Having worked in retail for many years (and now making the move to the
museum world), I have to say that the only retail managers that I know that
work 80 hour weeks and thrive on it are the ones with no life (and the ones
that burn out very quickly and move on). I made it very clear to my
superiors that I would work a 45-50 hour week consistently, and would only
work more when it was absolutely required(CEO visiting, remodeling the
store, etc.) I also made sure that I knew exactly what was required in the
job and planned my weeks accordingly.

Most states have overtime laws that require some sort of compensation,
although not necessarily hour for hour comp time. Usually, complaints
regarding overtime abuse can be made anonymously. (There was a major lawsuit
a few years ago when a group of Macy's managers in CA sued for comp time and
won quite a lot of backpay for it.)

Personally, I don't think you're being a whiner. But I think that you need
to decide how badly you want to keep the job. Getting them to change their
policy could be ugly, and it might be easier to just tell them that while
you love working there, you need to leave because the job doesn't allow you
to have a life outside of it. They might change their policy in order to
keep you (I had this happen at one job), but you can't just give them an
ultimatum because they usually backfire.

Good luck,

Melinda

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lori Tomlinson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2002 1:02 PM
Subject: Re: comp time


> ann <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >I am the Ex. Director for a new, small history museum. I was hired to "do
> >whatever it takes to get the job done". "The Wal Mart manager works
> >consistent 80 hour work weeks and thrives on it". You get the picture?
>
> Apparently, they've not stopped to consider that at Wal Mart manager makes
more money, and has better benefits, than the average small history museum
director.
>
> Lori Tomlinson
> Executive Director
> Florida Adventure Museum
> Punta Gorda, Fla. USA
> [log in to unmask]
>
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