Sooner or later, any associate will break under the pressure management places on them.. IF you let them, When I first started at Walmart in 2007 I really cared about doing a good job. It took exactly 6 months for me to see and fully understand how Walmart #3829 was totally corrupt. I could go into all the details but I honestly don't care, at least, I don't care tonight. Maybe I will go into all the details at some later date. Just know that we had an employee calling in once a week but since he didn't call the 1800 number and called the overnight manager who just happened to be his buddy, his attendance was absolutely perfect before he was fired for sexually harassing another employee, like he had done many many times before..but this time he was fired because he did it IN FRONT OF a manager and the manager was 'forced' to do something about it. At that point, I realized if this man can call in and nothing happens, I should be able to do the same thing.. of course management HATED me because I was like sand in their vagina. Always pointing out the policies they were breaking. Always taking pictures of blocked fire doors, always using words like OSHA and HOSTILE WORKING ENVIRONMENT. I didn't have a buddy in management and thank God for that because I'm not the type to act like I like someone when I don't. So, I took a good long look at the attendance policy and I found a loophole that as of June 2012, they have not closed. Now that I'm free from that horrible place. I am going to share my knowledge of how to use Walmart's own attendance policy against them in order to take much needed 'mental holidays' throughout the year but especially after your manager has pushed you just a little bit too hard and you feel like getting him or her back for what they have done.. this is what you do. Remember, this is as of June 2012. CHECK to see it is the same before doing what I am going to outline here.
WHAT DO I DO?
1) Tell management that you would like a print off of your absences for the past 6 months. EVERY employee should do this regardless if they plan on calling in or not. At first, most likely management will say they will print it out for you, then you will never hear about it again because the are hoping you will forget about it. DON'T FORGET ABOUT IT.. start bugging them every single day and don't take no for an answer. You have a right to know what they have in their system when it come to attendance. Once you get this print out in hand.. hang on to it for dear life.. This is your guide and the most important information you will have if you want to screw them over. With this print out you are able to see exactly how many 'points' you have. Don't think you know just because you haven't called in. If you were late, they could have put a third of a point on your record. This is IMPORTANT information to have. This print out will also tell you exact when your points will 'roll off'.. Example: You look on your print out and you see that you missed June 1st, 2012. With Walmart's attendance policy stating that attendance points roll off after 6 months, that means you know on December 1st, that point will roll off. This is VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION for you to keep up with. Once you have that print out in hand, you can record on a calender when your points roll off and when you miss from that point on. I can't stress how important this information can be.
2) Know your attendance policy. When I start a job, the *first* thing I do is look at the attendance policy to get a good feel of it. Then, if need be, like in the case of Walmart, I will go back at a later date to go over it and read between the lines. I am still amazed at the number of Walmart associates who don't know the attendance policy. I truly believe if people knew the attendance policy, first, they wouldn't be able to be pushed around or 'threatened' if they call in. Next, they would see as bad as Walmart is -- and it is BAD -- their attendance policy can be manipulated to allow FULL TIME (I don't know about part time because I was full time when I worked there) associates a total of 18 EXTRA days off (not counting personal and vacation days) a year or more if you know what you are doing -- and you will know by the end of this blog. Now listen up.. this is the attendance policy as of June 2012 and this is in plain, easy to understand English -- unlike the policy on the Wire. And again, this is for FULL TIME associates.
POINTS
An associate is allowed 3 points in a 6 month period. As long as an associate stays under 4 points, management can not say a word about their attendance. Each associate is allowed to call in THREE CONSECUTIVE WORK DAYS and that will equal 1 point **IF** the associate uses the same reason. In other words, if you call in sick on October 13th, then you call in and tell them your car wont start on October 14th, they can count that as TWO points. When you call in for more than one day,
ALWAYS use the same reason. ALSO 'CONSECUTIVE WORK DAYS means if you are scheduled Monday - Friday and are off Saturday and Sunday.. If you call in Friday, you can also call in Monday and Tuesday even though you are off Saturday and Sunday. Now, lets say you call in on Friday, come back Monday and call in again on Tuesday. That can count as 2 points.
-- The basic rule is this.. if you call in 1 day, and you are full time, it is much better to call in 3 days in a row for the same reason. Not only will you only receive one point, you can also use your sick time on day 2 and 3. I never understood people who would only call in for one night (I worked 3rd shift) when they could call in 3 nights for 1 point and get paid for night 2 and 3. Also, consider this. If you are off say Monday and Tuesday, you can call in Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and there you will have a nice little week's vacation while only missing 8 hours from your paycheck (if you use sick time for Thursday and Friday)
SICK or OTHER?
Anyone who has ever called the 1800 number to call in sick knows you have to put in some information and then the guy says "What is the reason for your absence?" Then you can choose from a list. How many people know #7 is 'OTHER'.. When and why should you use that? Let's say you call in sick because you are under the weather but after about 3 hours, you feel pretty good so you and your family go out to eat. Say someone from your job sees you while you're out and goes back to your store and tells your store manager. Did you know that store manager can fire you? It happened at store #3829 in Johnson City, Tennessee and I have heard it happening at other locations. How does one get around this? #7 -- OTHER. Out of my 5 1/2 years at Walmart, 95% of the time there, I used OTHER when I called in. That way if someone saw me out (because I was NEVER sick when I called in) and management wanted to make an issue out of it, I could say "I didn't call in sick, I picked OTHER". I'm still not sure what "OTHER" could be. I suppose that would cover everything that isn't on the list...so, that pretty much covers you so USE OTHER each and every time no matter what. No matter if you really ARE sick.. use OTHER just in case.
