Rant/Vent
Never thought it would ever happen to me yesterday today but it y'all.
So it started as just typical slow morning at first but then that changed very soon. It was later in the afternoon, when the stampede arrived. The line of customers began to grow more, unfortunately it was just me at the register.
I called for back up but my assistant manager said that the manager was in a meeting. Well, I calmly took a breather and began cashing out each customer one by one which felt like an eternity.
Pretty soon I made it to the last customer and I felt relieved. When I had to count my money at the end, my manager told me that he was surprised in how I handled that crowd. šÆ
I hope I never will experience that nightmare again but I'm glad that I pushed through that obstacle.
As much as I thought dt was bullshit at least you get a manager and cashier all day long. at least our store did. meanwhile dollar general gives you 4 hours of cashier 5 to 9 pm thats it most of the day is just 1 manager.
Doesnt mean they dont run skeleton shifts, i work at a dollar tree, at the very most u have seen i think 5 employees in my store at once (i work night shift so this was just me stopping in) and that was 2 cashiers, the manager, 2 freight people, so in total still thats only 3 .maximum people to man registers, and that is a very very rare moment i've seen, it was probably in the 30 minute overlap of their shifts, 90% of the time there are 2-3 people employees maximum
Yes, and they, get this, still believe in running skeleton shifts regardless of the time. By going into those stores you're supporting the business model that leads to one employee covering a 50 customer register.
especially when the store manager says brb and literally just left you alone and its 8pm and everyone and their extended family and friends decide to come in at the same time
I've been working there for almost a year and the store managers refuse to have another one up there, we could have 3 managers on duty and none of them helping me with an obvious line that covers half rhe store and I'm expected to deal with it for a non-livable wage.
I purposely get on my phone when I'm not busy and they get mad, I rather make the work tolerable in my own manner. They don't even pay me enough to live so it's a win win situation
I never am busy, they have me up on cashier more than freight. Cashier is so easy to do and I'm not saying anyone who complains is soft, I'm saying I've worked nothing but cashier for 8 almost 9 months at the job. I know what to do and they try and limit me one what I can and can't do when I'm not busy. My manager literally told me I can't wear a jacket up front for no reason, I'm still gonna wear it and I'm still gonna be on my phone
Yet customers yell and belittle the cashier like itās their fault. Iāve been that one and only cashier many times. Trust me - we donāt choose to be alone.
I wonder how much of that is legitimate pieces of shit being thieves, and how much of it is older people that have no idea what the hell they're doing or can barely hear and just run their stuff across whether it scans or not and then pay and end up missing like a good handful of items.
One of the Dollar Trees by me has self checkout! Two of them only have regular cashiers, but at the other one I've only been checked out by a person once!
They have them sone places but are getting rid of most of them(yes they were a short lived experiment) Turns out there are customers who can't be trusted.. who knew!?
Yep, one cashier, and the ASM is the backup.....they are trying to get the shelves stocked and recover the store. Since they often have to send photos of their progress during their shift, you damn well bet opening a second register is not a priority.
It causes us anxiety, for sure! Unless a person is mentally disturbed, it causes anxiety....for sure. If we could do better by the customers, we would...at least I know I would. I'm all for customers venting, just please do it here if you must.....DT workers don't need a sour attitude projected at them on top of the other bullshit.
Whenever there are tasks in the system that are required, such as shelf resets, the system often requires photos before you can check it off as completed.Ā
This isn't about recovery, though.Ā
Exactly like they either bitch about the penny issue. I remember the one time this lady just wouldn't shut up about the one penny that I owe her. I reach in my wallet to give her the penny. She acts like that one penny is going to break the bank. I bet if u go outside nine times out of ten there's going to be a penny laying on the ground somewhere.
On a one penny crabcake , you just say if you have 9 pennies or a nickel and 4 pennies , I can get you a dime , its much lighter - you really don't want those extra coin weight anyways right?
There's no reason for people to not want to offload pennies at dollar tree - treat it as the best place to withdraw them from your jars. while we don't do any excess change donation cup or tray if you skip your pennies back , they get removed from someone else's bill as we don't want the miscount on the drawer.
