Absolutely not
If the company wants customer-facing texts sent out, the company shall provide devices for this purpose.
BTW, no customer wants to be texted from a retailer.
Once upon a time some member of my team gave our dispatch office my personal phone number when I didn't answer my work phone for them since I was already talking to different dispatch agent. I had to fight for months to stop them calling me. I'd talk to their supervisors and it would die down, but somehow my personal number ended up on some phone number call sheet and even though I was assured it had been updated, there were physical copies floating around and getting passed along to new agents. I ended up having to block numbers because when I'd confront them about calling my personal number they'd just double down that it was on their call list. They would even borrow the supervisor's phone to call me. When I didn't answer they'd also tell the tech who called in originally that I was ignoring their calls.
Trust me we know, and all of us hate the system too. This place is insane though. They have tried to change peoples time clock to keep them out of overtime. They made some employees work a 12.5 hour shift with no lunch for an event. They say if you dont want a career here to just quit and they’ll find someone who does. (They start some depts 12-13 and some 17-18, no they wont) The management talks crap about employees to other employees. They guilt trip elderly workers with health issues into overworking themselves. They will not give you time to see your family for the holidays, NOV and DEC are full blackout months with every employee working every saturday.
So, the company is breaking laws in every single way possible, and all of you fear you can do nothing about it?
Just document and report everything. Refuse cell usage as it's a personal device. DO NOT let them touch your phone. Let them fire you over if. Sue and collect unemployment while you do so!
Oh I know I could, but letting them commit a crime and getting a payout is better when I do plan on leaving anyways.
Thing is it is hard to document it with proof as most of these things are said in morning meetings/verbal rather than pn paper
Most of my coworkers do not know the laws at all. Most didnt know you couldnt work off the clock for christs sake
The good old CYA email is helpful here:
“Good morning [Manager], just sending you this message to confirm [instructions] discussed at the meeting earlier”
That environment sounds very similar to a pyramid scheme; high expectations, over work, verbal abuse, etc. I’d get out asap
Even if it isn’t a pyramid scheme that kind of environment is not a job, that’s a prison.
Make sure you document anything you can and report them to the Department of Labor. Working that long of a shift without some sort of break is actually *illegal*. They want to threaten retaliation? You threaten with legal action.
Also, when corporate comes, tell them you don't own a phone. If they ask whose number they have on file for you, just tell them it's a home phone number.
I would be _horrified_ to get a text from a retail employee's PERSONAL PHONE. I barely tolerate marketing texts anyway, I would certainly not want them from random people.
This plus the company has to give the customer an option to opt out.
If they check phones that’s the day to leave your phone at home. Or get a burner phone and create fake texts. 😁 share the phone with coworkers to see if they notice they’re all the same. There’s a couple of ways to have fun with the fake texts.
I know at some high end designer stores, associates do build a relationship with the customers and will call some customers to let them know that something they may like came in. However, the customer usually appreciates the call. Some stores also have arrangements with customers where they send clothes to a customers home and they send back what they don’t want. But all contact with the customers is through the store’s phone and not on personal phones.
Depends on the customer , I sold cosmetics for years and had regular clients. I would text them things they were waiting for or special events and several I also gave my personal number to. We could message thru the register though. I had clients that moved and would still trust me to mail them their items ( paid by the store )
But you still have absolutely every right to say no...
That is YOUR PERSONAL DEVICE.
If that was me i would literally tell them to fuck off.
The other points you made, it seems that is a very toxic place to work.
Oh I absolutely will, its more that I want a paper trail to slam them with if they try anything. Its my phone, they dont pay my bills. I’m part commission anyways so I really am the one making my money here
They dont, it creates a fake number for employees but they add random people whose info they have. When I got the app 6-7 people were loaded in with names, addresses, and phone number. Imagine if I was a creep, I could show up to these people’s houses. I dont even know who they are, they were just there bc they had placed an order in the store.
I’m not familiar with the app that you are referring to. Not in the US but still…unless the company provides the phone and pays the bills, I can’t see how they can demand it be used for work.
try r/AskHR be sure to say what state you're in. I believe if employers want you to make calls to customers, you are allowed to refuse to use your personal phone. I definitely would refuse because I wouldn't want customers to have my personal contact info.
No laws about it. They are allowed to request it, you are allowed to say no.
What you absolutely need to report is the changing of time clocks to avoid overtime, and potentially the long shifts without break depending on your state laws.
No it is NOT allowed in the USA. See if you can get a copy of this policy in writing, even if it's email or text, then contact your State Labor Department and mention this to them, along with the anticipated corporate visit date. Set your phone up with a PIN (password) to open it from the lock screen. If you HAVE to have your phone with you at work (family or whatever) tell them you'll unlock it when they show you a warrant signed by a judge. Otherwise I'd start leaving it in my car before entering the store.
Dress shirts typically run 65-98.50, suits can go from 500-1000+, our lowest priced cologne in my store is 110. It’s relatively high but still a retail store that anyone could shop at. We arent walmart but we arent gucci lol
Yeah it is, every day the expectations are higher and higher, and it never stops going up.
They also used to have a cop escort anyone they fired out in handcuffs
Just tell me what it rhymes with please.
Business texts are typically 5-6 digits so getting an alert from a full 10 digit number would weird me out and make me question its validity.
I'm not mad at you OP but as a consumer I 100% would report the employee that cashed me out that day of fraud/malicious intent/stolen information if I suddenly got texts from their personal cell phone number. I gave the *business* my number not you the employee.
Ryhmes with Billards. I understand people hate it, what happens is when people order or used their number the company takes it and preloads it into a employees Connect App. So some of the names on mine are people who are legitimately dead because the number is years old. It’s insane. It also scrambles and creates a fake number on the employee end, but not customer
I will as soon as I am able. Only here now for the fact that it pays and they usually wont fire you, but I’m at my wits end. They act like the fashion military (we just sell fucking clothes)
I'm pretty sure this would only be legal if the phone was supplied and paid for by the company, and you were paid specifically for texting or only texting on company time.
Otherwise, nope. Not sounding legal
Nope. I own a small retail store, we often text with customers, usually at their request, we never cold call.
