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and when you look at the rest of the list you get this.
Still, it is not that impressive considering how many hours the average American work:
1. Norway - 76.8 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,407
2. Luxembourgh - 74.5 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,601
3. Netherlands - 65.1 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,378 4. United States - 59.0 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,778
5. Belgium - 58.5 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,550
6. France - 54.7 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,554
7. Ireland - 54.0 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,549
8. Germany - 53.5 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,390
9. Austria - 51.9 per hour - Average annual hours actually worked per worker: 1,581
Aw shucks. Look at that. Thanks, but you don't have to go all out and do that.
However, if you DO want to do something for me, do this:
Cease and desist from watching the unholy trinity of Rush, Hannity and Beck, as well as their cohorts, and other such trash. Within 24 hours, this is guaranteed to begin eliminating the detritus in the brain.
Okay, to make you happy, here's what I'm going to do for you. I'm going to contact all the corporations in the US this afternoon and propose that they give all employees a stool, then every 15 minutes give them a stand-up break to get the circulation going again (we don't want any health problems you know) then whenever they get tired make sure they have a quiet employee room outfitted with Sleep Number beds for their comfort, and if they do get hungry or thirsty have a catering service at their beckon and call to bring them some nourishment to compensate for all that sit down energy they have used up. You don't want to be hungry when you take your nap you know. If they wake up cranky and feisty that is not good for customer relations. Oh yes they should have a psychiatrist on stand-by just in case they do get feisty and have an altercation with someone and fly off the handle. We don't want an unhappy employee going postal on us now, do we.
Any other suggestions or ideas we should be presenting to the corporations...
And yours is THE typical American business model view:
Corporations should be permitted to do any d**** thing they want to anyone, about anything, any d*** time, without controls, without oversight, and without anyone complaining.
Yes indeed, typical American business model.
What, exactly, are you so bitter about?
I wonder if an American is over on a German forum bitching about all of the cashiers they see sitting down?
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
24,454 posts, read 25,987,852 times
Reputation: 59823
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saritaschihuahua
I have no respect for corporations. They are the soulless, headless creations of greedy individuals. They have no country, they have no allegiance, and they don't care a rat's @** about employees or clients. They care only about one thing: the bottom line. Since they have no respect for people who are not on their boards or hold their stock, I have no respect for them.
You have no respect for corporations that donate billions of dollars to charity every year?
As for cashiers looking clients in the eye. ?????? Are you under the mistaken belief that a cashier sitting on a stool is unable to look at a client? How short a stool are you thinking of? A step-stool???
Just a regular chair height stool would put a cashiers eye level about the height of my navel.
Also, when you did your personal survey, did you ask cashiers, or did you ask the managers of those cashiers?
Well, as a matter of fact, I did both from family members and at my local market.
You clearly have done little shopping in your life, if you've never seen an exhausted cashier, tired of being on her feet, and complaining about it.
I think in my 7 decades of life I have done my fair share of shopping as far as a exhausted cashier, no. In fact I just asked my wife who retired as a cashier if she was ever exhausted from cashiering. I got a eye roll and how could anyone get exhausted from a 4 hour shift.
Lastly, using your philosophy of, "let them eat cake," we would still have slavery in this country. Countries are not meant to be run chaotically, haphazardly, and its laws are not meant to be set by those with the most money. Countries are groups of human beings, and their well-being IS important, and part of that well-being is preserving the health of employees.
This is utter nonsense.
Your point of view that anything should go in the marketplace, and employees who don't like it shouldn't work there is precisely what is so abhorrent about the American business model.
I think you've used the quote to write in, making everything quite the mish mash of confusion. Maybe that's why everything seems to you as utter nonsense.
There seem to be very divided opinions on this, where I (and the OP apparently) thought there would be consensus. I guess I feel like the lazy one! I worked in (US) retail for years and did not enjoy standing all day for (not 4 but) 8+ to occasional 20-hour shifts. I did not notice whether I was standing on those pad thingies, so I can't tell you if they helped. However, for those interested, there are medical stockings you can wear now that many nurses wear (nurses stand for long shifts), that are supposed to assist with circulation. Unfortunately, I cannot compare nursing to cashiering otherwise, so I'll leave it at that. In any case, you may decide that if one doesn't like one's job, they should quit, which they probably should, especially if standing causes health concerns. If one is working poor (cashier usually represents this demographic) and cannot afford to quit, then it may be best to accept welfare and collect financial aid toward a college degree.
