R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I know comparing my job as a paralegal in a law firm to my part time job working as a cashier in a grocery store is like comparing apples to oranges (and maybe I'm starting to sound like a broken record)...but I think one of the biggest problems that I have as a cashier is the total lack of respect. I'm not talking about a lack of respect from customers (although there is plenty of that as well) but the fact that the company treats their employees with such a total lack of respect. This really hit me the other day. I had a bad cold and a (self diagnosed) sinus infection. I could barely talk and was hacking up a lung but I went into work because I couldn't afford to lose the hours. My throat was dry and a little sore and I had been up all night coughing. And I wasn't gonna complain about it or call out of work but when I came down to work I was carrying a bottle of water with me. Barbara came up to me and said, "You can't bring that water bottle down here. It's not allowed." I know Barbara was just enforcing company rules. But I was sick and I was tired and I thought to myself what a ridiculous company policy. Can you reasonably expect someone to work a 6 or 7 hour shift without being able to discretely keep a bottle of water somewhere?  That just doesn't sound fair or reasonable to me.  I'm not saying the bottle should be out in the open or anything but people who work at the front end should be able to have a bottle of water under their register. I thought of working at the law firm--if you needed a break for a minute or wanted to get something to drink you just let someone know you were running over to the corner store to pick up something to drink and would be back in about 5 minutes. No problem. I think the sense that you are being treated with respect makes you more productive at work. And do the people at the corporate office of the grocery store have people telling them they can't have a drink of water at their desk? Ummm--I'm guessing no. Because the people at the corporate office expect to be treated with respect. And I think it's partially the employees fault too because they don't really demand respect. When the employees mindless follow ridiculous company policies without questioning them they are implicitly saying that these policies are ok. Now, I totally understand that many company policies are put in place for a reason but often company policies are created by executives who don't necessarily understand the day-to-day workings of the store so the policies are impractical or unfair. When a company policy doesn't make sense--like not being able to have a bottle of water kept under your register while you work--employees need to question it and they need to speak up to be treated with respect.