You walk into a retail chain store. You take your items to the cashier. The cashier is sitting on a stool...

[***Ironhead***]

Does this affect your opinion of the establishment? Whether it's a chain with 10 checkout lanes open like Walmart, or a chain like Petco where 1 or 2 lanes out of 3 may be open, would you form an opinion based on the cashier having a place to sit? Presume they would be off the seat and active while assisting you, as needed.

Worked 8-12 hour days in production. Tough on the feet, legs and body in general. The production floor could be seen from the office of about 300 hundred people, was lined fully with windows between us and them so to speak. These people were workers like office assistants, supervisors, managers and Directors. They saw some off my colleagues sitting one day and came up with an idea of productivity improvement. Yep, you guessed it remove the chairs. That whole first impression thing can sometimes be good or bad.

 

[WebSnyper]

Worked 8-12 hour days in production. Tough on the feet, legs and body in general. The production floor could be seen from the office of about 300 hundred people, was lined fully with windows between us and them so to speak. These people were workers like office assistants, supervisors, managers and Directors. They saw some off my colleagues sitting one day and came up with an idea of productivity improvement. Yep, you guessed it remove the chairs. That whole first impression thing can sometimes be good or bad.

Did the folks on the other side of the glass give up their chairs as well?

 

[Snapdragon]

IMO, it doesn't "depend on" anything. If the stool does not interfere with performing the job, why should I care that an employer tried to make an employee more comfortable? Do you know what it's like to stand in one place on a hard floor for hours at a time?

 

[Flingarrows]

Lowe’s on county line has a person on a stool. I assume they have medical issues. As long as they can do the job, I’m good


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[wcd]

Seems like the cashiers all sit at my Aldi's and they're way quicker than any normal cashier at checking out

Same here, our guy Frank at our Aldi’s has health issues, you would never know it, he is three times as fast as the resident clown at Walmart and is always polite, and friendly.

Just another reason not to shop at China Mart.

 

[mom45]

My daughter works at Aldi. They have stools for all of the cashiers. Those employees all work pretty hard. They do everything. They aren't just cashiers or stockers like some stores. They get there early and stock everything before the store opens and work to prep for the next day after they close.

 

[DadSmith]

As long as they are proficient at their job I wouldn't care one way or the other.

 

[USA#1]

I have heard Costanza favors stools for store security guards.

This where my head went immediately when I saw this. Lol

 

[tv1217]

I've worked jobs where I stood in one place all day(Walgreens return center sorting and Standup forklift/center rider @ Amazon) and my feet were on fire by the end of the shift. As long as it has no impact on their ability to do the job, let them sit. People who think it makes the business look bad are miserable busybodies with nothing better to do

 

[Expat]

Wouldn’t bother me. If I stand in one place for more than 15 minutes my back starts hurting and my legs start going numb. As long as I can walk I am okay and move around

 

[wtburnette]

Some interesting replies so far. One of my daughters is currently working retail in a smaller franchise, and they won't provide stools because they either feel or think (I lean toward feel) that giving cashiers a place to sit would reduce productivity and/or present a "bad image". Maybe it will for some people, if you are a competent manager, it shouldn't be a problem.

My daughter has health problems, but works really hard, like crazy hard, but it would be nice for her to have a place to sit when she needs to. She doesn't often need to, but when she does need to, she really needs to.

My response is, why does it matter? As most have responded, if the employee is doing their job, that's all that should matter. The problem is management being dumba$$es. It doesn't make someone look lazy to have a place to sit between customers. That's nothing but an excuse. Management is either being willfully ignorant and uncaring of employee health, or just being a$$holes. There's probably some HR or management study that was conducted in the 50's or something where this was determined and they cling to it like it's still meaningful.

Back before the China Flu employees like me used to have to work in an office. With the advent of the scamdemic, we were allowed to work from home so that we didn't all die from this horrific scourge of mankind. Once we'd done so for a while, management pulled their heads from their butts and realized certain employees and certain teams could work from home and be just as effective, if not more so. Then they realized what employees had been telling them for years, they could improve employee morale, save money on real estate and still have the job done with remote workers. Sometimes management just has to be beat in the head with the stick long enough for something to sink in I guess...

