DUmmies Discuss Sitting Down On The Job

[GOBUCKS]

DUmmy TSS is outraged at profit-hungry Home Depot for requiring employees to be on foot:

The Straight Story  (1000+ posts)        Wed Dec-29-10 08:05 AM
Original message
Home Depot to Employees: Don’t Sit Down

An appeals court has cleared the way for a lawsuit to proceed against Home Depot, which is accused of not providing seats for employees despite having available space to do so. The litigation was brought by Devon Harris and Lawrence Winston, cashiers who insisted that they should be allowed to sit down while checking out customers at the cash register.
...
http://www.allgov.com/Unusual_News/ViewNews/Home_Depot_...

 
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x86729

trotsky  (1000+ posts)        Wed Dec-29-10 08:12 AM
Response to Original message
1. EVERY cashier should be able to sit down at their job. They do it in Europe, and the Germans brought the practice over for their employees as US Aldi stores, but we need to make it a law here.

 
I guess the real question is whether they should be able to kick back and put their feet on the cash register.
 

laundry_queen  (1000+ posts)      Thu Dec-30-10 12:55 AM
Response to Reply #1
34. agreed.
I once worked as a cashier in a small store. I had injured my foot and my boss let me sit on a stool. So long as I was sitting, I had no problems doing my job. The owners came by and saw me and sent me home until my foot healed as 'sitting looks unprofessional'. I was totally shocked. Needless to say I didn't last long there.

 
Or anywhere else.
 

TBF  (1000+ posts)        Wed Dec-29-10 09:05 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. I've found that the service is much better at Lowe's so I drive further to go there.
Home Depot is such a "Walmart" kind of place.

 
DUmmies hate Home Depot almost as much as Walmart. I wonder why that is?


Well, for one thing, Home Depot has unreasonable employment policies that disqualify most democrats:   

Fumesucker  (1000+ posts)        Wed Dec-29-10 09:31 AM
Response to Reply #6
10. I think Lowe's is better from a customer's point of view..
I really have no idea how they compare in treatment of employees, although HD has a sign on the front door (or did) about if you use illegal drugs don't even bother to apply and I've never seen such a thing at Lowe's.

DUmmy sendero tells a lie (Thousands? A DUmmy?), and then strikes to the heart of the matter:

sendero  (1000+ posts)        Thu Dec-30-10 11:40 PM
Response to Reply #6
51. I spent thousands last year..
... at Lowe's and hundreds at Home Depot. Lowe's is better, I only go to HD when there isn't much choice.

BTW, HD was a huge Bush donor, Lowes donates to Dems.

Now we understand why the thread attacks Home Depot! And Dummy Lorien adds to the logic:

Lorien  (1000+ posts)      Thu Dec-30-10 12:55 AM
Response to Reply #2
35. The Home Despot is also one of Rush Limbaugh's biggest advertisers. nt

 


Suddenly, a gaggle of paid teabaggers shows up to push the corporatist line:

LeftinOH  (1000+ posts)      Wed Dec-29-10 09:41 AM
Response to Original message
12. Check-out line clerking is a job traditionally performed 'on foot'. Providing a place for sitting
down when there are no customers in line is a good idea. However- sitting down while doing this job is just lazy, both in practice and in perception... UNLESS there is a physical limitation that requires sitting down. This lawsuit indicates that the employees wanted to sit down even in the performance of their jobs- not just between customers.

BTW, I've done this job -and also been on the management end. There are other things to do when there are no customers in line (cleaning, pricing, stocking.. etc). Big box retail is not a 'sit-down' working environment. 

Recursion (1000+ posts)      Wed Dec-29-10 09:54 AM
Response to Reply #12
15. BS. Do cashiers have to move when they're cashiering?
No? Then there's no need for them to stand. Get them an appropriately tall stool and stop worrying about whether customers think your cashiers are "lazy". They're going to think that no matter what they do.

 
I'd ask DUmmy Recursion if it might be okay to provide cots, if the gap between customers is long enough.

LeftinOH  (1000+ posts)      Wed Dec-29-10 10:19 AM
Response to Reply #15
16. They do have to move- there's a fair amount of lifting, bending over, bagging..
it depends on what is being purchased. As I said- that particular working environment is not a sedentary one.
There are, in fact, some people (like the ones who brought this lawsuit) who believe that the workplace should conform to their comfort levels. They are wrong. Personally, I'd like a job where I get to be outdoors and not deal with clients- but that's not part of the job description.

DUmmy LeftinOH has even enlisted the help of DUmmy SoCalDem, otherwise a certifiable lunatic:

SoCalDem  (1000+ posts)        Thu Dec-30-10 12:33 AM
Response to Reply #22
31. yep.."got time to lean? got time to clean!" that was the store motto
On slow days even checkers were asked to "help" shag carts in the parking lot.. or to do other chores.. if it was slow & you did not want to do other "stuff", they would just ask if you wanted off early.. Most of the younger ones took early-off..

LeftinOH  (1000+ posts)      Thu Dec-30-10 08:26 AM
Response to Reply #27
47. Yes- lazy. I'm in my late 40s- and I've done the job; it isn't data entry, it's interactive
 and- the cashier is often the only employee with whom the customers interact. A rubber mat under the feet is essential, but sitting down while doing the job -with no physical impairment requiring it- is lazy. I'm a former member of the United Food and Commercial Workers' Union -and even the union wouldn't have bothered with such nonsense.

