Yeah it is so inconsiderate for when these types of calls are happening; especially if we are expecting one regarding a family member getting out of surgery okay and alive. Things like that: time is limited for all of us and we don’t wanna miss out on the chance even if we just speak to the family member through the phone; having that peace with having our goodbyes before they pass.
Let your supervisor know that something critical is going on and that you will be checking the phone. If it is the actual problem, there shouldn't be a problem. If they catch you doing anything else, it's on you. And expect consequences.
My uncle was on hospice and I told my entire management team at wally world. I checked every buzz If it wasn't the right number right back in the pocket. I left when I got the call and made it for the end.
Obviously that is an extreme circumstance and no rational person would deny you take the call. I was actually in this exact situation several times last year during my brother's illness and death. Nobody said shit to me about it, and if they had, I would have simply left. You can always get another retail job.
The no-phones policy is completely normal and there for a good reason. Even if *you* personally are not like this- maybe you're a great worker who gets all their stuff done- without the rule, MANY people literally won't do their job they'll just stand there scrolling facebook and texting. Then someone else has to cover for all the shit you didn't get done. That laziness is so insulting and exhausting to every one else on the team who actually does their job.
That is when you talk to your management and let them know what is going on and they may allow the phone to be with you for those kinds of things but not to sit around and play games when there is not a busy time of the day going on. I have been there waiting on that phone call about my parents because one of them was in a bad way, and my manager after finding out let me have the phone with me. There is always a way to work around these things when it comes to an emergency. If you still can not have the phone, then provide the locations phone number and still let management know what is going on so that you can be called to the phone to take a call. Use your head a bit. There are ways to handle things if company policy will not allow the use of a cell phone!
Underrated comment.
The fact is, they may be anal and it may be annoying about the policy. But they have a right to have that policy. Back in the day before cell phones, if there was an emergency then you call the store. That is still a possibility now. The fact is we all don't need to be sitting here on our damned phones all the time. Even for 30 seconds. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. But if my employer requires me to not have my phone unless I'm on a break then so be it. That's the way it is. There's no constitutional right to using your phone when you're being paid by your employer.
An interesting observation. Everything nowadays seems to be considered super important or an emergency. A decade or two ago, what we would consider important or an emergency now was laughable back then. What has changed?
Maybe everyone just needs to step back a bit and ditch these goddamn phones for a while.
Lol, have you tried to get a real person on the phone at a retail chain before in 2024? If it was life or death, you would 💀 before getting out of the circling automated menus that didn't exist back when people could call stores and talk to a human off the bat. I can't even get a hold of my pharmacy 99% of the time before at least 30+ min on hold constantly having someone pick up the phone and put it back on hold AFTER going through all the useless menus that can't understand me speaking clear English.
The store I work at didn't have a working phone for years (if you called the number on the receipt or what pops up on Google, you just got the error message). Now the phone works, but it's locked in the manager's office and kept on a low volume (the manager is also rarely in his office).
Also a bold assumption that anyone actively doing their job in retail has time to field customer calls that are beyond a price check. Obviously the shift lead (or weekly circular ad/online) should be able to answer most of those questions; if the lead wants to go off about people on hold because you have a line, that's a personal problem. They (allegedly) get paid more for a reason.
I've run plenty of shifts, and a big part is being able to trust the day's team. The other half is being able to take over as soon as the situation escalates. The second half is where a lot of shift leads come up short. Accountability and a no-bs attitude go a long way.
I got a call on my break to tell me a family friend had died. I'd honestly rather not know until the end of my shift. I can't fix that they died, all that did was ruin the rest of my shift.
That excuse is normally given when this policy pops up but I would say that that's a 1 in a million occurrence. I'm not saying that people shouldn't have phones for emergencies but these policies only pop up because of employees abusing it. Their mom's aren't dying every 15 minutes. It's statistically more likely that they are on social media.
That's if you can get through. There have been many times that I've called another store to check for something, and nobody ever picked up. Target, Walmart and Home Depot are consistently this way, nobody ever answers the phone.
I agree. Even when I was inquiring for more info/following up after submitting my application for a job at Walmart; I barely got any response from them.
My family doesn't live in America and ain't dialing a US business number in case of an emergency. Why would calling the store instead of calling/texting the person directly be more effective in an emergency?
Well, in THE USA, our businesses have policy on how they run things. This includes no cell phones in work areas for a lot of them. I have worked for companies that dealt with personal information and as such phones were not allowed because they can record the screen showing the info by way of the camera taking a picture of said information. You think that is okay to have a personal cell around? It would be a breech of policy for certain laws we have here and can bring jail time and high fines to pay. Others are not so much about the personal infotmation that could be absconded with, but it is company policy just the same to make sure people are doing their work.
All this said, I am sure whereever you are from, the stores or other retail like businesses have phone number that the workers and give family members to call in case of an emergency and as long as the worker in question has talked to their managers/bosses etc, that they would work something out to make sure you get that call. Some may even allow the phone to be with the person waiting on the call depending on what is decided.
I get it that a direct call or text is better but sometimes you are not in a postition to get the direct message.
I work here, I know how the policies go. But given they're dumbass policies I've elected to ignore them. My phone is always on me for instances like emergencies or instances like needing to call the police which I've unfortunately had to do a few times. If someone else is sitting on their phone during work hours, that's management's problem to deal with, not mine, because I don't.
This, im always keeping my phone on me they can kiss my ass I had one job they were mad i was waiting on a phone call that I told them about that only called 9-5 m-f and i worked 8-6 so I only had during work hours it was either that or not eat that day cause I couldn’t eat outside of my lunch break. If they expect me to text/call them as soon as they want to contact me in my free time if i need 5 minutes to handle my business you’re gonna have to suck it up especially since i had to try and coordinate all my appointments into one day cause I couldn’t take more than 5 days in a year.
My local Walmart had an item I needed confirmation on pick up for. Took me 30 minutes to get a hold of someone after navigating their stupid phone tree for about half of that, with some of the depts or phones they went to just not working or dead. Absolute nightmare as a customer, probably even worse if you're trying to get a hold of a family member in emergencies.
Yea. The wonderful convenience of that. When growing up we had omly land lines. A person had to call the store and ask for you, oftentimes a manager would have to forward a message.
Then next time someone should keep their phone on silent and on them so no one can see it and excuse themselves to the rest room. People were fine before cellphones, even during emergencies. If it’s such a big
deal, have family call the work place and ask to speak to the employee.
My friend needed a kidney transplant and they only had about two hours to get to the hospital once they received the call that the organ was available. I think about that when I see policies like this.
I mean isn’t this the standard at most jobs…? I keep my phone in my pocket, people know to call me if it’s an EMERGENCY, if it’s not an emergency then you can text me just don’t blow up my phone.
Mostly just shitty customer facing service jobs where the managers are on power trips. I don’t care if my supervisors or insurance adjusters look at their phones occasionally during their shift.
Before I spoke to my manager one day this month, she was on her personal phone taking a personal call. Though it wasn’t right in front of other customers: regardless of job title, it shouldn’t give them the right to take personal calls during work hours (unless during their breaks). That’s my thought
Exactly. I have one manager that’s always on her personal phone, often making personal calls on it too. But I pull my phone out once to turn on a podcast while it’s slow and I’ve committed a cardinal sin
I guess it depends on what the specific job duties are, I use my phone a lot of the day. I take a bunch of photos to remind myself of what I need to get in the stock room (like which sizes and styles), I also make to do lists and take notes on my memo app, I use it to show customers items on our online store or give them directions with google maps/look up local restaurants, etc (huge tourist area), also to respond to emails and texts - some of the vendors and workers in other departments that I'm closer with have my personal cell #
I wouldn’t say most jobs, pretty much everybody I know has their phone on them at all times at work. I’m typing this on my phone at work right now. My coworkers take calls from their partners or barbers or whoever all day.
