Furious at ds work dismissal

Even my 14 year old knows it’s absolutely not ok to turn up even a minute late for work, because we have told her, drilled her that she needs to get there at least 15 minutes early so she is ready to START work at the start time. Every single time.

To rock up late all week in your first week of a job is absolutely ridiculous. He deserves to be sacked and will hopefully learn a very sage lesson about paid work - no one likes a lazy shit.

So?

Late is late and clearly his employer isn’t ok with it, nor should yours be.

OK, read the OP's post, went off and did lots of work stuff (flexible working because I have worked in this role for 20 years and also because it is necessary and my employer (public sector)) benefits hugely. Having commented and then read OP's posts, not only does she do a huge disservice to her DC, but also other young people. Getting to a job on time is pretty basic. Most young people do not drive and get a bus or train. When starting out ffs, you just get the one that gets you there in time and, yes you will be early, but you just read or whatever. When I was in this position it was the 90s, no smart phone/kindle etc. Lots of time waiting at bus stops with no updates and a book. My DC has had a job since 16 and now at uni, a learning curve as have become a shift manager and dealing with the public and senior management in a national company. I am really proud of how they are managing and transferable skills. I would be absolutely mortified and question my skills as a parent, if they could not get themselves to work on time.

Well...He gave the OP the impression that he'd checked.

I had a situation where a member of my department came in late and I covered the few minutes for her - as I would have done for anyone.

The problem was that she then decided that it was okay for her to be late every day...and I had to disabuse her of that notion. She became furious and gave me a litany of reasons for her lateness.

The thing is that I was dealing with exactly the same issues in my life and - as I pointed out - we had to be on time, since we were working in a school and her being late meant that I had to cover her register class instead of dealing with my HoD duties.

When I worked in retail you had to clock in so the time you arrived was officially recorded. I’ve never had a single job where lateness would have been tolerated.

Sounds as if your son has been economical with his version of events.

I doubt very much that any employer would be happy for someone to be late every day. I also suspect they weren’t telling him to get an earlier bus as suggested but possibly as a response to your son asking what he should have done to avoid the situation.

I assume he was always leaving on time? Not a few minutes later to make up his list time? Perhaps that would have gone some way to mitigate the situation.

Hopefully he’ll find a new job asap and a lesson has been learned.

However this has been one of my favourite threads of the year.

Don’t retail environments have stricter time controls than office environments? I’d be surprised otherwise!

No indeed. Where I work, you get deducted pay for lateness.

You can be dismissed for anything at all if you’re in probation. So not really fair that in a situation like that you find yourself with no source of income.

What you can’t do is decide to leave your job in order to claim UC.

Yeh for staff who could be arsed to turn up on time...he's been there weeks, its a job in finance. You don't recruit someone on a whim

That's what I thought

Doesn't that encourage every slacker just to get the boot. Sit on thd dole till their sanctioned, get another job and get themselves sacked?

Judging by the OP's reaction, she doesn't understand the importance of punctuality within professional services.

"The left"? My politics are "left" and I recognise that employment needs a compatibility test before employment rights kick in, like any other relationship between adults.

OP, if you're still reading: someone told him this firm was a horrible employer. It's entirely possible that it's the kind of workplace that prioritises conformity (obedience) above all else. Suits some people; kills the souls of others. He may have ended up leaving before long. All the same, it makes no sense to poke the bear and see if it bites! For future, he needs to maintain basic standards before finding out if there is room to manoeuvre.

Yes, you are right. She doesn't understand.

I'm surprised that supermarkets don't make an issue of punctuality though.

Yeah, I think this is what happened…

I learned young from bitter experience that just because an employer doesn’t flag something as a problem, doesn’t mean it’s not a problem…

OP works in a supermarket. Might not understand what an office environment is like.

Not true. If you’ve been dismissed you can apply for UC.

Oh, really? Too bad.

I wonder whether there's been a misunderstanding? They possibly meant that it was okay to be slightly late occasionally - not all the time.

This is not a left vs right thing. I consider myself left. It annoys me when people paint ‘the left’ as lazy people with poor work ethic. Plenty of right wingers with entitled attitudes…

Not if he's been sacked

I think it has all been said many times. But the most basic rule of being an employee is that you turn up on time ready to work and public transport is not the employer's issue. I am 50 years old now, and when starting out did not drive and relied totally on public transport. I just had to get the earlier train/bus to get there on time becaue my parents moved us from a city to a provincial town as it suited then. DC is now 20 yrs old and has had a job since aged 16 and is reliant on work to make up the shortfall between their student loan and the money I can top up. They are a shift manager at a popular bakery shop and frequently have to start at 05:30. No excuses, if necessary they get a taxi.

I am not sure why you feel 'furious' OP. Your DC did not turn up on time for an entry level job.

And for this reason exactly.