..but the worst part, as Don stated, their to lazy to actually fire you and have to go through that process, so they string you along as long as they can or until your finally fed up.
It's the preferred method, because your unemployment insurance doesn't kick in if you quit rather than being "laid off" for non-specific reasons. Only in cases with firm, provable, just cause or theft will they be eager to terminate someone. So if you cut someone's hours back enough, it's practically like they're not even employed - most people take the hint and start looking for work elsewhere. Also, if they keep people on who are only somewhat incompetent but are still of use to them, slashing them to part time gives them room to increase their hours should it suddenly become convenient for the company.
Really, when you boil it down to brass tacks, it's always about what's more convenient for the company, rather than the people who actually work for the company on the front lines in retail operations. This thinking is great for the shareholders and the bottom line, but it involves treating people like disposable, ephemeral commodities, to be used up and cast aside.
In contrast, a company like Apple makes a serious effort to make their employees happy. They're paid better than in most retail positions and many of them aren't even directly involved in sales - they're focused on the customer experience, the thing that keeps people coming back. Compare your experience in an Apple store to your experience in a WalMart - I'm willing to wager you enjoyed the Apple experience far more.
This, right here, is the biggest thing all of the big box retailers seem to forget. An experience like the one in an Apple store happens because they create positions employees WANT to keep, rather than HAVE to keep. The staff is happier, they help make the customers happier, and happy customers are more likely to spend than unhappy ones. (Having good products doesn't hurt, either.) That kind of experience is very difficult to replicate. On the other hand, the only thing needed to replicate a WalMart is another big box company operated just like WalMart. The barrier to entry at that level is enormous, but certainly not impossible. One CEO of one out-of-country retail giant deciding to expand into the US could be all it takes. WalMart's efficiencies of scale are nothing new and not impossible to replicate - certainly not as difficult as copying an Apple experience.
WalMart spends a lot of time and effort squashing unionization in their stores. Company-wide, Apple probably spends about as much as I do on union dues to do the same. Why so little? When everyone's happy with their work and gets treated like human beings, who wants to bother with a union? Imagine what would happen if instead of blowing money on legal actions and union breakers, WalMart took the same amount of cash and spent it on improving the lives of their employees...
I'm the last person to knock a union - I've held a decent-wage position for nearly 23 years now with the same company, something that practically no one employed today in the US can say unless they or a family member owns the business. I lived in South Florida in '89 and '90 and saw the same position I'm working in today - I had a couple of uncles in the same industry. Florida is an "open shop" state, meaning that by law, a union can't force an employer to have all of its employees join the union - this weakens unions tremendously, taking away one of their strongest bargaining chips, which is why, aside from the Teamsters, unions are nearly non-existent in Florida. Those guys down there, doing the same job I started doing in New York City in '91, earned about half the pay and virtually no benefits to speak of. Technically, it's like I was making triple what they were because my benefits were worth (and still are worth) about 50% of my salary. I'm almost afraid to inquire what they're making now - my memory of working in South Florida was that very few employers actually gave a crap about their employees, with a great number of companies using the "take it or leave it" attitude that strips so many of their humanity and basic dignity. The bigger or more successful the company, the more they tended to treat you like dirt.
They had mentioned my performance earlier. You get 3 strikes at walmart. I have them all. I actually talked to the stores manager about the last one since I believe it was given unfairly and we have an open door policy. I am going to mention this to him as well.
If there is one thing that I learned as an employee, it's that if ever an unfair event comes up that's likely to tarnish your record and affect your rank or earning power, protest it IMMEDIATELY while it's fresh in people's minds. The longer you wait, the more details that get forgotten until eventually all anyone sees is the tarnished record. It's like the expression, "History is written by the victors." (I'm paraphrasing, but you get the gist of it.) Did the US and its allies do terrible things to their enemies in World War II? Sure they did, but most of them get swept under the carpet and forgotten because those enemies lost - all most people know of is the atomic bomb and Japanese internment camps. In the case of your record, if you lay down and let management win the argument of what was right and fair, they write the history in your record with no mitigating input from you to soften the blow or alter the outcome.
