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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU Christmas and retail

298 replies

ItsaTenfromDen · 21/11/2016 13:35

I work in retail, yes this is my choice at the moment, would dearly love another job, but so far this is proving hard to find.

AIBU to be annoyed by someones desire to go shopping on Boxing Day? I will be up at 4.30 and opening at 6am. What can anyone possibly need at 6am on Boxing Day? We don't sell medicine or food!

I appreciate that Doctors and Nurses and other professions have to work, but I see that as a necessary park of their job. People need medical attention every day.

Even if I didn't work in retail I would never think of going shopping on Boxing Day, I've seen enough of the shops in the run up to Christmas.

OP posts:
Shopper5 · 21/11/2016 17:07

sounds like you just have a personal vendetta against all retail workers

No, I worked in retail myself for over 20 years

Stillunexpected · 21/11/2016 17:10

How does going shopping on Boxing Day help people who are lonely to feel better? Genuine question. If you have spent Christmas on your own, how is trawling around a shopping centre with other lonely/bored/bargain-hunting people listening to Christmas music and looking at all the decorations still in place make you feel better?

HelenaDove · 21/11/2016 17:16

Loneliness is not the responsibility of retail workers . And if it is then they should be paid more.

We have had posts on here saying that they chose the job in retail and they should suck it up.

Yet they didnt choose to be social workers and yet the same argument is being used saying they should fulfil that criteria too.

Some real mental gymnastics going on here.

Most retail workers will be far too busy to stop and chat and would risk getting themselves in trouble with management if they did

Sativa · 21/11/2016 17:26

So like many others have said, what about the compassion for the people who are forced to work in consumer hell ?

wheatchief · 21/11/2016 17:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Shopper5 · 21/11/2016 17:31

How does going shopping on Boxing Day help people who are lonely to feel better? Genuine question. If you have spent Christmas on your own, how is trawling around a shopping centre with other lonely/bored/bargain-hunting people listening to Christmas music and looking at all the decorations still in place make you feel better?

Does it matter how it helps them? If it lifts their isolation even temporarily then that can only be a positive. Maybe it is a distraction. Maybe it gets them out of the house and gives them a sense of purpose.

Shopper5 · 21/11/2016 17:32

Shopper, why do you think the needs of lonely people outweigh the needs of retail workers?

Shops open because Boxing Day is great for sales. They are not opening for the lonely people. If you work in retail, you have to suck it up that you have to work certain days

Shopper5 · 21/11/2016 17:35

Most retail workers will be far too busy to stop and chat and would risk getting themselves in trouble with management if they did

It is not about lonely people chatting with staff for hours. It is just human interaction that maybe somebody has not had for days

GrinchyMcGrincherson · 21/11/2016 17:36

If it bothers you that much, get another job. I don't think that is sad. You get Christmas day with them.

It's not as easy as get another job. Retail is the best chance of work for many people needing part time work, with few qualifications or with limited experience. Very few people work in retail by choice in my experience.

Also how is it not sad for a child that they don't see mum at all on Christmas Eve? That she can't tuck them in and do Christmas stories or help them hang stockings and leave out mince pies because she's in a shop until 9pm working for minimum wage?

What about the fact That she's too tired to enjoy Christmas because she's not had a single holiday day since November or possibly even October? That weekends are none existent as she just gets random days off that can mean her working 6 or 7 days straight? That any argument threatens her job because "someone else will do it" That she also has to go to bed early because she needs to leave the house again at 4am because some people need to buy clothing at 6am in the pissing morning?

Retail is horrendous. I think it needs a major forced overhaul in how they pay and treat staff.

goose1964 · 21/11/2016 17:36

When I worked in retail we closed about 1 pm Christmas Eve and returned the day after boxing day or th Monday if that day was a Sunday, funnily enough all the shops did the same and we managed just fine.

