Workers say they skip shifts to avoid customers, not to avoid work
Survey reveals 48% of retail workers faced abuse, but 27% skipped shifts for safety.
The story
A survey finds 48% of retail workers experienced customer abuse in the past year, with 27% skipping shifts for safety. Verbal abuse was most common, followed by threats and discrimination.
Source: fortune.com
Our reading
The survey says 48% of retail workers were abused by customers in the past year, but it doesn’t say how many customers were abused by workers. That’s a gap in the data, but also a telling one. The report mentions that 61% of workers believe their employers care more about inventory than their safety. That’s not a surprise—inventory doesn’t yell at you or throw things. It just sits there, quietly judging. The workers’ top fix? Clear consequences for customers. Which is to say, they want the system to finally acknowledge that some people are not just customers, but liabilities. The company selling body cameras is the same one commissioning the survey. A win-win: they get data, and we get more cameras. That’s progress.
