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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think shops should be open longer Sundays

432 replies

Habba · 03/12/2018 07:07

We aren't a religious country, churches are empty and it would be great to do the weekly shop at 6-7pm on a Sunday when the children are in bed.

Dragging them around busy shops during the day would give me more family time.

Scotland manages just fine, people up there find it bizzare the government forces shops here to close.

OP posts:
GoldenEvilHoor · 03/12/2018 09:48

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

Jeanclaudejackety · 03/12/2018 09:48

@hoppingpavlova I totally agree with your post.
I think some people who have basically left school gone to uni and got a 9 to 5 Monday to Friday job can't get their head around the retail or hospitality type of working and so to them 'making' people work weekends or Sundays is cruel and taking their time off away from them. The reality is they might only work a Sunday and a Friday evening maybe, or a Sunday and two day shifts spread across the week, and have no childcare costs at all yet still be bringing some money in. They might have kids at their other parents at weekends. They might be at college and want a few hours work. They might like working Sunday because they get extra weekday time off. There's loads of reasons!

CaptainShark · 03/12/2018 09:48

I actually think they should shut all day Sunday, we used to live in a country that shut shops on Sunday, people went to church in the morning if they wanted to and then in the afternoon some cafes opened in town for a few hours but that was it. I hated the idea when we first moved there but actually it is so peaceful and everyone seems to slow down and relax a bit because there's nothing open so you kind of have to just have family time/go on walks etc. It was lovely

HoppingPavlova · 03/12/2018 09:51

cannot believe people are saying retail workers have a hellish job and deserve the break! Spend a day in the life of a HCP!

Exactly. Friday and Saturday nights in A&E were never my favs and to be honest there was many a situation where I would have happily immediately swapped with a checkout operator working on a SundayGrin. I’m sure people are arseholes in a lot of situations including to retail staff but A&E on a Fri/Sat night is a special kind of hell.

Jeanclaudejackety · 03/12/2018 09:51

@captainshark that would be lovely in summer but I can't see my family wanting to go on long walks all day at the moment in the North where we live. Also what about those who don't have families etc.

Original poster
Habba · 03/12/2018 09:52

I think all these people just wanting Sunday to be lovley family time should have all their devices and internet shut off on Sundays so they can go back to the dark ages and not have anything interrupting their lovley family time.

OP posts:
Girlicorne · 03/12/2018 09:52

YABU. Retail workers get such a raw deal as it is. My cousin and her husband work in retail. They get Christmas Day together with their young kids over the festive period. They are both back in Boxing Day. It's disgusting. Noone needs to shop on Boxing Day and noone needs to shop any later on a Sunday!!!

Jeanclaudejackety · 03/12/2018 09:53

Lol what even is family time. Is it when you are all in the same house? Same room? Doing the same activity? My dd would only really be happy if we all were held hostage watching paw patrol or kids opening toys on youtube.

Jeanclaudejackety · 03/12/2018 09:54

@girlicorne why is having to work boxing day disgusting? It's a pretty boring day?

Worriedmum2468 · 03/12/2018 09:57

Yes I would love this. My local tescos was extremely busy yesterday at 4pm.

MrMakersFartyParty · 03/12/2018 09:58

Working boxing day is disgusting? I have 3 small kids and I'm working Christmas day and boxing day and all of new years, such a raw deal the poor retail workers have...

DeadBod · 03/12/2018 09:59

Why is everyone feeling sorry for the retail workers? I work for the emergency services and work a variety of shifts covering 24/7. Many jobs also work unsociable hours such as restaurants and leisure.

noenergy · 03/12/2018 09:59

Those saying retail staff shouldn't be working on Sunday need to take a look at other industries; hotels, restaurants and takeaways, doctors, nurses and midwifes and many more. Are these people not as important as retail staff?

I think shops should be open on a Sunday for longer hours than the 4-5 hours they open, plenty of students would take the shifts.

