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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to wish I could shop my employer... but I really need this job :(

56 replies

SantanaBinLorry · 18/09/2020 17:31

Sorry in advance if this is long and ranty.
I'll include a bit of background as to why I'm stuck in this stupid fucking job. We moved back to the U.K from Spain in may last year. My main concern was to provide some stability for a few years for the kids to settle back here and there new schools etc. I usually do freelance work that take me away from home a fair bit.
I took a job that was ridiculously close to our new house. Less pay than I'm used to and I'm overskilled for. But, it was a 40 hour contracted role, zero commute and uniform provided, 20% staff dicount and my latest finish was 3pm. We weighed it up it was worth taking the pay drop/role for the super convenience of it all. It SHOULD have been a piece of piss job and I was prepared to just crack on and keep my head down for 12-18 months then start looking again for freelance work/set up business.

Well, I have never experience quite like it! I supervise the hot food department of a well known convenience store. Within two weeks of me starting the manager left and the other supervisor was on maternity - she never returned. I think it was expected I would take up the lack of managers slack, I was'nt gonna do that and avoided anything 'managery' supervised my shifts and went home ;) The kitchen is consistently run about 30-40 person hours short each week. Most staff have not had proper food hygiene training, just a company handbook. Some of the practices are shocking - a few examples are defrosting and re-freezing food, raw and non raw food mixed in work areas, lables changed to show longer dates on products, holding temperatures of food being guessed and filled in the records book, some rally dodgy cleaning procedures... this list goes on. I managed to sort some of these things out, basically telling the main store manager (who gives zero shits about the kitchen side of the business except sales - ) that I would'nt cover up these thing and at that point if they were inspected they would not be 5 hygiene rating they were granted last visit, but probably about a 2 or 3. He shit himself about that and put a stop to some things, but not all and defo not enough.
Roll on to March and lockdown... I'm classed as a key worker but we're not offered a place at school for the kids and I take unpaid leave to stay home. When the furlough scheme changed (May?) to include people with caring resposabilities I contacted my manager and HR who both told me the company were not furloughing people for childcare reasons only if the have to shield or isolate! So I've had 6 months unpaid leave.
If I could have quit I would have done... any other time I'd have picked up some kind of work somewhere but my actually industry has pretty much folded :(

I started back at work on Sunday...
Jesus christ, Its gotten worse. Theres the same same issue with hours to add to that, all the part time staff who have worked extra over the last 6 months have all had thier hours cut to accomodate my 40 hours. The only Covid safe messures they have put in place is staff are to wear a mask or visor in communal areas. There is no extra cleaning being done on high touch area - tbh there had never been any cleaning of the staff communal areas anyway. The 'canteen' is 8ft by 8ft its impossible for more than two people to be in there at any one time. Its impossible to social distance anywhere out the back of the store. I'm not even sure where shop staff are washing there hands... the bathroon sink never has soap of paper towels. I've also never known it to be cleaned, I think someone might give it a wipe over once a week. The only staff toilet is fucking disgusting and is also the store cupoard for cleaning products (and sometime stock for the shop floor!) I actually go home on my breaks against company policy... I'd told my manager that the company were breaking the law by not having adequate toilets and break area and he never questioned me about going home again! Chicken shit.
This week a notice has been put up to say that the whole store's staff budget need to be cut and they are asking people to volunteer to take a cut from there contracted hours, and if people didnt volunteer that managment would cut hours where they saw fit.
Its just bullshit, an awful awful way to treat your staff. There is no way on this earth that store has not made a fucking mint over this pandemic. First week of lockdown my department took £14,000.

I wish I could do some kind of undercover documentary... My partner actually cant believe the tales I come home with.
I wish I could shop them to the HEO, I wish I could shop them to whoever is regulating companies to make their workplaces covid safe.
But it would be SO obvious it would have been me Grin I really really need this shitty fucking job.

Im not even sure what my AIBU is... AIBU to think my employers are cunts?

OP posts:
oakleaffy · 18/09/2020 19:11

I saw signs of rats or mice in cardboard containers used for jars of honey at a supermarket near us...and milk that was weeks out of date... I should have reported , rather than just tell a shop worker.

Rats and mice could have been anywhere in the supply chain. It was shredded chewed up bits of paper thankfully no poo, but definitely .........Rodentine.

