General Chat

Sheesh,I remember it well! Staffing is a huge problem,Budgets,Keeping everyone happy!!I do Know exactly what you mean.

I work every sunday 2pm till 10pm and ive had one bank holiday off in 3 yrs. The only time i get a full weekend off is if i take holidays. I honestly think that for the number of people who would shop through the night its not worth all the upheaval and headaches 24/7 opening would cause.

Sheesh,I was the same,and most evenings I wouldnt get home until 9 pm, even on a saturday,in the end my husband told me to leave,it was crazy,my life revolved around the store,In work at 7.30am home at 9pm, I would then fall asleep on the sofa! Thats not a way to live!

You're right about that Roxanne! im becoming very disillusioned about the retail industry, its a very greedy industry with little thought for its staff. I work for the supposedly caring sharing ethical company - thats a laugh.

They are greedy! What people dont know is that those extra hours a not given in overtime,I would get told to take them as owed hours,!what a joke!lol When In that industry do management get time off!! Im still owed time from 10years ago, they really need a better Union,I dont think they do enough for workers rights!

No, thank you, Lisa.

Fred,Have you worked in retail?? and no they can not 'By Law' force you to work,but they have other ways of making it uncomfortable for people, and they do !Believe me! the law does not cover their tactics! its far more complex than you think.

going back to Sunday trading for a moment... again, for a lot of people its very useful. I work Mon-Fri, I'm usually tied up with other things on a Saturday, Sunday is pretty much the only chance I get to go to the shops. I'm all for longer hours personally... and while we're talking about it... BANKS !! They open in the morning when I'm alreayd at work, and they close before I leave... whats the use in that ???

Paul,If sunday trading has to be then In my opinion there should be staff purely for that purpose,which they dont have at the moment(or dident when I worked in it) and I mean all staff including management, but they wont do that its too expensive. So if they cant do it,it should be stopped,people survived years without it,Im sure they can again:-)

We managed quite well without a lot of things in the past, mobiles, computers, the wheel... lol well maybe we should shut all the pubs on Sunday too then, bar staff have to work. and petrol stations... And all the IT work that happens at weekend and over night... lets ditch that too, we'll just have to take down the servers in the week...

Paul,I would go for that!! 6 days toil,1 days rest for all sounds good to me. These days I dont work any days,apart from mt hobbies and housework,Im lucky:-))

I personally think it is a good idea and I hope that it would include Sundays. Many people don't have the opportunity to go shopping at 'normal' times - we nearly always do our food shopping late at night, because we simply don't get the time to do it in the day. It's all very well saying that Sunday should be a day of rest, but for some people it's the only day they get to do anything - my Husband works every week day from 7am to 5.30pm and also works every Saturday until Lunch time - sometimes all day. The only day we get to go off shopping together (or do anything for that matter) is a Sunday. Banks are my biggest irritation - they are never open when my Husband isn't at work. Thank goodness for online banking. As mentioned already - not everybody works standard hours these days, so 24 hour shopping would be very convenient. Kaye x

No you're right it's not an ideal world - in an ideal world my Husband wouldn't have to work 55 hours a week, stand on his feet all day at a machine, have only a 10 minute tea break in the morning and half an hour for lunch. From his point of view 24 hour shopping would make life a lot easier. Kaye x

The 55 hours includes overtime, but it's like everywhere these days, it's pretty much expected - he's got a holiday this week, so last week they produced a 'rush job' for him to get done - he ended up working until 7.30pm Thursday night in an attempt to get it finished! The problem is the Unions don't have any power anymore, so most of these places get away with overworking people and not giving them enough breaks - on a Friday they don't have a lunch break and finish at 3pm, but it's still a long day on your feet when you start at 7am! If you rock the boat too much they will make life difficult and you'll be forced out one way or another - everyone is replacable. My Husband actually has it better than a lot of others who work with him, because he's so skilled and they would be lost without him. I think there are many people in the same boat - that's why I support the principle of 24 hour shopping. Kaye x

I do not work in retail any more but work in bingo open 10.00 to 10.15 seven days a week only close christmas day. due to new E.U rule stafff can work 48 hours a week . we have been trying to recruite(sorry spelling) new staff but the ones that apply all what to work 9 to 5 and no weekends, also we do not get paid extre for unsocial hours any more Valxxx

Kaye,Your right,unions dont seem to do much these days, its a sad state of affairs really that this is whats happening, instead of things going forward were going back, makes no sense,does it!

That sounds like my ex Boss's attitude Christine. I started working for a firm of accountants as an Accounts Receptionist 15 hours a week. To be begin with the job was boring and there wasn't enough work for me, so they decided to teach me Payroll and then some Book Keeping and Accounting too. By the time I left I was responsible for the Payroll of about 10 different companies, was doing some Accounting and my normal job too. I was paid a wage that would match a normal Accounts Receptionist and got no help and no extra money for all my efforts. I had no formal training for any of it, but all the responsibility was on me - if I was off (even on holiday) it was up to me to make sure it didn't interfere with anything and then I would have a pile of rubbish to sort out when I got back. My hours were upped to 19.5 - but this wasn't enough and I had to take work home with me sometimes - for no extra pay. Eventually I decided that enough was enough - they new I wasn't happy but weren't prepared to do anything about it, they refused to let me have the whole week off at Christmas so I handed in my notice and left them in the lurch. I am fortunate enough to work from home now - I have an ebay shop that I'm trying to build up - but Hubby, as the main earner by far - can't afford to put his job on the line. As you say it is an Employers Market and they seem to find ways around everything - even Health and Safety. Kaye x

I managed a bar and bars have to be open all day until late. I would say good luck to anyone wanting to staff there shop for 24 hours and all over the weekends. Just getting staff to cover normal bar hours is horrendous. They don't like working weekends and only want to do certain shifts. So when you can't cover shifts someone always ends up with a far too heavy work load. I don't think it is neccesary to have shops open 24 hours a day. What exactly is stopping people shopping in there time off?