Speak to Management? Nah!
Anyone working at Walmart longer than five minutes knows that most managers couldn't give a rat's ass about the other shifts and most probably don't even know the names of the people on the other shifts. I give them slack on that one because who can know the names of people who are hired and quit within a week or less.. anyway.. every single time I ever called in while working at Walmart (and I called in a lot) I *NEVER* talked to management after receiving my confirmation number.. not once. Like I said, I worked 3rd shift. I ALWAYS called in between noon and 5pm. Once I jotted down the all important confirmation number, I let the system ring my store one ring, then I would hang up. I wouldn't care to bet that most Walmarts don't require the associate to speak to a manager and especially 'their' manager. I was never asked for the confirmation number in the 5 1/2 years I was there. Now, I was told at the beginning to 'always speak to your manager when you call in.' and watching what happened to other people when they would do that, I know the managers would throw the guilt trip on them and some would even come in sick and get the rest of us sick. The truth is, you don't have to speak to your manager. That is a lie in order for them to have a chance to guilt you into coming in.
Now what?
Now that you have the information about the attendance policy and how to screw walmart and remain in their own policy that they have set up.. what can you do with this information? Consider this --
Walmart is VERY busy the day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving and Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving. I'm sure everyone reading this has heard about the possible upcoming strike on Black Friday and I'm sure there are a lot of OURWalmart members who know other employees who want to see change at Walmart as much as they do but they are unwilling to join the organization or maybe they dont want to 'stir the pot' as it is called here in Tennessee.. Maybe OURWalmart members could pass this information along to those employees and let them know that IF they are full time and IF they are under 3 points..they could take the day before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving and Black Friday OFF without Walmart being able to do anything about it. They could take time off to spend with their families and 'live better' as Walmart says.. also, the night stockers who will either have to miss family time and sleep on Christmas OR go into work without any sleep at all on Christmas night.. they could also take advantage of this by calling in on December 23rd, (they are off the 24), 25th & 26th. Let's forget about the holidays for awhile.. what about using this information to spread out your vacation hours.. in other words.. put in two vacation days before two days off, then call in 3 days after. You've just got 7 days off for the price of 16 vacation hours.
What about my holiday pay?
I heard this from my fellow coworkers when I worked at Walmart and would tell them all this information. They would come to work because of the infamous rule of a person has to work the scheduled day before and the scheduled day after if they are to get holiday pay.. Can you imagine their shock when I pointed out that most, if not ALL of the times we got the holiday pay, our hours were cut within the next two weeks? Think about it.. of course, not all stores are the same but a lot will give you holiday pay..or the quarterly bonus, then turn right around within the next two weeks and cut you 8 to 16 hours. I have seen store #3829 give holiday pay and then cut people DOUBLE what they got in holiday pay. So, you have to ask yourself, are you working at a store like that? If so, what are you REALLY getting for coming into work on Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Years Day?.. If your store is like #3829 then you are getting NOTHING. You are giving your time to a company that doesn't care about anything other than the almighty dollar. You are taking time away from your family, time you will NEVER get back and giving it to the biggest, greediest, most shameful company on the face of the planet.. Ask yourself.. why do this? Why do this ESPECIALLY if you are full time and have sick time and are under 3 points?
Always remember, Walmart associates ARE Walmart. Without he associates, Walmart wouldn't last 1 week, how could it? If ALL associates would come together and demand better treatment NO associate would feel the need to have to take advantage of the loop-holes in the attendance policy. If management would simply remember what it was like to be an associate or if upper management could come down off their high horse and see that unless they keep the associates happy THEY will lose their jobs because the associates can make or break Walmart.
I can't wait to see what happens and if anyone has any questions about what I wrote here, let me know. I will be happy to help you through it, but remember, this was how the attendance policy was in June 2012. You could always ask for a copy of the attendance policy to make sure it is the same. Remember, if you have family, the family is more important on the holidays, even if you don't have family and just want some extra time off, you deserve it if you are putting up with a corrupt Walmart like 3829 is and has been since it opened in 2007.
Sometimes the only way to fight is to fight dirty. I truly believe this personally and sure, you will not make friends with management by doing what I have outlined here and if that is important to you, then by all means ignore what I wrote but if you think it is important for management to work WITH associates, not AGAINST them and you see how that is not happening in your store, or if you're sick of working every single holiday only to turn around and have your hours cut the week after so you wont get that extra $60.00 to $80.00 FOR NO OTHER REASON than the greed of a MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR FAMILY.. then now you know a small but very effective way of fighting back in a way that is totally within Walmart's policy.
Lastly, ask yourself.. what would happen if every full time employee who has less than 3 points called in for 3 consecutive work days in a row, used OTHER as a reason (#7) on the same day at the same location? Even if 1/2 of the employees did this, that store would be crippled completely. Maybe then the store manager may have to get on a register, or maybe the district manager would take notice of how poorly the store manager is running the store and his or her relationship with the employees. Imagine every employee in the district doing this.. remember, this is ALL within Walmart's attendance policy and they could not do ANYTHING to anyone under 3 points. This is totally possible and with today's social media, it is easier than ever.
For more information on OURWalmart CLICK HERE
Stand up and Live Better!
