This is why I don’t volunteer to stay late any more. I’ve learned through working retail for awhile that once you give them an inch they take a mile and it’s not worth my sanity.

Don’t let it get to you. You were the bigger person and offered to stay.

I try not to ask partners to stay longer unless absolutely necessary due to an emergency but even if I’m understaffed and it’s busy, I’ll rather deal with the pressure myself and then have a conversation about being understaffed with my manager. Customers can wait if I let them know we’re understaffed but I don’t think it’s fair to ask partners to stay longer because other people weren’t doing their job, it’s not their fault. I still wholeheartedly appreciate it when partners offer to stay and accept if they tell me they need the hours, but try to take most of the workload so they don’t feel overworked after having to stay longer.

I don't mean to invalidate your feelings at all, just would like to bring some perspective!


As a shift, something I need to pay attention to is lunches. If there were a couple of hours of things to do, that means your shift probably would've exceeded six hours, and the labor laws in my state dictate that you HAVE to give a lunch once over six hours. That's something I and a lot of my fellow management team try to avoid.


Additionally, things change! I noticed how soon you checked Facebook, so this may not be 100% applicable, but I've often sent multiple people home only to get screwed by a random rush because of an event nearby.


Finally, it could've been possible they needed help with something like closing tasks. There are some tasks that can't be done until after a certain time, and it would be kinda brutal to have you stay until 6pm to do a chore you can't even start at 5.


But I don't know your shift, or your store, so they could just be a petty person! Just sharing my experience. I've had baristas look at me like I have a third arm when I send them home early despite being slammed lol. There's a bigger picture to pay attention to, such as district labor cuts, constant monitoring, and sometimes just negative interactions between partners. I love that my baristas don't want to disappoint me but when they tell me how actively depressed or feeling sick they are, I'm gonna do my best to send em home, even if it means being short-staffed for a little. Corporate wants us to cut hours, at least in my district, so might as well try to benefit those partners.


Sorry for the total bunny trail, I just really care about my kiddos haha. Hope I was able to provide some insight for you!

Hey SSV here, yeah they lost their chance. I will normally double triple check if I have to ask someone to stay or come in early, and I always tell them not to feel bad for not helping out. Cuz at the end of the day the scheduling issues are on your store manager and the company as a whole. It's not your problem to solve a billion dollar company's issues.

(You may have heard/know this already OP, but just for people browsing around)