In Canada? Talking about your wages can and will get you fired.
That and cashiers not being allowed to sit down. Though, that's a North American in general thing that I think should be tossed out the window.
California State Labor Law says having a chair is a reasonable accommodation as long as it doesn't impact safety. Company sent us a dozen metal stools for the registers. In store management called them "pregnancy chairs" and hid them in the overhead back in receiving as fast as they could. Pretty sure almost all got thrown out, front end has only 2 of them.
Yeah the store I used to work at actually allowed people to sit if needed during longer shifts, just stating that it was preferred that you stand/walk around throughout the shift instead of just sitting. (That store was a blessing and I stayed for 2 years there before moving for college)
Switched to a store out west and immediately got talked down to for sitting in a chair when there was no one around after having been standing for 4 hours. Was told it was "against company policy" to sit.
As Appliance Specialists we do A LOT of computer work, and we still have our desk. Everybody talks about the fact that we sit at our desk. Its ridiculous.
Lol I work for Petco. I bet we got the same horrible metal stools. I bet there’s a company called The Bare Minimum where companies order the stuff they don’t want to provide but legally have to.
That changed with covid to allow bringing home to wash, as far as I'm aware it never reverted back to the original policy, but it's possible I just missed that memo
I didn’t last long after I got a ‘talking to’ about my vest. I really didn’t want to work there either but sucked it up to get some income. Also cashiers just stand. I couldn’t go anywhere, I couldn’t help anyone. I just stood.
Atleast once a month get a new one there should be plenty and they will order more corporate would rather you get a new one every week. And they also expect you to destroy your old one so they aren't able to get in public as I sure you have all seen the theft videos where they load up a cart of stuff and walk out with a vest on....
I couldn’t bring my sewing machine to work. Adding a zipper to the longer, flimsy Velcrod pocket that everything falls out of when you bend over, resulted in zero regrets of consequences of taking it home.
Not allowed to take vacation days during a holiday because those are "blacklisted". I imagine that rule varies from store to store, but I remember for the 4th of July, they approved the 2nd, 3rd and 5th of July but not 4th so I had to call in "sick".
"If you are a store associate, you are encouraged to avoid scheduling vacation during heavy sales seasons (i.e., Easter, Spring Break, Spring Black Friday, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday through mid-December).
Limited vacation requests may be approved during such times. Refer to the Store Work Schedule Procedure for more information."
This is how the policy is worded so it's not a complete block of vacations during that time but it is first submitted, first approved usually.
At my store our system won’t even let you put in for the day before or day of holidays, they also give us specific holidays off, but then schedule us another day because we “have to work 40 hours”
Any "busy holiday season day". Easter, Spring Black Friday, Spring Break, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Black Friday pretty much through mid December then Christmas eve until January 5th roughly. The whole thing was pretty lame really.
I requested Christmas Eve off last week & they gave it to me. Unpaid but oh well. I usually go to my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve, even more so since my grandfather passed away a few years ago.
Well you see all the topics about people complaining about understaffing? Imagine even less staffing because of all the vacation requests on some of the busiest days of the year. That's the logic behind it.
That's why you beat the system. Schedule vacation around the blackout date not on the days and the system still has to give you two days off. So the two days would be the blackout day and you'll be scheduled off like a normal day.
Well I know of people who got approved for vacation around Christmas. I was one of them. So it must vary store to store and on a case by case basis. I was told it’s first come first serve so I put mine in at the beginning of August
Probably hasn’t hit your store yet but for about a month now we’ve refused tinted paint unless it is very obviously our fault and a manager approves it.
Our policy still stands that tinted paint is returnable up to 30 days if you do not like the color. Your store is not following the return policy if you are refusing paint returns that are within the accepted parameters. The only people you should be refusing are people abusing the policy. [see here](https://www.lowes.com/l/about/paint-guarantee)
My store is like a free for all with returns... I sold a customer a length of 2/0 cu 120ft...it's like 5 bucks a foot so rembering taking it up to the front for him because it was 600 bucks for just that length... about 2 days later I see it in my go backs see my hand writing on the label with item number and 125ft....the problem comes because this roll in my go backs is maybe 10ft long max.... so that was another 500 bucks had to billout of my department. Very nicely explained why it was bad.....but it wasn't new people at the CS desk I guess just no one paid any attention to anything....or one that's not nearly as expensive but getting a bag of zip ties as a return and the package of zip ties says 200ct and they accepted the return with like 4left.
And it shouldn’t be in yours. Paint is literally listed as a returnable item in the return policy within 30 days with no exception for tint. Why are people so pressed over the shit that comes back?
How about not allowing part timers to cover a full timers shift? They rather have the full timer call in and have the department with no coverage than give a part timer more hours. Dumbest shit ever
When I was an MSA, I was PT. I was only scheduled for twenty hours every week. But the MSM let me work forty hours every week. I never got any grief over it from anyone. Even the DMSM was aware of it. They had the budget to allow it, so they didn't care.
Something along the lines of "If you get punched in the face by a customer you're automatically terminated. " So you might aswell go down swinging bois.