US vs. Europe (Germany): When I lived in Germany, the cashiers were sitting, yes. Cashiering is considered a profession in Germany, requiring training and certification - benefits and a living wage are a given. And I have never seen German cashiers trying to hawk any goods at their registers or in the aisles, whereas I was required to sell customers charities and other items from the registers and sales floors in my (US) retail jobs. German staffing at retail giants is also more specialized - always the same staff work the registers and appear to assist with stocking, while others clean the facilities and mop up spills. Their bakery section specifically employs professional bakers, butchers at the butcher shop, etc. At my US jobs, I did most everything at my level: Count the drawers, work the register, stock & inventory, clean the toilets, mop, answer phones while with customers, walk the store with customers, sell cards (must sell 20 $20 cards per day at a small-town bookstore) all for minimum wage, naturally. This was expected and it was done... for a time. The turnover rates seem to be much, much higher in American retail companies than in German ones (my own observation says). I return to the US stores every now and then to talk to my old friends - usually it's "friend" because she tells me that all the others have since left the job, and that after a couple months. At Kaufland in Germany for example,over a period of 2 years I always saw the same employees. I use Kaufland because that is likely the least glamorous in the hierarchy of retail careers.
Whether these conditions all factor into profit, I have no idea, I have never held a position that high up to say. I wonder that there aren't more cashiers chiming in here!
Thank you! This is a very informative post. It appears that there would be a great deal more pride in working in Germany and for German stores, than working in the U.S. for American stores where employees are not treated as well, and where employers do not respect the jobs done by employees.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ehiesl
There seem to be very divided opinions on this, where I (and the OP apparently) thought there would be consensus. I guess I feel like the lazy one! I worked in (US) retail for years and did not enjoy standing all day for (not 4 but) 8+ to occasional 20-hour shifts. I did not notice whether I was standing on those pad thingies, so I can't tell you if they helped. However, for those interested, there are medical stockings you can wear now that many nurses wear (nurses stand for long shifts), that are supposed to assist with circulation. Unfortunately, I cannot compare nursing to cashiering otherwise, so I'll leave it at that. In any case, you may decide that if one doesn't like one's job, they should quit, which they probably should, especially if standing causes health concerns. If one is working poor (cashier usually represents this demographic) and cannot afford to quit, then it may be best to accept welfare and collect financial aid toward a college degree.
US vs. Europe (Germany): When I lived in Germany, the cashiers were sitting, yes. Cashiering is considered a profession in Germany, requiring training and certification - benefits and a living wage are a given. And I have never seen German cashiers trying to hawk any goods at their registers or in the aisles, whereas I was required to sell customers charities and other items from the registers and sales floors in my (US) retail jobs. German staffing at retail giants is also more specialized - always the same staff work the registers and appear to assist with stocking, while others clean the facilities and mop up spills. Their bakery section specifically employs professional bakers, butchers at the butcher shop, etc. At my US jobs, I did most everything at my level: Count the drawers, work the register, stock & inventory, clean the toilets, mop, answer phones while with customers, walk the store with customers, sell cards (must sell 20 $20 cards per day at a small-town bookstore) all for minimum wage, naturally. This was expected and it was done... for a time. The turnover rates seem to be much, much higher in American retail companies than in German ones (my own observation says). I return to the US stores every now and then to talk to my old friends - usually it's "friend" because she tells me that all the others have since left the job, and that after a couple months. At Kaufland in Germany for example,over a period of 2 years I always saw the same employees. I use Kaufland because that is likely the least glamorous in the hierarchy of retail careers.
Whether these conditions all factor into profit, I have no idea, I have never held a position that high up to say. I wonder that there aren't more cashiers chiming in here!
I think right now the problem is GETTING A JOB rather than if one can sit or not on the job.
Agreed. And wanting to be a cashier seems like a bad choice for a career given the sheer number of people not wanted in their own industries resorting to retail work.
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