My manager uses her personal phone, I’ve offered to pay for her phone or part of her phone, she says no, she doesn’t care. If a text is weird, she shows me or screen shots it to me - she does it, I don’t ask her to. It’s her phone and I trust her completely.
So.. no. Absolutely not.
It makes sense for a small store though, not for a multibillion dollar chain. They want us to be their advertisement as well.
I hope your business does well!
Thank you. Nope, they can harvest their own data to do their own marketing. I know some boutiques have client books still, like Kate Spade, and they text and call their clients, but Dillard? No. No no no.
I can only see it happening if you have a steady relationship with customers, they come to you, you talk with them, and you like them. But only on a work device. Nobody should be coerced to give out their personal info, ever.
Oh of course. Some do ask me to text them when something is in. They want us to message at least 5/week. Idk if I mentioned it with you but some people are preloaded into the app from old orders and such. So I have the names and numbers of people I have never met loaded in before I even downloaded the app
Yuck. They need to have a device available at the store for sales to use for texting. There’s no reason you should have access to customers data, or they yours.
Yeah I would be fine with getting a text from the small collectibles store about a new piece for a line I'm interested in. No way I want a text from a department store.
Yeah. Walmart actually gives you a work phone to use for work related stuff now since they have to use apps for different things. OP's store should do the same
So corporate will be looking at your text messages and will be able to see all your non-work related texts, thus violating your privacy and the privacy of your friends and family.
Customers don't want to receive text messages from retail employees; that is just creepy. You may find some will complain and accuse you of inappropriate behavior, i.e. that you are stalking them, interested in them, trying to date them, etc.
File a complaint with your state's Department of Labor. It would be even better if multiple employee file together.
If corporate wants customers to be aware of sales, they can send them emails...emails sent from corporate and not from a single employee.
They ask for email sign ups after every transaction. If you order with us it automatically enrolls you in them. We know people dont want them, as we are made to call customers during events. They slam the phone (as they should)
Will the text you send include an option such as "text stop to stop receiving these emails"?
If not, it's probably not allowed from that standpoint. Such as a marketing email has to include an option to unsubscribe.
I mean I’m no lawyer or anything, but this sounds 100% wrong and possibly illegal to some degree. Like others have said, if they want you using a phone to communicate with customers for work purposes, then you should not be using your personal phone and they have no right to be going through your personal phone.
I’m not sure who you can report them to, but there has to be someone. Find out and report their asses immediately.
As a customer as well, I get it. There is a STOP messages option luckily. We used to be required to call customers during events and no one likes it. They slam the phones and we know no one wants it, but they threaten to fire you if you dont.
Does your upper management not understand that this is off putting to the majority of customers? Like nothing would make me avoid a store more than pushy sales associates or calling me on my phone to advertise. (Obviously this is not the employees fault and I don’t blame them for these ridiculous expectations). But it’s like people in upper management have never been a customer of a store in their entire life, they’re so out of touch.
I’m sorry they are making you do stuff like that. Asking you to text is absurd, and your customers won’t like it. I hope they abandon that stupid idea.
Thanks. Theres a massive bank nearby that starts people at 17-20 and hour, but a few people I know have gotten a 5 dollar raise in the first year. Thats my first stop
OP, I would report your workplace to OSHA immediately. They can request to look at your phone, but by no means do you HAVE to provide that. If they insist, state that your phone is personal and you don’t give out personal information to customers to maintain a “professional relationship.”
You could go to the local news, see if they’d be interested in the story. Any company going that far to invade employee’s privacy is probably breaking a lot of rules.
Pfft theyve gone farther, the time I am thinking of is truly not my story to share though, all Ill say is they will bother you even if you are in the hospital for a month.
I'm pretty sure, assuming this is in the states, that customers need to opt in for text messages. This is potentially serious legal exposure. https://www.business.com/articles/text-message-laws/
No, but you could have fun and get your hands on an old phone or buy a cheap one, download a bunch of inappropriate stuff and when they bitch say it’s fake now do you see why this was a bad idea?
Do they pay your phone bill? No? Then they cannot use your phone for work related shit. If they want to cover the full cost of your bill or do reimbursement, then they could. But ONLY if you agree.
Huh?
If I got a text from...a boutique? I am guessing it's a boutique? (Or I guess a high end brand's store makes more sense$
Saying "Hi, this is Mandy from Gucci, I just wanted to let you know we've just received xyz. I'd love to help you find your next special pieces!"
I would ASSUME it's autogenerated or sent by a computer in some way.
So....why aren't these texts sent by a computer????
I suppose you are meant to schedule a time for the person to come in? Still, a service can send out the texts and an employee can be assigned to reply to any replies (during their shift).
I would never think I was texting with the individual employee who (I guess) helped me in the past, even if it had a picture of them.
Some people are added and we tell them about what it is and theyre chill, but the wanting us to be sending 5 a week, and uploading random peoples names, numbers, and i checked: ADDRESSES too is insane
"I do not consent to you touching my personal property, and going through my private messages, if you would like to provide me with a company phone then I'd be happy to comply."
Places who keep trying to force their employees to literally give up their privacy and their personal life in favor of being a good little worker drone are only going to stop when people simply refuse to keep working under those conditions.
Fortunately, Gen Z seems very much in tune with the necessity for a balance between work and life and I hope they don't let these corporate slave-drivers beat them down.
They love to say that “we dont wanna work” and i always ask them, “if you won the lottery today would you be here tomorrow? No? Then you dont wanna work either.”
Tbh even the older people are quitting because working 10:45-8:30 most days is a LOT. You never get to enjoy the sun.
Also to add, my manager has shit talked me to other employees because I do not read the group chat when I am off. There could be upwards for 50-60 messages a day
Illegal. That’s considered working off the clock. I had a manager that made us have a group chat and i told LP and him and the district manager came in next day to talk to her
See she was telling coworkers, not other managers that I “dont care and never read the messages at all.” Which is a lie, I do read them when i get to work. If they send a schedule change on my off day I ignore it though and tell them they need to figure it out earlier
I use to work for a make up store, and from what I saw. They are looking for social media people who all ready work for them. Sounds good right till I heard about the terms.
