For people outside the United States

[Mama Mia]

So I have a question for people who don't live in the U.S.

I just watched President Obamas State of the Union Speech.

One thing he hilighted was he want to make some paid sick days mandatory for full- time workers.

Currently about a third of U.S, full- time worker have 0 paid sick days.

This comes across, to me, as appalling. It's crazy that a third of people can't get the flu, or pneumonia, or tend a sick child without losing wages, or worse, losing their job.

What do you all think? Does it seem surprising, or shocking, or just normal?

[tenth muse]

So I have a question for people who don't live in the U.S.

I just watched President Obamas State of the Union Speech.

One thing he hilighted was he want to make some paid sick days mandatory for full- time workers.

Currently about a third of U.S, full- time worker have 0 paid sick days.

This comes across, to me, as appalling. It's crazy that a third of people can't get the flu, or pneumonia, or tend a sick child without losing wages, or worse, losing their job.

What do you all think? Does it seem surprising, or shocking, or just normal?

Aussie here. I think it's crazy that you guys have to put up with that.

[DaffyDill]

Here in Australia, only casual workers do not receive paid sick leave entitlements, however they are paid a higher hourly rate to compensate.

Full time employees receive 10 days paid sick leave per year, and part-time workers get the same, but pro-rata depending upon their hours.

Sick leave can also be used for the care of a close family member, such as a parent taking a day off to care for an ill child.

Sick leave also accumulates. So, if I worked full time for 12 months and had 4 days sick leave left, it would roll over into the following year giving me 14 days in total - 4 left from my first year plus 10 from my second year, and so on. However when you leave a particular job, you do not get your remaining sick leave paid out to you.

These entitlements are the minimum standard. Some employers may grant more, but all full time and part time workers receive the minimum. At one place I worked, you could use 5 of those 10 days without providing a doctors certificate as proof of illness, and 5 without. If you took more than 3 days consecutively, a certificate was also required. Doctors don't have to specify what illness you are suffering from - just that you attended their clinic on whatever date for treatment and are to be off work for whatever number of days.

Additionally, people tend to go to work ill if they are going to lose a days pay by staying home, and pass bugs like the flu, colds, etc., on to their colleagues, who then end up doing the same. It's not good productivity-wise, neither is it good for morale. Employers end up with a workplace with more sick staff than if one or two people had been able to stay home and receive treatment and rest.

I agree with your statement that it seems appalling for so many Americans to not have paid sick leave. From what I gather, it costs so much for healthcare over there as you don't have Medicare like we do, or the NHS like Britain. Having to lose a days pay because you are ill, as well as paying for a doctors visit is just dreadful. America to me, seems so backward in many ways in the way it's citizens are treated. It make me just SMH

Edit: spelling and clarification.

[Aurora rising]

Germany here!

You can stay home sick a long time (I think 6 weeks, but I´m not entirely sure about it) and still get your full salary. After 3 days (=on the 4th day) you have to see a doctor and get a from that says you are sick and suggests a date when you can go to work again (this goes to my boss resp. HR) and another form that states the same but with the illness (and that goes to my health insurance).

After 6 weeks my health insurance will pay a "sick leave money", it´s less than the your normal salary. And your doctor may talk about going to a special rehabiliation clinic (for example if you are in chronical pain you get massages first and they might send you to a clinic where you stay the whole time and learn a lot about drugs, food, treatments and exercises).

If you have kids and they are sick, you are allowed to stay home with them (I think, it´s 10 days per parents, if you are a single parent it´s 20 days), again with full salary.

I think it´s totally crazy that you guys have to put up with this ... stuff. :disgust:

[Blahblah]

Aussie here. I have been with my employer for 23 years. (I know. I am old.) Because I have rarely used my sick leave other than occasional days off for minor illnesses and a couple of weeks following surgery for appendicitis, the roll over accumulation means that I have over 6 months of accumulated sick leave hours. That is, I could be unable to work due to illness for six whole months and receive full pay for the entire time. I can also use this leave if an immediate family member is sick and I need to care for them.