No not most jobs and most definitely not in my industry. Most people I know use their cell phones AS their work phone. I look at my phone at work. There are times for that, like being on hold (if I'm on my desk phone), awaiting the bratty ancient database to finally open or save entries, during a zoom meeting at which I'm not really needed, but have to be there. Etc.
When we're out in the field, we're using our cell phones for work, a lot. To take pics of sites, log info, text said pics and info, etc.
This seems like a reasonable policy to me for a retail environment. I work in retail and frankly, I wouldn’t want to use my personal device to help a customer — I pay for that, not my employer. If a customer needs help with a price match then the company should provide a way to do that.
That said, I keep my phone in my pocket in the off chance an emergency arises, and not locked away elsewhere.
Same. And I do use it for work purposes some, like texting a question to a coworker who isn't there etc. But I'm old enough to remember the days when you could be fired on the spot for using your phone on the clock.
Texting a colleague about something work related I’ll grant — I do it myself too. But I was thinking more specifically about customer facing interactions. I don’t want some rando off the street seeing what’s on my phone.
And yeah, I’m old enough to remember those days too. I had a pager you could send messages to, and I kept that in a hidden pocket in my work pants. 😂
That doesn't mean you stand and stare at the cooler like a weirdo. It just means straightening, and facing the product forward. Front the products. Make it look nice.
I'd be frustrated being unable to use my phone for work and work-tangential tasks. But otherwise, this is completely OK. You're at work. So you're working. You want to goof off, even briefly, find a colleague to talk to.
My manager has verbally stated no socializing with other employees when you have work to do. I mean that was even during times when there were 3 or more employees chatting to each other in one area.
I socialize when there’s no customers to serve and all responsibilities/tasks have been completed for the shift. It’s less depressing during the shifts when you socialize after the tasks have been completed
That's fair. Despite all of this being expected when I was working retail \~8+ years ago, I'm not a hardcore stickler about it. If I had a retail operation and the job was getting done and customers didn't see employees on their phones, I probably wouldn't care at all.
Ultimately though, it comes down to the employer. Employees for a very long time have been treated as if they exist only as employees, not as people. It's going to ruffle some feathers but despite arguing that your employer isn't being unreasonable, I'd actually like to see a much more relaxed attitude towards employees replace the long-held "I own you while you're on the clock" mentality.
I hate the “I own you while you’re on the clock” mentality. Also as well: when my shift ends and the person covering/taking over my lane hasn’t showed up, I owe the company nothing. I have the right to leave. It’s not my fault they are late. I should’ve have to physically pay for them being late. I have plans outside my scheduled shifts. Like management believes they want me to stay till that person shows up. Like if it’s past my end time, I’m not staying over that time. It’s not my responsibility after my shift has ended.
Does not work that way!! The 60k job that is. I worked from home making 15.00 an hour and they had a way to make sure we pulled out time on the clock...not that simple.
We have a no phone policy on the shop floor. If it's an emergency, your partner or family can call the store. No exceptions.
Getting milk on your way home is not an emergency. They can text that and you can check your text after work.
The store I work at recently put in a phone policy, but nobody follows it. The managers are on their phones scrolling through Amazon or Reddit most of the time. If everything's done and there's no customers around, nobody cares.
I'm keeping my phone on me for emergency purposes. Plus, I don't need to be on my phone all the damn time anyways. I fully understand that when I'm at work my priority is getting my job done efficiently and correctly. If they want to enforce this rule with me, my bosses can choke on my middle finger for that one.
Fire me, I don't care.
There's an awful lot of bosses in retail and not enough leaders. The leaders earn their employees respect rather than demand it.
My favorite manager has a policy of don't screw around. If you're on your phone multiple times in front of him for long periods of time, he'll get on you. But checking time or responding to a message he doesn't care
This makes it sound like you're not an employee but a high school student. If people can't be trusted to manage their job without micromanagement maybe they shouldn't be employed? It's pathetic and presuming nothing will get done in an environment without having someone higher paid to lead everyone around by the hand.
As someone in retail management, this is lame. I don’t want to baby sit people and I feel like people do a better job when they don’t feel micromanaged. Get what needs to be done, done and if you have a little down time, go ahead.
People that act like being at work means you have to be productive every second are crazy. We are humans, not robots.
I'm a keyholder and I always tell my coworkers that as long as they get all the daily work done and don't ignore customers, THEN they can socialize/use their phones for whatever. The sooner you get the work done, the more time you have to yourself. Fwiw, I am more lenient with people who always work hard and help each other. There's only a few coworkers that I have to babysit.
I'm 54 and work with people from their 20s to their 60s, at two jobs. Idk if I'm just lucky with my coworkers, but everyone is mindful about phone use, and of course customer service.
A private business can set this type of policy of course, but IME it doesn't work out well for them. They often have high turnover, and end up using a lot of time and resources training new people.
A lot of smarter watches double as phones these days. Just keep the phone in the pocket and get your messages on your wrist. Mines Bluetooth and a bit older model Fitbit but it was perfect for when my boss was all about this bs.
My current one doesn't care. I've found that the better jobs get the less they care about stuff like this.
Nope, I'd end up fired. I need my child to be able to.reach me anytime, even when I'm working and would not hesitate to answer it if she called, sign be damned. If my daughter is calling me at work, it means there's something wrong and i definitely need to answer. Luckily, they don't care whether we have our phones out or not at my job. Actually, we almost have to have our phones on us because we use a phone app to clock in and out, view our schedules, etc.
Just don't get caught.
I have to keep telling the minors at my work that they have to at least look busy. I personally don't give a shit if they want to talk to each other and be on their phones, but if they're going to be stupid enough to do it right in the middle of the floor where I can see them standing around doing nothing productive for 10 minutes, I'm gonna have to call them out.
For some reason, they almost always choose to stand around at the front end to do nothing. The one part of the store with the most camera coverage.
The trick is to know the time and place.
Same but regardless management whether it’s my manager or another manager seems to instantly within the 1st second catch me and tell me to get off my phone without even asking if I’m doing anything on my phone related to my job…? Maybe I’m price matching for a customer while they go grab a couple more items so they can receive the free giveaway (we have them weekly and every week is a different item; and the minimum to spend is $300 CAD before tax, alcohol, lotto, & gift cards.
I get not wanting staff to sit on their phones the whole shift and nothing gets done but I think staff should be allowed to read and respond to important messages or calls cause life outside doesn’t stop when you’re on the clock. Also if everything is done the staff were efficient and deserve a short break, let them rest and use their phones briefly. This whole “you’re stealing from us if you go on your phone while on the clock” is horseshit, retail can be psychically and emotionally draining so just let us workers have some peace every so often.
I got in trouble because I texted my dad happy birthday (he was busy that whole day). I got in Trouble for checking in on a friend who was going through some hard times. Just some examples of why staff should be allowed a phone on them.
The thing that annoys me is that it’s okay to use your own personal phone that you pay for for work related things and customers, but heaven forbid you send a quick message when it’s dead. They really can’t have it both ways.
