To think Tesco could and should help the local community more by employing more local staff

[boringnickname]

Yesterday my DP, DD and i ran out of petrol and had what was actually a very pleasant walk but long (three miles) through the woods to the nearest petrol garage (Tesco). My DP joked, "i hope its not shut" i said, dont be daft - of course it wont be shut, is tesco they wont want to miss out. So gets there, walks in and the woman says - sorry we have just closed (must have been DEAD on seven) i explained that we were stranded and she just shrugged and said "sorry nothing i can do - try paying at the pump" , for some reason our debit cards aren't accepted at the pumps, it seemed to be the same for many others as while i was there, ten cars must have pulled up and drove away. Fortunately we managed to scrounge some petrol from someone who was paying at the pump and gave her the cash.

So - getting to the point now, as the lady from the garage came out, i asked why they were shut and she replied that they are really erratic with their opening times because they have no evening staff - errr, then employ some? Apparently not - they will only transfer internal staff. Why? Because if they employed external staff they would have to increase their wages!!! WTF?????? If this is true, someone at Tesco needs his/her head seen to - i saw potentially £500 drive out of the forecourt when i was standing there so how can it not be cost effective to take on more staff? Local people who need the work?

This is a very confusing policy, maybe i should email them, yes, i think i just may do that!

From the title I thought this was going to be a xenophobic rant and was going to move on, but having read it I think you are absolutely NBU!

However YABVVVVVVVVU to think writing to Tesco will make a gnat's turn of difference. Good on ya though!

I meant of course gnat's turd

No wonder Tesco's crown has slipped. They've gone from being dominant to being in trouble very quickly. (Not in trouble as in about from collapse, but from being the Top Dog to looking vulnerable and screwing up that Big Price Drop fib over Christmas.)

I asked at my local Tesco if they had any vacancies last Christmas & they miserable cow in the desk said "no, as we use the students we take on during the summer"....equally as miserable as the desk lady, no CS skills, no smile, no thank you...... But I have a friend who is a manager in my nearest Extra store who will tell me when they're building a new store (cos the town one is totally shite) so at least I have someone on the inside who can help me.

Maybe I can have the miserable deks lady's job!

I've lived in this country for 5 years and Tesco is, imo, the worst of the major supermarkets here. It gives the look of being cheap but is actually quite pricey unless you're only purchasing items on special offer. I think they must've historically been better value, but as I'm not viewing them from that perspective, all I see is what they are now.

And closing a petrol station at 7pm on a Monday just sounds daft to me. YANBU.

Yes, i thouht that about the title too, i wonder if i can change it? Its just plain madness - apart from the fact that such a retail monster should be helping the communities that feed it, this is just economic pants - even i, with very limited non existant grasp of economics or business sense could see that empoying a few evening staff woud be sensibe. I mean, they pay people to work the store ALL NIGHT in case they lose a few pennies by not being able to sell to folk with the munchies at 3am, but wont employ anyone to man the garage

No you're right, but rumor is Tesco isn't doing all that well right now. So I guess they are cutting corners wherever they can.

You might have seen £500 of turnover drive out of the garage but the profit margin on a litre of fuel is what 0.5p? I don't think Tesco will give a rats ass. Sorry.

if that is true Sarah, then why do the garages bother at all?