I'm Getting Fired, and it's Not My Fault

My workplace is gearing up to fire everyone, but we haven’t done anything wrong. So why are we being fired? The simple answer is credit cards.

If you’ve ever shopped at a retail store, your cashier has probably recited a script. They’ve asked you for your phone number, email address, and asked you to download the store app. These questions are all a nuisance, and most retail employees would skip asking them if they could. 

As a retail employee, there’s one question I dread asking more than the others. “Would you like to open a store card?” This question can take many forms and is sometimes misleading. There have been cases of customers opening cards without knowing they were opening a credit card. I’ve even witnessed one customer telling a coworker he would sue the store after he was approved for a store card. 

What you may not know is that employees get penalized for not opening enough store cards. Throughout my years in retail, I’ve been forced to endure every type of punishment. I’ve gone to mandatory meetings on my days off, been forced to role-play selling the card, had my hours cut, and been denied a chance at promotion because of credit cards. Now I’m facing a new form of punishment: possible termination.

Recently, one of my managers came around with a highlighted list of names and warned us that if we didn’t get at least one credit app per shift we would begin accumulating write-ups. We would get one write-up every week until we were terminated. When further questioned, she stated that the process would only take six weeks until we were out of a job.

As one can imagine, many of my coworkers, myself included, didn’t take well to the news. It hardly seems fair that something beyond our control could make us jobless. Many of us are living paycheck to paycheck, and some of my coworkers are retired elderly men and women who have limited job options.

There’s also the question of who's going to work after they terminate everyone. We’re already operating with a skeleton crew, and usually only have three registers open. My workplace has had a few positions open that they’ve been struggling to fill, one of these is an hourly plus commission position that should have been easy to fill.  

Is it wrong to terminate those who haven’t done anything wrong, besides choosing to work in a store with a store credit card? 

We’re given a script to memorize and recite, and we recite it as if we’re parrots. We’re told to hound the guests about credit until they aren’t in our line of vision anymore. We follow all the prompts and protocols, but we still come up short. It’s enough to make one wonder if there’s still a market for store credit cards. 

While store credit cards used to be fairly easy to obtain, and a great way to boost your credit, they are now becoming worthless. Interest rates are rapidly rising and with companies enforcing new policies, such as charging for bills, it’s hard to see the value in store cards. 

The bottom line is that we can’t force the customers to sign up for anything they don’t want to. Most of us wouldn’t open a store card ourselves, and don’t blame the guests for not wanting it.  

I’m not telling you this to make you feel guilty about telling an employee no, nor am I telling you this to force you to shop online. I am simply sharing my experience, an experience that’s shared by many retail workers.