THERE IS A HELL! - - - IT IS CALLED RETAIL THERE IS A HELL AND IT IS CALLED RETAIL!

20 If you request a product and/or a question about a product or service, usually it is unanswered; why is it necessary for the person you asked to pass you onto someone in authority?..... You guessed it. The majority of these people on the shop floor are the under 20 year olds, school leavers, work placement etc. The sad truth is, the budgets set by these mega companies are all based on profit and greed, so they employ the majority of employees on the lowest wage rates, and short contract for peak moments anyone with experience getting the National Minimum Wage. Not much motivation for an experienced worker knowing he will not be getting much extra work, because they give this to someone who is at the lowest wage scale. Following an organized retail and restaurant worker walkout staged in New York City, employees from an estimated 30 different retail companies in more than 100 locations in Chicago staged their own wages walkout week. It is only a short matter of time, this will happen in the U.K. Chicago Macy's hourly employees joined forces with Chicago Sears and Victoria's Secret employees. Chicago McDonald's employees walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Chicago Dunkin' Donuts and Subway employees. Altogether it's estimated that employees from 100 different locations of 30 different retail and restaurant companies participated in Chicago retail wages walkout and mini-strike event. Retail employees were not shy about expressing their job dissatisfaction in Chi-town. What the retail and restaurant protesters want is a LIVING wage, which is more than double what the current National Minimum Wage is. So it's unlikely that retail and restaurant workers are going to get the pay that they want any time soon, and it's equally unlikely that they're going to be satisfied with anything less. What's a manager to do in a retail or restaurant environment where employees feel chronically overworked and significantly underpaid? My own experience had taught me to be true as well. That is, that one leader has the power to greatly affect many employees either positively or negatively, depending on how that managerial power is used or abused. Remember back in the 60’s and 70’s retail stores issued their employees FULL company uniforms, which included more shirts/blouses, trousers/skirt, shoes and even stockings for their females. M&S (among a few other companies) even offered their female staff a bimonthly ‘hair-do’! Look at the retail business today; they only give a National Minimum Wage, issue ONE logo labelled sweater, if one is lucky maybe a sweater or fleece, because they save on heating the dodie ste®eo p®odu©tion ™ Page 20 of 36

THERE IS A HELL! - - - IT IS CALLED RETAIL THERE IS A HELL AND IT IS CALLED RETAIL! | Page 20