When I started working at “WIS�, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The ad in the paper claimed I would enjoy “ a part time job with flexible hours�, so it sounded like the job for me. Unfortunately, I was tricked. My shifts were not flexible in the least, lasted from 12 to 24 hours, and I could not even leave my shifts if I wanted to.
On Saturday January 7, 2006, I signed up to work at a Disney Store. I got to the office in pitman at 7:30pm, and waited around until about 8pm. Then my “team� and I got in the van that would take us to a Disney store. I was told after I got in the van that we were going to be working in Tom’s River. The managers that went with us (Lisa and Richard) told us it would take about 6 hours. It took us almost 3 hours alone to get to the job site. In 12 hours, I was given one 15-minute break. Even if I was given more time to buy food, my car was at the office in Pitman, and I’m sure any restaurants nearby would have been closed.
I wondered why they would make a shift consisting entirely of NEW people, who did not know what they were doing…this shift was not training, this was real. So of course, our counts were off and it seemed to take forever to finish the job. When I asked the managers, Lisa or Richard a question, they sometimes would just look at me, and not answer, or help me after many minutes had passed. I started to wonder if I had even asked for help at all, or if I had just imagined it. When I told Joan (the lady who hired me) about that, she said “they’re just quiet people�…well I’m generally pretty quiet myself, but if placed in a position of leadership, I would at least explain to my co-workers what I expect from them.
I got home from work at 7am the next day, and in 12 hours I ate only a small bag of trail mix that I had in my purse, and drank 1 small bottle of water that I brought with me, and had not slept at all. I was not told the shift would last that long. I went home and slept for a few hours, got something to eat, and went back to work.
The next day when I told Jim Morris, the area manager, that I need shifts with much shorter hours instead of 12 hours, and that I have a regular job that I need to be at 7:30am during the week, I was told that such long hours were not the norm, and that it was just a busy time, and things like that “hardly ever happen.� Jim lied.
On Saturday, January 8, 2006, I got to the office in Pitman at 3:30pm. We had to wait for some late people to get there, and got in the van around 4pm. The ride to Rehoboth Delaware took about 3 hours. We were going to be working at a Wilson’s Leather Outlet. The shift again consisted entirely of new people. We started off in a “stockroom�…I would consider this stockroom more like a narrow hallway or closet. It was very dusty and reeked of cigarettes in there. My throat was starting to get sore. I’m a bit claustrophobic, and was not happy to be working in such cramped conditions. I was given a tiny area to work in, to count boxes full of purses and wallets and other leather products. The boxes were very heavy, and I could feel my back and neck starting to protest. After about 2 hours, I was almost in tears, and asked Richard, the shift manager on duty, if I had to stay in there all night. He said no. Shortly after that, I and a few other people were told to count on the sales floor.
After about 9 hours, I was given a 15-minute break. I devoured the 2 power bars I had brought with me and drank both of my bottles of water. The nasty women who worked for the outlet store had ordered pizza and drinks for themselves, and did not offer any to me or my co-workers. It would have been nice if Richard had ordered pizza for our crew, but we got nothing. I was starving and feeling disoriented. I began to fear I might faint. I’ve been known to faint if I don’t eat regularly. So on my break, I sat on the cold, concrete floor of the store, and wished I that was home.
Flexible hours my foot…I was trapped, and could not even leave if I wanted to. My car was still in NJ, and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. At around 5:45am, my counting machine started to die. Richard told me to go and “relax�. Relax! On what? The concrete? So I borrowed a cell phone from one of my co-workers, and called my parents to let them know I was still alive. I asked Richard if I could wait in the van, since he said that we would be done counting “soon�. He gave me the keys to the van. I should have driven home…but it was freezing outside, so I went back in the store. It was 7am. I had to substitute teach at 7:30am, and here I was 3 hours away, not able to leave. I was starting to panic. So I used my co-worker’s phone and called my parents again. My dad was getting ready to leave for work, so he could not come get me, and Richard lied to my mom that we would be leaving “soon�.
I was furious. I was told “soon� all night long. At around 8:45am, I called Jim, the area manager, and officially quit. I waited outside in the van, and shortly after that several of my new co-workers joined me because they had quit too. At around noon, I spotted a police car across Route 1, so I and two other girls crossed the highway and explained our situation to J. Wesley Barnett. He said there was nothing he could do, but he offered to drive us back to the van. The van was parked illegally, so Mr. Barnett asked Richard to move it. Mr. Barnett left, and within 2 more hours, Richard and the last remaining co-worker emerged from the store. Richard apologized for taking so long. I wanted to punch him in the face.
I was exhausted, starving, and very sore. It was a long ride back to the office, about 2 more hours. As soon as we get there, I handed Joan my apron and said “I’m done. That’s it.� She apologized up and down, and said “honey listen, this never happens, I promise, if you’ll just give it another chance� but I cut her off and said “no way, I’m done.� I walked out the door, and Jim, the area manager followed me to the parking lot and apologized, and said he had no idea that I only wanted “something part-time� and did not know I had another job…I cut him off and said “I just want to go home and go to bed.� He put out his hand for me to shake, which I did, but after being awake and hungry for that long, I just wanted to punch him. How could he not know about my other job, and my schedule requirements when it was all written on my job application and I had just old him before my shift began? Did he even look at anyone’s job applications before hiring them?
So far all of the above reasons, I quit. It is obvious that this company lacks any organization whatsoever. The managers do not communicate with their employees, and on those rare occasions that they speak, I heard only lies of “we’ll leave soon� and “this will be a short, easy job tonight.� The managers lack leadership skills, and even basic communication skills. They mislead people by saying “flexible hours�, but as you can see, that was not the case at all. I signed up for the job with flexible hours that was advertised in the paper. I did NOT sign up to work 12 and 24-hour shifts. I did not sign up to get stranded with no food and no sleep out in the middle of nowhere. What’s worse is that this sort of treatment is probably going on with most of the other WIS employees, only they’re probably just too apathetic to speak about it. Well I’m not. My experience with WIS has been totally unacceptable.