Complaint Review: Movie Gallery - Phenix City Alabama

I've been an employee with Movie Gallery ever since January 2006. I loved my job when I first got hired. I was getting hours, I didn't have any problems with any of my co-workers and it was a pretty easy job!

Well, by the time 2007 hit, none of the employees that was there when I got hired on was there anymore. Except for the SM and one other guy who only works 1 day a week, if that! Most of the employees that did work there when I got hired on quit because of our SM.

Everything was going good for me at Movie Gallery until like mid 2008. I got me a weekend part time job because I needed more money. My boss got mad I guess because she always had me working EVERY weekend since I was hired on. So, after I got my 2nd job, she started giving me like 2-3 days a week. Well, from January 2009 - June, I was getting only 1 day a week, sometimes none. But I quit my 2nd job in June, so I started getting a little bit more hours.

We started Powerplay at the beginning of the year. When we first started it, customers could pay for it with a credit card draft, or monthly. Which was easy to sell because they had the monthly option. Well, in like April, they changed it to either you had to pay for it with credit card draft or pay 3 months of it in cash. So, alot of our customers who had it, cancelled it when it got changed. Some customers stopped using Movie Gallery. Well, we were told at a meeting that we HAD to sell powerplay or we wouldn't be working the next week. So, it was really hard for us to sell it. Then, a few months ago, we were doing a special where if you had late fees and you sign up for powerplay on autopay, we would erase them. This had people buying it! But, that ended like a month after it started. Within the past month, we've had like 3 or 4 different DM's. They all want something different. So, we would be doing one thing for one DM, and then the next week there would be a new DM.

Our new DM came to our store yesterday. Everyone has to be at like 5%. For selling powerplay. I haven't sold ANY powerplay in a month, so I was at 0%. Well, I had to sign a paper yesterday, I guess my warning before termination. I have to be at like 5% by next week or I guess I get fired.

Most of the employees at my store buy it themselves. But when you're only getting 3.75 hrs a week, how can you afford to buy something just to keep your job?? I would be paying to work there. & not to mention I waste my gas going there for only 3 hrs a week. Also, I wasn't even told completely about how we can sell powerplay. Like, I had soo many opportunities where like a husband or wife have came in and wanted to purchase it, but they were the secondary person on the account, and in order to do a credit card draft you have to be the primary person. Well, last night when I had to sign my paper, my manager told me that we could still do the credit card draft with the secondary person, to just instead of clicking on that person's name, use the primary person and this just the credit card name and info. But, I was never told we could do that until last night.

I have only been getting 3.75 hrs a week. How am I suppose to sell powerplay when I never have any days?? And it's not that I don't try to sell it. I ask EVERYONE, but nobody wants it. I guess they want me to tell people that they can't come in UNLESS they purchase powerplay. I mean, since we are having to force people to buy it anyways. Out of 31 days last month, I only got to work 9. I actually had 11 days but 2 of my days got taken away because we were SUPPOSABLY over hours and the manager had to work more. But, the manager let her friend come work with her one night when she was the only one scheduled for that night. And this was the same week that my days got taken away and other employee's days got taken away.

My SM shows favoritism to certain employees. I'm a SCSA & i've been ther the longest, and I get like the least amount of hours, besides the guy who only gets a day (but he cant run a register. Our SM just cant fire him.) Our old DM (the one from 2006-mid2009) said that the hours look evenly distributed when she was confronted by an employee about it. But they're not. 

Also, I feel that we are only being pushed to sell powerplay because it will get our manager a bonus.

But, my whole point in this is this: Can Movie Gallery legally fire me for not being able to FORCE people to buy Powerplay, especially since when I got hired, Powerplay was not going on. Therefore, I didn't start working there knowing I HAD to sell it in order to keep my job.  

If anyone can help me out by giving me legal advise on this matter, please do!