To applaud Aldi and Lidl

[jobjobjob]

For closing stores early if England reach the World Cup on Sunday?

I think it's great to allow staff to be able to watch a great sorting event. They normally work very unsocial hours over back holidays etc.

None of us are going to really suffer if they close an hour early are we?

I hope that the other supermarkets follow suit.

I support shops closing early. I am not interested in football but I'll be watching the final. I think they have realised that sickness rates will be high and no one will cover.

Justanotherlurker thank you. That was interesting; I'm happy to be corrected.

@bookmum08

"If I was a staff member losing money and part of my holiday I would be very very pissed off."

Thanks for your post. Completely agree. Sadly this sort of thing happens a lot given that so many places now have so many contractor workers, some of whom are zero-hours contractors.

@SlartiAardvark

It depends on the nature of the employment though.

If a firm is all permanent staff then fine, it's just an extra day off. Footie fans can watch it and non-fans can go bake a cake or watch sumo wrestling or whatever.

If a firm has contractors, though, then the manager is not "giving" them time off. The manager is informing them that they will not be earning today.

The manager is legally entitled to do that but the contractor is entitled to be pissed off here:

a) Days off for the semi final are being organised with next to no notice, whereas Bank Holidays etc can be factored in in advance

b) because the statistics show that, despite the hype, the World Cup is actually only of interest to 50-60% of the population. Therefore at least 40% of contractors won't be football fans. So if you are a contractor who dislikes football, you now have enforced, unwanted holiday AND you're not getting paid. And because you cover your own holiday pay anyway, you now have less money to save for when you actually do want to take time off.

The point is that more and more firms now use contractors, precisely for situations like this. Firms can have a day of zero staff costs whenever they feel like it.

@*job" me too!

Wow, people are miserable. This place saps the joy out of life, sometimes.

I plan to go do my weekly shop when the football is on as the shops won’t be busy. I can’t understand they hype and plan to make the most of the foolishness of others.

@user1468942365

Not as miserable as zero-hours contractors who lose the money they were going to spend on the week's food shop because their manager shuts up shop randomly with a week's notice. Guess football is more important though

Then again they could just give up their Saturday instead if they really need the money. Might as well sap even more joy out of what is already a precarious existence

I suspect the real reason why they are closing early are

• they dint want mobs going in
• bar the mobs, very few people will go and do some shopping so it’s cheaper to close the store than be open for 3 people.
• it makes them look good to outsiders.

I highly doubt they thought about the workers. Otherwise, they wouod take their workers into consideration at other times too (think pay, unsociable house etc etc)

The staff in Aldi always seem quite cheerful so perhaps they are a good company to work for.

@BrexitWife

Agree.

"bar the mobs, very few people will go and do some shopping so it’s cheaper to close the store than be open for 3 people."

Yes, cheaper in terms of electricity costs etc, also cheaper for some shops in terms of staff costs. For places which rely on contract labour (some shops do this, not just offices), closing for the day means paying no wages that day. A nice £££ bonus for the bosses. Although the way some posters here are talking, you'd think those employers are all selfless angels who have kindly deigned to give everybody a day off out of goodness of heart

I'm not a football fan at all. However, can I just applaud you OP for not posting ridiculous statements like "there are only 20 people in the UK who aren't interested in the World Cup" or "I don't trust anyone who isn't excited by the World Cup."

See? Football fans and non-fans can be civil to each other.

I was in Aldi today - the till staff are all in football frenzy mode - the rest of the staff are maintaining high stocks of bbq food and buns, alcohol and headache pills (that's what my store colleague told me :-) ) They are all behind the match and hope the final is an England Victory!! And yes - they are all really chuffed to be finishing early on Sunday
It's coming home!!!

I'm not bothered if some shops are closing early, I'm not bothered about football and I HATE the World Cup.
I shall personally be out at a picnic with friends, not having to worry about boring sport on the TV. At least the roads will be quiet!
I'm curious as to why people think the missing hour should be paid, unless you believe they should also pay an extra hour to those who don't work Sundays? Surely that would have to be fairest.

What about all the other Aldi stores in the UK where they don't close at 4 pm Sunday. There are many fans elsewhere in the UK who would like to see the game.

I think it's great, but I hope it's not just stores in England. Plenty of England supporters in Scotland, NI and Wales!

Actually Iceland had already announced to their staff before this, that they were planning to shut their stores at 2pm if we reached the final, just that Aldi & Lidl announced their early closure before Iceland had chance to share it publicly.

But yeah they’re closing earlier than Aldi & Lidl so their staff get a better deal

Probably more to do with the fact they are German companies and brits trashed an ikea store last week in response to beating Sweden. Germany may be out but if we win it’s Germany fans will lord it over

Three words ‘Allez Les Blues!’

@BrexitWife WTF are you talking about? Won't the mobs be settling down to watch the football from 3pm onwards? Do you think the mob are going to raid Aldi's? A grip is needed!

It does seem a bit ott tbh.

Where was all this national pride when Andy Murray was on centre court at Wimbledon?

@LivesToTravel which store was that then?

THE STORE IS CLOSING BEFORE TGE GAME STARTS! SO HOW WOULD THIS STOP JAVE ANY BEARING ON WHST HAPPENS WHEN THE GANES ENDS?

You make no sense whatsoever!

Lots of typos in my post, but you get my drift .....utter bullshit!

Because tennis is boring

1863
You are being unreasonable OP in using the phrase IT'S COMING HOME as though the game of football originated in England.
I know that FIFA believes that it dates to 1863 but of the few dates I remember from primary school Scottish history was the act of Parliament by the Scottish government to ban football which became law in 1424 and wasn't repealed until 1906.

@jobjobjob it was Stratford ikea. Say bullshit if you want but I very much doubt a huge corporation gives a damn who wins. Closing the store before means no one can get in during or after the game. If they cared so much why did they not close early today? Or for the olympics? Or for any other sport such as rugby, cricket, tennis?