NancyBotwinBloom · 18/09/2020 19:13

There was a recruitment advisor on an AMA thread yesterday.

Is it worth pm ing her and seeing if she can find you a new role?

SantanaBinLorry · 18/09/2020 19:45

@rowlett I'm so sorry you deal with the same shit. I'm actually at the D/D flagship store - they have been without a manger for 9 months. New manager stared in July... he seems ever so chipper and has swollwed the spar cool-aid. I'm giving him til christmas til he starts crying.
I love the women I work with too, they know Im on their side and will stick up for them when they get shit. Its just such a bizaar business model and staff are set up to fail, or at least feel they are not doing enough. Its a shitty way to spend your work day.

Thankfully there's no human waste in the sinks! I'd have walked straight away! Its not THAT bad. It's just every little thing is pushed slightly...dates, temperatures... no-one seems to realise that if all staff adjust things we've quickly lost track of what's correct. So food isnt ranking out of date mouldy, just a day out maybe, or chucked back in the freezer if its not sold etc. Just on the edge of ok, but not ok at all really. There is also a weird way they 'steralise' dishes that im not convinced about... there is no dishwasher. There's no way this would be obvious to a basic HEO inspection.

Most days there is no one to cover breaks leaving someone in the kitchen on their own, which i just dont think is safe. The staff are treated so badly :(

OP posts:
BessieSurtees · 18/09/2020 19:48

If you have managed 6 months on unpaid leave is there a reason you need this job rather than find another?

SantanaBinLorry · 18/09/2020 20:02

thanks NancyBotwinBloom I'll take a look.

To say we've managed this last 6mths would be a stretch... we are in managed arears with our rent, Ctax and a couple of small debts.
I'm defo looking. This job is sooooo convenient. Right now there is nothing in my field, Im only on just over minimum wage. Another job somewhere else and i'd have to consider travelling, childcare, possible extra work wear. I hate being stuck there. I've been freelance the last 20 odd years and have been mostly able to chose to not work with/for dickheads. I've not got that control anymore and its rattleing me!

OP posts:
VodselForDinner · 18/09/2020 20:14

It sounds like an utter shit hole that will eventually seriously hurt someone because of poor hygiene practices.

But hey, you’re not willing to do anything about it because they pay you so I guess everyone has their price.

SantanaBinLorry · 18/09/2020 20:27

Fuck off. do you want to pay my rent?

OP posts:
SantanaBinLorry · 18/09/2020 20:30

And all the other people's who work there if the place got shut down?

OP posts:
CSIblonde · 18/09/2020 23:32

You do know youre going to end up with E Coli & any outbreak in the public who use it will get traced back to your work too ,which I'd want nothing to do with . I'd whistleblow anonymously & look for something else . There is a massive recruitment drive for supermarkets at moment, delivery drivers,shelf stackers. Also Amazon are recruiting massively for warehouse staff & deliverers.

CSIblonde · 18/09/2020 23:42

If you really want to stay promote yourself to hygiene co ordinator & offer to do a pound shop run stock him up on soap, disinfectant for floors & bleach spray for counters if he gives you £10. He probably can't be arsed .

Pixxie7 · 19/09/2020 00:22

If they are breaking hygiene rules you need to report them.

AdvicePleaseThankyou · 19/09/2020 00:45

Report them anonymously, different email address or withheld number.

OlympicProcrastinator · 19/09/2020 03:40

I can relate to this SO much. I recently quit my job as a store manager (luckily found something else) in a food franchise based in a petrol garage. Although hygiene and food safety wasn’t an issue, upper management used COVID as an excuse to cut staff hours to the bare bones, despite no drop in sales, while piling more and more work / processes / reports etc etc on top. I was going in on my days off, working late into the night, (for free) dealing alone with ques out the door and of course, customers were blaming me for the long wait. But HO wouldn’t give me big enough budget to have two people on over the lunch rush. People who made the decisions had never even stepped foot in my store, had no idea what it took to run and just sat behind desks looking at numbers.

It gave me huge satisfaction that when I left, because they had no back up they had to close entirely for the best part of a week, losing hundreds.

Keep looking for something else, keep speaking up to anyone you think might listen or be able to help. Concentrate on food safety before any other process. I always made a ‘kill list’ with times and dates of food going out and set my phone alarm. Eventually something will sort itself out.