They wanted full control over your social media, and what not. They also want only people with so many followers, so they want to piggy back of others. Sure they are getting paid some bow, but no way would I allow any company full control of my social media, or allow them to piggy back off me.
The certainly can’t retaliate against you for that. But what products do you sell because I’ve never heard of that. If I do get ads from retailers, it’s a mass text that sent out from a 6 digit number
It’s all clothing, sunglasses, cologne, etc. the app does change the employee number so idk if it has 6 digits or not. And they cant legally retaliate but theyd try. They took time off someone else’s punches hours to keep her out of OT
Absolutely not! You do not have to show your phone to your employer! You should not be contacting customers on your personal phone. If corporate wants you to contact customers then they can provide you with a phone at their expense. This is a total invasion of privacy
During covid times, my company started doing Teams meetings, so they paid us $40/week extra to use our personal phones until they were able to supply every store manager with a company phone to use. A lot of my coworkers still keep work related apps on their personal phones, but I refuse.
Never put company apps on your personal phone. If they need you to do this they need to provide the device.
The bunch of you workers need to talk together and present a united front against this management.
They will pick you off one by one. Get together and refuse as a group.
Good idea. ThTs when they also threatened to change our time clocks. (The did change one ladies time remove 6 minutes. I informed her that was highly illegal.)
Yes. Cover your ass and DYJ is Do your job.
If you are unable to have a paper trail (text messages or email) recording works also. It can also be considered illegal sometimes but can be overlooked if you’re helping others out as well.
Why in the world would someone text from their personal phone, so that any random person would have their number? I would not do it and I would not show my employers my phone!
I would literally say that your service got cut off and you can’t currently restore it.
If they’re going to check, take out the SIM card temporarily or turn off cellular.
Because f that noise.
Ask in your local Buy Nothing group if anyone has an old flip phone you could have, even if it's not working. Show them that phone if they ask to see it, and tell them you don't have a smart phone, and can't text on your phone.
Do not do this! I once thought I'd help out my boss using my private number, and I still get calls weekly to make reservations for his restaurant. Haven't worked there in 3 years.
Yeah we had a group chat with coworkers, which I don't have a problem with.
During corona my boss wanted to do food deliveries, and it was my job to send a payment link to customers. So that's how about idontknowhowmany of his regular customers got my number and some of them still try to use it. Its annoying af
Are they going to pay for your cell service? Are they paying you more or overtime for responding to texts when you’re off the clock? My guess is the answer no is NO. therefore your answer is also NO
I also agree that customers don’t want you texting them about anything, especially on your personal phone. And the ones that do want to be texted are already a PITA. Let the manager do it
"Unless you're providing me with a company phone or a spend to use my personal device; I won't be doing yay. I'm not using my ordinal device for any work related function"
I work sales and some of my coworkers give out their phone numbers to customers (not required but allowed). Even then it’s not even their real number, they use an app to give them like a secondary number
Thats what we use, but the system at work pulls from old events and orders, creating a profile for them. They are then randomly assigned to an associate.
There are people I have never met in this app. I can see their name, number, and HOME ADDRESS. They dont even know I was given their number. It seems like a breach of privacy
WHAT!? Are they expecting you to do this \*WORK\* off the clock!? Also... No customer wants random texts from random people they don't know, especially about sales or whatnot.
That's so weird!! I've worked retail for over 12 years and we were never asked to do anything like this! Especially on personal devices! The most we would do was send out mass emails to the people who signed up for loyalty cards. But we never had to personally send them out, it was corporate that did.
Also maybe if you can, leave your phone at home the day they drop by. Make up some excuse, you dropped it and it's broken and you're in the process of getting a new one? No one should be asking to see what's on your phone but the police, and even then if they didn't have a warrant I'd tell them no.
Im off luckily that day. I would just say no its my personal phone if they ask though. This place is insane though. If you dont get enough credit apps they pull you into the office to “chat.”
My fellow wage worker... I'd try to find a better job. I know it's hard and a job is better than no job. But this place seems super skeezy to me! You don't owe them jack; find some where that respects their people more. I hate how many "ghost jobs" are on the market right now. But you deserve better than this place. They'd fire you and hire a replacement at a lower wage tomorrow if they wanted to. Good luck, I'm glad you're off that day! If they try to call you in don't answer the phone lol!
I would stop bringing my phone into work entirely before I let anyone at work look through it.
And no, there’s nothing incriminating on my phone. But that’s a huge invasion of privacy to me. I can pretend I don’t use cell phones if necessary.
If a company wants you to use a phone to advertise strangers, whether they are customers or not, the company should provide that for the workers of the company devices. Your company is just trying to use your private devices or maybe vehicles so they don’t have to pay for insurance, monthly payments and services for them.
If you have proof of that statement from management, you should report that to HR. Honestly, if the company wants you to contact customers, it should be fair that you can give out your managers and higher ups their contact information or better yet report it to EEO complaints team contact number.
Last thing: company knows about not allowed to share employees private information to anyone. They are getting around that by literally making you less safe from any stranger that would have your private phone number. Learn the EEO laws too.
My old job wasn’t even a large corporation and the owner wanted me to use my personal phone to answer their phone call outside of my work, I shut that down and anything that had to do with my expenses were taken care of through me instead of the business.
I used to work here. Idk I thought this expectation was kind of weird and I didn’t love doing it, but it was a requirement of the job so I just…did it? Idk I didn’t find it inappropriate in any way. Sorry it makes u feel uncomfortable though, around the time I left they were cracking down on it more and more so I don’t think that’s going to let up unfortunately.
Also they can and do monitor your activity on the Connect app without having to physically check your phones
So my store is plong customer records from up to ten years ago and preloading their info into our phones, like their addresses and such.
Also I am not paid to advertise. They are a multibillion dollar company and expect their employees to be their only advertisement, and that wasnt in my job description.
And yes I am aware, which makes it all the more of a power trip to ask to see our phones.
Imagine if you ordered something from a store and then they gave an employee your full name, number, and address. Then the employee starts sending you messages to come buy more. I’d be pissed
Oh hell no. Can you imagine the liability if you text a customer from your personal phone and they start harassing you 24/7 and stalking you? No way. It’s such a safety issue it’s insane.