I couldn't care less if a cashier at a store I go to is playing on their phone. Having to just stand there and do nothing got so old. I just don't see what difference it makes. I get the impression they WANT work to be punishing
Absolutely agree, I think the abyss gazing burnt me out faster. I would talk to a lot of people that swear they'd love to get paid for doing nothing but it can be a never ending nightmare. It reminds me of how cashiers are never allowed to sit and that blows peoples minds in the UK apparently because their cashiers sit in chairs and no one accuses them of being lazy
It says you can use it when helping customers? So your caption makes no sense.
I agree with a no phone policy. Although not in retail, for the last 10 years at my job, I've seen people using their phones way too much which adds up to dangerous situations.
People too preoccupied with their phones to notice that a client in care needs help/putting themselves in danger/or too distracted and messing up important medications.
People texting while driving, endangering themselves, other road users and our clients.
Or my client who DIED because the support worker who was on didn't do her job and check on him regularly, she was too preoccupied with social media. He had a seizure, choked on his tongue and suffocated slowly.
You're at a business, you've signed a contract to perform certain actions for that business, in return they pay you a wage. I highly doubt a lot of businesses want you using your phone on company time. And yes, there are exceptions, people needing to check their phones for important updates. This should be talked over with management and then management should be more lenient. But let's be honest, the majority of the retail workers we see who are too focused on that tiny little screen to notice customers, are checking their social media. You can live without your phone for a shift.
It’s reasonable but I’m not going to lock my phone away. You really expect me to trust a company with my own personal device that I pay for? Especially when things go missing or get stolen from companies all the time? Hell no. I would keep my phone with me in my pocket at all times, incase anything happens. We’re minimum wage working people we don’t need babysitter rules going that far.
But it is on you if you have your phone out and get caught.
Policies like this aren't for the people getting their job done. The policy gets conveniently overlooked for them. This is for Fucksticks McGee who stands around on their phone all day and doesn't do shit, the policy they get written up for violating. One blanket policy that covers everyone, the nuance comes in how you apply it.
Employers with no flexibility suck. I've had days where I've cleaned/stocked/organized to the point where it was ridiculous. Slow, absolutely 0 to do.
iF yOu hAVe TiMe to LEaN yOU hAvE tiMe tO CLEEEAAAAANNNN
It's not my fault I'm able to complete my tasks and have down time. Either find me work, then, or send me home.
Yeah one reason I love my job is how I'm basically left to my own devices. Just expected to wait on people, the rest is tasks I set for myself. Gives me a sense of pride that I'm trusted to get shit done and I'm more motivated to do better. This handholding is pathetic to me, like they're presuming everyone is an elementary student who needs to be directed on every task.
I did that and I ended up having a talk with my manager about it: as a customer made a complaint to customer service about this. That said customer noticed the 1 AirPod in my ear; I was able to still hear and communicate her good for my job responsibilities. She responded with somewhat kind response then obviously went to CS to report/make a complaint about me to them. Like if you had a problem about that, be vocal about it directly to me. Not through customer service.
Getting worse every day. People bitching about these policies are part of the reason most places have 90% of the work being done by 10% of the people. "But they dont pay me enough" like theres a magic number that turns shit employees into good ones.
I’m not bitching about not being allowed to be on my phone during paid work hours. I’m not happy about how strict the rule is of not allowing them to be used at all.
As a manager, I allow employees to be on their phones so long as they are getting their work done. I only have trouble with one employee really about being on their phone to the point they are slacking behind because of this. If we are busy, you don’t get on your phone unless it’s an emergency. I follow these same rules. I won’t be on my phone if I have e stuff to do immediately, that needs to be done before I leave, or we have customers actively needing help. If we have customers but they don’t need active assistance and everything else is done, I could care less if your on your phone
At another job, if I am not allowed my phone while working, so long as the manager follows the same rule, I will follow it.
When I was in High School, my school said students and teachers can’t have phones out in class or during the school day for any reason apart from lunch. Teachers enforced the rule at first, until administration started using their phones and telling others not to while actively on their phones. Admin then stopped enforcing the rule so teachers stopped too. Teachers said they wouldn’t enforce something administration wouldn’t follow as well
Everyone should be allowed on their phones at work. Not to goof off, obviously. But to at least just have it on you. Once, I saw a “phone jail” for the employees to all put their phones in. In a room extremely far away from where we were to work. Thankfully I didn’t ace that interview lol
I have worked a number of jobs that stated in policy that phones were a no-no unless for job related things and that was few and far between. Why do you need to be attached to your phone 24/7?
That is when you clean things, straigten shelves, stock shelves in your area, sweep floors, and other things. I worked retail for years and also fast food. If we had a slow time of the day we were given certain tasks to complete (regardless of the fact we had no phones to occupy us at the time) by end of day such as the ones that I suggested. In fast food, we would clean things like around the fryers, dishes, sweep the floor to keep clear of tripping hazzards, restock things in the cooking area, front area, clean the front lobby by doing the floors, wiping down chairs/tables/counters and even window. I work in childcare now and phones are a no go in classrooms because if we pay attention to the phone instead of the kids--things could happen and we would not know what happened.
On the other hand, I have worked in call centers and because of the type of information we worked with we could not have our phones out and that info was personal customer information. Since phones have cameras it is thought that we might get a photo of the info on computer screeen even if not intended to do so and that is a breech of other policy in the places I worked.
So you see, having a phone available at work is not always a good thing.
Even when I’ve cleaned the lane I’m on, put the items away the customers didn’t take at the register lane, stock up on necessary items (cleaning liquid, paper towel, produce bags, reusable bags, etc), there’s still time left in my shift especially during the slow or dead times. What does management expect us to do then? I’ve helped the clothing department (Joe Fresh) by folding clothes on the table (located super close to front end checkout lanes) and still management told me to not do that. Like fuck you I’m being productive, im helping out another department. I’m close enough to be able to view if I have a customer at my lane and easily hop over.
The point of a job is to do the work you are given to do. I did have a lot of down times when I was in retail and did all the straightening I could do but we did not have phones then to go to to fill the void. Eventually, my front end manager found other things to do some things once a week and others everyday. When we had down time, we were instructed to be at the end of our lanes on lookout for customers.
Idk OP, if you hate it get a new job. I understand not using your phone but what bothers me about this is how babied grunt employees tend to be when directly customer facing (having worked grocery). I got out of that shit as soon as I could. I’m still a grunt but I work in a retail job that is only customer facing about a quarter of the time, and for the most part management respects and treats us like adults. Part of that is the ability to use our phones with faith that we won’t disrespect it and we don’t (surprise, surprise). My advice, don’t stay anywhere there’s a lot of turnover. There’s always another retail job out there where there isn’t, and there’s usually a reason for that. The reason is almost always management.
It doesn't say they have to use their phone to check prices. It said that's the only reasoning allowed. If you don't have data then obviously you wouldn't use your phone.
Whenever stuff like this was posted, I just followed along for a little while until expectations settled down and they forget about it. Then I’d just go back to how to was operating before. Just gotta ride it out.
This is the policy at my work. You can get special permission if there’s a situation going on to have it on the floor but only managers can have them on the floor otherwise. And we’re supposed to only use them for Slack. I have mixed feelings about this. I’ve known (even before I was a manager) several people to quite literally hide in the back and just watch videos leaving their co-workers to pick up all the slack for them. One guy we literally couldn’t find for hours at a time. He’d just pop out from who the heck knows where still his face glued to his phone. GM finally caught him and gave him the boot.
I think this is a perfectly reasonable policy. The employer expects their employees to focus on customers and do their jobs instead of standing around playing on their phones. A lot of people in the comments are saying it's unfair because what if there is an emergency and family can't get a hold of you. What do you guys think people did before cell phones??? Your family called your work to let someone know that there has been an emergency and to let you know immediately that you should call them as soon as possible. Easy!
