the retail warehouse worker

most often someone who won’t work in sales,
or on the floor in any manner
because they can’t stand customers,
the retail warehouse worker may not have the
social graces
that are required to act
fake
everyday, in an attempt to make that
big sale---
so they can crawl across the ground to pick up the
scraps thrown at them by the
boss who gives them some pitiful
percentage
that does not make the selling of one’s proverbial
“soul” (in the context of working in retail)
even close to worth it.

the retail warehouse worker instead,
stays behind the scenes---
they unload, hang up & ticket clothes---
they stand all day long & are told not to talk
so that their labor will not slow down---
in some lucky instances, they may be
elected
to do real-time inventories of the various
warehouses
in order to determine how much
in-store theft
has taken place during any given month.

individuals who work in retail warehouses
have often come from all walks of life
they for the most part do not go into this
“line of work”
thinking that they will be there for a 3-7
prison sentence, but instead
that this will be a part-time
experience,
something that they can do while taking night
classes
in hopes of someday elevating themselves from the
excrement---
however,
the pipe dreams run high & deep
when you have an “occupation” which can be learned
in the training period of a week
(less time during the pressed holiday season),
and yet is done every single day
the same way
into what seems like eternity---
until you are finally forced to quit
because the $ .25 a year raise
just isn’t cutting it.

because of the low pay
and the poor treatment of the workers---
no benefits & no overtime
with the overall threat of being fired for not
complying to the next set of
“new ideas” put forth by
magnificent
management---
you often find people who would go “postal”
if in fact they worked at the
post-office---
but seeing as how they work in retail,
one should say that they go “retail”---
as you often find at least two employees a day
saying how they hate the place so much
that they plan on burning it down.

in store theft takes place mostly during the
holiday season,
as those who are on the verge of shooting
management &
burning down the store,
get their friends to apply for a job
and when they get hired and walk around the warehouse interior of the store,
they see all the exits,
and all the places where merchandise can be hidden & then
stolen, lifted out at a later date.

in a place like this
thousands of dollars are lost by the store
and the turnover is so high because they lay off people that they
promised full time positions after the holidays,
only to relinquish their offer---
this kind of treatment is returned with an all out onslaught of
theft within the store---
bad treatment of employees = theft by the employees.
many of the smaller,
high end places,
which push through a lot of merchandise during the holidays
don’t even prosecute---
they only fire people like it was going out of
season,
and then send a management representative to court in order to
deny
the individuals in question
unemployment benefits.

it is not unheard of
that the human resource head in any given retail warehouse
situation
may even get death threats
or be mugged
out behind the store on a night when he was especially
ruthless to
those that worked under his dark cloak.

one has to wonder what goes through the heads of people
when they accept a position wherein they have the power to
terminate people’s jobs
& destroy their lives for whatever time it takes them to get back on
their feet---if they ever can,
in the wonderfully peachy economy that is
the united states’---
they act as if they are untouchable,
as if when they leave the store,
that “halo” created by the walls and security officers at the store
will somehow follow them home---
but
news flash,
it
doesn’t.

some jobs just don’t verse you on the
“golden rule”
when they promote you in the upward
direction
on your way to becoming a
complete
corporate
tyrant---
and they should
because it’s not high level management that comes in one day
with a gym bag full of semi-automatic & fully-automatic
weapons,
with a list & an indifferent
smile
spread across their face---
it is
the
worker,
who has had enough
& is determined---
for all they had to lose
has been taken away from them.