cell phones

#1059: Dear D

RECORD STORE TALES #1059: Dear D

 

Nine years ago, after the explosive finale of Record Store Tales where I revealed why I quit for the very first time, the fallout was pretty epic.  I had to end two friendships over it.  One of them sent me an email about it all, that I never read until today.  I was searching through my old email address, looking for unpublished Record Store Tales that I could use for something.  Boy did I find one.

The sender said that I wasn’t allowed to use his email for story content, so I’ll paraphrase.

This former Record Store employee seemed to be primarily upset about the fact that I wasn’t cool with the Record Store demanding that I keep my personal cell phone on 24/7.  I spoke to a lawyer; they can’t do that.  It’s funny how upset these guys were about that.  “Oh, your boss that you hated always kept her cell phone on 24/7.”  Yeah.  Because it was her work phone.  She didn’t pay for it.  She had to keep it on.  It was for work.  My phone was for getting lost on road trips into the GTA.  Came in handy a lot for that.

This sender also engaged in some one-upmanship.  “Oh if you think you had it bad, you should see what I see in my current field of work.”

Never was a competition, dude.  Although he seemed to like to make it one in a lot of his past comments.

“Oh wow, you had an alarm company call you at night?  I had one call me three times in one night.”

That kind of thing.  Competitive.

He loses all credibility by referring to Spoogecakes’ legendary hateful comment as as “constructive feedback”.  You be the judge.  Seriously?  Biased much?  No grip on reality?  If I had been the one to send that “feedback”, you’d be singing a different tune, Bub.

My nine-year belated response:

 

Hi D!  Long time no chat.  It appears that nine years ago, you sent me this email that I never read.  I stumbled upon it just now.

I can’t help but notice that both you and your buddy ignored the fact that my cell phone was my own personal phone, nothing to do with the Store, paid for by me, for my own personal use.  As you know, an employer can’t suddenly demand that you keep a personal cell phone on 24/7.  If I did not tell anyone that I had a cell phone, nobody could have called it, and nothing could have been done about it.  It would have been my personal secret.  The manager of our biggest store, Joe, did not have a cell phone at all, as you well know.  Why was that OK for him, but I had to leave my personal phone on 24/7?

You know all this because you’re an expert on such matters.  You didn’t have to consult a lawyer on such things, like I did.

It’s funny that both of you ignored that unethical behaviour from our old boss.  Wouldn’t have anything to do with her being your friend, would it?  She was at your wedding, as I recall.  Both you and your buddy’s weddings, in fact.  You wouldn’t have a bias here, would you?

Hope you’re well,

Mike

“Write a letter, you’ll feel better”

Sunday Chuckle: Uncle Meat Loses the Darndest Things

I have learned that Uncle Meat loses things.

Sunday morning after Sausagefest, we had to find his phone.  Its battery ran out, and he didn’t know where it was.  Couldn’t leave without it.  There were a few places to look.  One of which was “the place he took his last shit”.  I was not going to look there.  He could search the shit section.  We got all hands on deck and started sweeping.

I found the phone…in the car.  Crisis averted.

Then, as we were driving up the hill on our way out of the valley, he said “Stop the car.”

“I need to find my shorts.  I know I packed them.  Better we do this now than worry. Open the trunk.”

Meat went out back and started digging for his shorts.  Dig dig dig.

Then he said, “You are going to be so mad at me.”

He got back into the car and said “I’m wearing them.”

Nah, I don’t get mad.  I just turn it into a Sunday Chuckle!

 

#368: On Call in Canada – What are your rights?

 

RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale
#368: On Call in Canada – What are your rights?

I was wary to post more on this subject, but here goes!  The last time I brought this subject up, it resulted in behind-the-scenes fallout with two guys that used to work under me at the Record Store, who did not agree with my stance. They did get me thinking though, and since that time I have tried to find out more about worker’s rights in Ontario on this specific issue…and I finally got my answer!

My question was this:  Can an employer order you to use your own personal cell phone, for work (specifically retail) purposes, without compensation or prior agreement?

Some additional details to fill in the blanks:

1. I was a store manager.  Managers were required to make themselves available when needed.

2. I bought my cell phone myself in May of 2000.  It was purchased after getting lost on a weekend trip up to Huntsville in the middle of the night.  I decided, “Well, I never want to feel that isolated again,” so I went to the Bell store at the mall with my buddy T-Rev and selected a phone.  That phone lasted me until 2006, which wasn’t bad at all.

3. I did allow work to call my cell phone in the past.  I did not keep the number secret and I posted it so that I could be called in case of emergency.  This was my secondary contact number, because most of the time the phone was shut off.  My landline was my primary contact.  My cell wasn’t even all that helpful, much of time.  There was no cell phone reception up at the cottage, where I spent most of my summer weekends, but for years this was not a problem.

4. Not all store managers even had cell phones.  Joe aka “Big Nose” did not have a cell phone that I knew of.  If he did, he was smart enough not to tell anyone about it.  I was a friend of his and I didn’t have his cell number, if it existed.

So when my direct supervisor stormed in on the morning of December 19, 2005 after a weekend crisis while I was out of the house for an hour and unavailable on the phone, they demanded that I leave my personal phone on “from now on”.  I have always assumed that I must have had some rights on that issue.  Allowing work to call my cell is one thing, but being ordered to leave my phone on 24/7?

Since I had been looking for an “exit strategy” for a while, I used this cell phone disagreement as a justification in my mind to give them my notice.  I did not feel “entitled” to any special treatment, I simply wanted to be treated fairly.  But I had no fight left in me, and I wanted out more than I wanted to stay.  But if I had stayed…could they have made me keep my cell phone on 24/7?

A legal source informed me that no, an employer cannot order you to use a cell phone that they didn’t pay for.  End of story. Period.

“You did nothing wrong,” said the lawyer. “You’re weren’t working for the Fire Department.”  And I finally know that I was right.

I have no regrets today, and the store that I used to work for continues to thrive.  I am glad for that; the store was a huge chunk (28.5%) of my life on Earth.  The parting was done amicably, and I am proud of everything we achieved as a team.  I am left with these wonderful Record Store Tales to remember one of the most exciting and interesting times in my life!

SAM_3211