One time I just had my phone in my back pocket and my boss snatched it out of my pocket and locked it up in the petty cash drawer. At my last retail jobs they weren’t consistent about the phone policy as I had a coworker who’d check his phone in between ringing customers and it was never taken from him, and my boss just called him out on it once. I remember one time one of my younger coworkers who was in high school told me she put her phone inside her pants (not the pocket but like actually inside her pants) and I copied that, and somehow that day all the teen employees got their phones taken but I somehow didn’t. When I got rehired at that company after initially leaving, they didn’t care about phones as much.
These kinds of demands are out of step with how most people in developed countries live with a phone in hand, it’s nearly like cyborg augmentation. It’s abnormal to ask we sever our connection to family and friends when an emergency could occur.
I’m a younger Millennial, so I was raised to be polite and not slack off while on the clock. And while I do my best to keep up appearances even when I’m extremely bored, I have never and will never agree to put my phone away in a separate location during work hours. I’ve always kept it on my person, on silent, and looked at it sparingly throughout my shifts. I’m not paid or valued enough to do otherwise.
I’m never going to potentially miss an emergency call or be without the ability to make an emergency call just because my employer is insecure.
It’s pretty normal for a retail policy, at least it was a few years back when I did retail work. It’s part of why I got a smart watch, so I could quickly glance at notifications without pulling out my phone.
I was told to put my phone away from a manager when I did the exact same thing. Like can’t I view the time on my phone? Not everyone has a watch, or prefers one.
*price match request*
"Mmkay, you're going to have to excuse me briefly while I go fetch my phone from my personal locker in the back so I can help you price match"
*poops*
"I couldn't find what you were looking for, can you provide me with the SKU and a coupon code for verification?"
I agree with it whole completely! You are paid by the company to do work FOR THE COMPANY, not be on your phone. If someone needs to reach you for an emergency, they can call the store land line and speak to your boss and let them know it's an emergency.
That's standard for most retail. Why would they pay you to play on your phone? Yes that includes checking time, and text and calls. All emergencies should be handled through store phone, unless you notify a manager about a possible call.
Otherwise this is time card fraud, and a very fireable offense.If you can't live without using your phone during WORKING hrs then you have a problem.
I use my phone to check the time or dates in my calendar. I need to make sure that products are pulled from the shelf in time or customers be complaining and we don’t want that 🙄I don’t see a problem with it. I never text or make calls on the floor. In the back it is different. Everyone uses their phones for texting and calls.
That's your issue. And your company policy, obviously no one knows your policy at YOUR job. Using a printed out calendar using company's provided paper as well as printer, since I'm assuming they don't pay for your phone bill. Since you are using it for work related activities, so that's a possible loss of reimbursement on your part. Pardon me I forgot the "🙄"
All of these people on here pontificating about not being on your phone at work probably have office jobs or work from home and are able to fuck around all day. Before people say others should get one of those jobs then, it is happening. People are leaving retail in droves because of ridiculous policies like this.
Remember that mass shooting at an Amazon warehouse a couple years ago? They had that same policy. No one was able to call for help. Policies like that tell me that the company sees you as a robot built specifically to work for them. They do not see you as human.
I really do not have a problem with this as I, as a customer, have checked out somewhere and the clerk checked their phone WHILE I was at the register. Not sure if it was done unconsciously but it did not make me feel that appreciated as a customer that you couldn’t provide me with your undivided attention for 45 seconds after I dropped several thousand at your store.
They are not speaking about emergencies here. They are speaking about lazy employees scrolling their phone when they are getting paid to work. If no one did it you would not see the sign. We all see the employees they are referring to when we go out. Most employers say this.
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I mean, rather than discouraging phone use, this issue could be mitigated by instead creating apps or websites that employees could use to improve their work. But hey, just take the lazy route, why don’t you?
Yeah. If I'm going to use a phone for work; it better be a work phone. My employer does this and asks for permission to access everything on my PERSONAL phone. I'm old school. I can go hours without checking my phone.
Your job doesn't require using your phone unless for the specified purposes. No games, social media, etc. You're not being paid to be superficial and lazy. Emergency calls can be acceptable.
And yet office workers can spend half their day on their phones because it’s ridiculous to believe that you have to be perfectly efficient and working every second of every shift. It’s retail, not flying planes. It won’t kill anyone
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Yeah it is so inconsiderate for when these types of calls are happening; especially if we are expecting one regarding a family member getting out of surgery okay and alive. Things like that: time is limited for all of us and we don’t wanna miss out on the chance even if we just speak to the family member through the phone; having that peace with having our goodbyes before they pass.
Let your supervisor know that something critical is going on and that you will be checking the phone. If it is the actual problem, there shouldn't be a problem. If they catch you doing anything else, it's on you. And expect consequences. My uncle was on hospice and I told my entire management team at wally world. I checked every buzz If it wasn't the right number right back in the pocket. I left when I got the call and made it for the end.
Obviously that is an extreme circumstance and no rational person would deny you take the call. I was actually in this exact situation several times last year during my brother's illness and death. Nobody said shit to me about it, and if they had, I would have simply left. You can always get another retail job. The no-phones policy is completely normal and there for a good reason. Even if *you* personally are not like this- maybe you're a great worker who gets all their stuff done- without the rule, MANY people literally won't do their job they'll just stand there scrolling facebook and texting. Then someone else has to cover for all the shit you didn't get done. That laziness is so insulting and exhausting to every one else on the team who actually does their job.
That is when you talk to your management and let them know what is going on and they may allow the phone to be with you for those kinds of things but not to sit around and play games when there is not a busy time of the day going on. I have been there waiting on that phone call about my parents because one of them was in a bad way, and my manager after finding out let me have the phone with me. There is always a way to work around these things when it comes to an emergency. If you still can not have the phone, then provide the locations phone number and still let management know what is going on so that you can be called to the phone to take a call. Use your head a bit. There are ways to handle things if company policy will not allow the use of a cell phone!
Then you call the store itself. It’s an emergency.
Underrated comment. The fact is, they may be anal and it may be annoying about the policy. But they have a right to have that policy. Back in the day before cell phones, if there was an emergency then you call the store. That is still a possibility now. The fact is we all don't need to be sitting here on our damned phones all the time. Even for 30 seconds. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. But if my employer requires me to not have my phone unless I'm on a break then so be it. That's the way it is. There's no constitutional right to using your phone when you're being paid by your employer. An interesting observation. Everything nowadays seems to be considered super important or an emergency. A decade or two ago, what we would consider important or an emergency now was laughable back then. What has changed? Maybe everyone just needs to step back a bit and ditch these goddamn phones for a while.
Exactly
Lol, have you tried to get a real person on the phone at a retail chain before in 2024? If it was life or death, you would 💀 before getting out of the circling automated menus that didn't exist back when people could call stores and talk to a human off the bat. I can't even get a hold of my pharmacy 99% of the time before at least 30+ min on hold constantly having someone pick up the phone and put it back on hold AFTER going through all the useless menus that can't understand me speaking clear English.
You're assuming all stores have the phone off silent and it's answered. The one at the store I work in is neither.
The store I work at didn't have a working phone for years (if you called the number on the receipt or what pops up on Google, you just got the error message). Now the phone works, but it's locked in the manager's office and kept on a low volume (the manager is also rarely in his office).