HelenaDove · 21/11/2016 17:39

Re being searched......In the retail job i was doing many years ago we used to get our handbags and pockets searched at the end of every day. But they wouldnt provide lockers and we had to leave our bags in the staffroom at the back of the building. One evening i entered said staffroom to find my bag lying on the floor in the middle of the room with its contents strewn around. Someone had obviously gone through it. I was fuming. They didnt give a shit about staff belongings while being happy to treat us as potential thieves. Nothing got pinched but obviously because they had been disturbed. I had to cancel my bank card two days before Christmas i case they had copied the number. Angry

Employers owe their staff a duty of care to keep their belongings safe.

It was fucking hypocritical to search us while not giving a shit about our stuff!!!

There is an item in the local paper about how a purse has been pinched from a shop stock room. Sounds like the employee has gone to the police. Too bloody right!

Then there was the time they insisted my till was short and wouldnt let me deal in cash only cards. Turned out the supervisor had counted it up wrong. I never even got an apology.

Shopper5 · 21/11/2016 17:40

*If it bothers you that much, get another job. I don't think that is sad. You get Christmas day with them.

It's not as easy as get another job. Retail is the best chance of work for many people needing part time work, with few qualifications or with limited experience. Very few people work in retail by choice in my experience.

Also how is it not sad for a child that they don't see mum at all on Christmas Eve? That she can't tuck them in and do Christmas stories or help them hang stockings and leave out mince pies because she's in a shop until 9pm working for minimum wage?*

What about the fact That she's too tired to enjoy Christmas because she's not had a single holiday day since November or possibly even October? That weekends are none existent as she just gets random days off that can mean her working 6 or 7 days straight? That any argument threatens her job because "someone else will do it" That she also has to go to bed early because she needs to leave the house again at 4am because some people need to buy clothing at 6am in the pissing morning?

It's not end the of the world. The children aren't going to be traumatised for life because mummy isn't there Boxing Day. At least she has a job and can provide for her kids.

No job is perfect. Everybody has to suck up parts of their job they don't like. It's just life

HelenaDove · 21/11/2016 17:40

YY Grinchy But ive also seen threads on here where childless/childfree people get the shit shifts every year.

Graphista · 21/11/2016 17:42

Helena I got accused of being a thief because my till was always spot on! Yep because I could actually do the job without making mistakes is apparently suspicious!

HelenaDove · 21/11/2016 17:46

Fucking ridiculous. If the would be thief had gone through my bag the day before he very likely would have pinched my mums Christmas present which i had got at lunchtime because it was the only time i had.

Surely employers have a duty of care to keep their employees belongings safe. After that they let me store my bag in the cash office for the rest of the time i worked there.

HelenaDove · 21/11/2016 17:47

Graphista that is so bloody stupid isnt it?

Graphista · 21/11/2016 17:52

It is stupid. I hated working retail hope never to have to do it again. Mum worked mostly retail too, one time dad went and pretty much almost lamped one boss of hers when she was still working at nearly midnight one time having started at 0530hrs! Salaried (supervisor) so no extra pay either.

Alabastard · 21/11/2016 17:53

Graphista same happened to me! A lack of till shortages is apparently suspicious.

Alabastard · 21/11/2016 17:53

Oh and I work in hospitality so I have no Christmas break.

Graphista · 21/11/2016 17:54

Ridiculous! Only job sector I've ever worked in where doing the job well attracts suspicion (I'm not just talking about the till situation).

Graphista · 21/11/2016 17:55

I've worked hospitality too, still shit hours and not great pay but conditions and customer behaviour tends to be a bit better.

HelenaDove · 21/11/2016 17:56

What did your mums boss have to say to your dad Graphista.

wheatchief · 21/11/2016 17:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DeleteOrDecay · 21/11/2016 18:03

I once got confronted one morning because my till was £50 short the night before, they gave the strong impression that they thought I had taken it. I didn't and had no idea how my till ended up so short. Nothing ever came of it in the end so I assume someone must have miscounted. It would have been nice to have been told/apologised too though so I didn't spend days filled with anxiety over what might happen. But then again the lowly checkout operator was probably below that kind of respect.

Lorelei76 · 21/11/2016 18:09

Imagine how employment rights would develop if we all just decided to suck it up....