TheMobileSiteMadeMeSignup · 03/12/2018 10:00

How many households now require 2 working adults in order to cover basic cost of living compared to 30 years ago? I'm sure it was easier to have everything in the house when you had one person, usually the woman, at home to run around to all the different shops all day to make sure there was plenty in the house.

I remember Sunday hours coming into effect in Scotland. Our shop had two sets of workers, those who did the weekdays and those who did weekends. When I moved to a different shop we had two sets of workers, weekdays and Thursday evening & weekends. Retail still has that set up, it's not the same workers all day every day.

I'm sure it would be lovely to go back to those idyllic rose-tinted days but in reality when wages don't keep up with inflation you need to be able to be able to shop when it is convenient, around childcare, around your own shift pattern.

Campaign for better wages, you don't need to close the shops and spread the cost. You need to pay decent wages and take a hit on the massive profits that the big retailers rake in every year. When a drop in profit is seen as a bad thing even though you still made millions there is something inherently wrong with the system.

ghostsandghoulies · 03/12/2018 10:01

Yanbu.
Ds1 works part-time in retail and would happily work later than his usual Sunday 2-6 shift.

TheLittlestLightOnTheTree · 03/12/2018 10:10

Our shop gets trashed at weekends..... shoppers are dirty, lazy and entitled

Dumping stuff everywhere, opening boxes, stealing parts, letting kids break things

We close at 4 but are in store til gone 6. It's the only part of the working week we get a good chance of recovery

We love our early close on Sundays for this reason!!!!

EvaReady · 03/12/2018 10:11

There must be staff who work on a Sunday and feel they get the short straw - paying for travelling to and from work and getting less money, many people need the money and will work around the inconvenience given the opportunity - but the law removes the choice.

AlanThePig · 03/12/2018 10:11

I agree OP. It is outdated.

There is a Co Op near me that I recall being huge as a kid. I thought I'd misremembered it but was chatting to the manager about it the other day. He told me I had remembered correctly and that the floor area was almost five times the size of the store. They have one of the largest warehouses in the area and all because the store needed to be smaller to account for Sunday trading rules.

The high street this store is on struggles. Shop itself is small and there is a large Tesco a mile up the road. Can't help but think if these laws didn't exist and the store was converted back to the large supermarket it used to be it could only help the area,

MrMakersFartyParty · 03/12/2018 10:12

@TheLittlestLightOnTheTree we keep saying it but that does not compare to A&E at the weekend, except we don't get a day to recover and finish early. HTH.

Gromance02 · 03/12/2018 10:12

YABU. I have never worked in retail and am not religious but I would rather all shops were shut all day on Sundays. We managed fine before. What's wrong with having a day where most people have the day off apart from where it is unavoidable to do so (like nurses, doctors etc). Restaurants don't need to be open either.

Kristingle · 03/12/2018 10:13

Goodness OP, you must feel very strongly about this to join MN just to start this thread.

Here’s my advice - if your children are asleep by 6pm on a Sunday they must be very young. So ask the person who looks after them on a Sunday night to do the same on a different night and shop then. On use the internet.

And let retail staff spend some time with their young children at weekends. They are people too.

AdobeWanKenobi · 03/12/2018 10:17

Goodness OP, you must feel very strongly about this to join MN just to start this thread

Or they just name changed

MrMakersFartyParty · 03/12/2018 10:18

These entitled attitudes expecting to spend weekends with family might explain why we often get demanding, abusive, spoilt brat types in the hospital expecting hotel service. I might check notes to see if they're retail workers next time I see this type of behaviour!

TheLittlestLightOnTheTree · 03/12/2018 10:19

@TheLittlestLightOnTheTree we keep saying it but that does not compare to A&E at the weekend, except we don't get a day to recover and finish early. HTH.

Yeah we all get that about a&e....it's been said already....thread wasn't about a&e tho so it's irrelevant

TeacupDrama · 03/12/2018 10:20

I am in Scotland and I would say at least 60% of the shops in local town don't open on Sundays even though they can as not enough footfall, we are just north of Glasgow not in the Highlands where people are more religious, a few more will open Sundays in December and may-August but come February apart from Supermarket I doubt any will be open Sundays