Working off the clock/more hours for less pay = the new normal?

[fireheart17]

To me a big part of the problem is that workers don't know their rights.

This. Oh holy ghost, this.

I was so glad that my Year 10 SOSE teacher spent a good portion of time before our work experience period (kind of like a week's worth of "career day" in one), teaching us about workers rights. There were rights that we had as work experience students, but also general health and safety rights. I actually use that knowledge now. (the general work experience rules were that we needed to have a lunch period scheduled in, that lunch period was a "you must have" and you couldn't work earlier or later than your scheduled times. You also could not do anything that needed a certification and you HAD to be inducted either on the first day or beforehand)

There's actually a fun little game that I could play (well several variations of) called "virtual hotel" (they also do the kitchen and supermarket) that is run by the OHS folks in my state. Here's the link:

http://www.safework.sa.gov.au/show_p...1#VirtualHotel

I played this and got a certificate from it. That was interesting (it covers 7 different areas)

[bex1218]

Thankfully my managers know when I am off the clock, I am not available to work. Exception being if they have a quick question on my lunch about the department I work in (I know that place inside and out). They also pay the OT (they won't like it) if its at the end of the week. They try to catch people before Fri to say "Hey, clock out early."

I feel for everyone else. And get ticked off for people when I hear these things.

[Panacea]

Since this is one of my "favorite" subjects:

Food Delivery Drivers get screwed left and right

I guess I was really lucky back in the day when I did this for a living. I got paid a dollar above minimum wage+tips+mileage (only 7 cents/mi, but it was something). Delivery then was free. The delivery charge is the pizza chains way of raising prices without raising prices: a pizza costs today about what it did 20 years ago.

But, the expectation was if I wasn't on a run, I was working in the store doing other things: making boxes, cleaning, stocking, even making pizzas if we got a rush of orders.

What drove me out of that job (which I really liked; I had a lot of regulars who were really nice and tipped well, SCs were not the norm back then) was the damage it did to my car. I basically ran my car into the ground, and all the money I'd carefully saved for a year for a month long trip hiking across Great Britian had to go to make the down payment on a new car. I wasn't about to ruin a brand new car delivering pizzas, so I quit and went back to working as a LPN in a nursing home.

I had that option. A lot of my CWs didn't; it was how they supported their families. Some were college students (it was a college town), but a lot of them depended on their tips to make the rent, buy food for the kids, that sort of thing.

I always, always, always tip the driver, and encourage friends to do the same, explaining what Racket Man very accurately described above.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone can support themselves as a delivery driver under those conditions.

That doesn't apply to pizza delivery drivers over here, thank goodness. At the petrol station, we get quite a few drivers coming in to fill up. They turn their receipts in and get full reimbursement for fuel. Most are on mopeds tho, rather than using cars; I guess that's how the pizza companies save on fuel.

I saw a lot of this when I was in Korea, especially in the big cities like Seoul. Some of the streets are little more than alleys, so it makes sense; a motor scooter with a hot box can get through the traffic a lot easier than a car can. If I ever had to go back to this kind of work, I'd get a motor cycle to do it.

[EricKei]

What drove me out of that job was the damage it did to my car. I basically ran my car into the ground, and all the money I'd carefully saved for a year for a month long trip hiking across Great Britian had to go to make the down payment on a new car..

This, a thousand times, THIS! When you drive for more than a few months -- especially for something time-sensitive like pizza delivery -- you are effectively sacrificing your car to the diety/-ies above. It will destroy your ride, and (sometimes) visibly wear it out faster than usual...And, especially for us pizza dudes, the smell will sink in there DEEP. Good luck selling a used pizza car for anything close to what an otherwise-identical, non-delivery car should sell for. Some drivers will intentionally buy the best $500 clunker they can find as needed, run them into the ground (oil changes, yes, anything else, probably no), and just have them junked when they finally die, instead of paying to repair a good car (generally, said clunker is used ONLY for that job -- when it dies, use the real car until you can get another el cheapo car).

Note on mileage -- In theory, you should be able to get the difference between the IRS rate (55c in the US right now, iirc) and what you actually get paid by the store for mileage, provided that you document it. Take digital photos of your odometer at the start and end of your shift, if you have to -- just remember to have the camera "print" the time/date on there, and document the amount the store pays you in a logbook. If you drive more than a certain distance to reach your store in the first place, that counts for mileage, as well.

[Racket_Man]

Note on mileage -- In theory, you should be able to get the difference between the IRS rate (55c in the US right now, iirc) and what you actually get paid by the store for mileage, provided that you document it. Take digital photos of your odometer at the start and end of your shift, if you have to -- just remember to have the camera "print" the time/date on there, and document the amount the store pays you in a logbook. If you drive more than a certain distance to reach your store in the first place, that counts for mileage, as well.

