To not give NHS discounts?

[LottieLot]

I own a small business making and selling a product.

As you can imagine it's been quite tough during Covid but we've stayed afloat and things are picking up a little thanks to Christmas. It's been hard going though and a bit worrying at times.

I seem to have a lot of people messaging me asking for discounts for NHS staff and I've felt under pressure to agree most of the time.

AIBU to stop though now? I am of course appreciative of everything NHS workers do, but I have struggled to get my business through this pandemic and I could do without offering discounts frankly.

Is it rude to ask a small business this in your opinion? I personally cant imagine ever doing so. I'm not a huge franchise, I am a genuine small business which is obvious from my page!

I may get roasted for saying this, but at least NHS workers still have jobs and salaries. I have no problem with hero worshipping each one, but they nevertheless still have a stable income, and many many of us sadly dont.

I think asking is fine. I often barter for expensive items, retailers have the right to say no.

@ReclaimingTheKaren

I may get roasted for saying this, but at least NHS workers still have jobs and salaries. I have no problem with hero worshipping each one, but they nevertheless still have a stable income, and many many of us sadly dont.

And I’ll say it again. Many NHS workers are married to or live with people who have seen the same drops in their wages and household incomes that you and many others have. The old ‘they’re still getting paid’ is just becoming another lazy way of sticking the boot in.

I work for the NHS and there is a blue light card that we can buy for £5 and then big companies send discount codes. Its mainly money off phone deals, insurance etc and I've found better items cheaper elsewhere anyway. We don't need discounts, yes its nice but its normally on items I'd never use and small businesses need to look after themselves in my opinion.

@Retiremental why do you presume that either DH or I still have a job?

at least NHS workers still have jobs and salaries

No. No worker should be I’m a cowed passive state of gratitude for having a job

No worker should ever be in a passive state of servitude told to be grateful for having a job

Absolutely fine. It's a cheek of people to ask when it hadn't been advertised. I work for the nhs and the hero worshipping needs to stop. We all chose to do the jobs we do. Nobody is pinning people down making them stay. Having said that, if discount is advertised I will certainly use it e.g Morrison's 10% off and lots of blue light discounts online, I paid for the card for the discounts I see no reason why I shouldn't use it.

@SentientAndCognisant

at least NHS workers still have jobs and salaries

No. No worker should be I’m a cowed passive state of gratitude for having a job

No worker should ever be in a passive state of servitude told to be grateful for having a job

Amen.

It’s a contract. You receive money in exchange for time and skills. There’s no altruism in employment.

It may be lucky to have employment in the current climate but that’s down to choosing to work in particular industries and not something that anyone has been particularly clever about.

Incredibly to think people are now being told we’re lucky to work on the nhs, it’s not normally somewhere people recommend.
Please do come and join us- there are thousands of vacancies.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Don’t understand why they get discounts.

Special shopping times during first lockdown ok but not now.

NHS discount along with emergency services is not a new thing you know. Big retailers have offered this for years it just became more widespread during Covid. Why shouldn't someone ask, if it's available then fine, if not no harm done.

Incredibly to think people are now being told we’re lucky to work on the nhs, it’s not normally somewhere people recommend.
Please do come and join us- there are thousands of vacancies

The nhs has it’s downsides, granted.

But I am grateful to be in a position where I know I’ll be in work through all of this, my income will be steady and we can plan round dh’s loss of income.

It’s not “lucky to be in the nhs” as such, more lucky not to have to worry about loss of income and struggling too much for money on top of everything else.

Same as anyone who has job security at the moment.

[quote ReclaimingTheKaren]@Retiremental why do you presume that either DH or I still have a job?[/quote]
I haven’t presumed anything. Unlike you. Who has presumed that everyone who works in the NHS is sitting pretty on their regular wages.

No harm in using it if offered. My husband uses his blue light card, and I used the Morrisons 10% the other week.

I do think it's cheeky to ask when it's not offered and no business is obliged to offer a discount to anyone.

I think it needs to be better advertised when there is one. I've missed lots of nhs discounts because I'm too scared to ask and be seen as cheeky!
Pets at home for example has one, but I had no idea until I saw someone else use it. Sometimes now I do ask, because it's never clear when there is one.

I've also been told about nhs discounts when wearing my lanyard once,However its policy not to wear nhs id outside of work. As far as I know I've never seen a sign in 90% of the shops that do offer it. My local pets at home, Morrisons, things like dorothy perkins all have a discount and no sign so you have to ask.

I guess it depends if someone is demanding a discount or simply asking if there is one

it shows appreciation for all the staff working in units with covid-positive patients

A friend of mine works in a management position within the NHS. She was responsible for setting up and managing the testing service for patients and staff in the trust and surrounding area. She might not have been frontline, but covid broke her. She collapsed and her GP offered to sign her off on long term sick, but she refused because if she was off no one else was around to do her job.