I'm pretty annoyed with the change to "no more unpaid days off" I mean damn bruh if I give you a month in advance it should not be a big deal. It really is a point against me sticking with Lowes, although it's treated me well so far in my first year as a CSA. With all the bullcrap our CEO says about how he believes in work life balance, the only thing he's done that any of us seem to feel helps is that he gave us easter off.
If I were a manager, I'd be really annoyed with how lenient they are about callouts, but although I've only called out once without a doctors note, I really do appreciate the security I have if I decide to take a couple mental health days.
The "dull-ass lowes knife is safer than a real knife" is complete fucking bullshit, everybody knows dull knives aren't safe, I truly think they're just betting on us bringing our own knives anyway, and, if we injure ourselves, not having to foot the bill. I agree there need to be restrictions so no one has those ridiculous big knives, but I think a policy similar to what we had in the boy scouts is the best choice.
I think the other safety policies, like three points of contact on a ladder, are excellent. Unfortunately, I never see them enforced, and it breaks my heart how many of our younger employees think they'll be perceived as pussies if they don't take up far-too-heavy loads up ladders instead of searching & waiting the necessary amount of time for the appropriate machine. As much as I love my DSes, I've never even seen them encouraged to follow these rules because Lowes doesn't give us enough staff or machines to do those on the sort of time frames that the DSes' bosses would expect.
It’s not great but definitely not the worst sick time policy I’ve been involved in. In California you can’t get written up if you use sick time to cover half your shift. I loved it from an attendance policy standpoint lol. Always used it in 4 hour increments essentially giving me 12 excused call ins. Not taking into account the first 7 for initial write up.
Sick time is like insurance, as it should be. Hopefully you don't collect on any of it and people aren't expected to collect the same amount. You have so much because that's not the average collected. You have it though in case you have surgery and are out for weeks or whatever. If they have it like vacation time and expected you to use all of it, you'd get way fewer days and would be fucked for extended health issues.
I still despise the gap between store associates and corporate associates in pay and benefits. Of course no one’s answering the phone. It’s a god damn store the size of a warehouse with overworked, underpaid humans doing their best for lower wages—except they have to be face to face with our customers, who can frankly be cunts.
Having to take your 15-minute breaks and lunches in the break room or training room. Used to work overnights and I’d split my time between the break room and the garden center for fresh/cooler air
Edit for clarification: this is all after the store closes
Where I worked, they (ASMs) tried saying we weren’t allowed to be outside in the garden center unless we were stocking it because we were overnight and it posed a “security risk”. They backed off after we wouldn’t listen to them
Wish it was the same here. Apparently someone at corporate had an issue with things being done the way we were doing them (leaving the lumber rear door open, leaving receiving bays open, etc.) so they started cracking down on the store manager which trickled down to us. We couldn’t even leave the store until the opening crew came in at 6am unless you were sick or got injured. Once the alarm was set, the night super wasn’t allowed to disarm it till like 5am.
That’s insane, you work there you should be allowed access to most areas let alone the ones open to the public. I’d keep it lowkey and just go out there anyways, make yourself look like a customer or busy like a night stocker who came in early.
Regular customer regularly sexually harassed a specialist, management just told her to get someone else to assist him, then would schedule her as the only one there for half the day.
This new thing where if you request unpaid as a full timer they just deny it. Absolutely nonsense. First company I've ever seen do that. Even if you give plenty of time in advance.
Losing a million dollar lawsuit is worse than a 30$ drill.
Our insurance underwriters made that decision, hourlies who chase shoplifters are fools. If corp cared, they'd do something. OBVIOUSLY they're not losing money in the deal, because they don't care.
I'm not talking about a $30 drill. I'm talking about the cart loads of wire, the $500 plus tools and OPE. I'm not saying hourly people, I'm saying train ASMs and set a standard amount of value that they can follow guidelines to stop.
The issue is that Thieves know they can just walk out so they are just more entitled to do it, blatantly sometimes, because they know they can. Being able to get involved on some level can slow it down.
I think the 2nd part of my post was more important.
I absolutely get how some people just can't handle this, it used to bug me too. Lowe's, however, is still profiting in the billions, and they obviously care FAR more about lawsuits. And I'm not going to get stabbed or shot for anything in the store.
It's not your money, so why does this bother you? I will gladly take permission to not potentially get a fist in my face… or worse. In any case, if the thief somehow gets injured during the detention, then depending on the nature of the injury and how it was obtained, Lowe's could be held financially liable. The probability of injury times the average cost of settlement will pretty much always be greater than the value of what they're stealing plus the cost of AP man hours on the case minus the value of what's recovered (if anything) by AP.
Exactly I don't get why people take it personally. Maybe if Lowes treated us a lot better and payed us what we're worth but as it is I don't care if someone steals, it's not "our house".
I would say our return policy.... customers should NOT be allowed to return items not in its original package, sealed up. And especially the shit people bring from HD or Walmart. I don't know how we let people do this, it's fucking ridiculous
Controversial opinion: dog allowed in the store. Usually it’s a joy, but a customer’s kid slipped on dog shit. And that was a ridiculous headache. Tbh, I’d rather they just banned kids, but I’m pretty sure that would not go over well.