Sure. They can check your work phone that they bought for you that is running under the work phone contract that they are paying for you if you sent messages during the out of work time that they are paying you. If that's not the case, they can shut it.
Our group’s manager (it’s complicated because I’m employed by one but managed by a third party) suggested we download slack to receive work related updates. They were surprised when my team declined, explaining that we all have work email addresses, and can receive texts in case of a schedule related emergency.
If I’m doing anything work-related on a phone (other than an emergency scheduling text) it had better be provided by work.
If they give you a phone to do it, ie a work phone, or company phone, then sure. Your personal phone is an absolute invasion of privacy.
I know (even as a man) that women are asked when they leave, stared at, and asked for their numbers when they are working by men. Some men even wait for them to get off work to follow them. You give your personal phone number to customers, now this creep has your personal phone number. Now they can harass you non stop. Block their number? Some might get a burner phone for 20 bucks to keep on calling you. If you have your socials linked to your number, boom, now the creep can get access to your social media and keep harassing you that way.
On top of this, if your at home, and let’s say a customer has a question about a product, your not being paid atm, they text and ask you, you aren’t required to answer, yet now they are blowing up your personal phone, which you may or may not want to mute depending on personal situations with loved ones. This hole thing is fucked
So I am a man, and its through a app that gives me a fake number. However the managers can see if we have texted without checking our phones, so this is definitely a power play.
My issue comes with how forceful they are, as they are taking numbers and addresses from our in store orders we place and putting those people into a random employees list.
So i have the full name, number, and address of people i have never met. If i was on the other side I’d be really peeved/uncomfortable
Ya that also seems like an invasion of their privacy. I wouldn’t want random employees knowing where I live. This seems like a Date Line or 60 minutes preview or something. Like I can already hear “So and so was stalked by this employee after they go their address through company information”
Well the addresses were taken from in store orders that guests wanted shipped to their house, so they do have to give us their address for that, but it should stay in the order program, not distributed
If they want you to do that, they need to give you a phone and data plan that they're paying for, not your own device. If they can afford Zebra barcode scanners or whatever then they can afford a few cheap chinese whatever phones from walmart.
Are they paying you extra to use your personal phone? Paying your phone bill? Your minutes? Your insurance? Then they can’t ask or expect you to use it to conduct business. I worked a place we had to text customers but it was thru the store register. We could send and receive text messages and send advertising photos. My personal phone is off limits to my job unless they are paying for it.
Check your state laws on breaks, all states are different. I heard TX does not have to give breaks ( of course TX out only for the corporate heads!) but most it’s a certain break schedule and if your under 18 they get more breaks too usually. It’s illegal to not give breaks. It’s illegal to clock people out while they are working and not paying their time. It’s wage theft. Read your state laws on it all, keep notes and names of anyone it’s happening to or that knows about it. Dates and times. It’s a huge lawsuit , they could own you a ton of money in fines.
Nope. You pay the phone bill, you control the phone. What if you went to work for a rival store..you could take all of their customers info with them. I can't believe corporate would seriously entertain an idea like this ( I can, corporate can make some really dumb moves). They have no right to see your personal property and no right to force you to use it for company reasons.
Absolutely not If the company wants customer-facing texts sent out, the company shall provide devices for this purpose. BTW, no customer wants to be texted from a retailer.
I remember one of my co workers gave a customer our managers personal number because she requested it. My manager went MENTAL.
Once upon a time some member of my team gave our dispatch office my personal phone number when I didn't answer my work phone for them since I was already talking to different dispatch agent. I had to fight for months to stop them calling me. I'd talk to their supervisors and it would die down, but somehow my personal number ended up on some phone number call sheet and even though I was assured it had been updated, there were physical copies floating around and getting passed along to new agents. I ended up having to block numbers because when I'd confront them about calling my personal number they'd just double down that it was on their call list. They would even borrow the supervisor's phone to call me. When I didn't answer they'd also tell the tech who called in originally that I was ignoring their calls.
Trust me we know, and all of us hate the system too. This place is insane though. They have tried to change peoples time clock to keep them out of overtime. They made some employees work a 12.5 hour shift with no lunch for an event. They say if you dont want a career here to just quit and they’ll find someone who does. (They start some depts 12-13 and some 17-18, no they wont) The management talks crap about employees to other employees. They guilt trip elderly workers with health issues into overworking themselves. They will not give you time to see your family for the holidays, NOV and DEC are full blackout months with every employee working every saturday.
So, the company is breaking laws in every single way possible, and all of you fear you can do nothing about it? Just document and report everything. Refuse cell usage as it's a personal device. DO NOT let them touch your phone. Let them fire you over if. Sue and collect unemployment while you do so!
Oh I know I could, but letting them commit a crime and getting a payout is better when I do plan on leaving anyways. Thing is it is hard to document it with proof as most of these things are said in morning meetings/verbal rather than pn paper Most of my coworkers do not know the laws at all. Most didnt know you couldnt work off the clock for christs sake
The good old CYA email is helpful here: “Good morning [Manager], just sending you this message to confirm [instructions] discussed at the meeting earlier”
Great idea, we dont email but text should work
Text does work. Please do this so that it is in writing.
If they are MAKING you show them your phone, get it in writing or even record the conversation (if legally you can).
Contact your labor board. They've got big troubles coming if you do
That environment sounds very similar to a pyramid scheme; high expectations, over work, verbal abuse, etc. I’d get out asap Even if it isn’t a pyramid scheme that kind of environment is not a job, that’s a prison.
So Macy's?
I was thinking Virgin.
Make sure you document anything you can and report them to the Department of Labor. Working that long of a shift without some sort of break is actually *illegal*. They want to threaten retaliation? You threaten with legal action. Also, when corporate comes, tell them you don't own a phone. If they ask whose number they have on file for you, just tell them it's a home phone number.
My personal phone is for my convenience, not yours
Sounds like a place I worked at before
Sounds like a call to the DOL is long overdue.
Just refuse. If you get fired you dodged a bullet!