BameChange123 · 19/09/2020 04:00

You could speak to your / a union and they could get "someone" to report / investigate? I am sure you could let your local environmental health know (council) anonymously

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 19/09/2020 04:25

I don't know what HEO stands for, but if you're talking about the environmental health officer, then an anonymous tip to the council should get them out to do an inspection.

If they haven't been inspected for over 12 months, then it's overdue anyway - and any decent EHO should pick up the problems, especially if the anonymous tip points them in the right direction...

eaglejulesk · 19/09/2020 04:29

But hey, you’re not willing to do anything about it because they pay you so I guess everyone has their price.

That comment was nasty and unwarranted. Not everyone has a choice when it comes to paying the bills.

Aridane · 19/09/2020 05:25

It sounds like an utter shit hole that will eventually seriously hurt someone because of poor hygiene practices.

But hey, you’re not willing to do anything about it because they pay you so I guess everyone has their price.

Note to @VodselForDinner - try not to post such snide cunty posts in the future. Not nice

squeekums · 19/09/2020 05:56

@VodselForDinner

It sounds like an utter shit hole that will eventually seriously hurt someone because of poor hygiene practices.

But hey, you’re not willing to do anything about it because they pay you so I guess everyone has their price.

Damn straight id not be willing to risk my income. If i need money to pay my bills and keep food on our id keep quiet and keep my job Morals and ethics dont keep a roof over my head or food in dd stomach
Thecobwebsarewinning · 19/09/2020 05:58

As soon as I read this I knew it was a Spar. I only know them in Ireland not the U.K. and over there those hot food counters are insanely busy (because the food Is processed crap but totally delicious). I’d always assumed they were franchises because the levels of service and cleanliness vary so much between premises. I can completely believe the situation the OP describes exists because it reflects the attitude and standards I’ve seen in some of the less well run branches.

I think you are screwed here OP. You can speak up and hope they get inspected and penalised but you obviously run the risk of being suspected and losing your job. And IME Ireland is a lot less rigorous about enforcing hygiene standards than the U.K. so there is no guarantee that if you reported them any inspection would happen. And if it happened, there is no guarantee there will be any penalty or any change. So you could report them, have word get back to your managers, lose your job and not a damn thing will change.

I know it goes against the grain but if your family needs your wages to get by I think you should put up and shut up for now. Look for another job and report their arses off when you are safely employed somewhere else.

Survivingchipandkippee · 19/09/2020 06:36

The original post is about the need to keep your job yet you’ve provided so much detail about the store and yourself that you could be easily identifiable.

It must be an awful predicament trying to do the right thing and protect your job. You could send an anonymous letter and an unannounced inspection could take place that would identify the issues

Friendsoftheearth · 19/09/2020 06:37

Call EH and report it.
People can die from food poisoning. Particular the cross contamination of raw chicken etc.

Please report, and ask them not to disclose your identity or ask dh or a friend to do it for you.

VodselForDinner · 19/09/2020 10:05

Morals and ethics dont keep a roof over my head or food in dd stomach

Everyone has their own line in the sand on moral issues.

Personally, no amount of money would mean I knowingly put myself in a situation where the next person who buys a sandwich from me may get seriously ill for reasons I know about.

The OP has options. She can anonymously tip off Environmental Health and they will investigate. But she won’t do that because it’ll likely have a financial impact on her.

She mentions record books documenting food temperatures are being purposely falsified but doesn’t say if she’s also writing in these books but, if she is, it’s for her own financial gain.

I get that she’s in a tough position financially but at what what level of income do we expect someone to say “it pays my bills but I can’t let this practice continue“?. If she was on £100k would we hold her to a higher moral court?

Aridane · 19/09/2020 10:21

I get that she’s in a tough position financially but at what what level of income do we expect someone to say “it pays my bills but I can’t let this practice continue“?. If she was on £100k would we hold her to a higher moral court?

Yes, we would - because at £100k she would be management in charge of running the place !

VodselForDinner · 19/09/2020 10:28

Yes, we would - because at £100k she would be management in charge of running the place !

I’d imagine Dave who runs my local Spar is on nowhere near £100k, TBF.

I meant it as more of a general statement.

If OP was a lawyer for a big household name food production company who were falsifying records to hide poor hygiene practices, would the advice be “report them” or “don’t say anything because you might lose your £100k annual salary”?

Aridane · 19/09/2020 10:39

Totally different (as I suspect you well know)

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