To think my work is not very good?

[FlowerSour]

I work in retail three days a week whilst DD is at nursery. It's for extra money.!

The company I work for is a fairly large department store but slowly going out of fashion. Our store is always underperforming and there have been budget cuts. I've worked there for three months and so far, the things that have annoyed me are:

1. I work 10-2, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. My contract states these hours and days. Yet, multiple times I have been told- or ordered, even- to stay half an hour extra. I can't do that as I have to get DD from nursery and they charge me for a whole hour if I'm late. I can't afford to pay the late charge. It's also annoying for nursery and my DD is I'm up to an hour late with no notice! Each time I've said no and last week I had to basically walk in out with duty manager shouting at me for being selfish.

2. I keep getting put down for 9-15 hours overtime a week. Each week I say I can't do it, as I have no childcare and I don't want to work extra time. That's why I made sure to get a job with set hours and days. Yet multiple times I've been rung up on one of the 'overtime' days and asked where I am.

3. I was supposed to be on the women's department. I was interviewed for this position. However, two weeks ago, I got put on the men's department permanently. I don't know where anything is, I have no idea about sizes, door codes, procedures and keep making mistakes. I had a three hour induction on the women's department, so I don't know why I've been abandoned on the men's department.

I've never worked in retail. I have a Law degree and used to be a lawyer but I haven't worked for ten years. Twenty years since I was full time. I genuinely don't know if I need to toughen up and get on, or if I've been unlucky.

IABU to expect more from work or is this normal in retail?

I've had a look for part time law work but there isn't much. I was simply looking for a simple, part time job with set hours that allows me to go when I've finished at X time.

AIBU for wanting to leave? I'm fully open to hearing if I just need to be more tolerant.

M and s ?

Sounds par for the course for retail tbh

Get back to law! Seriously. I know it can be tough to get out there, maybe you could resign your current position and ask to shadow in a law firm? Tell them after a long time out you want to refresh your knowledge etc? And yes, you work are being horribly unreasonable!

Sounds shit! Can you try to go back to law? Admin in a lawyers office? I don't really know how it works, but my lawyer had dozens of junior assistants who do the bulk of her work! Could you do that?

If it's M&S then they are really shit to work for. After 10 years in retail they broke me after 3 months of working there and I left 2 months later.

Not all retail jobs are like that.

I worked in retail for many years and I believe there to be a big problem with regards to bad management cascading down. A bad manager breeds a bad manager breeds a bad manager. I was always managed by people that weren't particularly intelligent and didn't really know a great deal about employees rights.

Yanbu for wanting to leave. Start looking for something else. If you want to stay in customer service I suggest looking for a part time job with your local authority if there's anything going-they tend to toe the line legally and pay better than a lot of retail outlets. Retail sucks-i did twelve years and wouldn't go back.

Holy shit, use your law degree! Could you open your own practice from home and take on only as many clients as you want?

Yes they're being unreasonable, if they need people (not you specifically)to work extra hours then they should offer them more permanent hours.

Are there quite a lot of part time staff and are they in your position or have other reasons (e.g. Students or near retirement and don't want full time hours)

I remember starting a job at a hotel and specifically said I can't work weekends as at the time I was in a long distance relationship and that was the only time I could see them. They said this was fine as they had plenty of staff who could work the weekend and I was able to start at 6am to do the breakfast shift in the week that others couldn't do. They put me down to work on the following Saturday all day after working 6-3 Monday to Friday. I didn't go back!

Sounds standard for retail.

I run my own business but due to Brexshit putting a spanner in that (it's in academia) decided to get an additional job as well (also have degree etc). Am going back to university in September to retrain and have severely disabled child so flexibility is essential. I really didn't want to end up in the situation you describe (was my experience years ago in retail) & took a job in a home for people with learning disabilities. I love it. I pick and choose my hours (usually do one 12 hour shift a week which suits me). The job is enjoyable and I have come under no pressure to do work I cannot manage (they sometimes ring and ask if I can step in, I say no if I can't or say which hours I can do if I can). I'll carry on with the job during university and am confident I'll be able to say when I can work (I am bank but they do give people fixed contracts of one or two shifts a week).

It's typical for retail (unfortunately), but that doesn't mean it's right.

I used to work for ASDA and I was always asked to stay late, to start early or to come in on my days off. In my experience, they pick on the newbies because they're generally keen to pass their probation and don't have the guts to stand up and refuse. Once I'd been there a few years and grew some balls they stopped asking unless they were absolutely desperate.

You need to speak to your manager and tell them straight you cannot and will not do overtime. Then, ignore your phone. If they ring you on your day off, ignore it. Don't answer and enter into a discussion - just ignore them. They don't need to contact you on your days off but they'll keep doing so if they think they'll get an answer or there's a chance you might say yes. The department thing is not fair, but again, fairly typical. Have you asked for training on the men's department?

I would honestly look to work for a smaller retailer. I still work retail but in a small shop with 10 staff including two managers. It works a LOT better - we know schedules a month in advance, if you want overtime, it's there but they always ask you first. The atmosphere is a lot nicer and we're even given proper training!

Just on the idea of going back into the law, it sounds a great idea in theory but I can't honestly see it working for you if you want to do those kinds of hours & be able to come in on time & leave on time and not bring half a day's work home with you. I don't imagine it would work for any position higher than delivering the internal post tbh and I can't imagine that would be very enjoyable for you. I've worked in the law for pretty much my whole career. Local authorities are not what they once were, nor the NHS but they are still more likely to expect you to start & finish when you're supposed to. Ditto FE & HE. I would say put this one down to experience, don't be put off & look somewhere else. Xx

Sounds crap! I'm doing quite an easy admin role atm despite having grad level jobs previously cos it fits into my life well. The pay's pretty crap but I can leave on time, no overtime required and I barely see my boss (she's on a different corridor). Prob still better pay than retail though and obviously I'm sitting down at a desk so not too tiring. Could you at least see if there are similar roles about? Put the word round. I got this job & my previous role through word of mouth.