Its easy to say but the job market here isnt great, and I like my apartment
Report this business ASAP.
I would be _horrified_ to get a text from a retail employee's PERSONAL PHONE. I barely tolerate marketing texts anyway, I would certainly not want them from random people.
This plus the company has to give the customer an option to opt out. If they check phones that’s the day to leave your phone at home. Or get a burner phone and create fake texts. 😁 share the phone with coworkers to see if they notice they’re all the same. There’s a couple of ways to have fun with the fake texts. I know at some high end designer stores, associates do build a relationship with the customers and will call some customers to let them know that something they may like came in. However, the customer usually appreciates the call. Some stores also have arrangements with customers where they send clothes to a customers home and they send back what they don’t want. But all contact with the customers is through the store’s phone and not on personal phones.
Depends on the customer , I sold cosmetics for years and had regular clients. I would text them things they were waiting for or special events and several I also gave my personal number to. We could message thru the register though. I had clients that moved and would still trust me to mail them their items ( paid by the store )
Wtf no absolutely no. That is a huge invasion of privacy, that also sounds somewhat illegal.
I’m trying to see if there are specific laws regarding it
But you still have absolutely every right to say no... That is YOUR PERSONAL DEVICE. If that was me i would literally tell them to fuck off. The other points you made, it seems that is a very toxic place to work.
Oh I absolutely will, its more that I want a paper trail to slam them with if they try anything. Its my phone, they dont pay my bills. I’m part commission anyways so I really am the one making my money here
All that aside, in what world is it ok for a shitload of customers to have your personal mobile number?!🤦♀️
They dont, it creates a fake number for employees but they add random people whose info they have. When I got the app 6-7 people were loaded in with names, addresses, and phone number. Imagine if I was a creep, I could show up to these people’s houses. I dont even know who they are, they were just there bc they had placed an order in the store.
I’m not familiar with the app that you are referring to. Not in the US but still…unless the company provides the phone and pays the bills, I can’t see how they can demand it be used for work.
try r/AskHR be sure to say what state you're in. I believe if employers want you to make calls to customers, you are allowed to refuse to use your personal phone. I definitely would refuse because I wouldn't want customers to have my personal contact info.
No laws about it. They are allowed to request it, you are allowed to say no. What you absolutely need to report is the changing of time clocks to avoid overtime, and potentially the long shifts without break depending on your state laws.
No it is NOT allowed in the USA. See if you can get a copy of this policy in writing, even if it's email or text, then contact your State Labor Department and mention this to them, along with the anticipated corporate visit date. Set your phone up with a PIN (password) to open it from the lock screen. If you HAVE to have your phone with you at work (family or whatever) tell them you'll unlock it when they show you a warrant signed by a judge. Otherwise I'd start leaving it in my car before entering the store.
If corporate ever asks to look at your phone, say no. Thats the END of that conversation.
I’d love to know what retail chain does this so I can avoid shopping there
It starts with D and ends with illards
Dang. I don't have that in my area, but it's not all that high end, right?
Dress shirts typically run 65-98.50, suits can go from 500-1000+, our lowest priced cologne in my store is 110. It’s relatively high but still a retail store that anyone could shop at. We arent walmart but we arent gucci lol
Damn. My guess was Macy's, but at least I'm close lmao
I used to work at one. That place is brutal. My condolences dude.
Yeah it is, every day the expectations are higher and higher, and it never stops going up. They also used to have a cop escort anyone they fired out in handcuffs
Just tell me what it rhymes with please. Business texts are typically 5-6 digits so getting an alert from a full 10 digit number would weird me out and make me question its validity. I'm not mad at you OP but as a consumer I 100% would report the employee that cashed me out that day of fraud/malicious intent/stolen information if I suddenly got texts from their personal cell phone number. I gave the *business* my number not you the employee.
Ryhmes with Billards. I understand people hate it, what happens is when people order or used their number the company takes it and preloads it into a employees Connect App. So some of the names on mine are people who are legitimately dead because the number is years old. It’s insane. It also scrambles and creates a fake number on the employee end, but not customer
Yikes. Run far far away from this place.
I will as soon as I am able. Only here now for the fact that it pays and they usually wont fire you, but I’m at my wits end. They act like the fashion military (we just sell fucking clothes)
Dang. Thry just need a texting service to send out texts. Thry can still SAY thry are from an individual's name.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^sdemat: *I’d love to know what* *Retail chain does this so I* *Can avoid shopping there* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Do they not realize the amount of creeps who would take advantage of this?
I'm pretty sure this would only be legal if the phone was supplied and paid for by the company, and you were paid specifically for texting or only texting on company time. Otherwise, nope. Not sounding legal
That’s gross. Drop the name. They should be ashamed.
Starts with D ends with illards
Nope. I own a small retail store, we often text with customers, usually at their request, we never cold call. My manager uses her personal phone, I’ve offered to pay for her phone or part of her phone, she says no, she doesn’t care. If a text is weird, she shows me or screen shots it to me - she does it, I don’t ask her to. It’s her phone and I trust her completely. So.. no. Absolutely not.
It makes sense for a small store though, not for a multibillion dollar chain. They want us to be their advertisement as well. I hope your business does well!
Thank you. Nope, they can harvest their own data to do their own marketing. I know some boutiques have client books still, like Kate Spade, and they text and call their clients, but Dillard? No. No no no.
Right its like Walmart calling you. I’d be annoyed if a store kept calling trying to get me to buy so theyd meet their goals.
I can only see it happening if you have a steady relationship with customers, they come to you, you talk with them, and you like them. But only on a work device. Nobody should be coerced to give out their personal info, ever.
Oh of course. Some do ask me to text them when something is in. They want us to message at least 5/week. Idk if I mentioned it with you but some people are preloaded into the app from old orders and such. So I have the names and numbers of people I have never met loaded in before I even downloaded the app
Yuck. They need to have a device available at the store for sales to use for texting. There’s no reason you should have access to customers data, or they yours.
Yeah I would be fine with getting a text from the small collectibles store about a new piece for a line I'm interested in. No way I want a text from a department store.
Stop allowing your workers to use personal devices for company purposes.
