I was in the supermarket today, in the "Express Line", trying to check out, trying to quickly pay for my 5 items and go home. The line was moving slowly, barely crawling. The checkout clerk was the reason. He was sloooow. How slow? People in line in front of me were taking tabloid magazines off the rack and reading them.
Why do employers in the private sector allow hourly workers to work too slow when interfacing with customers? It annoys the customers, lowers productivity and is bad for business. I realize that the more slowly hourly workers do their job, the longer it takes and the more they can earn. Until they get fired for being too slow.
My solution? If you are paying slow workers by the hour, why not also dock them for being too slow! "You earn $12/hr but that task took you twice as long as it should so you're getting paid $6 for that hour". That'll make them work faster.
Yeah, we customers are standing in line ... waiting. The more slowly retail workers work, the less they should earn. That'll solve the problem ... quick. That, and replacing slow hourly workers with robots.