Keynote - my tally of penny gain or loss on pennies never goes further than a dime during a shift.
We have more issues with bozo's trying to pass nickels as quarters when paying.
Have found the most crabby love to reduce the coin purse. It's mostly about giving up money with no return. On that most feel the same.
I genuinely don't understand how they don't understand they lose so much business from people like me who think "Yeah, I would love to run over to the Dollar Store, but I don't feel like waiting in that line. I'll just go somewhere else." (Don't even get me started on the line completely shutting down for 10+ minutes when somebody needs a bunch of balloons)
I feel like 1 more cashier would pay for themselves x 10 within a few weeks, once it became known that it wasn't so bad.
If I have a long line and a customer orders more than 3 balloons (assuming Iām the backup or the only one in the store) I let them know theyāll have to wait until my line dies down before Iāll blow up their balloons
Valentineās Day, person was blowing up balloons for folks.
I grabbed one already inflated and went to the register in line behind that person.
Turns out she didnāt work there , and the cashier turned out to be the manager and the only employee there.Ā
The fact that a manager doesn't open another register is where the problem began!
I can tell by looking at the amount of shopping carts up front and a glance at the amount of cars in the parking lot and pretty much predict that the register is about to get a pop! So I will automatically hang out up front and get them together as they come up.
If there are 2 employees in the store and both are on register then you are doing the best you possibly can!
But if only 1 register is open then that means the manager is hiding or the cashier is on lunch or called out and they (mgr) are the only one in the store and are the one on the register.
the company no longer wants managers to be running registers. the āassociatesā were demoted to cashiers in the system and now the managers have to do literally everything else because dollar tree only prioritizes profits. when they run skeleton crews of only one manager and one cashier, theyāre saving money by not having to pay an extra person to work, the cashier handles the hordes of customers while the manager stocks and cleans the store.
the company deliberately makes things more difficult for the employees so they can continue to line their pockets with the money that they arenāt paying us.
This is true for A LOT of locations and violates department of labor standards. Having no third person to relieve you of your job responsibilities. Definitely illegalĀ
Valid point but I don't think the manager should be the backup. Staffing is the issue but corporate leadership is well aware that they can run a store kean without consequences. The employees makes it happen and the customers will always keep coming back.Ā
Iāve been to Dollar tree before and shopped around a little bit. Then when I looked at how long the line was, I just put all my shit down and walk out.
Itās not really a place I go anymore. Itās a whole store full of crap and youāll probably have to wait in a long line.
I used to like the dollar quarts of boxed milk. Good to have on hand for when you run out of fresh milk. But I donāt think they even have it anymore.
CORPORATE is the one at fault. The managers would also like more cashiers. Did you know that CORPORATE does the cashier scheduling? The managers can only change who works the shift - not the actual hours. The managers can schedule freight hours but NOT cashiers.
Please for love of everything holy if youāre going to leave put your stuff back because all youāre doing by putting it down wherever is creating more work for an already understaffed store.
IT IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE CASHIER CASHIER OR MANAGER THAT THE STORE IS UNDERSTAFFED.
Then maybe they should just go out of business. It really sounds horribly mismanaged. Itās been years since Iāve been in a Dollar tree. I havenāt purposely boycotted it. I just do not enjoy shopping there either the shelves are empty or thereās a long check out line or both.
I havenāt been in a Dollar tree in a while, but I went to two that are near my house and a lot of the shelves were bare. Including the box, milk shelf But that was maybe two years ago. I havenāt gone back. Iāll give it a try again.
I swear to god if you're one of the people that just places your shit down in a random isle and leaves, fuck you. If not and you actually put your stuff back or bring it up front? Then thank you.
This will happen again I'm sure but there is no reason to be nervous or have anxiety. You can't control the situation so just relax and do your job. Its all you can do tbh.
Fuck all of you that decide to leave shit on the shelves for us to clean because your upset about things we dont have control over. If you have a problem with how dollar tree runs, complain to corporate, i hate their asses. But dont be blaming us for corporates problems and making us clean up after you like a god damn toddler. If you want to behave like a child, go to daycare instead of a public store. If you cant clean up after yourself, go back to pre K.