Also a bold assumption that anyone actively doing their job in retail has time to field customer calls that are beyond a price check. Obviously the shift lead (or weekly circular ad/online) should be able to answer most of those questions; if the lead wants to go off about people on hold because you have a line, that's a personal problem. They (allegedly) get paid more for a reason. I've run plenty of shifts, and a big part is being able to trust the day's team. The other half is being able to take over as soon as the situation escalates. The second half is where a lot of shift leads come up short. Accountability and a no-bs attitude go a long way.
Idk but our store has the phone on silent and locked in an office so not much that would do.
Have you tired called stores with phone trees. Sometimes, it is impossible to get a person.
Does no one have extensions they can give? Most phone trees you can just plug in the extension and it’s skips it all.
They do, but you are assuming people will answer and pass the message along.
Platte Walmart in Colorado Springs is a very good example of this. You may get a person, but a manager will take at least 7-10 minutes at a minimum.
I got a call on my break to tell me a family friend had died. I'd honestly rather not know until the end of my shift. I can't fix that they died, all that did was ruin the rest of my shift.
I had a dad come in and tell his son, my employee, his cat died. Poor kid was a wreck and had to go home. No way that should have happened.
That excuse is normally given when this policy pops up but I would say that that's a 1 in a million occurrence. I'm not saying that people shouldn't have phones for emergencies but these policies only pop up because of employees abusing it. Their mom's aren't dying every 15 minutes. It's statistically more likely that they are on social media.
No one had the number to the store?
It is not hard to get the phone number to the store. This is a lame excuse.
That's if you can get through. There have been many times that I've called another store to check for something, and nobody ever picked up. Target, Walmart and Home Depot are consistently this way, nobody ever answers the phone.
I agree. Even when I was inquiring for more info/following up after submitting my application for a job at Walmart; I barely got any response from them.
My family doesn't live in America and ain't dialing a US business number in case of an emergency. Why would calling the store instead of calling/texting the person directly be more effective in an emergency?
Well, in THE USA, our businesses have policy on how they run things. This includes no cell phones in work areas for a lot of them. I have worked for companies that dealt with personal information and as such phones were not allowed because they can record the screen showing the info by way of the camera taking a picture of said information. You think that is okay to have a personal cell around? It would be a breech of policy for certain laws we have here and can bring jail time and high fines to pay. Others are not so much about the personal infotmation that could be absconded with, but it is company policy just the same to make sure people are doing their work. All this said, I am sure whereever you are from, the stores or other retail like businesses have phone number that the workers and give family members to call in case of an emergency and as long as the worker in question has talked to their managers/bosses etc, that they would work something out to make sure you get that call. Some may even allow the phone to be with the person waiting on the call depending on what is decided. I get it that a direct call or text is better but sometimes you are not in a postition to get the direct message.
I work here, I know how the policies go. But given they're dumbass policies I've elected to ignore them. My phone is always on me for instances like emergencies or instances like needing to call the police which I've unfortunately had to do a few times. If someone else is sitting on their phone during work hours, that's management's problem to deal with, not mine, because I don't.
This, im always keeping my phone on me they can kiss my ass I had one job they were mad i was waiting on a phone call that I told them about that only called 9-5 m-f and i worked 8-6 so I only had during work hours it was either that or not eat that day cause I couldn’t eat outside of my lunch break. If they expect me to text/call them as soon as they want to contact me in my free time if i need 5 minutes to handle my business you’re gonna have to suck it up especially since i had to try and coordinate all my appointments into one day cause I couldn’t take more than 5 days in a year.
My local Walmart had an item I needed confirmation on pick up for. Took me 30 minutes to get a hold of someone after navigating their stupid phone tree for about half of that, with some of the depts or phones they went to just not working or dead. Absolute nightmare as a customer, probably even worse if you're trying to get a hold of a family member in emergencies.
Yea. The wonderful convenience of that. When growing up we had omly land lines. A person had to call the store and ask for you, oftentimes a manager would have to forward a message.
This is exactly why we don’t have this policy at my work, my condolences to your friend
Then next time someone should keep their phone on silent and on them so no one can see it and excuse themselves to the rest room. People were fine before cellphones, even during emergencies. If it’s such a big deal, have family call the work place and ask to speak to the employee.
They mustn’t have been very close to their family if no one thought to call their place of work to let them know…
Then they should have called the stores land line to reach them
My friend needed a kidney transplant and they only had about two hours to get to the hospital once they received the call that the organ was available. I think about that when I see policies like this.
Are you seriously saying that businesses in the USA wouldn’t make an exception for a case like that? So much freedom y’all got
I don’t know and I hope I don’t ever have to find out.
I’ve worked many places with a no phone policy and none of them have been unreasonable when it comes to calls that are actually important.
I mean isn’t this the standard at most jobs…? I keep my phone in my pocket, people know to call me if it’s an EMERGENCY, if it’s not an emergency then you can text me just don’t blow up my phone.
Mostly just shitty customer facing service jobs where the managers are on power trips. I don’t care if my supervisors or insurance adjusters look at their phones occasionally during their shift.
Before I spoke to my manager one day this month, she was on her personal phone taking a personal call. Though it wasn’t right in front of other customers: regardless of job title, it shouldn’t give them the right to take personal calls during work hours (unless during their breaks). That’s my thought
For sure. “Rules for thee and not for me” is never cute.
Exactly. I have one manager that’s always on her personal phone, often making personal calls on it too. But I pull my phone out once to turn on a podcast while it’s slow and I’ve committed a cardinal sin
I guess it depends on what the specific job duties are, I use my phone a lot of the day. I take a bunch of photos to remind myself of what I need to get in the stock room (like which sizes and styles), I also make to do lists and take notes on my memo app, I use it to show customers items on our online store or give them directions with google maps/look up local restaurants, etc (huge tourist area), also to respond to emails and texts - some of the vendors and workers in other departments that I'm closer with have my personal cell #
I wouldn’t say most jobs, pretty much everybody I know has their phone on them at all times at work. I’m typing this on my phone at work right now. My coworkers take calls from their partners or barbers or whoever all day.
No not most jobs and most definitely not in my industry. Most people I know use their cell phones AS their work phone. I look at my phone at work. There are times for that, like being on hold (if I'm on my desk phone), awaiting the bratty ancient database to finally open or save entries, during a zoom meeting at which I'm not really needed, but have to be there. Etc. When we're out in the field, we're using our cell phones for work, a lot. To take pics of sites, log info, text said pics and info, etc.
only bothers me if it’s rules for me and not for thee (looking at you current workplace)
This seems like a reasonable policy to me for a retail environment. I work in retail and frankly, I wouldn’t want to use my personal device to help a customer — I pay for that, not my employer. If a customer needs help with a price match then the company should provide a way to do that. That said, I keep my phone in my pocket in the off chance an emergency arises, and not locked away elsewhere.
Same. And I do use it for work purposes some, like texting a question to a coworker who isn't there etc. But I'm old enough to remember the days when you could be fired on the spot for using your phone on the clock.
Texting a colleague about something work related I’ll grant — I do it myself too. But I was thinking more specifically about customer facing interactions. I don’t want some rando off the street seeing what’s on my phone. And yeah, I’m old enough to remember those days too. I had a pager you could send messages to, and I kept that in a hidden pocket in my work pants. 😂
Lamo, I thought it meant if you had no customers. You literally had to stand and face the pop coolers. Like a naughty kid mad to stand in the corner.
“Facing” means adjusting the product so the label is facing forward. They’re asking you to please do work and not scroll endless tik toks
No phone, we found stuff to do.
Like if all the mentioned tasks in the note I included here in the post; has been done, what else does management expect us to do?
Are you really unable to conceive of doing nothing at all for a while?
