Archived "Permission" to take my lunch?

[crumbdumb]

I work dayside backroom, we generally take our lunches half past our 3rd or 4th hours (sometimes 5th if we're we're really pressed for time).

Today, we had two closers (for once, tho this guy's a slow noob) and we both came in at the same time (bad idea imo). The 3rd hour thing didn't work out, so I took my lunch mid 4th hour (like I've done a 1000 times) and he would have would have taken his mid 5th (anything starting in 6th would have been a violation).

It's Sunday, CAFs were big, yada yada. I told the LOD they were big in hour 4 and she sent a TL back to help. No issues so far. Now it's 4:30 and I *have* to go on my lunch, I literally have no choice. If I take it in hour 5, the other closer would have had to take his in hour 6, a no-no as I explained.

I tell my TM I'm going on lunch and announce it over the walkie and go. I never wait for responses from LODs wrt lunches on walkies or have ever cared what they have to say about it. I just go cuz I don't want to get haggled or talked out of it or whatever, I never take breaks/lunches during inappropriate times anyway. I go every 2 hours (sometimes 3 if time requires it) at ~30 after for lunches and ~45 after for breaks and that's that.

When I get back, my LOD loses her shit, saying I shouldn't have gone without her saying it was OK first and that she had to scamble to find people to finish the CAFs, yada yada. Um, first of all, there were 2 other people already pulling and if she needed more, she could have pulled CAFs herself! She knows how to pull CAFs and could have helped for as little as 20 min and all would have been fine. I believe a SrTL was there too and could have pulled CAFs too. And I find it impossible noone else in the whole store didn't have the ability to pull CAFs. Again, we're just talking about 20-30 minutes, I don't linger with my lunches.

But my main issue was her taking issue with me not getting an "OK" from her first. Um, I've NEVER had to get an OK from an LOD to take my lunch (at a reasonable/appropriate time) and have never heard of anyone in the backroom needing an OK to do so.

And frankly, I don't like the idea of needing an OK from the LOD to take my breaks and lunches, I *have* to take them (well, lunches at least) and I am entitled to them. If my shift is 8 hours, I get 2 breaks and a lunch no matter what anyone says.

I took it at 4:30, I came in to work at 12, I was right on target. And again, with the second closer needing a lunch the next hour, I had to go.

Apparently, she wants to take this up with my TL or ETL. For what? Me taking my lunch at the appropriate time and she can't find a single soul that knows how to pull CAFs or can't help herself?

 

[Bosch]

Keep that "the backroom while busy was covered by two people more than capable of calling for help if needed. I was following the 4 & 1/2 rule. Or am i supposed to go into compliance?" Argument over. HR will agree with you every single time. The mention of compliance and not wanting to violate compliance wins their heart.

And if you wait for permission which I have never heard of and knowing how scatter brained LODs tend to be, permission will never come.

 

[Retail Girl]

My guess is that your LOD was stressed from the weekend from hell and overreacted. Though I could be wrong.

Talk to your TL next time you see him/her to explain what you did and why. IMO it's better you went when you did so either one of you didn't hit compliance or you didn't go at the same time...both of which I would think would be important here.

 

[signingminion]

Yeah, I've never heard of the LOD interfering with the backroom break schedule. They know better when they can take a break then the LOD. I would have laughed my ass off and gotten coached for insubordinance.

Definitely continue to relate the compliance planning and overlap. At the end of the day your priority is to not hit compliance and get the rest done as fast as possible.

 

[SFSFun]

Any half competent BRTL or ETL-LOG will back you up. Backroom TMs set their own break schedules based on the workload and coverage every single day. How the fuck is the LOD going to know when BRTMs should take their breaks? As long as you communicated with the team, it is a non-issue.

 

[squirrely]

The only time I ask if it's okay for me to go to lunch is if I'm salesfloor. I think what you did was okay, IMO.

 

[PlanoBitch]

When I'm LOD on a busy day I always ask the backroom TM's to tell me when they are going to lunch or break. When they tell me they are getting ready to go I find out if they are going to need help to cover while they go. If they are okay then they go. If they aren't okay they stay for a few minutes until i can find someone to go back there or I help them if I can. I don't wait until it's too late to status with them. If your LOD was involved in what was going on then it shouldn't have been a problem. For compliance reasons and not having both of you go to lunch at the same time I think you made the right decision. Your LOD should have been statusing with you throughout the day and asked you about your break and lunch and what the plan was.

 

[crumbdumb]

When I'm LOD on a busy day I always ask the backroom TM's to tell me when they are going to lunch or break. When they tell me they are getting ready to go I find out if they are going to need help to cover while they go. If they are okay then they go. If they aren't okay they stay for a few minutes until i can find someone to go back there or I help them if I can. I don't wait until it's too late to status with them. If your LOD was involved in what was going on then it shouldn't have been a problem. For compliance reasons and not having both of you go to lunch at the same time I think you made the right decision. Your LOD should have been statusing with you throughout the day and asked you about your break and lunch and what the plan was.

That's a good idea. You know, taking lunches and breaks on Sundays is awkward, because it's so busy and our backroom is almost always understaffed and you feel kinda bad going on lunch because there's so much you're leaving behind. And the ETLs at our store don't give a crap about when we take our lunches/breaks unless it affects CAFs or if the line's full.

Add inexperienced BRTMs on top of that and it's a giant headache. The new BRTM was hired the last week of October (he should have been hired 1 or 2 weeks before that), he's not terrible, but he's not fast enough for a Sunday when there's only two of us.

Actually, yesterday was one of the rare days we had 3 Sunday daysiders, problem is the first daysider left at 2:30 (and she doesn't normally work BR and isn't very fast). Um, how is that helpful when we have CAFs til *6*, backstock, price changes, and have to set the line?

I wish I could make schedules myself. On Sundays, I'd have a person come in at 10, another at 11, and another 12, we'd alternate taking breaks and lunches every hour starting at 11:45. Problem (mostly) solved. Well actually, no, that would cause a break traffic jam, maybe 10, 12, and 2.

We use to have closers come in at 1:30, 2, or 2:30 until they squeezed the amount of time we got to do our work. The closers use to leave at 10, now they leave at 8:30, which makes it infinitely harder to finish everything. I wish we could go back to 10...

 

[crumbdumb]

Any half competent BRTL or ETL-LOG will back you up. Backroom TMs set their own break schedules based on the workload and coverage every single day. How the fuck is the LOD going to know when BRTMs should take their breaks? As long as you communicated with the team, it is a non-issue.

Right! And If she's so concerned about when we take breaks/lunches, maybe talk to us before the heavy duty CAFs start and we can work something out.