I’ve worked some spectacularly shitty minimum wage jobs in my life, and never came close to the conditions of a Dollar Store. Being asked to come off the register and restock is normal, but the rest just sounds cruel and weird. 80 degrees indoors is also messed up, not just for staff, but for customers. Given how poor air circulation is in a lot of those places, it must get really stuffy and grotesque too. Then the pay is abysmal.

Almost any job would be better, including being a cashier at a competing store that at least pretends not to hate you. Working in hot weather or bad conditions is acceptable only if you’re being paid well enough to make it worthwhile. $8 an hour before taxes? You can make more doing almost anything else, including McDonalds or begging on a corner, and neither of those things sound like they’d be any more dignity-destroying than what’s been described here.