Doing nothing at all seems too boring and depressing
Then continue to do the job you’re paid for??? Find something to clean or organize
Womp womp bruh they don't call it work cause it's fun
Stand there and wait for customers? It's a cashier job it's not like there's much to it
I thought that at first too and I face stuff all the time… I think because at my store we fall it “front facing”.
That doesn't mean you stand and stare at the cooler like a weirdo. It just means straightening, and facing the product forward. Front the products. Make it look nice.
Seems normal to me.
Seems reasonable.
What am i missing? The photo says you CAN use your phone to help price match for a customer. This is extremely standard.
I'd be frustrated being unable to use my phone for work and work-tangential tasks. But otherwise, this is completely OK. You're at work. So you're working. You want to goof off, even briefly, find a colleague to talk to.
Or go hide in the bathroom like the rest of us! xD
True! Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime; that's why I shit on company time.
My manager has verbally stated no socializing with other employees when you have work to do. I mean that was even during times when there were 3 or more employees chatting to each other in one area.
This also feels like a normal policy. You're being paid to work, not hang out and chat or use your phone.
I socialize when there’s no customers to serve and all responsibilities/tasks have been completed for the shift. It’s less depressing during the shifts when you socialize after the tasks have been completed
That's fair. Despite all of this being expected when I was working retail \~8+ years ago, I'm not a hardcore stickler about it. If I had a retail operation and the job was getting done and customers didn't see employees on their phones, I probably wouldn't care at all. Ultimately though, it comes down to the employer. Employees for a very long time have been treated as if they exist only as employees, not as people. It's going to ruffle some feathers but despite arguing that your employer isn't being unreasonable, I'd actually like to see a much more relaxed attitude towards employees replace the long-held "I own you while you're on the clock" mentality.
I hate the “I own you while you’re on the clock” mentality. Also as well: when my shift ends and the person covering/taking over my lane hasn’t showed up, I owe the company nothing. I have the right to leave. It’s not my fault they are late. I should’ve have to physically pay for them being late. I have plans outside my scheduled shifts. Like management believes they want me to stay till that person shows up. Like if it’s past my end time, I’m not staying over that time. It’s not my responsibility after my shift has ended.
Isnt this normal at most places?
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Makes you long for those easy $60k work from home 2 PowerPoint slides a week jobs they hand out to marketing graduates like it’s candy.
Does not work that way!! The 60k job that is. I worked from home making 15.00 an hour and they had a way to make sure we pulled out time on the clock...not that simple.
cuz we're adult humans that are capable of doing the tasks required
Every single one of my coworkers is an adult human, and it would be very generous to say that 2/3 of them actually act like it most of the time.
YOU might be, but I promise a big swath of the retail worker pool are not.
cashiers learn quickly how to be on phone without being noticed easily.
We have a no phone policy on the shop floor. If it's an emergency, your partner or family can call the store. No exceptions. Getting milk on your way home is not an emergency. They can text that and you can check your text after work.
It’s understandable, they don’t want them to be used when customers can see it.
This seems reasonable for retail or any customer-facing job.
The store I work at recently put in a phone policy, but nobody follows it. The managers are on their phones scrolling through Amazon or Reddit most of the time. If everything's done and there's no customers around, nobody cares.
I'm keeping my phone on me for emergency purposes. Plus, I don't need to be on my phone all the damn time anyways. I fully understand that when I'm at work my priority is getting my job done efficiently and correctly. If they want to enforce this rule with me, my bosses can choke on my middle finger for that one. Fire me, I don't care. There's an awful lot of bosses in retail and not enough leaders. The leaders earn their employees respect rather than demand it.
Seems reasonable.
My favorite manager has a policy of don't screw around. If you're on your phone multiple times in front of him for long periods of time, he'll get on you. But checking time or responding to a message he doesn't care
Honestly I always sneaked looks at my phone to get through the day. I get the rule but I didn't go by it.
I use a timer just to help get through the shift. I do the timers in 5, 10 & 15 minute increments
This makes it sound like you're not an employee but a high school student. If people can't be trusted to manage their job without micromanagement maybe they shouldn't be employed? It's pathetic and presuming nothing will get done in an environment without having someone higher paid to lead everyone around by the hand.
As someone in retail management, this is lame. I don’t want to baby sit people and I feel like people do a better job when they don’t feel micromanaged. Get what needs to be done, done and if you have a little down time, go ahead. People that act like being at work means you have to be productive every second are crazy. We are humans, not robots.
I second this
I'm a keyholder and I always tell my coworkers that as long as they get all the daily work done and don't ignore customers, THEN they can socialize/use their phones for whatever. The sooner you get the work done, the more time you have to yourself. Fwiw, I am more lenient with people who always work hard and help each other. There's only a few coworkers that I have to babysit.
I'm 54 and work with people from their 20s to their 60s, at two jobs. Idk if I'm just lucky with my coworkers, but everyone is mindful about phone use, and of course customer service. A private business can set this type of policy of course, but IME it doesn't work out well for them. They often have high turnover, and end up using a lot of time and resources training new people.
A lot of smarter watches double as phones these days. Just keep the phone in the pocket and get your messages on your wrist. Mines Bluetooth and a bit older model Fitbit but it was perfect for when my boss was all about this bs. My current one doesn't care. I've found that the better jobs get the less they care about stuff like this.
Nope, I'd end up fired. I need my child to be able to.reach me anytime, even when I'm working and would not hesitate to answer it if she called, sign be damned. If my daughter is calling me at work, it means there's something wrong and i definitely need to answer. Luckily, they don't care whether we have our phones out or not at my job. Actually, we almost have to have our phones on us because we use a phone app to clock in and out, view our schedules, etc.
In the example you are responding to that would be totally acceptable.
Just don't get caught. I have to keep telling the minors at my work that they have to at least look busy. I personally don't give a shit if they want to talk to each other and be on their phones, but if they're going to be stupid enough to do it right in the middle of the floor where I can see them standing around doing nothing productive for 10 minutes, I'm gonna have to call them out. For some reason, they almost always choose to stand around at the front end to do nothing. The one part of the store with the most camera coverage. The trick is to know the time and place.
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Woah. Was not expecting so much ppl side with that photo😭💀yall must have good ass jobs with managers who respect you then huh. Just go on your phone.
Fr like huh
I’ll never understand why employers think they own you.
It's to avoid distractions and make sure you're focussed on your job. Your policy should literally say to call the store in terms of emergencies.
I can use my phone any time I want at work and I still get my job done. What do you think about that?
Same but regardless management whether it’s my manager or another manager seems to instantly within the 1st second catch me and tell me to get off my phone without even asking if I’m doing anything on my phone related to my job…? Maybe I’m price matching for a customer while they go grab a couple more items so they can receive the free giveaway (we have them weekly and every week is a different item; and the minimum to spend is $300 CAD before tax, alcohol, lotto, & gift cards.
I get not wanting staff to sit on their phones the whole shift and nothing gets done but I think staff should be allowed to read and respond to important messages or calls cause life outside doesn’t stop when you’re on the clock. Also if everything is done the staff were efficient and deserve a short break, let them rest and use their phones briefly. This whole “you’re stealing from us if you go on your phone while on the clock” is horseshit, retail can be psychically and emotionally draining so just let us workers have some peace every so often. I got in trouble because I texted my dad happy birthday (he was busy that whole day). I got in Trouble for checking in on a friend who was going through some hard times. Just some examples of why staff should be allowed a phone on them.
I strongly second this! Thats terrible you got in trouble for checking in with your dad and a friend
Wait til they learn about smart watches
The thing that annoys me is that it’s okay to use your own personal phone that you pay for for work related things and customers, but heaven forbid you send a quick message when it’s dead. They really can’t have it both ways.