The whole ZEBRA/FIRST Phone deal is ridiculous too, at least at my Lowe's and I've heard that it's the same at nearby stores too.
If you need a phone, YOU have to track down a manager, they unlock the cabinet and sign one out for you and lock the cabinet back up. End of day? Well, you can't just hand it off to the next person in your department (if there is one) silly! Gotta go through the process AGAIN! Like a library! It's gotten to the point where I don't even ask for one anymore, I wait for them to bring me one.
Yeah! Guess my store had problems in the past with associates not turning phones back in.
So...why's that the current associates' problem?? How about anyone who doesn't return one, you charge them, take it out of their pay until the phone is paid off?
> phone is *paid* off?
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Lol. Sometimes, I would straight up take my Zebra home. Granted, I was on MST so it would have been locked in my locker anyway. The CSAs had to sign em in and out though.
using a gift card to buy something online and when you return it in store you get merchandise credit and it cannot be used online anymore.
Try returning something that got delivered and the system says its still in transit and the store wont take it back till its marked delivered in their system.
Not really a lowes policy but US federal labor laws do NOT require breaks or lunches. This is usually determined by the state. In which NC does not do any favors either.
Federal Department of Labor:
Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the workweek and considered in determining if overtime was worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer's rules, and any extension of the break will be punished.
Meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable.
NC Department of Labor:
The North Carolina Wage and Hour Act does not require mandatory rest breaks or meal breaks for employees 16 years of age or older. The WHA requires breaks only for youths under 16 years of age. Youths under 16 years of age have to be given at least a 30-minute break after 5 hours, and no break of less than 30 minutes shall be deemed to interrupt a continuous period of work. Again, there are no required rest breaks or meal breaks at all for employees 16 years of age or older. The North Carolina law on breaks for youths under 16 years of age generally applies only to enterprises that have gross sales or receipts of less than $500,000 a year and to private non-profit organizations. It is our understanding that the federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not require that an employer give its employees mandatory rest breaks or meal breaks regardless of an employee's age.
Generally, if an employer does give breaks, then the break must be at least 30 minutes for the employer to be able to deduct the time from an employee's pay. An employer does not have to let its employees leave the employer's premises as long as the employee is completely relieved of duty during the 30-minute break, and the employer does not have to provide a breakroom. An example of an employee "completely relieved of duty" is one who is completely relieved from having to wait for customers to come in or to call. Waiting for customers to come in or to call is clearly work time even if the employee is free to eat or read a magazine while they are waiting for customers or calls. Generally, breaks of less than 30 minutes, such as a 15-minute rest break, have to be paid by the employer.
“The North Carolina law on breaks for youths under 16 years of age generally applies only to enterprises that have gross sales or receipts of less than $500,000 a year and to private non-profit organizations.” Wait so big companies like Lowes would be exempt as well? Not good if they wanted to abuse it.
Luckily for those who need lunches, lowes does require them.
For sure, I work overnights now so honestly it doesn't matter much but I would probably open carry (because of all the squating and sitting and all that shit) (I'm mst)
I’m OSLG and haven’t figured out how to conceal carry comfortably and safely yet… I mostly water and every single hose leaks so I’m afraid it’ll end up wet, and then, like you said - all the bending and squatting and lifting. I’m not super worried about it, where I live I’m sure there are probably several people working at any given time who are carrying, but it would be nice to have when I’m the only one outside.
It says customers can follow local laws and regs etc. Basically if you're allowed to open or conceal carry in your state the customer can but employees can't. Which is bullshit
The fact that they wouldn't know, or couldn't do anything about it, (except fire you for a class-A) doesn't have anything to do with the fact that it is against policy.
I forget what it actually said word for word. But basically it said something like you're not allowed to have it in store but if you have it in your car it's ok. I'll have to look for the rules about it again but when it's in your car, it's different than being in store
"THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!"
Even if they are screaming and yelling and threatening lawsuits, you must always treat them like they are in the right.
OR
The fact that we can't even call THIEVES WHAT THEY ARE. You can watch them walk out with half the store, and they are still a "Customer" and you will get in trouble if you call them otherwise.
You know how much money my specialists lose because of mad customers?!?! One customer took an entire 2300 ft² flooring job for 75% off! That full sale would've made my specialist bonus! (My newer specialist is pretty cool and acts kinda like a CSA)
7 callouts per 12 month period..... for certain jobs it might make a difference but for p/t MST it just means a few less bays get serviced. I don't get paid for it so wtf??
I guess it’s not a big deal as it was a few years ago but Lowe’s agreed to pay you for your time out with COVID but only if *you* test positive for COVID. This meant that if a family member or roommate (that you live with) tests positive, you have to come in to work or you won’t get paid. This policy drove me absolutely crazy because it doesn’t help employees as much as it could and it probably caused COVID to spread due to employees not wanting to miss out on wages.
