'Toxic' manager sends employees groupchat messages at 6:39 AM after realizing there's no one to open the store: 'Every one of you should be answering your phone calls or texts in the morning'

When you work at a retail store, you know the importance of "truck" days. Usually once or twice per week, a truck will show up in the back lot, full to the brim with whatever food or merchandise your store sells.

Someone needs to unload that truck. Often, it's a job that requires 3 or 4 people. It's even more time sensitive if food is involved, since that needs to be put into the fridge or freezer ASAP. 

^{Photo via Getty Images.} 

Depiction of a manager as she talks into her phone while checking a clipboard, trying to get employees to come into the store.

But even if you're receiving, say, clothing, the truck won't just wait around all day if no one is there to unload it. It will leave, with the items still inside, and your store will have nothing to sell. And undoubtedly, any manager who lets that happened will be fired before the truck hits the highway. 

It's not a one-person job, either. While that truck is being emptied out, someone else needs to be opening the store before the customers come in. A manager needs to make sure all the registers are ready, that all the signage is up to date, and that all the proper merchandise is on display. This is a multi-person job, and even the most dedicated of workers couldn't handle it alone. 

This person's manager clearly realized all of this at the very last minute! According to one of her workers, who shared the timeline of events on a retail-related subreddit, she began her tirade of messages at 6:39 AM, and didn't stop until she guilted an employee into figuring out a solution for her. 

^{Photo via Getty Images.}

Here's the story, as told by an employee with the aptly-fitting username iamliterallyinsane.

I woke up around 11 today (my day off) to a bunch of missed calls and texts from my store manager. I check the group chat and see we needed coverage because the opener called out.

Here’s how the texts went:

Manager 6:39 AM: Need someone to cover opening today

Manager 7:13 AM: Need a response now. We have a truck this morning!

Manager 7:22 AM: Since the store opens at 9 AM...everyone of you should be answering your phone calls and or texts in the morning

Manager 7:27 AM: Thank you (cashier) for answering your phone and coming in to open!

The levels of passive-aggressiveness here are wild! 

Though some people leave their phone volume on all the time, a lot of people don't want to have their sleep interrupted 100x a night by a buzzing phone. Can you blame them? I mean, clearly the manager can, as she demandingly texts how she needs an instant response. 

^{Photo via Catgirlmutant.}

The worker then added this: 

So am I suddenly not allowed to sleep in when I’m not scheduled? Even if I was scheduled to open, I would wake up at 8. Which is later than when these texts arrived.

Like manager, just because you get up so early you have to wake up the sun doesn’t mean we have to as well! Especially if we aren’t scheduled to open! Plus we have lives away from this retail dump. We won’t always be available to cover last minute. But you don’t seem to realize that.

Yeah, the manager is annoyingly demanding here. “Need a response now,” she writes. Girl, this is a problem of your own creation! 

To be fair, this can oftentimes be a bigger issue than even a single manager can handle. Sometimes staffing issues stem from owners or GMs not having their ducks in a row. But it's her tone that is really not going to entice most employees into coming into work. Why not offer them a free meal, or a bonus of some sort? Even adding an extra like 10 bucks might entice a worker to come in when they're not scheduled. 

^{Photo via Getty Images.}

Commenters had their own interesting thoughts on the situation: 

L00kin4Laughs

Ask the manager what kind of "on call" compensation you can be expecting in your future checks.

 

iamliterallyinsane OP

I would expect to be paid for working an extra shift if I covered it. That’s it.

This person had advice to take going forward: 

PittiePatrolGA

I would mute the phone number and ignore unless you want the shift.

 

iamliterallyinsane OP

It was covered by the time I saw the texts.

I'm not sure if that advice would fly or not! Some workplaces mandate that their employees be available by phone. But they can't make you answer. 

Best wishes to this employee, and may they never again let a manager interrupt their sweet dreams with a barrage of snippy text messages.