism. He spoke a fear. He has not explained any reaction that would be actual retaliation. What he does say in a roundabout way that he was listened to and his concerns for his own personal safety was addressed and solved. Instead of having any bit of thankfulness that he was taken out of a situation he feared, he's throwing out accusations of retaliation solely based on reassignment to get him out of the situation that he fears. Calling that retaliation when there's people getting 4 hour weeks because their ETL didn't like the scent of their deodorant is so silly it's obnoxious.
 
Okay, then how would you phrase the constructive criticism? Fact - the OP said they are in true fear of working at SCO in its current configuration. Fact - two ETLs listened to his fears. Fact - they didn't dismiss those fears and tell him to do his job, they accommodated his fears by shifting his workstation. Fact - Rather than be happy he was listened to and accommodated, he's come here complaining about how he's banned from SCO and started two separate threads at the same time over the same issue. The criticism is "count your blessings" (since he was accommodated rather than ignored). He got what he wanted, but he's basically throwing a fit because it wasn't exactly how he wanted. Sorta like being mad you had to get rainbow sprinkles on your ice cream because you wanted chocolate sprinkles....you're still getting ice cream.
 
I don't know how or why two identical posts came about. It was not intentional. My concern wasn't to complain. My concern was that instead of addressing the issue that this particular register is unsafe for our guests and TM's, they just yanked me out and put somebody else in that unsafe environment. I love working with people and love working SCO and have no issues whatsoever at all other than that particular register. The issue isn't so much that I was yanked from a task I have done for years and very well, it is that I will get much fewer hours and bad hours and bad days cleaning carts because I voiced a safety concern. Another voiced a safety concern awhile back and they were taken away from what they were doing to work another area and they only gave them 15 hours a week when they were making a tad under 40. My point in this is that if anyone voices a safety concern they will lose. And to me that blocks anyone from voicing a safety concern and that is why I did not say anything to anyone until I was forced to. Underlying all of this is that leadership, at least in this store, they don't consider this virus as serious as medical experts say. They haphazardly take measures to be safe, sometimes. As leaders they expect those they lead to follow their lead, if they can help a guest who is not wearing a mask who needs to order a thermometer of all things, and if they allow that guest to breath down their neck as they do that, they expect those they lead to do that as well. And if not, well because this virus is not big deal to them, they will treat those they lead as if they don't want to work retail, as if they don't want to be around people, as if they need to find another job, and hey, I'll give you incentive by reducing your hours and you can clean carts from now on.
 
@Tangled are all 8 of the registers open at your SCO? Are they always all open or only during busy high traffic times in order to get the guests out of the store quicker? I ask because at my store we only have 4 registers open at SCO at any one time so there is enough space for social distancing. Not sure of your situation. As for what other posters are saying, if you have a long shift, no one wants to be cleaning carts for the entire shift. I understand where you’re coming from. I also get the ETL’s solution but I wonder if you could talk to your TL to try to intervene and mediate if you have a good relationship with that person. Depends on your store and the situation. Hang in there, though, and I know I’ve “whined” and “pissed and moaned” about stuff that’s far less serious than this.
 
Tessa120 said:
Okay, then how would you phrase the constructive criticism? Fact - the OP said they are in true fear of working at SCO in its current configuration. Fact - two ETLs listened to his fears. Fact - they didn't dismiss those fears and tell him to do his job, they accommodated his fears by shifting his workstation. Fact - Rather than be happy he was listened to and accommodated, he's come here complaining about how he's banned from SCO and started two separate threads at the same time over the same issue. The criticism is "count your blessings" (since he was accommodated rather than ignored). He got what he wanted, but he's basically throwing a fit because it wasn't exactly how he wanted. Sorta like being mad you had to get rainbow sprinkles on your ice cream because you wanted chocolate sprinkles....you're still getting ice cream.
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Are you seriously comparing getting the wrong jimmies on your ice cream versus the potential of catching COVID-19?
 
Tessa120 said:
Okay, then how would you phrase the constructive criticism? Fact - the OP said they are in true fear of working at SCO in its current configuration. Fact - two ETLs listened to his fears. Fact - they didn't dismiss those fears and tell him to do his job, they accommodated his fears by shifting his workstation. Fact - Rather than be happy he was listened to and accommodated, he's come here complaining about how he's banned from SCO and started two separate threads at the same time over the same issue. The criticism is "count your blessings" (since he was accommodated rather than ignored). He got what he wanted, but he's basically throwing a fit because it wasn't exactly how he wanted. Sorta like being mad you had to get rainbow sprinkles on your ice cream because you wanted chocolate sprinkles....you're still getting ice cream.
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The OP explained it again, and that's exactly how I took the first post...they aren't just saying "I don't feel safe", they are pointing out something that they feel is a safety issue for ALL, and they see leadership in their store not taking things seriously and they are concerned for everyone, not just themselves. And instead of addressing the issue, they moved the "troublemaker". Typical.
 
I didn't see anything until post #14 that the OP was concerned about more people than himself. "Think of the children!" redirects happen all the time. Where saving others gets tossed in as a distraction justification from the real issue.

