WORKING

OF AND
RELATING TO
LABOR




11 to 7 at 7-11
Insights into Slurpees and Scratch Tickets

as told to Doug Collins
The Free Press

This is the story of Jerry (pseudonym), who calls his job a "no-brainer" but nonetheless finds matters to ponder on the graveyard shift.

When I was seventeen, my mom told me to go get a job and not come back home till I found one. That afternoon, I found a job in a mom-and-pop grocery store that was just setting up and they needed some help that afternoon. So that was my first job, in a convenience store. After that I worked as a bus boy, went on to cooking school, and worked as a cook. Recently I called it quits with the cooking, and thought I'd embark on a new career. The next job I got was at 7-11 - right back in a convenience store!

When 7-11 started, they were open from 7 am to 11pm. They had already established their name recognition when they decided to open 24 hours. I work the graveyard shift, which is 11pm to 7 am. I have a panic button that I can press if anyone seems to be getting violent, and there's a video camera which customers can see that records everything, which makes me feel more secure.
When I started I had to sign a loyalty oath saying that I wouldn't talk to the press under any circumstances. I also had to sign a secrecy paper saying that I would not reveal the recipe for the Slurpee. The chili sauce that you pump out onto your food is also under the secrecy act.
God knows why anyone likes those things. I think they suck. I find Slurpees have a real bitter chemical taste to them. You could use them as a torture device as far as I'm concerned. But people come in all the time and get their Slurpee. A wide range of people, not only teenagers but also policemen or guys with ties. Sometimes they're upset that you don't have the flavor-of-the-week that they're looking for.
The hard-core lottery people come in at 5 am. You can't sell the tickets between 11pm and 5 am. The lottery machine is hooked in to the statewide network, and it shuts down at 11pm, even if you're in the middle of a transaction. One guy got very irate that I couldn't access the machine after 11, and he thought it was my fault. So he threatened to call the manager and report me. To this day I haven't heard anything, and the manager hasn't said anything either. I guess you can sell the scratch tickets anytime, I've been selling them all night, and nobody's told me not to.
We have quite a crowd who come in for the tickets. They come in from the neighborhood and each buys virtually the same thing every time. One fellow, an old man, a nice guy, uses it as a break from taking care of his invalid wife. He isn't too concerned about whether he wins or loses, it just seems to be an activity for him. He buys just about every day, although he's really pleasant about it and understands that the other customers come first. There's another fellow who's rather difficult because he comes in at the busiest times and he'll expect you to wait on him while there's a thousand other things to do or customers to help. He always buys scratch tickets, maybe $40 worth total, stands there and scratches them, then cashes in the winners and buys some more scratch tickets and goes through those again and again until either the money or the tickets are exhausted. He sometimes spends up to two hours in the store, standing at the counter just scratching. The only thing he buys is the scratch tickets. Scratch tickets are a pain in the neck because you have to validate them, and generally people get irate that you're not trusting them. They don't appreciate that you'd like to take a look at the ticket and make sure they actually won.
It's fascinating how uptight people will get when they come in to get tickets. They'll become almost furious when they find out the lotto machine is down. Of course, the more the lottery is worth, the more uptight they get, and the more money they'll spend. When it's between one and five million it's generally pretty slow. When it's up to around ten million, we start to have lines. People generally get possessive over their position in line. Some people will buy the same number the same way every day, other people come in and buy a variety of numbers. The wealthier customers tend to analyze the tickets more and philosophize about the numbers. They get uptight about the way their ticket was punched in. One woman insisted that I void the number out of the machine and tear up her old losing tickets because those were her numbers and nobody else should get those numbers! You have to be obsequious and subservient to the upscale customers. Fortunately, most transactions only take 15 to 30 seconds!
I believe 7-11 gets about ten cents a ticket, or is it one cent? The profit margin is not high, but I'd guess we sell several thousand dollars worth a day. I'd estimate that about 50% of the money we take in is from the lottery. Pretty often people will come in and buy a ticket and then buy something else, just because they're in the shop, which is precisely why the store sells tickets. Everyone really seems to think that they're going to be the next multimillionaire. I've never seen anyone win big.







Working Around

DECATUR, ILLINOIS: AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland walked the picket line at Decatur, Illinois along with other top officials of the Federation in support of workers who have been "replaced" by scabs at Bridgestone/Firestone, Caterpillar, and food processing company A.E. Staley. Kirkland also announced the formation of a central strike fund to support unions involved in long-term labor disputes. The Federation contributed $20,000 as seed money for the new fund, reports the AFL-CIO News.
As reported in the New York Times, beleaguered strikers from Decatur had crashed the AFL-CIO's last annual meeting at the plush Bal Harbor resort in Florida, pleading for the formation of a central fund and calling loudly for more support from other unions and the Federation. Kirkland, under fire for lackluster leadership, faces an uphill battle to keep his place at the helm of the labor federation. The visit to Decatur and the announcement of the fund are no doubt part of an effort to shake off accusations of ineffectiveness. Jerry McEntee of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has been tipped as a strong contender for Kirkland's position.

WASHINGTON: On May 3, United Farm Workers (UFW) and Chateau Ste. Michelle agreed to a plan to hold union elections for Ste. Michelle agricultural workers by the end of June. The accord also ended a UFW sponsored boycott of Ste. Michelle wines originally called in 1987 to put consumer pressure on the winery to negotiate with the union. Another clause provides for binding arbitration should the two sides fail to sign a contract within 75 days after a successful vote.

This election has already taken place and the farmworkers voted to unionize. With this vote for UFW representation, the roughly 200 farm workers of Chateau Ste. Michelle have become Washington's first agricultural workers with a union contract.
Because farm workers are not covered by existing federal or state labor laws, many see the accord as a historic event which could provide a model for future union negotiations with other agricultural employers.
The vote was being overseen by an independent commission chaired by ex-Congressman Tom Foley.

SAN FRANCISCO: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) of San Francisco is responding to the increase of temporary and other contingency jobs by organizing the 225 member Temp Workers' Union, an important aspect of which will be an independent, worker-run temp agency. Whereas typical temp agencies pocket approximately 40 percent of the fee assessed to clients, the Temp Workers' Union will withhold only enough money to cover office expenses, the rest being passed on to the workers. Wages are anticipated to be at least 10 dollars per hour.

While one of the IWW's goals is to make businesses realize the benefits of hiring full-time permanent workers, there is also a recognition that the temp industry provides a useful niche for people who like the flexibility of temp work, as well as for those looking for a way to fill the gap between permanent jobs.
A similar effort last year was unsuccessful due to a high level of disorganization. Temps who reported to work during the first week were not paid for two and a half months due to a lack of funds. But this time the IWW hopes to learn from past mistakes and ensure success with careful planning before they begin seeking clients.

WASHINGTON: Personnel records from 1993 and 1994 reveal that high-level managers working for the state of Washington received about $6 million a year in raises via approval by the Washington Personnel Resources Board. Most state workers must have pay raises okayed by the state legislature, which has essentially frozen pay in recent years. Leaders of the Washington Federation of State Employees have criticized the inequity. (Washington State Employee)

THAILAND: Van Heusen shirts are made in factories in Thailand and the US. Thai workers receive 59 cents an hour to make Van Heusen shirts sold in the US. American workers make $6.57 per hour to make identical shirts sold for the same retail price. (WSLC Reports)

Have a Labor-related story to tell? Good news or bad.. send it to Doug Collins WAfreepress@gmail.com and he'll tell the world.

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Contents on this page were published in the June/July, 1995 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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