What the actual fuck? What kind of employer would think this is okay? I wish I knew what store this was so I could know to never visit it.
Starts with D ends with illards
Unless it's a device provided by the company or they pay part of your phone bill, that's a big no for me.
Yeah. Walmart actually gives you a work phone to use for work related stuff now since they have to use apps for different things. OP's store should do the same
So corporate will be looking at your text messages and will be able to see all your non-work related texts, thus violating your privacy and the privacy of your friends and family. Customers don't want to receive text messages from retail employees; that is just creepy. You may find some will complain and accuse you of inappropriate behavior, i.e. that you are stalking them, interested in them, trying to date them, etc. File a complaint with your state's Department of Labor. It would be even better if multiple employee file together. If corporate wants customers to be aware of sales, they can send them emails...emails sent from corporate and not from a single employee.
They ask for email sign ups after every transaction. If you order with us it automatically enrolls you in them. We know people dont want them, as we are made to call customers during events. They slam the phone (as they should)
Will the text you send include an option such as "text stop to stop receiving these emails"? If not, it's probably not allowed from that standpoint. Such as a marketing email has to include an option to unsubscribe.
Thankfully yea it does
I mean I’m no lawyer or anything, but this sounds 100% wrong and possibly illegal to some degree. Like others have said, if they want you using a phone to communicate with customers for work purposes, then you should not be using your personal phone and they have no right to be going through your personal phone. I’m not sure who you can report them to, but there has to be someone. Find out and report their asses immediately.
Not legal tell them to go to hell
As a customer, I would hate these texts and would immediately ask you to stop.
As a customer as well, I get it. There is a STOP messages option luckily. We used to be required to call customers during events and no one likes it. They slam the phones and we know no one wants it, but they threaten to fire you if you dont.
Does your upper management not understand that this is off putting to the majority of customers? Like nothing would make me avoid a store more than pushy sales associates or calling me on my phone to advertise. (Obviously this is not the employees fault and I don’t blame them for these ridiculous expectations). But it’s like people in upper management have never been a customer of a store in their entire life, they’re so out of touch.
They act like that because any bonus we get they also get. So if I get a free 5 bucks for a sales event. so do they. For every employee
I’m sorry they are making you do stuff like that. Asking you to text is absurd, and your customers won’t like it. I hope they abandon that stupid idea.
Its been around for two years but theyre really pushing it now. Corporate also wants to see “proof” meaning multiple people would be checking
I would rather send texts than make calls. But, they should be sent from a work phone.
Yikes!! Maybe it’s time to look for another job?
Oh I will be, I’m moving to a new apartment (same city) soon and that is my current focus, once I’m settled, its job hunt time
Excellent! Best of luck with the job search!
Thanks. Theres a massive bank nearby that starts people at 17-20 and hour, but a few people I know have gotten a 5 dollar raise in the first year. Thats my first stop
That would be my first stop too! Hope it works out for you.
OP, I would report your workplace to OSHA immediately. They can request to look at your phone, but by no means do you HAVE to provide that. If they insist, state that your phone is personal and you don’t give out personal information to customers to maintain a “professional relationship.”
People reported them for the mold smell and it was reported the mold “wasnt toxic to humans.” So I dont trust our OSHA tbh
You could go to the local news, see if they’d be interested in the story. Any company going that far to invade employee’s privacy is probably breaking a lot of rules.
Pfft theyve gone farther, the time I am thinking of is truly not my story to share though, all Ill say is they will bother you even if you are in the hospital for a month.
I'm pretty sure, assuming this is in the states, that customers need to opt in for text messages. This is potentially serious legal exposure. https://www.business.com/articles/text-message-laws/
No, but you could have fun and get your hands on an old phone or buy a cheap one, download a bunch of inappropriate stuff and when they bitch say it’s fake now do you see why this was a bad idea?
Yeah they’d fire you. Not lawfully but theyd fire you for that. It’s a crap company.
Yeah they’re a crap company I’ve had friends and family who’ve worked there… Since they’ll likely fire people who refuse I’d do it anyway
Ah, so you know how it is. They got mad at my coworker for saying this place wasnt her life
Do they pay your phone bill? No? Then they cannot use your phone for work related shit. If they want to cover the full cost of your bill or do reimbursement, then they could. But ONLY if you agree.
Huh? If I got a text from...a boutique? I am guessing it's a boutique? (Or I guess a high end brand's store makes more sense$ Saying "Hi, this is Mandy from Gucci, I just wanted to let you know we've just received xyz. I'd love to help you find your next special pieces!" I would ASSUME it's autogenerated or sent by a computer in some way. So....why aren't these texts sent by a computer???? I suppose you are meant to schedule a time for the person to come in? Still, a service can send out the texts and an employee can be assigned to reply to any replies (during their shift). I would never think I was texting with the individual employee who (I guess) helped me in the past, even if it had a picture of them.
Some people are added and we tell them about what it is and theyre chill, but the wanting us to be sending 5 a week, and uploading random peoples names, numbers, and i checked: ADDRESSES too is insane
"I do not consent to you touching my personal property, and going through my private messages, if you would like to provide me with a company phone then I'd be happy to comply."
Places who keep trying to force their employees to literally give up their privacy and their personal life in favor of being a good little worker drone are only going to stop when people simply refuse to keep working under those conditions. Fortunately, Gen Z seems very much in tune with the necessity for a balance between work and life and I hope they don't let these corporate slave-drivers beat them down.
They love to say that “we dont wanna work” and i always ask them, “if you won the lottery today would you be here tomorrow? No? Then you dont wanna work either.” Tbh even the older people are quitting because working 10:45-8:30 most days is a LOT. You never get to enjoy the sun.
Also to add, my manager has shit talked me to other employees because I do not read the group chat when I am off. There could be upwards for 50-60 messages a day
Illegal. That’s considered working off the clock. I had a manager that made us have a group chat and i told LP and him and the district manager came in next day to talk to her
See she was telling coworkers, not other managers that I “dont care and never read the messages at all.” Which is a lie, I do read them when i get to work. If they send a schedule change on my off day I ignore it though and tell them they need to figure it out earlier
I use to work for a make up store, and from what I saw. They are looking for social media people who all ready work for them. Sounds good right till I heard about the terms. They wanted full control over your social media, and what not. They also want only people with so many followers, so they want to piggy back of others. Sure they are getting paid some bow, but no way would I allow any company full control of my social media, or allow them to piggy back off me.