I vividly recall lots of (mostly young) employees who flit from one low-paying job to another because they keep discovering that work is *gasp* occasionally strenuous. There appears to be a slothful work-ethic behind this lawsuit. 

 
That was a personal insult to most of the DUmp. I don't expect to hear much more from DUmmy LiOH. After his pizza delivery, he may show up here.


At this point, many DUmmies are piling onto the OP.

Lithos   (1000+ posts)        Thu Dec-30-10 11:32 PM
Response to Reply #47
50. Very well said...
This is exactly what I understand the position to be and see in every big box store. I also agree the lawsuit is frivolous. In fact, the only time I ever recall a cashier sitting as at a mom and pop convenience store and they spent the entire transaction time on the phone - was not impressed with the store at all.

DUmmy EC (I've heard that name before) spins a rare "one up" bouncy:

EC  (1000+ posts)        Wed Dec-29-10 10:35 AM
Response to Original message
21. I worked at a factory (for a very short time)
that didn't even have seating in the lunch room...we had to stand at tall tables to eat...

And after lunch, they had to crawl on their bellies back to their work stations.


DUmmy JohnyCanuck has exactly the reaction to this thread that I did. I hate, hate, HATE it when that happens:

JohnyCanuck (1000+ posts)       Thu Dec-30-10 08:00 AM
Response to Original message
46. Provide seats for employees and this might happen:
Obviously Home Depot management saw the Seinfeld episode where George felt sorry for a security guard who had to stand all day and brought a rocking chair into the store for him. Consequently, the guard fell asleep on the job and was sawing logs when a robbery occurred. No chance of sleeping on the job if we have any thing to say about it, says the Home Depot management team.

[Evil_Conservative]

The only time I ever saw a cashier sitting down was at Walmart, and the cashier was obese.

I worked at Target in my younger days as a cashier.  Never once did I whine about having to stand for eight hours.  Stop being a bunch of damn pussies and learn how to STAND UP!  Stretch your feet while doing so.  There is a reason why most people are overweight in this country............

[thundley4]

I'm lucky, a few of my jobs require sitting down, but not many. OTOH, I don't think I could handle a job that required me to sit all day.

[Chris_]

Sitting down all day is worse than being on your feet.  It ruins you back and you get fat in the process.

[Evil_Conservative]

Sitting down all day is worse than being on your feet.  It ruins you back and you get fat in the process.

This is all true.

An office job is nice, but then you find all this extra time to snack.  At least when you're on your feet all day, you are kind of exercising if you have to walk too.

[Alpha Mare]

I managed convenient stores for way too many years and there's way too much to do to sit it out.  But then, I like to stay busy.   I always gave the bathroom detail to the ***** who whined the most. 

[Traveshamockery]

The only time I ever saw a cashier sitting down was at Walmart, and the cashier was obese.

I worked at Target in my younger days as a cashier.  Never once did I whine about having to stand for eight hours.  Stop being a bunch of damn pussies and learn how to STAND UP!  Stretch your feet while doing so.  There is a reason why most people are overweight in this country............

Why don't they just go a few steps further?  How about a Lazy-Boy with a little refrigerator built in and one of those laptop desks so they wouldn't even have to move at all while ringing up customers? 

And they wonder why stores are getting rid of the people and using automatic checkouts................

[NHSparky]

Rarely, and I do mean RARELY, do I ever sit for eight hours...and the only time is when I'm stuck doing paperwork for an entire shift, which is the suck.  When I'm out in the field and not doing paperwork/computer work, I'm on my feet.  Inside, outside, crawling around, climbing up ladders in virtually all conditions from -25 to +125 F.  It's called "job description", DUmmies.

Learn it.  Love it.  LIVE IT.

[Tucker]

I don't know how much exposure you've had to Lorien, but she's up there with Beth in the IQ level. She might be DUmber. She doesn't post as much. It takes her all day to think up a one word reply.

[jukin]

Devon Harris and Lawrence Winston

Just a couple of northern europeans trying to make the world better.

[Rebel]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsxiz7DFHuI[/youtube]

[longview]

And if they had chairs and developed deep vein thrombosis in their legs they'd sue for the company not preventing that.  Good grief.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I find Lowe's a bit inferior to Home Depot, the prices tend to be slightly higher and the selection is definitely less and seems to have shrunk noticeably over the past couple of years in the local ones (Nuts and bolts with NF threads, for instance, are no longer available at the nearest one).

[true_blood]

trotsky  (1000+ posts)        Wed Dec-29-10 08:12 AM
Response to Original message
1. EVERY cashier should be able to sit down at their job. They do it in Europe, and the Germans brought the practice over for their employees as US Aldi stores, but we need to make it a law here.

More laziness by the left.
If they do it in Europe, MOVE TO EUROPE. Then, you wouldn't have to worry about it. SCRUNT!

[Randy]

Lowes does have the no drug policy out on the front doors, it's down low but it's there. I've also seen the cashiers at Home Depot, Lowes AND WalMart for that matter come out from behind the cash register with a price gun to scan things to big to fit on the counter/belt.
I suppose the DUmmies expect the chairs or stools to be on wheels with motors to wheel out and adjust up and down so they wouldn't have to move? Or maybe just let the big items go by for freeeeee since we now live in DUmbatopia?

[miskie]

Is there anything a primitive won't bitch about ?

[Randy]

Is there anything a primitive won't bitch about ?

They never seem to bitch about smoking pot....yet.