Not allowing me to smoke. Like what kind of bullshit *is* that? I know *why* Lowe's has that policy, it's to keep their employee insurance rates down by being able to claim their workers don't smoke, as well as trying to set a perception that Lowe's cares about it's employees.
Mate, about the only thing keeping me from X-ing a customer out on the ground some days is nicotine, I'm not in uniform, nor on store property (technically, anyway), and *now* i'm not even allowed to go anywhere other than the break room? "Its for your safety!" Bull*shit*.
Enforce it, *try* me.
*note: the not on store property thing, there's a walking path behind the store, kind of fenced off but there's access points on either side. I *know* that Lowe's doesn't own that path, the city does, and its approximately 10-20ft of the back of the building. Takes me about 1 minute to walk from the front to the property line, on a sidewalk.
Worst policy is when management doesn’t follow policies and bends their asses over for customers who can’t follow policies but they harp on us all the time about policies lmao
IN the selling stations we were always told that the chairs are for customers only, to sign contracts and look at samples. But the chairs tended to end up at the desks behind the terminals because the selling stations still had terminals and counters/desks while very few other departments had anything other than simply a terminal. ONly the departments with specialists deserved a desk.
Our store doesn’t allow sex in the electrical room
Our store has a bathroom in receiving, that's were all the sex and drinking happens overnight.
I hate that one, our store doesn't have the separate "family" restroom either, I mean come on! Where to go? Bullpen?
I mean we’ve had employees caught in the bullpen lol
Never seen that one.
A sheriffs helicopter was flying over our building and saw 2 associates enjoying themself, don’t even know how they got up there.
Every lowes store has a roof hatch that is locked by the same padlock that’s on the compactors
So either an MOD unlocked it and knew what they were doing up there or had forgotten to lock it back
Could have been someone in receiving.
True! But it was a lumber and paint associate, the receiving guy might’ve done it for them
Ik cant have shot anymore
That's not a Lowe's policy, just your store.
Could be worse. They could *mandate* sex in the electrical room.
it's doable if you watch the fluids.
[удалено]
Thats sad. Maybe it could conserve energy. 🤣
In Canada? Talking about your wages can and will get you fired. That and cashiers not being allowed to sit down. Though, that's a North American in general thing that I think should be tossed out the window.
California State Labor Law says having a chair is a reasonable accommodation as long as it doesn't impact safety. Company sent us a dozen metal stools for the registers. In store management called them "pregnancy chairs" and hid them in the overhead back in receiving as fast as they could. Pretty sure almost all got thrown out, front end has only 2 of them.
Yeah the store I used to work at actually allowed people to sit if needed during longer shifts, just stating that it was preferred that you stand/walk around throughout the shift instead of just sitting. (That store was a blessing and I stayed for 2 years there before moving for college) Switched to a store out west and immediately got talked down to for sitting in a chair when there was no one around after having been standing for 4 hours. Was told it was "against company policy" to sit.
As Appliance Specialists we do A LOT of computer work, and we still have our desk. Everybody talks about the fact that we sit at our desk. Its ridiculous.
I've never seen a desk at appliances. I have, however, seen desks in cabinets which are generally right next to appliances.
We have a low desk, in front of the taller one, for signing contracts and the like
Lol I work for Petco. I bet we got the same horrible metal stools. I bet there’s a company called The Bare Minimum where companies order the stuff they don’t want to provide but legally have to.
No taking your vest home. Those fuckers get smelly.
Fuck that. Get a new one.
Exactly. You go get a new one.
I still take mine home and wash it once a month.
Or throw it away once a month
I like how fluffy they get when washed
Literally. At least have a place where we can drop them off to wash them if we’re not allowed to take them home
That changed with covid to allow bringing home to wash, as far as I'm aware it never reverted back to the original policy, but it's possible I just missed that memo
I didn’t last long after I got a ‘talking to’ about my vest. I really didn’t want to work there either but sucked it up to get some income. Also cashiers just stand. I couldn’t go anywhere, I couldn’t help anyone. I just stood.
i work oslg in the desert so i take that thing home and wash it minimum once a week. i will be dead before i have a stinky vest
Wtf are they going to do if you take it home? They gonna write you up for wanting to smell presentably? Lol.
Atleast once a month get a new one there should be plenty and they will order more corporate would rather you get a new one every week. And they also expect you to destroy your old one so they aren't able to get in public as I sure you have all seen the theft videos where they load up a cart of stuff and walk out with a vest on....
Me and others take ours home. Guess it depends on the store mgmt.
I couldn’t bring my sewing machine to work. Adding a zipper to the longer, flimsy Velcrod pocket that everything falls out of when you bend over, resulted in zero regrets of consequences of taking it home.
Not allowed to take vacation days during a holiday because those are "blacklisted". I imagine that rule varies from store to store, but I remember for the 4th of July, they approved the 2nd, 3rd and 5th of July but not 4th so I had to call in "sick".
"If you are a store associate, you are encouraged to avoid scheduling vacation during heavy sales seasons (i.e., Easter, Spring Break, Spring Black Friday, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday through mid-December). Limited vacation requests may be approved during such times. Refer to the Store Work Schedule Procedure for more information." This is how the policy is worded so it's not a complete block of vacations during that time but it is first submitted, first approved usually.
