I would bet that he's not happy with your performance or he's not happy with your availability or he's not happy with your hourly wage.

If he's hiring new people at significantly lower rates than he pays you, then they're getting the hours because he can have more workers for the same amount of money. That really upsets me, because it works to penalize good workers who earn wages, but there it is. But if you think that's the reason, it might make sense to go ask him whether you can take a pay cut and get back on the schedule.

If that's not the reason, revisit your availability. Does he know you'll show up for any shift he gives you, or at least just about any shift? If not, why not? What things can you honestly not actually miss (college classes, visitation with your kids, etc.) and what things can you tell him will no longer be obstacles to your going to work?

If that's not the reason either, then it doesn't matter what you were told: you really need to go speak to him about your performance. Tell him that you've only worked 8 times in the first six months of this year and ask him what you need to show him in order to get more hours.

Then do whatever it is. You may only get one chance to show him (and you may not get any chances to show him, but at least it will be valuable information for your next job), so it is imperative that you use the information to the best of your ability.

He may think you ought to (or *do*) know what you're doing wrong, or he may think he's already tried to give you feedback and you haven't taken it, or he just may not like telling people that they aren't doing well. But if he is not telling you what you need to improve or if you are not understanding what he's telling you, then you're probably not going to start measuring up, and that means you're not going to start getting more shifts. So you need to ask. You can also talk to people who are more successful at similar jobs (your coworkers who are getting more hours or people in other retail jobs) about how your shifts go -- in detail -- and see what feedback they can give you, but you really need to try talking with the boss, even if only because if you're getting 16 shifts a year he probably won't notice any improvements.

It's not a matter of people helping you out; it's a matter of you making it clear to your boss that giving you shifts will help *him* out.

When I worked retail -- and especially when I worked retail management and used to write work schedules -- there were two kinds of employees. There were employees who saw shifts as something they earned and who put a lot of effort into seeing what sorts of skills managers were looking for and mastering those skills, and who consequently got a lot of shifts, and there were employees who saw shifts as something that ought to be distributed evenly among workers. That latter group really failed to grasp the resentment their coworkers had at being asked to do two people's work while they just stood around doing very little. They failed to grasp the frustration their supervisors had at being expected to get things done when there were people scheduled who either could not or would not do those things. And they failed to grasp why they got as few shifts as possible. (The people who got the "business is slow" speech where I worked were not getting shifts because the labor budget didn't allow any more than the bare minimum number of workers on the sales floor, and that meant that there was nobody to give them the kind of intense supervision they seemed to need.)

Now, you may be in that former group; it happens all the time that people misjudge other people, and your manager may be misjudging you (which is a problem you will need to find a way to correct). But I don't know you at all, and to me this letter comes off as if you're in the latter group. Your manager doesn't care very much that you need shifts. He cares that he needs workers. And therefore you should be spending less time telling him that you need shifts and more time telling (and, more importantly, showing, every time you get the opportunity) him that you are the kind of worker he needs.

Meanwhile, keep dressing professionally and going 'round to every store you can get to with whatever transportation you have and asking whether you can fill out applications. If nothing else, maybe in September, when some of their employees leave for college and they're starting to think about whether they're hiring extra workers for Christmas, your persistence will pay off -- and you will get a fresh start and a chance to impress a manager right off the bat. Your manager is doing you a favor here, because it's easier to get a job when you have a job, and you can honestly claim to have a job, even if it is not a job that meets your needs.

Good luck.