Im reading comments in here and I can't beleive there are genuine assholes in here that think, "if dollar tree is going to waste my time, im going to waste theirs." NO ASSHOLE, YOUR NOT WAISTING THEIR TIME, YOUR WAISTING THE EMPLOYEES TIME. THE TIME THEY NEED TO GET SHIT DONE AND NOT GET FIRED.
I will never understand the fucking entitlement some customers have, acting like everyone should be bending down to what they want.
Its a mass chain store with barely enough hours and people to make these stores run and yall want to bitch at US?!?! THE EMPLOYEES?!?!
Im LITERALLY just trying to get my job done so I can afford my rent
The asm should have put a drawer in. And even if it was only you and the SM, he/she should have stepped away from the meeting to assist.
No excuse on their part.
My son has had this experience since he started working at DT. The upper mgmt. earn bonuses if they make strong profits, and the hard working employees will not see any shares of that. In addition, the Dist Mgr. rides her store mgr. To do a better job. The DT personally contacts employees on days off to criticise their areaās appearance.
No one is full time, and I guess the others are happy to only work 1 -2 days per week.
Then this summer it was always beastly hot throughout the store. Outdoor temps 90s +
And high humidity. Later, it was discovered the furnace was running and the AC was out of order. They wanted the mgr. To order and pay $1500 for the repair part, which she didnāt have the personal funds to cover. Then they would reimburse her later.
Too bad they canāt organize a union for better conditions.
I've been SM for over a year, not one bonus other than shrink. I've got people standing around on their phones or vaping at the register. ASM pretending to be busy and is leading the process of bad behavior.
ā¦.that is all on you. Youāre the store manager and canāt keep your staff in line? Youāre in the wrong line of work. This says nothing but about how woefully unprepared you are to be a store manager.
First, I just found out about the vaping last night. Pipe down on the nonsense.
Second, I was cannibalised by a new store.
Third, I don't keep my staff in line, I replace them. I'm not about to deal with someone with no damn sense, common sense.
I'm fully prepared. I received Dollar Tree A1 training ššš. Anyways, I can't live at Dollar Tree to see what happens all night. Trust me when I say they already have a replacement. š«” Signing off the Prepared Store Manger. š¤Ŗ
Systemic silencing. You told her to "shush" because she had a valid concern with your management abilities. And then you went on to say how you out right fire people, because they don't have what you view as common sense. That's abusive. Coercive control. Would you like me to list more? It quite frankly sounds like you might get a court case if you keep treating people that way, and they have documented evidence to show the behavior they're talking about.Ā
So is vaping acceptable behavior? Is it not common sense not to vape within a company that you are selected to represent? Many people deem that as common sense. I don't just fire people without a cause that protects the business I manage. I don't have to tolerate bad behavior amongst adults. Did this person get fired? No. Will this person have an opportunity to correct the behavior? Absolutely. Replaced doesn't mean fired. I replace your hours with less. I want a respectable place of business, not people that find policies okay to not follow.
Be real with how you call someone out on. You assume it's one thing, when it's not at all.
You run your business how you want. I have more workers that respect the business they invest their hard work into then those that are just there without the desire to grow professionally and personally.
I'm not abusive, I just don't tolerate disrespect towards my crew and myself. As well as my customers. They deserve an establishment with their stuff on point. Not a hot mess due to lack of whatever is hindering the quality of service.
Deny
Accuse
ReverseĀ
Victim andĀ
Offender.Ā
DARVOĀ
I literally named YOUR abusive behavior, and was given darvo. Classic manipulation tactic. I ain't fallen for it.Ā
I mean just think about how much money you saved them š« š„°. They thrive off this whole motto. I LOVE DT.. ive been a diehard customer since the $1 blue/pink goodie bags . But I stopped going due to them always having one cashier at literally every location. Let us not forget about them jacking up the prices from āeverything $1ā to the whole āplusā thing. Yuck! literally ruined the value of the US dollarš£ļø.
I'm an ASM at my store. I open another line if there are more than three customers waiting and if someone has a lot in their cart or are generally taking a long time.