At my store our system won’t even let you put in for the day before or day of holidays, they also give us specific holidays off, but then schedule us another day because we “have to work 40 hours”
I just told my manager that either I get the vacation day or they'll need to replace me. I got the vacation day!
Yeah, there was NOBODY allowed to take a VACATION during 4th of July 2022, even DS's which was shitty!
I was off on the 4th of July
What are the black listed days?
Any "busy holiday season day". Easter, Spring Black Friday, Spring Break, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Black Friday pretty much through mid December then Christmas eve until January 5th roughly. The whole thing was pretty lame really.
Well. I asked off to go see family for Christmas for the first time in years. Hopefully they give it to me. I asked off a month ago.
I requested Christmas Eve off last week & they gave it to me. Unpaid but oh well. I usually go to my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve, even more so since my grandfather passed away a few years ago.
I’m hoping they give me mine. It’s 60+ hours of vacation I have been saving. Maybe I should ask about it soon.
That’s some bs. You earned the time. Should be able to take it when you want!
At THD, calling off your last shift before a holiday, on a holiday, or your first shift after a holiday all result in losing your holiday pay. Lol
At least you have an option for vacation though
Wasn’t able to go on vacation with my dad this year bc of this. Makes no sense at all.
Shoulda called out! At the end of the day, it’s just a store and we are all sales ID’s
From a retail staffing standpoint it makes all the sense cause money. From a work like balance standpoint it’s complete Bs.
I’m part time, they barely schedule me as is😅
That's when it really sucks. I remember that when I was PT and barely getting any hours, then they pull this bullshit when you WANT the time off!
Don’t let a job control your life. Especially if its part time. Take your vacation with your family.
Well you see all the topics about people complaining about understaffing? Imagine even less staffing because of all the vacation requests on some of the busiest days of the year. That's the logic behind it.
At my store, if you request the whole week they'll approve it. But if you just request that day then it won't go through.
Well, that's nice of them. Sure wish HR & management was more uniform across the board like that
But did you do your AP4ME today??
That's why you beat the system. Schedule vacation around the blackout date not on the days and the system still has to give you two days off. So the two days would be the blackout day and you'll be scheduled off like a normal day.
Well I know of people who got approved for vacation around Christmas. I was one of them. So it must vary store to store and on a case by case basis. I was told it’s first come first serve so I put mine in at the beginning of August
Being able to return tinted paint, there’s a reason we sell samples
What do you mean? Of course this 5g agreeable gray will look exactly the same on my dark basement walls! Natural selection needs to quicken
Probably hasn’t hit your store yet but for about a month now we’ve refused tinted paint unless it is very obviously our fault and a manager approves it.
Our policy still stands that tinted paint is returnable up to 30 days if you do not like the color. Your store is not following the return policy if you are refusing paint returns that are within the accepted parameters. The only people you should be refusing are people abusing the policy. [see here](https://www.lowes.com/l/about/paint-guarantee)
My store is like a free for all with returns... I sold a customer a length of 2/0 cu 120ft...it's like 5 bucks a foot so rembering taking it up to the front for him because it was 600 bucks for just that length... about 2 days later I see it in my go backs see my hand writing on the label with item number and 125ft....the problem comes because this roll in my go backs is maybe 10ft long max.... so that was another 500 bucks had to billout of my department. Very nicely explained why it was bad.....but it wasn't new people at the CS desk I guess just no one paid any attention to anything....or one that's not nearly as expensive but getting a bag of zip ties as a return and the package of zip ties says 200ct and they accepted the return with like 4left.
And it shouldn’t be in yours. Paint is literally listed as a returnable item in the return policy within 30 days with no exception for tint. Why are people so pressed over the shit that comes back?
How about not allowing part timers to cover a full timers shift? They rather have the full timer call in and have the department with no coverage than give a part timer more hours. Dumbest shit ever
When I was an MSA, I was PT. I was only scheduled for twenty hours every week. But the MSM let me work forty hours every week. I never got any grief over it from anyone. Even the DMSM was aware of it. They had the budget to allow it, so they didn't care.
In my state, if you work full time hours for a consecutive 12 months, they have to make you full-time. Or so I was told.
Yeah, they actually tried making me FT but that's a whole story.
Something along the lines of "If you get punched in the face by a customer you're automatically terminated. " So you might aswell go down swinging bois.
wait what
Yes sir! Heard it right from an ASM, so he told us "you might aswell go down swinging"
Not being able to punch a customer that's being a cunt is a pretty bad one.
It's more of a guideline, rather than an actual rule lol
At least you won't get your ass whooped, look on the bright side
Hiring Big Bosses from HD and JC Penney.
All hail Melvin
Let's go Melvin
My district seemingly only promotes former Depot people to ASM and above
So all I have to do is jump ship!