I can't imagine being ill and on top of that having to worry about losing money because of it. Plus the cost of healthcare in the US is mind boggling.

[DGayle]

It's appalling that health care isn't seen as a right here, and taking paid time off is also a privilege. Want people to not be sick all the time? Know what would work better than flu shots? Making it so sick people can STAY HOME. There shouldn't have to be a choice between containing your illness at home and not being able to pay rent, or going out and infecting people because you can't lose your home.

Health care is all for profit, every basic is seen as a privilege, and so is for profit. Even our prisons are for profit. America is run by rich fat cats who'll do anything they can to make money off the workers, whether it's cut off food stamps to the working poor, fighting minimum wage, fighting against health care, jailing innocent people and billing us taxpayers (there've been cases where judges have been found guilty of accepting bribes for sending people to jail), and more. We aren't humans, in the US. We are pockets for the rich to steal from while telling us that the basics for living aren't rights. Even Nestle wants to privatize water, and it's a crime in most states already to collect rainwater since that's government property.

[Anny Nym]

What do you all think? Does it seem surprising, or shocking, or just normal?

That a US-president wants to install paid sick leave? Suprising and shocking, of course! :lol:

No, seriously now, why only for full-time workers? Doesn´t that mean that parents, who work 20-30 hours instead of the full 40 ones, are screwed again?

What is the current situation of a parent, who needs to tend to a sick child, in the USA?

In Austria, it´s similar to Germany.

If you are sick, you call your workplace, visit the doc and then mail (or fax...) them your doctor´s note and bring the original document at the end of your sick leave. That´s pretty much of it, the employer pays full salary up to 6 weeks.

After that, the "Krankenkasse"/universal health insurance pays a percentage calculated by assessment basis of your yearly brutto salary. There are controls scheduled, if you are sick for a very long time. Ther are done by public health officers, which visit you either at home or invite you to their office.

If a employer wants to fire a employee, who is on sick leave, the period of notice ( 2-6 weeks, depends on job classification) starts after the employee is off his/her sick leave and the employer has to pay the sick days anyway.

This law is in order to prevent "hire and fire" mentality.

If a child is sick (or another person of near relations in need of care) and you are the main caretaker, you usually have approx. a week of full salary to tend to him/her. Then some other rules and laws are in place, that differs from workplace, if you are a single parent, main care taker, age and relation of the person in care, their general family friendliness rating... but it´s for everyone, regardless, if part-time or full-time employed.

For example, my husband works part - time (he studies for his MSc) for a government agency and I´m a SAHM now, so by law I´m the main caretaker. But when Little DD had a awful ear infection and I was dealing with some pregnancy related issues, he could take his "Pflegefreistellung" too and was at home for 1 and a half week. Great for Little DD, because she is a total Daddy´s Girl and great for me too.

Anyway, I think I´m going to refer to my dear previous FJs: I think it's crazy that you guys have to put up with that... :evil-eye:

[jaelh]

See also, IMO, paid vacation.

Generally as incomprehensible as the gun thing.

[samurai_sarah]

Living in the UK.

I think it's bizarre that the US doesn't already have that. In the UK, you don't need a doctor's note for up to 7 consecutive days. And you get paid. After 7 days, you need a doctor's note.

[samurai_sarah]

It's appalling that health care isn't seen as a right here, and taking paid time off is also a privilege. Want people to not be sick all the time? Know what would work better than flu shots? Making it so sick people can STAY HOME. There shouldn't have to be a choice between containing your illness at home and not being able to pay rent, or going out and infecting people because you can't lose your home.

Health care is all for profit, every basic is seen as a privilege, and so is for profit. Even our prisons are for profit. America is run by rich fat cats who'll do anything they can to make money off the workers, whether it's cut off food stamps to the working poor, fighting minimum wage, fighting against health care, jailing innocent people and billing us taxpayers (there've been cases where judges have been found guilty of accepting bribes for sending people to jail), and more. We aren't humans, in the US. We are pockets for the rich to steal from while telling us that the basics for living aren't rights. Even Nestle wants to privatize water, and it's a crime in most states already to collect rainwater since that's government property.

:pink-shock: :pink-shock: :pink-shock:

Really? What? Huh? How does that make sense? No, seriously, what's the reasoning behind that?

(Also, my childish mind just took over. Next time it rains in Scotland- which should be in 15 minutes-, I'll be shaking my fist at the sky, shouting "Stop dousing me in US government property!". Thanks, I'll show myself out...)

[browncoatslytherin]

at my current employer, i get a grand total of two sick days a year. two days. i also work at a children's facility, so i'm exposed to quite a few bugs and illnesses no matter what i do. that certainly seems like a recipe for unpaid time off. :evil:

at least at my last employer in ohio, sick day hours accrued with each check, same with my vacation hours. with my current employer, my vacation hours accrue with each check, but my sick days are set at 16 hours/year.

btw, that is NOT what i was told when i was hired. i was told that they both accrue, but all of a sudden "oh, no, it's set at two days per year". balderdash and horse puckey is what i call it. i'm a sickly person no matter what i do, so i have to suffer a good deal here and there just to make sure i'm going to make ends meet and not stress over my next check.

edited for clarification.

[apple1]

at my current employer, i get a grand total of two sick days a year. two days. i also work at a children's facility, so i'm exposed to quite a few bugs and illnesses no matter what i do. that certainly seems like a recipe for unpaid time off. :evil:

at least at my last employer in ohio, sick day hours accrued with each check, same with my vacation hours. with my current employer, my vacation hours accrue with each check, but my sick days are set at 16 hours/year.

btw, that is NOT what i was told when i was hired. i was told that they both accrue, but all of a sudden "oh, no, it's set at two days per year". balderdash and horse puckey is what i call it. i'm a sickly person no matter what i do, so i have to suffer a good deal here and there just to make sure i'm going to make ends meet and not stress over my next check.

edited for clarification.

I also work in a pediatric hospital - and yes, it is impossible to work in a pediatric facility and stay well. Our director of infection control (an MD with a bunch of credentials after her name) says, somewhat tongue in cheek, that toddlers are little germ factories running all over the place spreading germs everywhere. All the handwashing in the world can't keep up (seriously).

I'm a little confused by what is actually meant by the president's wording. If one's place of employment took away all outright "sick" days, added 2 or 3 days per years to the number of vacation days and holidays and lumped it together as "PTO", and if calling off sick means you have to use PTO, if you have a major need to be off you have to use 2 WEEKS of PTO before going to "short term disability" at reduced rate (having surgery or similar) to disincentivize employees calling off, in the president's lingo, am I considered one who has paid sick days or not?

Just FTR - I realize their are many who don't even have this. But honestly, I don't consider myself to have paid "sick" days.

[sparkles]

I've been at my job for almost 14 years. For the first five of them, in addition to two weeks vacation (one of which was non-discretionary) after a year's employment, the five employees had a total of 3 personal days that had to cover personal time, sickness and bereavement. It wasn't much but it was something, as were our five paid holidays (nothing from January to the end of May). Then suddenly, my boss decided to cut the three personal days, after the subject came up in his business networking group. If we were ill, we either had to take a vacation day or a day without pay. Needless to say, this did not go over well at all. And also needless to say, that means that we often have to come to work when we shouldn't, since none of us can afford to lose pay or anything off our vacation time. My boss once tried to send me home but I refused when I asked if he was going to pay me for the day since it was HIS decision that I was too sick to work. He said no so I went online to find out what our state's regulations were regarding being sent home ill against your wishes. Surprise, surprise, you don't have to be paid.

It's absolutely astonishing to me that the US consistently ranks at the bottom when it comes to employee care and benefits. We really are disposable "resources."

[Firiel]

Just a question-- what constitutes "sick time"?

My company does accumulated PTO for all purposes. It accumulates faster than either vacation time or sick time did individually at my previous job (though a little slower than both together). Does that count as sick pay? I'm wondering (hoping, rather) that the 1/3 statistic includes people who just get generic PTO but who get enough of it to adequately cover illness.

I personally like generic PTO better, but that is coming from a position of privilege, seeing that I am a generally healthy person who doesn't deal with any sort of chronic health issues that would keep me from working.

[Maggie Mae]

:pink-shock: :pink-shock: :pink-shock:

Really? What? Huh? How does that make sense? No, seriously, what's the reasoning behind that?

(Also, my childish mind just took over. Next time it rains in Scotland- which should be in 15 minutes-, I'll be shaking my fist at the sky, shouting "Stop dousing me in US government property!". Thanks, I'll show myself out...)

I think it has to do with drainage, especially in drought states. Like just about everything, it comes down to property. If someone owns a plot of land with access to a river, what happens when someone further up the river decides during a drought they want to dam it up to conserve water? The person down river, who bought the property specifically so they could graze their livestock or water their fields doesn't have access to that anymore. That person loses livelihood and property values crash, while the person upriver raises their own property value. Rivers and streams and stuff in many locations belong to the government, through easements or various laws. Rainwater is essentially an extension of that. If someone is collecting all of the rain that falls on their property, it isn't going into the rivers and streams and lakes.

From what I understand the states that have them are making exemptions for things like "home use" and "rain water gardening" vs the large commercial stuff. So it would be okay to collect rainwater to use at home, but not at your car dealership to use to wash use

[Mama Mia]

Just a question-- what constitutes "sick time"?

My company does accumulated PTO for all purposes. It accumulates faster than either vacation time or sick time did individually at my previous job (though a little slower than both together). Does that count as sick pay? I'm wondering (hoping, rather) that the 1/3 statistic includes people who just get generic PTO but who get enough of it to adequately cover illness.

I personally like generic PTO better, but that is coming from a position of privilege, seeing that I am a generally healthy person who doesn't deal with any sort of chronic health issues that would keep me from working.

No , the one third statistic refers to people who have NO paid time off. No vacation, no sick, no anything. Nothing. Nada.

If a few days paid sick leave is seen as revolutionary -- think how far out into outer space the notion of flexible PTO would be! Or coverage for part-time workers, insane!

One of my kids worked at a job that offered no paid time off for any reason. In addition they didn't provide health insurance. AND if they were too sick to work and missed even one day, they had to get a Doctors note. So $100 for a trip to Urgent Care to say they were too ill to come to their job where they made $70 a day ( before taxes). Or they would lose their job. And, the worst part -- they worked serving food! Absolutely ridiculous.

[Mama Mia]

It's appalling that health care isn't seen as a right here, and taking paid time off is also a privilege. Want people to not be sick all the time? Know what would work better than flu shots? Making it so sick people can STAY HOME. There shouldn't have to be a choice between containing your illness at home and not being able to pay rent, or going out and infecting people because you can't lose your home.

Health care is all for profit, every basic is seen as a privilege, and so is for profit. Even our prisons are for profit. America is run by rich fat cats who'll do anything they can to make money off the workers, whether it's cut off food stamps to the working poor, fighting minimum wage, fighting against health care, jailing innocent people and billing us taxpayers (there've been cases where judges have been found guilty of accepting bribes for sending people to jail), and more. We aren't humans, in the US. We are pockets for the rich to steal from while telling us that the basics for living aren't rights. Even Nestle wants to privatize water, and it's a crime in most states already to collect rainwater since that's government property.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

:worship: :worship: :worship: :worship:

Exactly right on every point.

[Firiel]

No , the one third statistic refers to people who have NO paid time off. No vacation, no sick, no anything. Nothing. Nada.

If a few days paid sick leave is seen as revolutionary -- think how far out into outer space the notion of flexible PTO would be! Or coverage for part-time workers, insane!

One of my kids worked at a job that offered no paid time off for any reason. In addition they didn't provide health insurance. AND if they were too sick to work and missed even one day, they had to get a Doctors note. So $100 for a trip to Urgent Care to say they were too ill to come to their job where they made $70 a day ( before taxes). Or they would lose their job. And, the worst part -- they worked serving food! Absolutely ridiculous.

That is absolutely appalling. :pink-shock:

I don't think I had realized just how fortunate I've been throughout my working career until now. I never realized things were so bad here. :(

[Maggie Mae]

It's all rhetoric. Nothing is going to change.

Does anyone know if the 40% of workers with no sick leave includes part timers? Because pretty much all retail and food service workers are part time, which could account for it. Right or wrong, it's going to take a while before we require part time help paid sick time.

Walmart is the biggest employer in the US, with something like 1.5 million people employed. That's more people than even live in my state. The population of Dallas. Or two Detroits. And most of them are part time workers, because companies like that (evil) want everyone to be part-time, hourly,in "at-will" employment states, so that they have zero accountability to their workers. Along with other shady things they do. Yet people still shop at Walmart. Everyone complains about their practices. People complain about Walmart all the time. The rude as hell staff - the long lines - the cost to cash checks - the dirty stores - the terrible parking. Yet people still shop there. Even people who know all of the terrible things they do (and have the ability to shop elsewhere) are willing to sell out their neighbors businesses because they can save $5 on an entertainment center that will fall apart in a few months. Cheap shit is better than nothing, I guess. And all it does is line the pockets of one family who doesn't give a shit about anything other than making more money so they can buy legislators and towns and make more money so they can buy more ways to make more money. And after they shop at Walmart, people will go and spend money at any number of shitty, disgusting "restaurants" owned by our third biggest business "Yum," where again, most employees are part-time, with "flexible schedules" (so they have ZERO ability to plan either financially or timewise more than a few days in advance), without health care, making minimum wage. And again, it's not like people don't have the choice to go somewhere local, or cook their own food. Yet they patronize these businesses in droves, even when they know there are other options. Because the idea of a ridiculously sized portion of some sort of cheap meat microwaved and covered with a sugar fat sauce is "delicious" and "a good value" is more important than patronizing local businesses or even, again, cooking for themselves. Even when they know how much money is given to lobbyists and politicians so that "shareholders" can get laws passed so that they can get around environmental regulations and get cheaper sourced foods so they can make more profits and give it to the people at the top.

Nothing will change. The big businesses will make money, they will buy their politicians, laws will be passed to make more money, crisis will happen, people will argue about how to fix it, businesses will fail and others will get bigger, wars will happen, and the common people will go on trying to raise kids and do their own thing and they will give money to the big businesses and convince themselves that it's because "they have no choice" (and sometimes we don't have choices. but sometimes we think we need things that we don't.) Advertisers will continue to find ways to exploit people's desire to "keep up" and "be fashionable" and next election cycle we'll elect someone else who will make more promises and eight years later everything will be the same, only with new technology that some company will exploit to make money off of because we'll "have to have it"

[Anny Nym]

It's all rhetoric. Nothing is going to change.

[...]

Nothing will change. The big businesses will make money, they will buy their politicians, laws will be passed to make more money, crisis will happen, people will argue about how to fix it, businesses will fail and others will get bigger, wars will happen, and the common people will go on trying to raise kids and do their own thing and they will give money to the big businesses and convince themselves that it's because "they have no choice" (and sometimes we don't have choices. but sometimes we think we need things that we don't.) Advertisers will continue to find ways to exploit people's desire to "keep up" and "be fashionable" and next election cycle we'll elect someone else who will make more promises and eight years later everything will be the same, only with new technology that some company will exploit to make money off of because we'll "have to have it"

Hm, isn´t that more of a view on consumerism you gave us here? I don´t think this is a general statement on a society itself. Society is always dynamic.

Look over here: Australia, Germany, UK, Austria... our social state systems didn´t materialize out of thin air too.

In theory, I don´t see why this shouldn´t be doable in the USA likewise.

Of course, the emancipation of the worker could only be granted by the worker itself - also in the USA. But after this hurdle is taken, everything else is just a formality.

"'All wheels stand still ..." and so on, no?

[sparkles]

It's all rhetoric. Nothing is going to change.

Does anyone know if the 40% of workers with no sick leave includes part timers? Because pretty much all retail and food service workers are part time, which could account for it. Right or wrong, it's going to take a while before we require part time help paid sick time.

Walmart is the biggest employer in the US, with something like 1.5 million people employed. That's more people than even live in my state. The population of Dallas. Or two Detroits. And most of them are part time workers, because companies like that (evil) want everyone to be part-time, hourly,in "at-will" employment states, so that they have zero accountability to their workers. Along with other shady things they do. Yet people still shop at Walmart. Everyone complains about their practices. People complain about Walmart all the time. The rude as hell staff - the long lines - the cost to cash checks - the dirty stores - the terrible parking. Yet people still shop there. Even people who know all of the terrible things they do (and have the ability to shop elsewhere) are willing to sell out their neighbors businesses because they can save $5 on an entertainment center that will fall apart in a few months. Cheap shit is better than nothing, I guess. And all it does is line the pockets of one family who doesn't give a shit about anything other than making more money so they can buy legislators and towns and make more money so they can buy more ways to make more money. And after they shop at Walmart, people will go and spend money at any number of shitty, disgusting "restaurants" owned by our third biggest business "Yum," where again, most employees are part-time, with "flexible schedules" (so they have ZERO ability to plan either financially or timewise more than a few days in advance), without health care, making minimum wage. And again, it's not like people don't have the choice to go somewhere local, or cook their own food. Yet they patronize these businesses in droves, even when they know there are other options. Because the idea of a ridiculously sized portion of some sort of cheap meat microwaved and covered with a sugar fat sauce is "delicious" and "a good value" is more important than patronizing local businesses or even, again, cooking for themselves. Even when they know how much money is given to lobbyists and politicians so that "shareholders" can get laws passed so that they can get around environmental regulations and get cheaper sourced foods so they can make more profits and give it to the people at the top.

Nothing will change. The big businesses will make money, they will buy their politicians, laws will be passed to make more money, crisis will happen, people will argue about how to fix it, businesses will fail and others will get bigger, wars will happen, and the common people will go on trying to raise kids and do their own thing and they will give money to the big businesses and convince themselves that it's because "they have no choice" (and sometimes we don't have choices. but sometimes we think we need things that we don't.) Advertisers will continue to find ways to exploit people's desire to "keep up" and "be fashionable" and next election cycle we'll elect someone else who will make more promises and eight years later everything will be the same, only with new technology that some company will exploit to make money off of because we'll "have to have it"

Jeez Louise, I seriously hope you live an absolutely blameless life whereby you vet every single business you patronize and only eat nutritionally perfect meals from locally sourced ingredients that you cook from scratch every single day because fuck me if your post didn't come off as condescending and judgmental as possible.

Some people really don't have the time, the money and/or the availability of alternatives so they make do as best they can.

[Anny Nym]

Is @Maggie Mae´s post really judgemental? (YOU guys have to tell me, I´m a "outsider" on this topic as a foreigner *throwinguphands*)

I (imHo) didn´t get it as judgemental at all. Aren´t this things about part-time working and big corporations true ?

[sparkles]

Absolutely true about big corporations screwing over part-time workers. But raking people over the coals for where they shop, what and how they eat and so forth? Yeah, mega-judgey IMO.

[browncoatslytherin]

Walmart is the biggest employer in the US, with something like 1.5 million people employed. That's more people than even live in my state. The population of Dallas. Or two Detroits. And most of them are part time workers, because companies like that (evil) want everyone to be part-time, hourly,in "at-will" employment states, so that they have zero accountability to their workers. Along with other shady things they do. Yet people still shop at Walmart. Everyone complains about their practices. People complain about Walmart all the time. The rude as hell staff - the long lines - the cost to cash checks - the dirty stores - the terrible parking. Yet people still shop there. Even people who know all of the terrible things they do (and have the ability to shop elsewhere) are willing to sell out their neighbors businesses because they can save $5 on an entertainment center that will fall apart in a few months. Cheap shit is better than nothing, I guess. And all it does is line the pockets of one family who doesn't give a shit about anything other than making more money so they can buy legislators and towns and make more money so they can buy more ways to make more money. And after they shop at Walmart, people will go and spend money at any number of shitty, disgusting "restaurants" owned by our third biggest business "Yum," where again, most employees are part-time, with "flexible schedules" (so they have ZERO ability to plan either financially or timewise more than a few days in advance), without health care, making minimum wage. And again, it's not like people don't have the choice to go somewhere local, or cook their own food. Yet they patronize these businesses in droves, even when they know there are other options. Because the idea of a ridiculously sized portion of some sort of cheap meat microwaved and covered with a sugar fat sauce is "delicious" and "a good value" is more important than patronizing local businesses or even, again, cooking for themselves. Even when they know how much money is given to lobbyists and politicians so that "shareholders" can get laws passed so that they can get around environmental regulations and get cheaper sourced foods so they can make more profits and give it to the people at the top.

actually, as far as cashing checks go, wal-mart is one of the cheapest places around...if they'll take your checks. i used to go to them all the time to cash my printed payroll checks, but when i moved to minnesota, all of a sudden they wouldn't accept them. some algorithm determined that was "out of the norm" for my usual activity, so it blocked them from cashing it. there was nothing i could do about it, either, because it was an algorithm, not an actual person denying it, and the denial couldn't be undone. i explained i moved across the country and got a raise, and that it's nigh impossible to account for changes in life like that in a simple algorithm, but i was basically told "too bad", "we can't do anything" and "you can try again". i tried with the next check, it still got denied, and i stopped using that service. it's too bad, too, because they charge a flat fee - $3 for checks under $1,000, $6 for checks over that - whereas most check cashing places charge a percentage of the check amount, which is often more than that.

i still shopped there from time to time, and when my checks started getting direct deposited onto my pre-pay card (i don't have a bank account, and i don't want to get one, especially now after fiance's whole debacle with a local bank) i would still go to them to get cash to ride the bus (since i can't get $1 from atm machines and i need exact change for the bus). there was no problem with this for the longest time, until all of a sudden they couldn't do that. at all. it was "against their policy"...which they said they had all along but apparently was regularly violated by multiple employees - including managers - until all of a sudden it was enforced with no warning. no signs, nothing. i was told to go to a bank...except i can't, because banks won't give you change unless you're a customer there. so, i was basically told, "too bad". this is despite the fact that every time i went there to get cash, i always made sure i picked up some needed items, so i was spending money in the store, i wasn't just walking in. whatever. i don't have time for petty bullshit like that. after that, i stopped going there entirely. haven't stepped foot in one since. fuck them and their rude, condescending general manager.

so, here is one person who vowed to never shop there again and hasn't yet. i know we're probably few in number, but we exist.

[Anny Nym]

{L_MESSAGE_HIDDEN}:

@browncoatslytherin

I hope this is not a too much personal question, but I just have to ask:

Are you allowed to not have a bank account in the USA, esp. if you are employed?

How do you do things with the fiscal authorities then? Or pay for bills? Sorry, I don´t want to be nosey - I´m just really curious how that works, I don´t know how to use a check at all :embarrassed: .