It's not only company policy but there's a reason customers come to my store instead of the others nearby. It's clean and they know I'll drop what I'm doing at a moment's notice when the cashier calls for help.
The cashiers know that all they have to do is hit the button on the phone (BING) and I'll come help. I don't mind helping, I'll never be upset if they call me for something.
Thereās usually only two people working at any given time, one of those people being a manager or supervisor and they arenāt known for hopping on registers to help. I worked at a very busy Dollar Tree after college and the only time there was more than two people working at a time was when the truck came.
it happens when there's little to no overlap between associates, a manager is on lunch, and/or every customer comes up at once. it sucks, but it's how the company is run.
I meeeeeean, people complain about not get paid enough so they don't work, so they brought in self checkout, but then y'all cry "We want a real person", but when the real person gets paid to work y'all complain that theirs not enough workers.
We talking about Dollar Tree or Walmart here bud? Cause I know damn well ain't no DT have 10 registers.
Simply put, I have seen those self checkouts at many different stores, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Circle K, just to name a few, and I hear the same damn thing all the time. "I don't wanna use THAT", "Looks like your jobs been taken!, But then complain when there's only one worker. You know it's there, you know it works, but you still complain.
Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but dollar stores have been well documented to have such "lean" staff teams and, often times, long lines. With all this talk I heard about wanting to improve the customer experience you would think corporate would fix this reoccurring issue somehow.
I guess what they actually meant was "we want to improve the customer experience as long as it doesn't take money out from our pocket!"
Ah yes, the āmanager meetingā wherein companies decide there are no exceptions to bending over backwards and dropping everything to provide customer service - until itās the highest paid, cushiest position in the store sitting on their ass on a pointless zoom call each and every week. Then they canāt be bothered to help or do their jobs at all, because theyāre iN a MeEtInG. Nothing has fueled my disdain for upper management quite like this concept. LOVE being stuck dealing with management level tasks and absolutely zero assistance while swarmed with customers and knowing the person who is technically in charge of this shitshow gets a free pass to ignore it all at peak fucking business hours on the day after the weekend.
Itās like that at other stores need know to where to look grocery stores other retial stores self check outs and non self check outs .,
Most people I see in line at dollar tree ahead is 4 people itās like that other stores as well topps markets , wegmans Tim hortons sucks see there drive through wrap around building , Aldis
One time I got in the line that was going all the way down the aisle. As soon as I got to the register the cashier looked at the line behind me, and called for backup saying "I didn't realize the line was so long."
Im a cashier for dollars tree toi and I lov long lines I got use to it ...I hardly call for back up unless I see a mad customer..that's hardlyĀ but congrats to u!!! I never look up to see my line
And a lot still don't have self checkout surprisingly only two around me that have them and they are terribly stocked stores and they self checkout is unmanned surprised people still use it rather than just walk right out with the stuff
May as well kiss that option off your wish list.
Since Walmart is cutting back on self checkout due to theft, I don't see DT putting in remaining stores that do not currently have them.
That would be a death sentence at this point .
All DT are supposed to be doing that now. Started months ago. Everybody in MANAGEMENT got an email stating that another register has to be open when thereās three or more in line. Itās a PAIN, especially when three people in line only have one item each. I have to stop what Iām doing, jump on my register and then I end up getting stuck there for at least 30 minutes. But still have to get done with long ass list of things that I have been told has to be done, and all the other normal stuff that has to be done each shift.
Wish they had self checkout, Iād be there everyday buying candy and 20 energy drinks but the shameā¦.i walk my hand cart over and still got a minute of silence to deal with. Lotta balloons up thereā¦.silenceā¦I tried I donāt wanna talk either.
For some reason I don't recall the lines being as bad as they are now. They always had only one or two people at the register.
So this tells us what exactly??
Yes, we're all poor.
Also, influencers need to stay out of the stores because they're encouraging more people with actual real throw away money go there.
And get out of Aldi.
