Supermarket checkouts

[shouldbeelsewhere]

I was in the supermarket earlier today and the woman behind the till asked how I was. So I said a vague "yeah fine, you?" because you know she's not someone I know but she is packing my shopping and lifting the bag onto the back fo my wheelchair for me so I should be polite.
Personally I think unless you know the person in this situation it's about politeness and not the gory details. although I'm often tempted to go "yeah I feel like shit." and see if they were really listening

So I was a bit put out when she replied "not so good. I've had a tummy bug for a few days and should haven't been here but didn't think I could take time off work."

Am I being unreasonable to think that food handling rules about tummy bugs should really apply to checkouts in supermarkets? I know most stuff is wrapped but fruit/veg often isn't and some fresh baked bread isn't well wrapped.

YANBU as you say some products are not well wrapped.

Plus did she really need to share that information

YANBU. They're trained to make conversation but I expect the head of training compliance didn't exactly have that response in mind!

I used to work in a major supermarket and exceeding the absence percentage could lead to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal. I have had disciplinaries when I took time off with infectious illnesses. They don't apply food handling rules to checkouts and they essentially don't care why you were off, if you exceed the absence percentage you could be sacked. If someone can't afford to lose their job they might feel pressured to come into work when they are ill. The checkout assistant shouldn't have told you that but she was probably just as frustrated with the situation as you. I'm sure she'd rather have been at home.

This might be TMI but I once rang in sick because I had bad diarrhea and was told to just take something (i.e: immodium) to stop it and come in anyway, with no consideration that it might be contagious. I politely told them that was not what my Dr advised. IME managers are trained to pressure employees to come into work when they are ill, with no consideration for the wellbeing of staff or customers.

My friend works at a new Tesco superstore. She was vomiting and had diarrhoea. She tried calling in sick. She told them she was in pain, had d&v but They forced her to go in anyway by threatening her with disciplinary action. Her supervisor was telling her not to worry and that they'd get her through the day. She kept rushing off to the loo leaving customers at the till. On her break she fell asleep on the staff couch hugging a plastic box. She got in trouble for being back late to her till.

As she was leaving her supervisor said to her "aren't you glad you came in now? No absence for you, no shortages for me and now you're not in for 3 days you can go home and get better." Tesco if by some miracle you read this then you should be fucking ashamed of yourselves. She is a single mum and the stress you put her under was immense. You also made her go in when she twisted her knee because she works the till mainly. She was in absolute agony and told the customers that her watering eyes were caused by hay fever.
Your staff are human beings and for the most part aren't taking the piss. Also this new thing you do where you pry into your staffs private lives and ask about whether a 14 year old can look after an 8 year old so their mother is free to do shifts at the drop of a hat it's intrusive. Your staff make it clear if they can manage extra shifts. Analysing private lives is not on.
I'm glad you rejected my application (by an impersonal generic email ) for not passing your secret code like online test. I may be shit at ticking boxes in certain manner or not understanding wordplay effectively but I'm a highly experienced worker of retail. I'm good at what I do but because I stupidly inquired at customer services (and was given a heads up about your online test that only 3% of people "get") I'll never get the chance to prove it. But frankly after witnessing the treatment dished out to my friend I think I had a lucky escape. I'm not as easily spooked as her. You'd end up sacking me for shitting in the bin under the till. :)

Well. I never knew how much I hated Tesco til now. That felt gooood.

Yep YABU what the last 2 posters said with bells on.

Yourman your poor friend! I suppose you can't publicise that appalling treatment of your friend and she would probably get fired!

Monty I feel so sorry for her. I won't go into too much detail but she went from a well paid job to this. Her and several colleagues were forced out and she ended up on benefits. Her marriage ended, lost her house, car etc. she's an amazing woman and after all she's been through still has a wicked sense of humour and is so caring. Tesco don't care because they know the demand for jobs is high and if she doesn't like it she can walk.

I loathe Tesco even more now for your friend :(

I hate bad employers with a passion.

I was talking about Tesco too. They have a strict policy about not making them look bad on social media, it feels so good to be free. I just remembered that at my training we discussed reasons for absence and they said a flood in the area was not an acceptable reason not to come into work. A few years before they set up the store there had been a severe flood near the site of the store where someone died. The whole area the store was in was effectively cut off from the rest of the city for weeks. There was millions of pounds worth of damage. It was national news. They didn't have a clue. They also said a broken leg was not a reason for absence because you could still go on a till, no consideration of the employees pain level so YourMa's story saddens but does not surprise me.

OMG, I would love to independently find their sickness leave policy and publicise it. bastards

I don't think I'll darken their door again to be honest.

That is truly disgusting. All of it.

And then there's the flexi contracts where they can change employees shifts with 24 hours notice. They didn't care about our stated hours of availability because we signed up to a flexi contract, which we only did because the job centre would have sanctioned us for not taking the job. A friend was forced to work shifts that started at 6am even though she was a single mother with no childcare for that time, her sister had to stay over. And this is an employer that openly promotes themselves as being flexible around childcare requirements!

Also they would often call asking me to do extra hours at less than 24 hours notice and lay on the guilt trip. I asked them to stop this and stick to the 24 hours notice specified in my contract as I have Asperger's Syndrome and need a sense of routine and I was finding the same day requests very stressful but they wouldn't stop.

My DD worked part-time at ASDA 2 years ago whilst at college and they were terrible. You'd also be expected to work on days not on your shift, and browbeated if you wouldn't. Tuesday-Friday meant "plus being available every other day of the week". Any absence was frowned upon, DD was only sick on 1 occasion when she rang in they were hassling re. when she would be back, and next day phoned (it wasnt even her shift day) to check if she would be coming in that day! After that think she only did 1 more week. I worked in ASDA part-time many years ago when they 1st opened. We weren't treated badly at all. I heard it turned horrible when Walmart took over. OP the checkout girl must have been feeling terrible and just needed to voice it. Inappropriate, I agree. But how terrible to be feeling seriously rough and being unable to stay off work

I remember being a bit bleurgh when a checkout guy in Tescos kept sneezing over my shopping and his hands. I have a bit of sympathy now (although still gross).

Such a shame to hear so many stories of similar things when workng in supermarkets. This wasn't either of the supermarkets mentioned but I suspect they're all the same.

I know someone who works in a supermarket who didn't have chemotherapy after a cancer operation as they couldn't afford to take the time off.

Also supermarkets employ people on part time hours but have them do full time so they don't have to pay holiday/sickness pay. There are very few full time workers in supermarkets who are contracted. It is all overtime.

I work in a supermarket (not tesco!) And its the same in any other job they "need" you to come in regardless of your illness. I only work there now as needed part time hours. Other than that I have always worked in a care environment where are supposed to hold a strict hygiene code and unfortunately the " you can't come into work until 48 hours after you last vomited/had the runs" sentence always goes out the window as they are always so short staffed. I remember one colleague when I worked in a care home for the elderly had bad d&v and was literally puking between seeing to residents! that and the fact they don't pay sick pay!!

personally I always carry hand gel with me on the tills as the germs from money and customers is pretty skank enough on its own!

she probably shouldn't have shared that info with you though! although I have to say I am often met with complete life stories and a list of ailments when I simply ask the polite "hello, how are you today?" Haha