 

[two70]

My response is, why does it matter? As most have responded, if the employee is doing their job, that's all that should matter. The problem is management being dumba$$es. It doesn't make someone look lazy to have a place to sit between customers. That's nothing but an excuse. Management is either being willfully ignorant and uncaring of employee health, or just being a$$holes. There's probably some HR or management study that was conducted in the 50's or something where this was determined and they cling to it like it's still meaningful.

Back before the China Flu employees like me used to have to work in an office. With the advent of the scamdemic, we were allowed to work from home so that we didn't all die from this horrific scourge of mankind. Once we'd done so for a while, management pulled their heads from their butts and realized certain employees and certain teams could work from home and be just as effective, if not more so. Then they realized what employees had been telling them for years, they could improve employee morale, save money on real estate and still have the job done with remote workers. Sometimes management just has to be beat in the head with the stick long enough for something to sink in I guess...

Often there is not a stick large enough nor employees with enough endurance to provide management a sufficient beating for it to sink in.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I only ask two things of a cashier:

Speed
Lack of an objectionable odor

 

[KG1]

I don’t mind if they sit on a stool. Now if they lay down then it’s a problem.

 

[foszoe]

I only ask two things of a cashier:

Speed
Lack of an objectionable odor

I allow for speed to make up for the odor.

 

[WebSnyper]

Some interesting replies so far. One of my daughters is currently working retail in a smaller franchise, and they won't provide stools because they either feel or think (I lean toward feel) that giving cashiers a place to sit would reduce productivity and/or present a "bad image". Maybe it will for some people, if you are a competent manager, it shouldn't be a problem.

My daughter has health problems, but works really hard, like crazy hard, but it would be nice for her to have a place to sit when she needs to. She doesn't often need to, but when she does need to, she really needs to.

Maybe just email them some of these articles... https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/23/walmart-worker-with-down-syndrome-fought-the-giant-retailer.html

Not that I think the $ amounts awarded are reasonable, etc, though jury obviously did it to hit Walmart in the pocket so it would be felt (though it is being reduced), rather than just shrugged off by the deep pocket.

That said, I'd prefer that there was not govt intervention of this sort, and that some of these things could be sorted out in an easier way, and preferably by people voting with their feet.

Not that your daughter should have to, but there are a lot of jobs out there currently that are desperate to get workers. Might advise your daughter to just start looking (while still working at the current place for a bit) and during interviews to see how willing a new employer is to make some reasonable accommodations, such as a stool. If there are places that have self checkouts, then certainly someone on a stool can perform the job and actually say Hello and interact with the customers, etc.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

If there are places that have self checkouts, then certainly someone on a stool can perform the job and actually say Hello and interact with the customers, etc.

Actually at most places, I see the person attending the self-checkouts doing more work than the ones just assigned to one register. Checking ID's, taking coupons, helping customers that can't figure out how to use the self-checkout, etc.. They're constantly moving.

 

[WebSnyper]

Actually at most places, I see the person attending the self-checkouts doing more work than the ones just assigned to one register. Checking ID's, taking coupons, helping customers that can't figure out how to use the self-checkout, etc.. They're constantly moving.

Agreed, and I know they are watching more than 1 register as well, and making up for the lack of an actual person to handle things, as well as trying to eyeball if anyone is walking out with extra items, etc (though I understand there is some technology behind that effort these days on self checkouts as well).

 

[Jaybird1980]

Worked 8-12 hour days in production. Tough on the feet, legs and body in general. The production floor could be seen from the office of about 300 hundred people, was lined fully with windows between us and them so to speak. These people were workers like office assistants, supervisors, managers and Directors. They saw some off my colleagues sitting one day and came up with an idea of productivity improvement. Yep, you guessed it remove the chairs. That whole first impression thing can sometimes be good or bad.

Haha, sounds about right. The suits "sitting" in their offices "watching" the production workers "work" decided production would do more "work" if standing while said suits "sits and watches".

 

[bwframe]

Meh, some jobs are sit down jobs and some aren't.

People should seek the one they prefer or need vs turning one into another, often at customer expense.

A lot of the reason for poor service in places is staff making their own self serving rules, rather than serving the customer.

We have all seen plenty of businesses out there "run by" staff who have the attitude that customers are an inconvenience to getting through their shift.