the retail warehouse worker

see note for reviewers.

most often someone who won’t work in sales,

or on the floor in any manner

because they can’t stand customers,

the retail warehouse worker may not have the

social graces

that are required to act

fake

everyday, in an attempt to make that

big sale---

so they can crawl across the ground to pick up the

scraps thrown at them by the

boss who gives them some pitiful

percentage

that does not make the selling of one’s proverbial

“soul” (in the context of working in retail)

even close to worth it.

 

the retail warehouse worker instead,

stays behind the scenes---

they unload, hang up & ticket clothes---

they stand all day long & are told not to talk

so that their labor will not slow down---

in some lucky instances, they may be

elected

to do real-time inventories of the various

warehouses

in order to determine how much

in-store theft

has taken place during any given month. 

 

individuals who work in retail warehouses

have often come from all walks of life

they for the most part do not go into this

“line of work”

thinking that they will be there for a 3-7

prison sentence, but instead

that this will be a part-time

experience,

something that they can do while taking night

classes

in hopes of someday elevating themselves from the

excrement---

however,

the pipe dreams run high & deep

when you have an “occupation” which can be learned

in the training period of a week

(less time during the pressed holiday season),

and yet is done every single day

the same way

into what seems like eternity---

until you are finally forced to quit

because the $ .25 a year raise

just isn’t cutting it.

 

because of the low pay

and the poor treatment of the workers---

no benefits & no overtime

with the overall threat of being fired for not

complying to the next set of

“new ideas” put forth by

magnificent

management---

you often find people who would go “postal”

if in fact they worked at the

post-office---

but seeing as how they work in retail,

one should say that they go “retail”---

as you often find at least two employees a day

saying how they hate the place so much

that they plan on burning it down.

 

in store theft takes place mostly during the

holiday season,

as those who are on the verge of shooting

management &

burning down the store,

get their friends to apply for a job

and when they get hired and walk around the warehouse interior of the store,

they see all the exits,

and all the places where merchandise can be hidden & then

stolen, lifted out at a later date.

 

in a place like this

thousands of dollars are lost by the store

and the turnover is so high because they lay off people that they

promised full time positions after the holidays,

only to relinquish their offer---

this kind of treatment is returned with an all out onslaught of

theft within the store---

bad treatment of employees = theft by the employees.

many of the smaller,

high end places,

which push through a lot of merchandise during the holidays

don’t even prosecute---

they only fire people like it was going out of

season,

and then send a management representative to court in order to

deny

the individuals in question

unemployment benefits.

 

it is not unheard of

that the human resource head in any given retail warehouse

situation

may even get death threats

or be mugged

out behind the store on a night when he was especially

ruthless to

those that worked under his dark cloak.

 

one has to wonder what goes through the heads of people

when they accept a position wherein they have the power to

terminate people’s jobs

& destroy their lives for whatever time it takes them to get back on

their feet---if they ever can,

in the wonderfully peachy economy that is

the united states’---

they act as if they are untouchable,

as if when they leave the store,

that “halo” created by the walls and security officers at the store

will somehow follow them home---

but

news flash,

it

doesn’t.

 

some jobs just don’t verse you on the

“golden rule”

when they promote you in the upward

direction

on your way to becoming a

complete

corporate

tyrant---

and they should

because it’s not high level management that comes in one day

with a gym bag full of semi-automatic & fully-automatic

weapons,

with a list & an indifferent

smile

spread across their face---

it is

the

worker,

who has had enough

& is determined---

for all they had to lose

has been taken away from them. 

Author's Note

"Almost all of these vengeful killers have suffered some catastrophic loss. It’s always the loss of the job or a loss of a lot of money…the more lost jobs, the more likely an employee will be triggered to commit a violent crime. As the economy tanks and jobs are scarce, the rates of these killings increase.”

-Jack Levine, the Brudnick professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern University