In addition to little-to-no freedom of creativity, outdated and irrelevant, time-wasting editing software and editing requirements that no one purchased anyway, and chaotic and impossible-to-manage scheduling allowances, corporate would not fix broken/breaking equipment that was required to do our jobs, More importantly, the entire time I worked for Shutterfly corporate was knowingly breaking federal labor laws, requiring us to work 8-12 hour long shifts with no time to clock out for a break, no time to eat, no time to even use the restroom, which resulted in employees developing multiple UTIs. Customers are able to schedule appointments every 15 minutes from open to close, however an appointment from start to finish takes 45 at a minimum. We only had one photo room, so we were never able to maintain scheduled appointment times due to these practices, regardless of how many times we informed corporate that we were not able to keep up with these appointments due to being so severely understaffed in a decrepit studio with barely-useable equipment that was never appropriately fixed or replaced. In November, we were told that "everyone is on call until the new year, no one is getting a day off, if you're scheduled for a day off it does NOT mean that you're going to get it," however we never received on-call pay, for which they did in fact meet the legal requirements to do so. Human Resources was made aware of this, however they only "compensated" me and none of my coworkers. I was under the impression that everyone was extended the same courtesies. They did not care about obeying the laws or providing a safe work environment, they only wanted to silence me to keep other employees (who then, according to corporate, had to "pick up my slack") from demanding the same rights. My former manager was aware that this was how HR was handling the situation, however she was not allowed to inform me of this while she was still under the company. Employees were blamed for the failure of the company after 38 locations were shut down across the country, a new-hire manager was brought in who changed the schedule without clearing it with us, told us we needed to double down and work harder, and that if we made $3,000 worth of sales, he would reward us with a $10 Starbucks gift card. My former manager was there for nearly 16 years - another coworker was there for 18 - and both of them walked out under the changes that were happening in the corporate office. We were paid $14.50 an hour while we did all of the appointment scheduling, scene setup, photographing, edits, sales, paperwork and data management all while not being allowed to take breaks. Do NOT work for this company, they will take advantage of you, abuse you, and then blame you when the company continues to fail under incompetent management.