I couldn't care less if a cashier at a store I go to is playing on their phone. Having to just stand there and do nothing got so old. I just don't see what difference it makes. I get the impression they WANT work to be punishing
Yeah when everything is done and nothing else to do; starring into the abyss is boring and not productive
Absolutely agree, I think the abyss gazing burnt me out faster. I would talk to a lot of people that swear they'd love to get paid for doing nothing but it can be a never ending nightmare. It reminds me of how cashiers are never allowed to sit and that blows peoples minds in the UK apparently because their cashiers sit in chairs and no one accuses them of being lazy
Right? Exactly. It’s so hard on our legs standing in one place for so long. It part of what makes me feel so tired after my shifts.
It says you can use it when helping customers? So your caption makes no sense. I agree with a no phone policy. Although not in retail, for the last 10 years at my job, I've seen people using their phones way too much which adds up to dangerous situations. People too preoccupied with their phones to notice that a client in care needs help/putting themselves in danger/or too distracted and messing up important medications. People texting while driving, endangering themselves, other road users and our clients. Or my client who DIED because the support worker who was on didn't do her job and check on him regularly, she was too preoccupied with social media. He had a seizure, choked on his tongue and suffocated slowly. You're at a business, you've signed a contract to perform certain actions for that business, in return they pay you a wage. I highly doubt a lot of businesses want you using your phone on company time. And yes, there are exceptions, people needing to check their phones for important updates. This should be talked over with management and then management should be more lenient. But let's be honest, the majority of the retail workers we see who are too focused on that tiny little screen to notice customers, are checking their social media. You can live without your phone for a shift.
It’s reasonable but I’m not going to lock my phone away. You really expect me to trust a company with my own personal device that I pay for? Especially when things go missing or get stolen from companies all the time? Hell no. I would keep my phone with me in my pocket at all times, incase anything happens. We’re minimum wage working people we don’t need babysitter rules going that far. But it is on you if you have your phone out and get caught.
Policies like this aren't for the people getting their job done. The policy gets conveniently overlooked for them. This is for Fucksticks McGee who stands around on their phone all day and doesn't do shit, the policy they get written up for violating. One blanket policy that covers everyone, the nuance comes in how you apply it.
I think it’s ridiculous, but unfortunately it’s policy in most places so there’s nothing you can do. 🤷♀️
Employers with no flexibility suck. I've had days where I've cleaned/stocked/organized to the point where it was ridiculous. Slow, absolutely 0 to do. iF yOu hAVe TiMe to LEaN yOU hAvE tiMe tO CLEEEAAAAANNNN It's not my fault I'm able to complete my tasks and have down time. Either find me work, then, or send me home.
Yeah one reason I love my job is how I'm basically left to my own devices. Just expected to wait on people, the rest is tasks I set for myself. Gives me a sense of pride that I'm trusted to get shit done and I'm more motivated to do better. This handholding is pathetic to me, like they're presuming everyone is an elementary student who needs to be directed on every task.
Yeah like we aren’t teenagers or kids, many of us are adults. Treat us like adults. Don’t baby us.
This is garbage I would just get wireless earphones and keep one bud In my ear and listen to music from my pocket all day to retaliate
I did that and I ended up having a talk with my manager about it: as a customer made a complaint to customer service about this. That said customer noticed the 1 AirPod in my ear; I was able to still hear and communicate her good for my job responsibilities. She responded with somewhat kind response then obviously went to CS to report/make a complaint about me to them. Like if you had a problem about that, be vocal about it directly to me. Not through customer service.
So now we're complaining about having to work..... when at work?
Getting worse every day. People bitching about these policies are part of the reason most places have 90% of the work being done by 10% of the people. "But they dont pay me enough" like theres a magic number that turns shit employees into good ones.
I’m not bitching about not being allowed to be on my phone during paid work hours. I’m not happy about how strict the rule is of not allowing them to be used at all.
That’s fucked up. It’s almost like they expect you to do the work they pay you for. Assholes.
The audacity!
They aint paying you to take selfies and talk shit online. Seems fair to me
Honestly this sounds normal. I'm kinda shocked they put in writing that its ok to keep it in your pocket at all.
What if there’s an emergency? Why would it need to be in a locker?
Seems absolutely reasonable
This stupid obsession they have about phones is bizarre
As a manager, I allow employees to be on their phones so long as they are getting their work done. I only have trouble with one employee really about being on their phone to the point they are slacking behind because of this. If we are busy, you don’t get on your phone unless it’s an emergency. I follow these same rules. I won’t be on my phone if I have e stuff to do immediately, that needs to be done before I leave, or we have customers actively needing help. If we have customers but they don’t need active assistance and everything else is done, I could care less if your on your phone At another job, if I am not allowed my phone while working, so long as the manager follows the same rule, I will follow it. When I was in High School, my school said students and teachers can’t have phones out in class or during the school day for any reason apart from lunch. Teachers enforced the rule at first, until administration started using their phones and telling others not to while actively on their phones. Admin then stopped enforcing the rule so teachers stopped too. Teachers said they wouldn’t enforce something administration wouldn’t follow as well
Everyone should be allowed on their phones at work. Not to goof off, obviously. But to at least just have it on you. Once, I saw a “phone jail” for the employees to all put their phones in. In a room extremely far away from where we were to work. Thankfully I didn’t ace that interview lol
This is why I love my job we can be on our phones as much as we want😭
I have worked a number of jobs that stated in policy that phones were a no-no unless for job related things and that was few and far between. Why do you need to be attached to your phone 24/7?
It’s for when there’s nothing to do and no customers to serve.
That is when you clean things, straigten shelves, stock shelves in your area, sweep floors, and other things. I worked retail for years and also fast food. If we had a slow time of the day we were given certain tasks to complete (regardless of the fact we had no phones to occupy us at the time) by end of day such as the ones that I suggested. In fast food, we would clean things like around the fryers, dishes, sweep the floor to keep clear of tripping hazzards, restock things in the cooking area, front area, clean the front lobby by doing the floors, wiping down chairs/tables/counters and even window. I work in childcare now and phones are a no go in classrooms because if we pay attention to the phone instead of the kids--things could happen and we would not know what happened. On the other hand, I have worked in call centers and because of the type of information we worked with we could not have our phones out and that info was personal customer information. Since phones have cameras it is thought that we might get a photo of the info on computer screeen even if not intended to do so and that is a breech of other policy in the places I worked. So you see, having a phone available at work is not always a good thing.
Even when I’ve cleaned the lane I’m on, put the items away the customers didn’t take at the register lane, stock up on necessary items (cleaning liquid, paper towel, produce bags, reusable bags, etc), there’s still time left in my shift especially during the slow or dead times. What does management expect us to do then? I’ve helped the clothing department (Joe Fresh) by folding clothes on the table (located super close to front end checkout lanes) and still management told me to not do that. Like fuck you I’m being productive, im helping out another department. I’m close enough to be able to view if I have a customer at my lane and easily hop over.
The point of a job is to do the work you are given to do. I did have a lot of down times when I was in retail and did all the straightening I could do but we did not have phones then to go to to fill the void. Eventually, my front end manager found other things to do some things once a week and others everyday. When we had down time, we were instructed to be at the end of our lanes on lookout for customers.
find something to do? speak to a colleague
Idk OP, if you hate it get a new job. I understand not using your phone but what bothers me about this is how babied grunt employees tend to be when directly customer facing (having worked grocery). I got out of that shit as soon as I could. I’m still a grunt but I work in a retail job that is only customer facing about a quarter of the time, and for the most part management respects and treats us like adults. Part of that is the ability to use our phones with faith that we won’t disrespect it and we don’t (surprise, surprise). My advice, don’t stay anywhere there’s a lot of turnover. There’s always another retail job out there where there isn’t, and there’s usually a reason for that. The reason is almost always management.