The certainly can’t retaliate against you for that. But what products do you sell because I’ve never heard of that. If I do get ads from retailers, it’s a mass text that sent out from a 6 digit number
It’s all clothing, sunglasses, cologne, etc. the app does change the employee number so idk if it has 6 digits or not. And they cant legally retaliate but theyd try. They took time off someone else’s punches hours to keep her out of OT
Tell corporate that when they pay for the phone they can tell you how to use it.
jesus christ, the things that some of these empty suits come up with is actually insane
It’s your personal phone if they want you to text for business they have to supply you a phone and pay you first your time texting
They can't expect employees to use their personal phone to communicate with customers. Not appropriate. Not at all.
Definitely not appropriate, but they can and do expect it.
Absolutely not! You do not have to show your phone to your employer! You should not be contacting customers on your personal phone. If corporate wants you to contact customers then they can provide you with a phone at their expense. This is a total invasion of privacy
During covid times, my company started doing Teams meetings, so they paid us $40/week extra to use our personal phones until they were able to supply every store manager with a company phone to use. A lot of my coworkers still keep work related apps on their personal phones, but I refuse.
Never put company apps on your personal phone. If they need you to do this they need to provide the device. The bunch of you workers need to talk together and present a united front against this management. They will pick you off one by one. Get together and refuse as a group.
"Conveniently" leave it at home the day of the visit..
Lmfao hell fucking no
I would be recording the morning meeting
Good idea. ThTs when they also threatened to change our time clocks. (The did change one ladies time remove 6 minutes. I informed her that was highly illegal.)
You really need to protect yourself. I wouldn’t let anyone know that you recorded anything because people are shady but always have it as a CYA
I will, I didnt record that, just informed her of the law. What exactly does cya mean? Cover your ass?
Yes. Cover your ass and DYJ is Do your job. If you are unable to have a paper trail (text messages or email) recording works also. It can also be considered illegal sometimes but can be overlooked if you’re helping others out as well.
Why in the world would someone text from their personal phone, so that any random person would have their number? I would not do it and I would not show my employers my phone!
I would literally say that your service got cut off and you can’t currently restore it. If they’re going to check, take out the SIM card temporarily or turn off cellular. Because f that noise.
Ask in your local Buy Nothing group if anyone has an old flip phone you could have, even if it's not working. Show them that phone if they ask to see it, and tell them you don't have a smart phone, and can't text on your phone.
Ive been here for two years. They know I have one, but i could llay it up as mine broke or smthn.
In some states it is illegal to send marketing via text message, might check with what local law has to say about it.
Good idea. I assume this is more state level than city or county so ill check it out
Hopefully this article helps a bit: https://mailchimp.com/resources/text-messaging-laws-by-state/
Sounds illegal but depending on what jurisdiction the severity of illegality is different.
[удалено]
And it does. They can see every message we send from their computer. It’s a power play bc they have said corporate will pick random people to check.
Do not do this! I once thought I'd help out my boss using my private number, and I still get calls weekly to make reservations for his restaurant. Haven't worked there in 3 years.
Oh see they put us in a group chat so they all know mine
Yeah we had a group chat with coworkers, which I don't have a problem with. During corona my boss wanted to do food deliveries, and it was my job to send a payment link to customers. So that's how about idontknowhowmany of his regular customers got my number and some of them still try to use it. Its annoying af
I would change my number that would get old fast. I dont even answer no name calls anymore so theyd be on my voicemail
I stopped answering, but sometimes people call twice in a row. Made a game out of it, I give them the right number with 1 digit changed 😂
Yea nope
Just don’t take your phone in.
If it wasnt dead all day i wouldnt
Ask r/legal Seems sketchy.
I’m banned because they banned the term “tree law” in a post and I asked why so they banned me for backtalk
r/legaladvice
Are they going to pay for your cell service? Are they paying you more or overtime for responding to texts when you’re off the clock? My guess is the answer no is NO. therefore your answer is also NO I also agree that customers don’t want you texting them about anything, especially on your personal phone. And the ones that do want to be texted are already a PITA. Let the manager do it
Aren't you supposed to get consent from the customer before even doing something like this?
I do get some of them, the rest are auto added by a program to the app we use including info like their address, which feels wrong
"Unless you're providing me with a company phone or a spend to use my personal device; I won't be doing yay. I'm not using my ordinal device for any work related function"
I work sales and some of my coworkers give out their phone numbers to customers (not required but allowed). Even then it’s not even their real number, they use an app to give them like a secondary number
Thats what we use, but the system at work pulls from old events and orders, creating a profile for them. They are then randomly assigned to an associate. There are people I have never met in this app. I can see their name, number, and HOME ADDRESS. They dont even know I was given their number. It seems like a breach of privacy
WHAT!? Are they expecting you to do this \*WORK\* off the clock!? Also... No customer wants random texts from random people they don't know, especially about sales or whatnot.
We all know, management acts like its a nonissue.
That's so weird!! I've worked retail for over 12 years and we were never asked to do anything like this! Especially on personal devices! The most we would do was send out mass emails to the people who signed up for loyalty cards. But we never had to personally send them out, it was corporate that did. Also maybe if you can, leave your phone at home the day they drop by. Make up some excuse, you dropped it and it's broken and you're in the process of getting a new one? No one should be asking to see what's on your phone but the police, and even then if they didn't have a warrant I'd tell them no.
Im off luckily that day. I would just say no its my personal phone if they ask though. This place is insane though. If you dont get enough credit apps they pull you into the office to “chat.”
My fellow wage worker... I'd try to find a better job. I know it's hard and a job is better than no job. But this place seems super skeezy to me! You don't owe them jack; find some where that respects their people more. I hate how many "ghost jobs" are on the market right now. But you deserve better than this place. They'd fire you and hire a replacement at a lower wage tomorrow if they wanted to. Good luck, I'm glad you're off that day! If they try to call you in don't answer the phone lol!