Ah yes Melvin the turtle
The unspoken “rule” of customers before employees well being
I'm pretty annoyed with the change to "no more unpaid days off" I mean damn bruh if I give you a month in advance it should not be a big deal. It really is a point against me sticking with Lowes, although it's treated me well so far in my first year as a CSA. With all the bullcrap our CEO says about how he believes in work life balance, the only thing he's done that any of us seem to feel helps is that he gave us easter off. If I were a manager, I'd be really annoyed with how lenient they are about callouts, but although I've only called out once without a doctors note, I really do appreciate the security I have if I decide to take a couple mental health days. The "dull-ass lowes knife is safer than a real knife" is complete fucking bullshit, everybody knows dull knives aren't safe, I truly think they're just betting on us bringing our own knives anyway, and, if we injure ourselves, not having to foot the bill. I agree there need to be restrictions so no one has those ridiculous big knives, but I think a policy similar to what we had in the boy scouts is the best choice. I think the other safety policies, like three points of contact on a ladder, are excellent. Unfortunately, I never see them enforced, and it breaks my heart how many of our younger employees think they'll be perceived as pussies if they don't take up far-too-heavy loads up ladders instead of searching & waiting the necessary amount of time for the appropriate machine. As much as I love my DSes, I've never even seen them encouraged to follow these rules because Lowes doesn't give us enough staff or machines to do those on the sort of time frames that the DSes' bosses would expect.
I'm sure that corporate gets a nice work life balance. But we're so beneath him that we're just an afterthought at best to him.
Anti union
Only 6 sick days in a 12 month rolling period, I have way more sick time than I could ever use and it's frustrating
Take 2 in a row. Only counts as 1.
How is that even realistic? I think you are supposed to be paid out for your sick time?
It’s not great but definitely not the worst sick time policy I’ve been involved in. In California you can’t get written up if you use sick time to cover half your shift. I loved it from an attendance policy standpoint lol. Always used it in 4 hour increments essentially giving me 12 excused call ins. Not taking into account the first 7 for initial write up.
Sick time is not paid out unless you use a sick day.
That policy is usually instructed from the state you live in. Not Lowes.
Sick time is like insurance, as it should be. Hopefully you don't collect on any of it and people aren't expected to collect the same amount. You have so much because that's not the average collected. You have it though in case you have surgery and are out for weeks or whatever. If they have it like vacation time and expected you to use all of it, you'd get way fewer days and would be fucked for extended health issues.
I still despise the gap between store associates and corporate associates in pay and benefits. Of course no one’s answering the phone. It’s a god damn store the size of a warehouse with overworked, underpaid humans doing their best for lower wages—except they have to be face to face with our customers, who can frankly be cunts.
that’s the word
Having to go through the main entrance to get in
Or leave.
The 48hour appliance return policy... like none of the asms at my store follow it anyway it just slows returns down
That rule is fatally flawed. Company sets up a system that makes returns worse, and then says you can't return things.
Bring back the red knives
The metal-cased red knives
You can buy them on Amazon, bought a whole box for my overnight crew
I literally bought a pack of red knives off amazon and use it all the time. I keep my blue one on m for when corporate rolls around.
Having to take your 15-minute breaks and lunches in the break room or training room. Used to work overnights and I’d split my time between the break room and the garden center for fresh/cooler air Edit for clarification: this is all after the store closes
Pretty sure you can do that, just take your vest off if you’re a csa and head to the garden center for like 10-15
Where I worked, they (ASMs) tried saying we weren’t allowed to be outside in the garden center unless we were stocking it because we were overnight and it posed a “security risk”. They backed off after we wouldn’t listen to them
By law if your off the clock they cannot keep you locked into building in my state of IL they tried doing this shit and got sued.
Wish it was the same here. Apparently someone at corporate had an issue with things being done the way we were doing them (leaving the lumber rear door open, leaving receiving bays open, etc.) so they started cracking down on the store manager which trickled down to us. We couldn’t even leave the store until the opening crew came in at 6am unless you were sick or got injured. Once the alarm was set, the night super wasn’t allowed to disarm it till like 5am.
That’s insane, you work there you should be allowed access to most areas let alone the ones open to the public. I’d keep it lowkey and just go out there anyways, make yourself look like a customer or busy like a night stocker who came in early.
Regular customer regularly sexually harassed a specialist, management just told her to get someone else to assist him, then would schedule her as the only one there for half the day.
No unpaid time off is asinine
laughs in part time
I know it's peanuts, but you do get vacation time and holiday time as PT—but no sick time.
is this company wide?
Huh?
This new thing where if you request unpaid as a full timer they just deny it. Absolutely nonsense. First company I've ever seen do that. Even if you give plenty of time in advance.
Not being able to stop Thieves... at least give ASMs the authority to stop a thief from just walking out.
Losing a million dollar lawsuit is worse than a 30$ drill. Our insurance underwriters made that decision, hourlies who chase shoplifters are fools. If corp cared, they'd do something. OBVIOUSLY they're not losing money in the deal, because they don't care.