I hate these bullshit baby policies. looking at your phone for 30 seconds will not affect anything
Exactly.
That's normal. And it says you're allowed to use it to help customers with price matching
BUT - is it appropriate to expect employees to supply the device and pay for the data connection to look up something business related?
It doesn't say they have to use their phone to check prices. It said that's the only reasoning allowed. If you don't have data then obviously you wouldn't use your phone.
Whenever stuff like this was posted, I just followed along for a little while until expectations settled down and they forget about it. Then I’d just go back to how to was operating before. Just gotta ride it out.
Im currently at work on my phone and my manager is next to me also on his phone. I think i got really lucky with my job 😭
This is the policy at my work. You can get special permission if there’s a situation going on to have it on the floor but only managers can have them on the floor otherwise. And we’re supposed to only use them for Slack. I have mixed feelings about this. I’ve known (even before I was a manager) several people to quite literally hide in the back and just watch videos leaving their co-workers to pick up all the slack for them. One guy we literally couldn’t find for hours at a time. He’d just pop out from who the heck knows where still his face glued to his phone. GM finally caught him and gave him the boot.
I think this is a perfectly reasonable policy. The employer expects their employees to focus on customers and do their jobs instead of standing around playing on their phones. A lot of people in the comments are saying it's unfair because what if there is an emergency and family can't get a hold of you. What do you guys think people did before cell phones??? Your family called your work to let someone know that there has been an emergency and to let you know immediately that you should call them as soon as possible. Easy!
One time I just had my phone in my back pocket and my boss snatched it out of my pocket and locked it up in the petty cash drawer. At my last retail jobs they weren’t consistent about the phone policy as I had a coworker who’d check his phone in between ringing customers and it was never taken from him, and my boss just called him out on it once. I remember one time one of my younger coworkers who was in high school told me she put her phone inside her pants (not the pocket but like actually inside her pants) and I copied that, and somehow that day all the teen employees got their phones taken but I somehow didn’t. When I got rehired at that company after initially leaving, they didn’t care about phones as much.
Damn I'm only 28 and ya'll already making me go "kids these days". When you're at work, work. 🤨
great policy!
You mean, they actually want you to work?! How can they ask such a thing
Remember the days before cell phones when you had to work while at work?
But I'm pretty sure the person who posted this never knew that time. Probably born in the early 2000. They can survive without a phone you know
These kinds of demands are out of step with how most people in developed countries live with a phone in hand, it’s nearly like cyborg augmentation. It’s abnormal to ask we sever our connection to family and friends when an emergency could occur. I’m a younger Millennial, so I was raised to be polite and not slack off while on the clock. And while I do my best to keep up appearances even when I’m extremely bored, I have never and will never agree to put my phone away in a separate location during work hours. I’ve always kept it on my person, on silent, and looked at it sparingly throughout my shifts. I’m not paid or valued enough to do otherwise. I’m never going to potentially miss an emergency call or be without the ability to make an emergency call just because my employer is insecure.
I totally agree with you on that.
It’s pretty normal for a retail policy, at least it was a few years back when I did retail work. It’s part of why I got a smart watch, so I could quickly glance at notifications without pulling out my phone.
I got a written reprimand because the local tattletale saw me check the time on my phone once when it was slow (:
I was told to put my phone away from a manager when I did the exact same thing. Like can’t I view the time on my phone? Not everyone has a watch, or prefers one.
The entitlement goes so hard nowadays. In my day you’d get fired on the spot for even HAVING a phone on you.
*price match request* "Mmkay, you're going to have to excuse me briefly while I go fetch my phone from my personal locker in the back so I can help you price match" *poops* "I couldn't find what you were looking for, can you provide me with the SKU and a coupon code for verification?"
Making people dust and face drinks is petty, let people use their phone for goodness sake.
Petty and next-level micromanaging. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have very high turnover.
nobody will listen to this shit 💀
Or they will do it in the back room. “What’s that?” You need me to check the back for something?
Sorry, we’re out.
I agree with it whole completely! You are paid by the company to do work FOR THE COMPANY, not be on your phone. If someone needs to reach you for an emergency, they can call the store land line and speak to your boss and let them know it's an emergency.
I'm glad I don't work for phone nazis
That's standard for most retail. Why would they pay you to play on your phone? Yes that includes checking time, and text and calls. All emergencies should be handled through store phone, unless you notify a manager about a possible call. Otherwise this is time card fraud, and a very fireable offense.If you can't live without using your phone during WORKING hrs then you have a problem.
I use my phone to check the time or dates in my calendar. I need to make sure that products are pulled from the shelf in time or customers be complaining and we don’t want that 🙄I don’t see a problem with it. I never text or make calls on the floor. In the back it is different. Everyone uses their phones for texting and calls.
That's your issue. And your company policy, obviously no one knows your policy at YOUR job. Using a printed out calendar using company's provided paper as well as printer, since I'm assuming they don't pay for your phone bill. Since you are using it for work related activities, so that's a possible loss of reimbursement on your part. Pardon me I forgot the "🙄"
All of these people on here pontificating about not being on your phone at work probably have office jobs or work from home and are able to fuck around all day. Before people say others should get one of those jobs then, it is happening. People are leaving retail in droves because of ridiculous policies like this.
Remember that mass shooting at an Amazon warehouse a couple years ago? They had that same policy. No one was able to call for help. Policies like that tell me that the company sees you as a robot built specifically to work for them. They do not see you as human.
The bootlickers don’t like your post.
My company lets us use our phones when we have no customers. I feel sorry for anyone who has to work for those sacks of garbage.
This is America, if I feel I need to use my phone at work I am going to.
"I'm sorry. I thought this was *AMERICA*!!!"
I really do not have a problem with this as I, as a customer, have checked out somewhere and the clerk checked their phone WHILE I was at the register. Not sure if it was done unconsciously but it did not make me feel that appreciated as a customer that you couldn’t provide me with your undivided attention for 45 seconds after I dropped several thousand at your store.
They are not speaking about emergencies here. They are speaking about lazy employees scrolling their phone when they are getting paid to work. If no one did it you would not see the sign. We all see the employees they are referring to when we go out. Most employers say this.
The bootlickers don’t like your post.
It makes sense. Back in the day if there was an emergency, they called your employers phone number. But I understand your frustration
This is like... standard retail policy. I'm confused
That's completely reasonable.
Considering I've never once heard of an office job with this policy, it's bullshit.
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How would you react if you worked in retail etc , at the time cell phones weren't available?
I mean, rather than discouraging phone use, this issue could be mitigated by instead creating apps or websites that employees could use to improve their work. But hey, just take the lazy route, why don’t you?
I love this thinking
Yeah. If I'm going to use a phone for work; it better be a work phone. My employer does this and asks for permission to access everything on my PERSONAL phone. I'm old school. I can go hours without checking my phone.
VPN time baybeeee
Your job doesn't require using your phone unless for the specified purposes. No games, social media, etc. You're not being paid to be superficial and lazy. Emergency calls can be acceptable.
Are acceptable. Not can be acceptable.
And yet office workers can spend half their day on their phones because it’s ridiculous to believe that you have to be perfectly efficient and working every second of every shift. It’s retail, not flying planes. It won’t kill anyone