Supermarket job offer

[caroline161]

Dd 16 has been offered job in local supermarket 3 evenings a week 5-9 including both Friday and Saturday evenings. Is it a bit unfair of them to expect her to work every Friday and Saturday evening or am I just completely out of touch? She has phoned them to chat about it but they aren't backing down. Her friend has been offered Monday Thursday Sunday. Willing to be told by the mn jury that I am too precious

It sounds great. Finishing at 9 means she will be able to get to parties by 10pm which is lat-ish for 16 year old but soon she’ll be 17 and that seems reasonable. All she’ll really is pre-drinks and that’s no bad thing.

I'd snap their hands off to take that job if I were your daughter. Don't most parties etc start after10? When she has been there a few months she can ask about changing hours.

DS used to work Friday and Saturday evening and just went out afterwards at 9 o'clock, he also worked on Sunday

I'd say take it. She's still only 16. If she was 18+ then I can imagine she'd be out more Friday/Saturdays but she can still have a social life at weekends, just before 5PM. She's not going to be able to do much without money anyway so she might as well be working. It will be good on her CV too.

As someone else said, once she's been there a while she might be able to switch the odd shift or management may be more flexible once she's proved reliable. She might even be able to switch a shift with a friend who got the other days.

My DD works 5 til 10 on Fridays, and 4 til 9 on Sundays. Her school year are all turning 18 so lots of parties. If they're on a Friday, she just goes after work. No biggie, and we both love that she's earning her own money!

I don’t see the issue.

Why would it be unfair for her to work every Friday and Saturday? They’re just days like any other, no more special.

What's the problem with 5-9pm?

I did similar hours at 16 and just went out afterwards. Nowhere gets busy until late anyway!

I work in a supermarket and had to work both Saturday and Sunday and I told them I'd like at least one weekend day off so have Sundays off now and just work Saturday. Retail shifts are funny hours and I'm now looking to get out of retail as think I've done enough years and now want a office job.

It does seem unfair to only offer her the two main socialising evenings, but that's probably why - they're hard to fill so more likely to be available. She could take it and then try to swap one of the evenings?

Hmm, she's been offered a job for the hours suitable for the supermarket. I'm not sure why you think you or your daughter get to choose? If it's more important to her to have a Friday or Saturday off than to work and earn money then I guess she better refuse the job offer.

No it's not unfair. Those are the hours they have. She can take them or leave them! I would have some sympathy with her not wanting to take them at her age but the supermarket have done nothing wrong.

I’d be encouraging her to take it, and trying to occasionally swap shifts with her co-workers.

It’s not the be all and end all, and she may find that other shifts eventually come up

Sounds terrific.

If she isn't happy with working both Friday and Saturday for the foreseeable future I'd reconsider and apply elsewhere. She may be able to swap shifts after she's been there awhile - she also might not! It's possible she could swap shifts with colleagues occasionally if she had a party or whatever but again not guaranteed. My Ds is employed by a 'naice' supermarket and starts at 6am every Saturday - he's been there 6 months and no option to change shifts. He's going to have to quit soon unfortunately as they are ridiculously inflexible on them taking any holiday unless booked over a year in advance. Crazy way to run a business imo but hey ho!

They may have been given jobs in different teams within the supermarket (one on tills one in warehouse say) so they cant mix and match the shifts. She either takes it or leaves it and hopes for something else to come up.

Ds used to work 12-9 on Saturday and 9-1 on Sunday in supermarket in lower 6th ....didn't stop him going out on a Saturday night
However as he couldn't drive meant either me or dh would have to be on taxi duty as it was 5 miles away and Ds couldn't drive and no buses running at that time of night where we live!
Once she's worked there a few months she could try to renegotiate her hours , but don't count on it!

3 evenings per week and the weekend? Is she still at school or college? I would think that amount may interfere with her studies but it depends on your DD.

Otherwise, great for her to have some money coming in and a job!

My student DD works every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and has lectures Mon-Fri. Needs must and it will all be worth it in the end.

Sounds reasonable, especially in a super market. Those are the hours they are offering- you don’t get to pick and choose I’m afraid based on your social life. When I started working at Tesco’s at 16 I worked Friday- 5-9.30 and Saturday 3-10.30. It sucked a bit if I’m being honest at the time but I needed the job. If they really want the job they’ll just have to suck it up

Ex bil used to do every Friday and Saturday night in a supermarket and his parents decided he was too young to get the bus home at 10pm. So they had no social life at the weekend until he moved out.

Even when ex pil came to my parents anniversary party they had to leave at 9.30pm so they could go pick him up.

The buses ran till 11.30pm or a taxi was about £3

He was 17 when he started and over 20 when he moved out.

She should take it, then once settled perhaps her friend would want to swap a Fri/Sat and the store would agree.

She’ll be fine. There will be a fair few others around her age doing those shifts and she’ll have a right laugh. Plus 9pm is early enough to go out after she’s finished.

there's nothing "unfair" about it.

There are also quite a few office jobs who expect you to work evenings and weekends.

And if shes not happy at weekend work tell her never to go into events as most work is weekends.