Wal-Mart executive: 'Employees are really excited to be working on Thanksgiving'

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Full story here

I cannot adequately convey in words what I'd like to see happen to this person.

Also of note, Wal-Mart is meagerly attempting to make up for having to bring workers in on Thanksgiving by giving them a turkey dinner that day.

[Andara Bledin]

I was one of those people who was "excited" to work holiday hours, especially when I was part time and didn't get paid for the holiday. I'm absolutely certain that there are a lot of part time workers out there who would just as soon take the work and get the extra money than take the hit to their paychecks that holiday closures usually mean.

Considering that Walmart is typically the bottom of the barrel as far as wages go, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that a goodly number of their employees actually are excited to go to work that day if it means extra money, a free meal, and a 25% discount.

[crashhelmet]

We get people that fight for holiday shifts here. They get the holiday pay they'd get regardless of working, the pay for the hours they work that day, and in some cases overtime if it's not their regularly scheduled shift. That's up to 3 and half times their normal pay.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

I understand that crashhelmet, but many states and/or companies do not pay employees any extra for working holidays.

[Gravekeeper]

Its a pretty stupid thing to say regardless of the laws to be honest. There's a difference between want to and have to.

We get people that fight for holiday shifts here. They get the holiday pay they'd get regardless of working, the pay for the hours they work that day, and in some cases overtime if it's not their regularly scheduled shift. That's up to 3 and half times their normal pay.

Up here you get holiday pay as if you worked a full shift for every stat holiday plus time and a half if you work the holiday on top of that. There's a few people in my office that fight for those shifts, but they're typically young, single college students that are too far from home to get back for a visit.

I worked pretty much every holiday because A) I couldn't be replaced anyway and B) My family is a couple hours drive away and I worked night shifts. So the logistics just don't work out unless I wanted to be sleep deprived. >.>

[bainsidhe]

Weird, another article I read said 25% discount on one item, which is similar to what WM has done in the past. Big woop. One year for Christmas, WM allowed employees to use their employee discount on groceries during December, which normally wasn't allowed. 10% off all groceries could easily add up to more than a single-use coupon could. Not everyone is buying a $500 TV after all.

It's been appx 3 years since I worked p/t at Wal-Mart. We received holiday pay whether we worked on the holiday or not. Sounds like WM is offering a slightly better pay incentive for working on Thanksgiving, although I wouldn't be surprised if overnight doesn't receive that extra incentive while dealing with the holiday hoards.

And WM doesn't mention it (of course), but you had to be an employee for 90 days before receiving a discount card and taking advantage of WM benefits. So that means tough luck for the multitude of seasonal and temporary staff.

And our store always did Thanksgiving dinner. Plus food during Black Friday for the poor folks stuck working. I realize not every store may do that, however.

[bex1218]

I work for the other Wal. I prefer working holidays. And I have family that live here. Its just another day for me. And we get paid holiday pay. Usually work 5 hr shifts and get paid the full 8 hrs plus time and a half.

[ExRetailDrone]

When I worked 2 jobs at a hotel and a video rental store, neither place were closed on any day of the year. Because I was a few hours away from my family and I couldn't be with them for the holidays anyway, I chose to work those days at both of my jobs and rack up the cash so other employees could be with their families. I know that places have to be open, it's just how a capitalist culture works, but employees should be given the choice if possible.

[Pixilated]

I didn't have much of a problem working holidays in my last job (I had no family nearby anyway) but it wasn't exactly optional, and no, we didn't get paid extra, as we were salaried. And for the last few years we didn't get dinner sent in, either.

I suspect some people might be happy to work the holidays IF they are getting something extra out of it, but I have no doubt there's also others who'd rather get the day off and spend it with their families.

How's that for fence-sitting?

I should add that anything that comes out of the mouth of an executive about how "excited" the employees are about anything -- unless the employees have suddenly had their wages double -- is automatically suspect.

[blas87]

I'm not retail, but I'm ready to accept TWO unexcused absences (once for Thanksgiving weekend, once for around Christmas) if my idiot manager tries to force mandatory overtime during so.

Sorry, you can hate me and bash me all you want, I've been working extra shifts for over 6 months, on top of back to back to back to back 12 hour shifts, and with the holiday, it would NOT be time and a half pay because the holiday hours don't count towards your regular hours, they are seperate.

Fuck that. Fuck it hard. With a big side of NO afterwards.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I don't think that anyone should be refused a holiday shift if they really want to work it, but here's the kicker; some companies force employees to work those shifts, or say, "Well, if you don't work, it's gonna be unpaid leave" which means that a worker has to choose between working on a holiday or losing pay.

Where I work, Christmas Day is a closing day, and you can either book it as holiday or work a day in leu. The petrol station is open Boxing Day, but everyone has a choice as to whether they want to work that day or not. I choose not to work it, so I'm working the Friday instead. And of course everyone who works that day is getting premium. I don't feel I'm missing out cuz I'm working overtime on the Sunday after instead, for which I'm getting overtime and Sunday premium.

[violiav]

My bf works at the local Sears and he told me that the other day a news crew was interviewing the store manager about being open on Thanksgiving.
The question was something like: "How are your employees feeling about working on Thanksgiving? Do they mind?"

Store manager: "They're fine with it! they don't mind at all!" Or something similar.

My boyfriend was nearby and he piped up: "Excuse me?! Yeah, I'll be here, but I sure as hell mind."

His department is now down to 3 people. Him, an older lady that hobbles around on a cane, and a guy in the later stages of AIDs. The later two are not doing well physically at all.

[Sarah Valentine]

His department is now down to 3 people. Him, an older lady that hobbles around on a cane, and a guy in the later stages of AIDs. The later two are not doing well physically at all.

So he'd be doing most of the work, it's probably in retaliation for calling his boss out on a lie and making him look bad on camera. Unless my boss knows how I feel as well as the rest of my co workers, then he has no right to speak for us. And that goes for everyone everywhere.

[violiav]

Who knows. On the plus side he's actually getting hours now, whereas during peak season for Lawn and Garden he was getting a pittance because he'd asked that they be a little bit more fair about scheduling people on the weekends. And at that time the department was up to at least 6 people. Since then everyone else either quit or changed departments.

One of the guys and changed departments did so because he was complaining about not getting enough hours, but he was one of the ones that treated his schedule as optional.

[hinakiba777]

It is definitely an issue of want vs need. I know plenty of people who are totally willing to work holiday hours if it means getting more hours. (I for example am working Christmas Eve because I'm seasonal, and my contract literally ends that day. So I need as many hours as I can get.) However, being forced to work on a holiday, is not cool.

When I worked for WM no one wanted to work Christmas Eve, so they scheduled me. Sadly for them, I had given my notice (three weeks in advance), that my last day was December 23. I had to jump through SO MANY hoops to get them to acknowledge that. There was a lot of "One day more won't kill you" kind of talk. It was annoying as hell, but eventually they gave in when they realized that legally speaking, I didn't HAVE To show up, so if they didn't cover me they would be without. That manager still glares at me when I go shopping there.

But yeah, for the single mother who can't see her son on Thanksgiving, or anyone else who really doesn't want the shift it's not fair. But for those who want to work it, well it's holiday hours and a free meal. It's easy for the higher ups to look at those hungry for work (or just hungry) and see how willing they are for the shift, and then scoff at those who really don't want to be forced to work on Thanksgiving.