"At the beginning, they [Rite Aid] were great," David says. "I knew somebody who got me into Rite Aid—that was the only way to get in, to know somebody. Once in, I had 8 weeks training and then they put me in one of their stores, which was all grand and dandy."After your training got done, probably about 2 to 3 months later, it got to be where they started to make you work more than your 50 hours. If somebody called in, you worked during their shift. If the supervisor called in, you had to stay. It got to be more and more frequent that people were calling in.
"Then, it started to be where it was a weekly basis of doing closer to 70 hours a week. Then, you weren't only covering shifts; you were also having to complete jobs. So, if you had things to be done you would stay for your shift, then cover the other person's shift and then stay after the store closed until the task got done. If it wasn't done, you were scolded or reprimanded.
"On certain days, the manager would call in, so I would have to stay for that. I mean, that was routine, it wasn't like it was once in a while. That's how it always worked."
David says he worked at Rite Aid From June 2005 to February 2009, when he was laid off. He was an assistant manager, although for a while he was promoted to manager.
"I was promoted and after a year-and-a-half, they decided to eliminate some of the store managers that had less than 2 years to save money. They demoted me without my knowledge and brought me back as an assistant. I never had a write-up; there was nothing on paper about me.
"My duties included working on the register, working the floor, packing, getting ready for the next season, stocking, some days running the store and making sure there was a schedule done. I did everything a store manager did [as assistant manager], but I also worked the floor and the register.
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"I never did get paid for overtime because I didn't punch in [meaning his hours were not officially recorded]. When I started in 2005, you didn't punch in, that's the way it was. I never punched in until a year-and-a-half later. Then, they wanted us to punch in once so they'd know we were there, but we didn't really punch in and out. I only got paid my base pay."I'm a divorced father, my kids are in another state. When I had to work extra, I would have to call my ex-wife to try to switch weekends around. So, I didn't get to see my kids much. It was more of a 24/7 job. It was hard on me, especially when I wanted to see my kids but I had to switch days and wouldn't be able to see them until 12 days after that. There was not much family time.
"At the beginning, Rite Aid sounded good, to where you thought you were making the money. But when you start adding your hours all you're doing is making minimum wage. At the point of working 70-80 hours a week, that's minimum wage."
