I know when we apply for a retail job, we also sign up for working weekends. That is the most busy time of the week because most people are off of work. But, working weekends makes us so tired. Most employees who work retail are full time students who work a lot more than they should. Weekends are times that we have no class and usually have events to go to, which we normally have to miss because of work.
I can’t tell you the amount of events and get-togethers I have had to miss since I started working retail. If it’s friends birthdays, sporting events, or anything that seems fun, I had to miss them. At most retail jobs, only the first three people who take off on weekends get those days off, everyone else is denied. The people who do have off will refuse to take your shift and then you are stuck at work for hours that day, usually in the middle of the day when the event is going on.
Now, is it super crazy to ask for retail stores to be closed on weekends? We could maybe even stretch it to just every other weekend to give workers more of a chance to live their life. Also holidays are a lot for employees to work. We should move Black Friday to only be on Friday and not start it on Thursday. I have had to miss a lot of Thanksgiving meals to make it to work before the store opens.
My suggestion is to limit amount of weekends we work a month. If stores aren’t going to close down on the weekends, then limit how many we can work a month. Give us a weekend off each month to have time to relax and hang out with friends and family.