At this point, with people forcing opening up and going out shopping for fun because they are bored, it's obvious that essential employees plus needs only shoppers are together only a tiny fraction of people inside businesses, the huge overwhelming majority are dicks that are bored. If they want to hurt themselves and are stubborn about doing so, why stop them? It's what they want. The OP got out of a situation that he feels is dangerous, guests have the option to voluntarily not use that particular checkout, those that want protection have protection. The overwhelming majority will learn their lesson eventually. My bag of fucks to give is long empty at this point.
 
They expressed concern about a leader getting close to a guest with no mask.

And you know what? Even if it was all about them, that is their right, and that doesn't mean they should get less hours because of it. That is one of the points of the post, to say that they expressed safety concerns and were moved and hours cut. So many people on here squawk about every little thing that happens as an injustice, complain about hours, complain about being moved to other areas, complain that leadership doesn't listen to them, and this TM expresses a legitimate safety concern and expresses dismay at the results and people jump on them. You know what, fuck that. I'm sick of people downplaying safety issues and jumping on people who express concern because they think they are making too much of it. Screw that noise, I'm not having it.

Working in retail at this time sucks, it really really sucks. I think most people here would agree with that at least a little right now.

Stores should be taking every precaution that they can for the safety of their guests and team members, not just pay lip service to it in the press to make themselves look good. If that register cannot be used in a manner that accommodates social distancing, then it should not be open. NOT difficult to understand, but because no one else in the store gives a fuck, the OP gets moved and made to feel like they are being difficult, and has their fears about the lack of concern in the store confirmed. I don't blame them for being upset.
 
The OP did not say that he personally has had a drop in hours, only a new workstation. And no one is saying his safety concerns are silly. They are saying he's out of the situation, his concerns for his own health were listened to. The belated "concern" for guests is a red herring because guests can be protected from the same concern by not using it. Nothing is forcing them to use it.

The data is out there, people who are shopping can make their choices by applying that data to the situations they are in. You can't make them do what you want, you can only make yourself do the safe things.

Employees anywhere are more limited, but in this case it was a win for the OP. He's out of the situation. He said a coworker lost hours, but for himself he has said nothing of an hours reduction.
 
@Tessa120
Tangled said:
The issue isn't so much that I was yanked from a task I have done for years and very well, it is that I will get much fewer hours
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May be speculation at this point, but OP did mention the concern of less hours for themselves.

As well, it was only that one register that is the issue. Also as well, OP expressed concern for other TMs working in the area. Yes, at the end of the day we can only control our own actions, but when you see people openly disregarding safety measures, which puts everyone at risk, of course it is upsetting.
 
I'm totally with you. Why so many people are extremely ignorant of what will happen if everyone stops wearing masks is lost on me! When we snowflakes wear our masks, it keeps you deniers safe, too!

That being said, this kind of "rock the boat" behavior is never rewarded, only punished. That's life. You should have known the risk. But it sucks that the advice was followed but then unfollowed. 2 steps forward, 3 steps back. When they get sick in the second wave, that's life, too.
 
He is concerned future tense. Not past tense.

Is it upsetting? Yes. I completely agree, that when you look at the science and when you look at the bulk of humanity's behavior, the mismatch makes you want to tear your hair out, followed by a bleach bath. But at this point nothing is going to change it. The information is out there. The local ordinances are out there. At this point it's not ignorance, it's ignoring, and you can't change that, I can't change that. All that can be done is follow the safety precautions yourself, hope the precautions that cost self in favor of others won't be too endangering, and let people kill themselves and their immediate family. This late in the game, no one's going to be changing their mind based on someone else's medical logic.

Edit: Additional thought, retail workers are getting injured or killed over safety precautions. Maybe there's reasons for the ETLs to think that closing down one SCO machine would lead to problems. Maybe there was a complaint the OP doesn't know about that sounded more dangerous than a garden variety complaint.
 
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Tangled said:
If that guest needs help, they don't move out of the way when we need to access that register. They would need to back out of the corner (because of the wall and the shelf) and then go around that team member to the other side of them. That is too much to ask our guests. If you ask for space, they often just press closer to the wall and that only gives a team member 1- or 2-feet distance from their face.
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Virtually all of the time you have to tell people EXACTLY what to do. I would tell guests, "Sir/ma'ma, I'm going to NEED you to BACKUP and stand OVER HERE (pointing to where they need to be) so that I can fix the problem." Then, literally just for show, I would stand where they normally would want to stand and reach behind the SCO and pretend to toggle a switch before using the screen to actually fix the problem. I do something similar when I tell a guest that I sold the last item they wanted a half-hour ago, but the guest keeps insisting that I go in the back and check to see if we have anymore. I'm Tech, we have a small backroom and very little product in it. I know what's back there. So, I go back do a quick courtesy check, then check my texts on my phone, before going back to the sales floor a minute later and telling them we don't have anymore. Should any TM have to do this? No, but it keeps things moving along. In OP's case, they could maintain the physical distancing and still do the task at hand. If your store's leadership doesn't take the pandemic seriously, it is up to you to protect yourself anyway you can.
 

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