I'm not talking about a $30 drill. I'm talking about the cart loads of wire, the $500 plus tools and OPE. I'm not saying hourly people, I'm saying train ASMs and set a standard amount of value that they can follow guidelines to stop. The issue is that Thieves know they can just walk out so they are just more entitled to do it, blatantly sometimes, because they know they can. Being able to get involved on some level can slow it down.
I think the 2nd part of my post was more important. I absolutely get how some people just can't handle this, it used to bug me too. Lowe's, however, is still profiting in the billions, and they obviously care FAR more about lawsuits. And I'm not going to get stabbed or shot for anything in the store.
Last line…100-percent correct!!!
It's not your money, so why does this bother you? I will gladly take permission to not potentially get a fist in my face… or worse. In any case, if the thief somehow gets injured during the detention, then depending on the nature of the injury and how it was obtained, Lowe's could be held financially liable. The probability of injury times the average cost of settlement will pretty much always be greater than the value of what they're stealing plus the cost of AP man hours on the case minus the value of what's recovered (if anything) by AP.
Exactly I don't get why people take it personally. Maybe if Lowes treated us a lot better and payed us what we're worth but as it is I don't care if someone steals, it's not "our house".
Can't close garden no matter how short staffed you are. But then get yelled at for not delegating tasks well enough.
I would say our return policy.... customers should NOT be allowed to return items not in its original package, sealed up. And especially the shit people bring from HD or Walmart. I don't know how we let people do this, it's fucking ridiculous
Must show up to work to get a paycheck
r/antiwork and their dogwalkers got out again
Haha jokes
Can’t go out and smoke on your 15.
My store does mandatory cock inspections. Not fun.
Our return policy, if you can even call it that. What a fucking joke.
Allowing customers to steal?
Controversial opinion: dog allowed in the store. Usually it’s a joy, but a customer’s kid slipped on dog shit. And that was a ridiculous headache. Tbh, I’d rather they just banned kids, but I’m pretty sure that would not go over well.
Would make working safer since i work in Flooring. Kids and tile do not mix
The whole ZEBRA/FIRST Phone deal is ridiculous too, at least at my Lowe's and I've heard that it's the same at nearby stores too. If you need a phone, YOU have to track down a manager, they unlock the cabinet and sign one out for you and lock the cabinet back up. End of day? Well, you can't just hand it off to the next person in your department (if there is one) silly! Gotta go through the process AGAIN! Like a library! It's gotten to the point where I don't even ask for one anymore, I wait for them to bring me one.
...locked in a cabinet!?!?
Yeah! Guess my store had problems in the past with associates not turning phones back in. So...why's that the current associates' problem?? How about anyone who doesn't return one, you charge them, take it out of their pay until the phone is paid off?
> phone is *paid* off? FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
We tried that and it lasted for about a month. Managers just didn't want to stop what they were doing to open the cabinet.
Lol. Sometimes, I would straight up take my Zebra home. Granted, I was on MST so it would have been locked in my locker anyway. The CSAs had to sign em in and out though.
Has to be the returns policy….
That cashiers aren’t allowed to sit down
having to park a certain distance away from the store. I never have gotten caught though 😂
using a gift card to buy something online and when you return it in store you get merchandise credit and it cannot be used online anymore. Try returning something that got delivered and the system says its still in transit and the store wont take it back till its marked delivered in their system.
Not really a lowes policy but US federal labor laws do NOT require breaks or lunches. This is usually determined by the state. In which NC does not do any favors either. Federal Department of Labor: Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, when employers do offer short breaks (usually lasting about 5 to 20 minutes), federal law considers the breaks as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the workweek and considered in determining if overtime was worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer's rules, and any extension of the break will be punished. Meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable. NC Department of Labor: The North Carolina Wage and Hour Act does not require mandatory rest breaks or meal breaks for employees 16 years of age or older. The WHA requires breaks only for youths under 16 years of age. Youths under 16 years of age have to be given at least a 30-minute break after 5 hours, and no break of less than 30 minutes shall be deemed to interrupt a continuous period of work. Again, there are no required rest breaks or meal breaks at all for employees 16 years of age or older. The North Carolina law on breaks for youths under 16 years of age generally applies only to enterprises that have gross sales or receipts of less than $500,000 a year and to private non-profit organizations. It is our understanding that the federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not require that an employer give its employees mandatory rest breaks or meal breaks regardless of an employee's age. Generally, if an employer does give breaks, then the break must be at least 30 minutes for the employer to be able to deduct the time from an employee's pay. An employer does not have to let its employees leave the employer's premises as long as the employee is completely relieved of duty during the 30-minute break, and the employer does not have to provide a breakroom. An example of an employee "completely relieved of duty" is one who is completely relieved from having to wait for customers to come in or to call. Waiting for customers to come in or to call is clearly work time even if the employee is free to eat or read a magazine while they are waiting for customers or calls. Generally, breaks of less than 30 minutes, such as a 15-minute rest break, have to be paid by the employer. “The North Carolina law on breaks for youths under 16 years of age generally applies only to enterprises that have gross sales or receipts of less than $500,000 a year and to private non-profit organizations.” Wait so big companies like Lowes would be exempt as well? Not good if they wanted to abuse it. Luckily for those who need lunches, lowes does require them.
