While some companies claim they are overstaffed, actual employees frequently allege the opposite.
For example, in May of last year, Walmart said in an earnings call that overstaffing was an issue for the company. Soon after, videos came to light from employees claiming that they were overworked and under-compensated for their labor.
Issues also presented themselves from the consumer side; internet users reported in-store phones ringing for a substantial amount of time with no one there to answer them, and one user even documented their mother cutting her own fabric after there was no one in the store available to help them do so.
These issues aren’t isolated to Walmart. Nurses, retail employees, servers, and more have all virally complained about understaffing problems in their workplaces. Now, another server has gone viral after claiming that a lack of staffing in her corporate restaurant means she needs to take on the jobs of several employees.
“At my place of employment, they’re trying to save on labor…so they won’t schedule a busboy, a host, or a dishwasher, and we also don’t have an expo person,” says a TikTok user in a video with over 416,000 views. “So all the servers will be, like, bussing our tables, wiping our tables, washing the door, seating people, running dishes through the dishwasher, sorting those dishes, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”
In the comments section, users said that the TikToker’s experience is a common one.
“It’s truly exhausting,” a user said. “It wouldn’t be as bad if the customers were self aware and noticed what was going on around them and were nice instead.”
“That’s my job too. I work at a hilton. they been cutting hours sooo much the past months,” claimed another.
Others noted that asking a server to perform all of these tasks while still paying them a tipped wage may actually be illegal.
“In my state they can only require 15min per hr of work outside of the scope of serving b/c of the serving min wage being $2.13,” explained a commenter.
The creator later posted a follow-up video clarifying that she liked her job and was simply frustrated with the situation both she and her managers are in.
“They’re working with what they’re given,” she says of her management. “They are told by their higher-ups that they can only schedule a certain amount of hours each week, each month…They are not purposefully causing us to be short-staffed. They’re literally just doing what they’re told by corporate.”
“Management is tired of it, also,” she adds later in the video. “They’re over it. They don’t like making the schedule the way that they have to make the schedule. They don’t like being constantly stressed out all the time.”
Commenters remained supportive of the TikToker.
“I totally understand what your saying!” exclaimed a user. “When they cut back on labor, it screws the servers over. They don’t realize everything we are doing.”
“Corporate is the problem. This is sad! Being a manager sucks, and they are also doing side work for low salaries,” stated a second.
The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/news/server-understaffed-other-duties/