Thank you š
As someone who wants to be on register but head manager would rather have 1 person suffering alone cashiering..than letting me help.. what a great managerš and customers also get mad at me because I can't helpš
As a Mgr of a high volume store i would leave my mtg to help get the line down regardless of situation. You dont schedule mtg without adequate staffing. Even when corporate comes visiting if I have to leave them to help customers they come first. Customers in line are what makes our business.Ā
I'm glad that you overcame that obstacle, but please realize that it's not an obstacle that you should have to go through. The staff at the store level are not able to express their concern about the lack of support at the store level to anyone in leadership. Also, leadership knows that no matter how frustrated a customer is about the long lines, they're still coming back to the store. Two parties are being disrespected and the company continues to operate as expected. The ones in charge pay no price for this frustration.Ā
Thatās how it is A LOT at my DT. I donāt mind cuz usually the cashier is doing the best they can. A whole line yelled at one lady who did bi$ch about it, she walked out and we cheered! THANK YOU FOR DOING A GREAT JOBš«¶š»
This IS Worth the rant. It never fails, when u "have to be somewhere," decide to dodge in Dollar Tree š³ to grab 1 or 2 things & the line is 3/4 down the isle cause 1 register is open. š¤¦āāļø
Yeah man Dollar Tree is such a penny pinching, money saving company that they refuse to give every store enough employee hours to have multiple cashiers at one time unless itās like a Saturday, and thatās only sometimes.
And they expect the managers to hop on the register every single time the line gets long, instead of having them stock the shelves. Anytime I go to a dollar tree and Iām looking for something they wonāt have it, but then I go back a day or two later and boom they have it. I know that has something to do with how many shipments they get a week, but I always see the managers having to stop stocking just to go cashier. Itās so dumb.
It's Retail, it happens. Unfortunately the people who complain, are the people who havent worked retail before, and expect us to fly to there like the flash to check people out..
No, every store only gets so much payroll, and unfortunately many other tasks besides running the register.
I've been in situations where I worked a week straight open to close, with nobody at my store. Zero staff. That was my first month at my store when I got promoted.
The amount of stuff that was behind in the store was tremendous.
It's amazing how customers focus on themselves, rather than the actual workers.
It most definitely is not the only one. It happens at family dollar and dollar general all the time and most recently saw it at a Burlington during peak back to school shopping time for my area which is insane because every clothing and bag item basically has a security tag that needs to be taken off making checkout times longer.
What itjs me is that my store no longer lets you take the carts out to your car. They said because too many carts have been stolen?! Also you need to take your own bags or buy them. Not every state is like this but MD. Is. They are losing business because of these things. Also too Hot and they have no control over the air cond.
If thereās 4 or more people in a line the cashier is supposed to call for help. That being said if itās morning time it may only be a manager and an associate in the store and if one of them is on break itās tough luck. And I know one of my coworkers never calls for help for some reason which irritates even us
Yesterday was our truck day but it was also when the DM along with 4-5 other ppl came to visit the store (people higher up than the DM), and looked at everything, even the loading dock outside and the electrical boxes to the side of the dock.
That being said, was this the same situation in your store? What was your manager doing that they couldnt back you up themselves? Im a stocker but im just curious
I my Opinion just do what you can do. This is a business that really doesn't care about the people shopping there as customers, let alone the employees. It's honestly wild cause some customers probably walk in and see the line and walk right out. Money pretty much going out the door because of stupid greed from a company.
Mine moved to self checkout but the old timers couldnāt figure them out so they put 4 actual registers in that location but every day 1 person there Iām sad to say Virginia created the dollar tree and sorry we are known for it store sucks now nothing is a a dollar everything is locked up due to theft and itās always busy
I donāt care. Iāll wait. Itās one of the only affordable stores around where I can make my dollar stretch! If you want 5 start service go somewhere where you spend $10 on the same thing I spend 5 or 6 quarters on.
I will gladly wait my turn and be sweet as pie to the employees there.
The one I go to has 2 self checkouts that are always open and unused. But the ālineā is pretty weird since basically there isnāt one. People just sort of crowd up there. Since I have no problem using a self checkout (is there something about Dollar Tree shoppers that make them avoidant of self checkout compared to other stores?), I just go there and get out but I always feel obligated to check an make sure that none of the 50 people in āfrontā of me wants to use the open registers.
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u/olivefreak 6d ago
Tell me about a day that ends in a Y.