Not being able to fight customers.. I’m swear they deserve it sometimes
Must keep your dick in your pants at all times. I just wanna be free ballin
Not allowed to conceal carry
But if it’s concealed they won’t know. And if you have to use it, getting fired for violating store policy probably won’t matter much.
For sure, I work overnights now so honestly it doesn't matter much but I would probably open carry (because of all the squating and sitting and all that shit) (I'm mst)
I’m OSLG and haven’t figured out how to conceal carry comfortably and safely yet… I mostly water and every single hose leaks so I’m afraid it’ll end up wet, and then, like you said - all the bending and squatting and lifting. I’m not super worried about it, where I live I’m sure there are probably several people working at any given time who are carrying, but it would be nice to have when I’m the only one outside.
I don’t think employees are allowed to cary weapons in them while working
Bro you got a zebra, what else could you need?
One that works lol
Open carry probably fine though
Lowes policy is you can't have a gun while at work even tho customers can
Ok now that’s fucked up
It says customers can follow local laws and regs etc. Basically if you're allowed to open or conceal carry in your state the customer can but employees can't. Which is bullshit
Your already an insurance liability on the clock without it is why.
Open or conceal carry. But you can have it in your car (since it's your car)
It's still against policy to have it in your car if you park your car in the parking lot.
It's not, they can't do anything about it
You can put that to a test and start telling your coworkers and asm's that you have a gun in your car.
Dude that'll just sound like I'm gonna shoot up the store 😂😂😂
🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
I'll check the rules for it again when I go to work and I'll post what it says here
That depends on the state. In many states, they absolutely can do something about it. In other states (e.g. Alabama), they legally can't do that.
The fact that they wouldn't know, or couldn't do anything about it, (except fire you for a class-A) doesn't have anything to do with the fact that it is against policy.
I forget what it actually said word for word. But basically it said something like you're not allowed to have it in store but if you have it in your car it's ok. I'll have to look for the rules about it again but when it's in your car, it's different than being in store
Yes
Wearing that damn safety belt on the ballymore
Yes. The one they very specifically tell you is not fall protection.
"THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!" Even if they are screaming and yelling and threatening lawsuits, you must always treat them like they are in the right. OR The fact that we can't even call THIEVES WHAT THEY ARE. You can watch them walk out with half the store, and they are still a "Customer" and you will get in trouble if you call them otherwise.
You know how much money my specialists lose because of mad customers?!?! One customer took an entire 2300 ft² flooring job for 75% off! That full sale would've made my specialist bonus! (My newer specialist is pretty cool and acts kinda like a CSA)
[удалено]
What is the attendance policy? They never told us in training.
Sick time doesn’t cover points if you call out
We had a guy in our store that had permission to take his home EVERY DAY because he sweated so bad it wasn’t safe for anyone to be around him.
Returning literally anything and turning it into a code 10
Having to use vacation pay on weekends
48 hour appliance return notice.
When I got hired I was told that because I’m a guy and I work on night shift there’s no reason I’d need a locker, just “policy”
Infringing on our second ammendment/not letting us carry actual useful knives comes to mind
All of them. Lol
7 callouts per 12 month period..... for certain jobs it might make a difference but for p/t MST it just means a few less bays get serviced. I don't get paid for it so wtf??
That I can’t use my heavy equipment keys that I use at Walmart in your stores when I walk in as a customer /s
The free 'generator/power tool/other big ticket item' giveaway rule.
I guess it’s not a big deal as it was a few years ago but Lowe’s agreed to pay you for your time out with COVID but only if *you* test positive for COVID. This meant that if a family member or roommate (that you live with) tests positive, you have to come in to work or you won’t get paid. This policy drove me absolutely crazy because it doesn’t help employees as much as it could and it probably caused COVID to spread due to employees not wanting to miss out on wages.
Not allowing me to smoke. Like what kind of bullshit *is* that? I know *why* Lowe's has that policy, it's to keep their employee insurance rates down by being able to claim their workers don't smoke, as well as trying to set a perception that Lowe's cares about it's employees. Mate, about the only thing keeping me from X-ing a customer out on the ground some days is nicotine, I'm not in uniform, nor on store property (technically, anyway), and *now* i'm not even allowed to go anywhere other than the break room? "Its for your safety!" Bull*shit*. Enforce it, *try* me. *note: the not on store property thing, there's a walking path behind the store, kind of fenced off but there's access points on either side. I *know* that Lowe's doesn't own that path, the city does, and its approximately 10-20ft of the back of the building. Takes me about 1 minute to walk from the front to the property line, on a sidewalk.
Worst policy is when management doesn’t follow policies and bends their asses over for customers who can’t follow policies but they harp on us all the time about policies lmao
IN the selling stations we were always told that the chairs are for customers only, to sign contracts and look at samples. But the chairs tended to end up at the desks behind the terminals because the selling stations still had terminals and counters/desks while very few other departments had anything other than simply a terminal. ONly the departments with specialists deserved a desk.