Unless you choose to use the "FULL expense" method when filling out your tax forms you will NEVER get back close to what your actual expences (minus the reimbursement from the company) when using the standard IRS rate. IT is ONLY when you keep meticulis records (as in record EVERY expence from gas to car washes to repairs to paying to get your car cleaned out to estimated depreciation) will you see that money back.

IF you use the standard cents per mile suggested by the IRS (again minus the company reimbursement) you will only reduce you adjusted gross income and only get back maybe 25%-30% .

One driver at my store uses the IRS standard mileage rate. He only gets back an extra $500 (not the say $2500 he SHOULD be getting)

Another driver used the fully documented method (he is a delivery driver but has other outside things) gets ALL of the expences back.

[Panacea]

IF you use the standard cents per mile suggested by the IRS (again minus the company reimbursement) you will only reduce you adjusted gross income and only get back maybe 25%-30% .

One driver at my store uses the IRS standard mileage rate. He only gets back an extra $500 (not the say $2500 he SHOULD be getting)

Another driver used the fully documented method (he is a delivery driver but has other outside things) gets ALL of the expences back.

This is why I don't apply for the difference in mileage rates for my hospice job. I get paid 45 cents/mile when I make visits, and could try to get the other 10 cents back on my taxes. But the record keeping is so onerous that it is just not worth it.

Usually I get enough back a month to pay for a tank of gas, so I figure I come out OK.

[MadMike]

To me a big part of the problem is that workers don't know their rights.

Exactly. When the restaurant where my ex worked briefly as a server tried this, she and I were both young, and didn't know it was illegal. She quit after that, and I sent in the exit interview form that she filled out and never mailed, where she listed her "reason for leaving" was when the manager -- who she referred to him by name -- made her work off the clock. I was hoping he'd get in a little bit of trouble, but from what I can tell, they fired him over it. All I know was that I went there a couple weeks later, and the guy's name was no longer on the board where they had the managers listed.

The manager at my old supermarket tried to pull something, which I also found out was illegal, by reading posts on CS. He put a sign up in the back room that stated that cashiers would have their pay docked for any drawer shortages. Again, a lot of the people who worked there were young and didn't know their rights. Apparently, one of the older cashiers did know her rights, because the sign only stayed up for a week or two.

[Ginger Tea]

Phrases like "I do have a life outside of here you know" are banded about

I have had supervisors who honestly seem dumbfounded by this concept. As in, deer-in-the-headlights look, and sometimes even an admonition that I "need to do something about that" and/or "figure out where my priorities lie". I did. ^_^ Muhahahaha.
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Sad part is, if I didn't make it clear in the post it was quoted from, it was the supervisor who spends 2-4 hours a day extra at work un paid who said that not us workers ...

Now I've had two 'incidents'' relating to this happen within the same week, first is a minor hiccup due to having to get our monthly timesheets completed on the friday just gone if we want our pay to be processed in time for an early pay day, afaik this involves not getting any pay, not just overtime and enhancements if it is put in on the first like always.
I and others had to put in a 7.5 hour day on the friday in question and add our overtime to another day, I have two days off (today and yesterday) I can add it to to avoid confusion of why I worked more hours than the time sheet says, this over time and all others will now be paid in January with Decembers time sheet.

Second involved the same supervisor from the quote, one late picker had to go home sick early leaving us to pick up the slack, normally 3 good pickers it's not an issue, hell we work better with three than three and one of the 'tweedles' as I call two of the new staff, but that day it was now two and a new hire.

We were down to the last of the picks, IIR we all had one on the go and one final 4th ticket to do.
"I'll sign you out for half past then." he said shutting the door, I look up at the clock and see it is infact just gone half past.
"OK he's signing us out for half past, drop what you are doing, lets go home." I joked
We all signed out for quarter to, if he had really signed us out already, I would just cross it out, put in the correct time and remind him that next time, we all go at 7 and let the morning picker have to blue arse fly the rest of it.

[Andara Bledin]

My old boss didn't understand the idea of doing non-work stuff like, say, playing games or reading books or having parties.

However, he did get that not everybody liked the same things (he was a workaholic who loved what he did) and didn't try to make other people behave the way he did.

My ex's uncle, on the other hand, was a workaholic who actually worked himself into the hospital and didn't understand even the slightest bit why doing so was a bad thing. He also didn't understand why not everybody in the world was willing to work themselves to the point of damaging their bodies and actually tried to browbeat the ex into doing the same to support me. So, sexist as well as stupid.

Luckily, none of my bosses have ever been of a similar mind. My first "real" job (aka, not for my parents and not volunteer with benes) was pretty shitty, though. They gave raises once a year, and by the time I quit, people were being hired for what I was making, and thus would be making more as soon as they hit the 3-month mark. >_<

^-.-^