I’m steaming. Quinn works at a dry cleaner part time, after school and Saturdays. Her boss is a total bitch. This fat, lazy, nuerotic, holier than thou Christian bitch who drives the high school kids who work there away within a couple of months of their hiring. Quinn put in her notice last week because she wasn’t going to let them off on the day of prom.
Awhile ago there was a squabble with a customer over some damage to a shirt. Quinn was there when he came in to complain. They told him there was no guarentee on damaged buttons, but they took the shirt back with the understanding that they were going to fix it. According to Quinn, there was no mention that it was going to be done for free. The customer assumed that it was, the store assumed that it wasn’t. There was a manager from the plant in the store at the time. The customer came to get the shirt and refused to pay. They wouldn’t give it to him. A month passed. He came in when Quinn was working and asked for the shirt. There was an invoice on it that said “No Charge.” It was stapled over the invoice for alterations. Quinn didn’t see it and assumed that the manager and customer had come to some kind of agreement.
When Quinn came into work today, bitch woman tells her that she’s docking her paycheck $30 for letting him have the shirt. And that she’d just cash her paycheck and pay her in cash out of the till, minus the thirty. From my bartending days I knew that was totally illegal in Minnesota. If I’d had to pay for breakage, I would have owed the bar money. It took about two minutes to find the law on the Department of Labor Website. Not only that, for that woman to “cash” her check and pay her out of the till smacks of check fraud to me.
I’m just furious. I think the bitch isn’t doing it as a representative of the business, but simply planning on pocketing the thiry herself. Or is afraid to tell her boss that the shirt left the premises and was just going to ring it up as a cash transaction to make herself look good. My first temptation is to go in there tomorrow and plop the printout from the Website down in front of Jabba the Manager and ask her to read it out loud for me. And then if she gives me any “I’m just doing what I’m told” bullshit, I’ll ask her to get her boss on the phone so I can explaing the law to her.
But I suppose a wise parent would just let the kid work it out for herself.
You sounds like a very involved, caring parent to me. Just the kind I love.
No. Kids can’t work this out for themselves. Very few workers can. It’s why we need unions and Labor Departments. Bust their ass. Then she (a) gets her money, (b) gets prom night off, (c) might even collect more in damages than she might make working the rest of the summer. I have no patience for law-breaking employers, and don’t want my kid to have any either.
oh no! you are setting a great example!!!! she’ll see you do this, and understand a) that you care and are willing to go to bat for her. and b) she’ll know how to stick up for herself and others who are being taken advantage of. GOOD ON YA!! I have a dad who’d do the same. whatever faults we have as a family, we do stick up for each other.
I think it’d be really great of you to go in there and lay the smack down, but you should probably tell Quinn about you doing that first. I mean, there’s two ways to take this: some kids would feel great about having such awesome parents that’ll fight for them come hell or high water, but SOME kids may feel like you’re not letting them do things on their own (and might feel embarrassed). So there’s that risk involved. Personally, if I were treated like shit at a job like that (which isn’t far from the truth, back in high school) and I were planning on quitting, it’d be really neat to see my dad come in and show the manager who’s boss. But back then Dad had eagles on his shoulders and could probably intimidate the local theater manager a lot easier in BDU’s…wait, we’re not talking about me…
anyway, I know you’ve got this parenting thing down, so you’ll make the best decision
-matt
You know, the one thing that frustrates me about going home for the weekend IS our water softener. I get out of the shower and just feel all greasy. Here at school, the water pressure’ll take your skin off, and when you’re done washing, you feel clean, NOT like you’ve still got soap on you. So perhaps it makes the water taste better, but I’m not liking it one bit when it comes to showers.
Oh, and thank you for not starting the water-softener post with “Back in MY day…”
-matt (again) who grew up with school buses
I think you’re setting a great example. Unless your child I already used to such confrontations, you might want to tackle this one for her. She’ll learn bravery by watching you. Then you can play more of a back seat/supporting role in the future. Good luck.
You HAVE to go in there. You are a wise parent. I hate that woman already. Kids hardly make any money at their jobs, how dare her take thirty dollars!
As a teen I worked for a hot dog stand called derweinerhoff. Yeah yeah, make all your funny jokes.
The manager there only hired teenagers and he seemed really shady. Ends up, five years later, all us teens (now adults) were being questioned by the government. He was arrested for tax evasion and a whole slew of other illegal business dealings.
I wouldn’t drop it. Go tiger go!
lisa
sometimes, parents need to be the voice and model the appropriate behavior for the teen who is up against things they can’t handle, but i’d ask first if she wanted my help- and then, i’d wait- and then…. i’d interfer!