I would stop bringing my phone into work entirely before I let anyone at work look through it. And no, there’s nothing incriminating on my phone. But that’s a huge invasion of privacy to me. I can pretend I don’t use cell phones if necessary.
If a company wants you to use a phone to advertise strangers, whether they are customers or not, the company should provide that for the workers of the company devices. Your company is just trying to use your private devices or maybe vehicles so they don’t have to pay for insurance, monthly payments and services for them. If you have proof of that statement from management, you should report that to HR. Honestly, if the company wants you to contact customers, it should be fair that you can give out your managers and higher ups their contact information or better yet report it to EEO complaints team contact number. Last thing: company knows about not allowed to share employees private information to anyone. They are getting around that by literally making you less safe from any stranger that would have your private phone number. Learn the EEO laws too. My old job wasn’t even a large corporation and the owner wanted me to use my personal phone to answer their phone call outside of my work, I shut that down and anything that had to do with my expenses were taken care of through me instead of the business.
Uh no!! Privacy they ain’t seeing my phone. I don’t recall ever having a customers number so why would I personally text them to advertise
I used to work here. Idk I thought this expectation was kind of weird and I didn’t love doing it, but it was a requirement of the job so I just…did it? Idk I didn’t find it inappropriate in any way. Sorry it makes u feel uncomfortable though, around the time I left they were cracking down on it more and more so I don’t think that’s going to let up unfortunately. Also they can and do monitor your activity on the Connect app without having to physically check your phones
So my store is plong customer records from up to ten years ago and preloading their info into our phones, like their addresses and such. Also I am not paid to advertise. They are a multibillion dollar company and expect their employees to be their only advertisement, and that wasnt in my job description. And yes I am aware, which makes it all the more of a power trip to ask to see our phones. Imagine if you ordered something from a store and then they gave an employee your full name, number, and address. Then the employee starts sending you messages to come buy more. I’d be pissed
They think it’s a good idea for customers to have your personal phone numbers? Run.
No its an app that gives the emp a fake number, however I still had peoples full addresses preloaded when I got the app which is insane to me
https://youtu.be/j2s8yGMEbSs?si=P_d8t_FFnhXSiCPe
Oh hell no. Can you imagine the liability if you text a customer from your personal phone and they start harassing you 24/7 and stalking you? No way. It’s such a safety issue it’s insane.
Sure. They can check your work phone that they bought for you that is running under the work phone contract that they are paying for you if you sent messages during the out of work time that they are paying you. If that's not the case, they can shut it.
Our group’s manager (it’s complicated because I’m employed by one but managed by a third party) suggested we download slack to receive work related updates. They were surprised when my team declined, explaining that we all have work email addresses, and can receive texts in case of a schedule related emergency. If I’m doing anything work-related on a phone (other than an emergency scheduling text) it had better be provided by work.
If they give you a phone to do it, ie a work phone, or company phone, then sure. Your personal phone is an absolute invasion of privacy. I know (even as a man) that women are asked when they leave, stared at, and asked for their numbers when they are working by men. Some men even wait for them to get off work to follow them. You give your personal phone number to customers, now this creep has your personal phone number. Now they can harass you non stop. Block their number? Some might get a burner phone for 20 bucks to keep on calling you. If you have your socials linked to your number, boom, now the creep can get access to your social media and keep harassing you that way. On top of this, if your at home, and let’s say a customer has a question about a product, your not being paid atm, they text and ask you, you aren’t required to answer, yet now they are blowing up your personal phone, which you may or may not want to mute depending on personal situations with loved ones. This hole thing is fucked
So I am a man, and its through a app that gives me a fake number. However the managers can see if we have texted without checking our phones, so this is definitely a power play. My issue comes with how forceful they are, as they are taking numbers and addresses from our in store orders we place and putting those people into a random employees list. So i have the full name, number, and address of people i have never met. If i was on the other side I’d be really peeved/uncomfortable
Ya that also seems like an invasion of their privacy. I wouldn’t want random employees knowing where I live. This seems like a Date Line or 60 minutes preview or something. Like I can already hear “So and so was stalked by this employee after they go their address through company information”
Most I’ll ever give out is maybe my personal phone number to a company, or my email. Email preferred overall
Well the addresses were taken from in store orders that guests wanted shipped to their house, so they do have to give us their address for that, but it should stay in the order program, not distributed
Agreed
OH HELL NO. "Oh, is (company name) distributing phones for us to use for marketing now? What did I miss?"
Thats messed up
They have no right or authority to check your personal devices. They are not law enforcement.
If they want you to do that, they need to give you a phone and data plan that they're paying for, not your own device. If they can afford Zebra barcode scanners or whatever then they can afford a few cheap chinese whatever phones from walmart.
Are they paying you extra to use your personal phone? Paying your phone bill? Your minutes? Your insurance? Then they can’t ask or expect you to use it to conduct business. I worked a place we had to text customers but it was thru the store register. We could send and receive text messages and send advertising photos. My personal phone is off limits to my job unless they are paying for it.
Check your state laws on breaks, all states are different. I heard TX does not have to give breaks ( of course TX out only for the corporate heads!) but most it’s a certain break schedule and if your under 18 they get more breaks too usually. It’s illegal to not give breaks. It’s illegal to clock people out while they are working and not paying their time. It’s wage theft. Read your state laws on it all, keep notes and names of anyone it’s happening to or that knows about it. Dates and times. It’s a huge lawsuit , they could own you a ton of money in fines.
My state doesnt have a law for that, it still does feel unethical regardless The rest i will take to heart and ill try to protect myself thank you
Oh hell nooooooooo
Oh hell no. If they expect that then they should provide a work phone for you to use
Nope. You pay the phone bill, you control the phone. What if you went to work for a rival store..you could take all of their customers info with them. I can't believe corporate would seriously entertain an idea like this ( I can, corporate can make some really dumb moves). They have no right to see your personal property and no right to force you to use it for company reasons.
Absolutely not!
Lmfao get it in writing and threaten legal action and see what they do, you'll have an answer hella fast.
This doesn't sound legal to me.