Another friend was working throughout the first lockdown for a charity supporting the NHS. She was on reduced hours and pay due to that charity losing a significant amount of money due to not being able to fundraise. Her colleagues were all furloughed and she was swamped with requests for support and had to deal with it all herself. Now she's losing her job after an exhausting and demoralising few months. She feels kicked in the teeth and her mental health is poor.

It is not just ward staff who have suffered and struggled.

It is not even just key workers.

but at least NHS workers still have jobs and salaries. I have no problem with hero worshipping each one, but they nevertheless still have a stable income, and many many of us sadly dont

Why don’t you become an NHS employee then? There are loads of vacant jobs, including ones you don’t need prior experience for (like cleaner or nursing assistant or support worker.) A permanent contract and a stable income!

Yes many people have lost jobs or had pay reductions but NHS staff don’t have it easy either. Those of us with higher salaries planned, studied, trained and worked hard for years to get to where we are now! The salary and stability doesn’t just fall in your lap.

And out of that salary we often have to pay for wraparound childcare (nursery, before and after school clubs) even during the pandemic. And live with the constant worry we might bring covid home to our families. And when we have to take time off for a child or isolating, we have to use annual leave (followed by unpaid leave when that’s used up!)

If you want a stable income you have to go out and find one!

NHS staff aren’t ‘lucky’ to have stable incomes, we work hard for our salaries! Many of us work in high risk settings and unsociable hours. We didn’t choose to work through a pandemic without proper PPE. And many NHS staff are freelance, or locum/bank staff or on temporary contracts.

The NHS discount wasn’t about not having a secure income, it was about showing appreciation for the hardships, stress and risk NHS staff go through in a pandemic.

The government also provided for people who lost their incomes (mortgage holidays, furlough scheme, payments for the self employed, support for businesses, plus the usual UC and tax credits that exist to help people through hard times).

Discounts aren't indicative of the level of respect you have for a profession

Totally agree with this
Hopefully not too many will end up in hospital as I did recently, but most still see HCPs at some point so tell them how much you appreciate their care if you can

A student working on you? Say how well/painlessly they did whatever-it-was
Consultant's round? Comment on how good their team seems to be
Community HCP? Say how much you value seeing someone face to face at such a time

After all it costs nothing at all to be pleasant

Well said @RattleOfBars

I would put your prices up by 10% and then offer keyworkers, students , OAPs, parents with children, people with disabilities , people accessing benefits and returning customers a discount. That should just about cover everyone

Or alternatively find the gumption to say NO to the requests
It is not as if op has the uncomfortable face to face interaction, just emails

Of course you don't.

I'm a CPN and during lockdown 1, my role was changed slightly in that I was asked to help out doing the depot injections which were done at home, so frontline face to face contact. Now I'm back in the referrals and assessment team so a mixture of face to face and adminy typos stuff (phone calls, report writing, virtual meetings etc) .

I've always felt embarrassed by the her worship, clapping etc.

I have rarely made use of discounts, because I think others are just entitled e.g. supermarket staff, police/prison staff, bus drivers, bin men.

A colleague of mine always asks everyone. I think he's embarrassing for it. Those he asks, e.g. takeaway deliveries, supermarket checkout staff etc, are probably on half his salary.

at least NHS workers still have jobs and salaries

No. No worker should be I’m a cowed passive state of gratitude for having a job

No worker should ever be in a passive state of servitude told to be grateful for having a job

Nobody is telling the NHS staff that they should feel lucky or grateful to still have a job - just that, as they do still have a secure job, they shouldn't necessarily feel entitled to a discount because of their job that is not open to people in other jobs.

With that in mind, if anything, it's suggesting that somebody else who (just about) still has a job should demonstrate a cowed passive state of gratitude by being put on the spot by an NHS worker asking a small business out of the blue for a discount.

A colleague of mine always asks everyone. I think he's embarrassing for it.

During the first lockdown, an Indian restaurant local to our hospital kindly offered a free curry to NHS workers. Plenty of the hospital staff gratefully took them up on it and said positive things about the restaurant. It's the kind of goodwill that will probably also be remembered once this is all over. However, one colleague - a very part-time, non-front-line worker - was outraged at how 'disgusting' they were for graciously declining to fund a big blow-out, with drinks and extras, for her whole family. She asks pretty much everywhere for an NHS discount - not just in the hope that they might happen to do so - but with a real expectation, and then tries to shame them and complain to all of her friends about them if they dare to say no.

NHS discounts mean that people at home doing admin jobs are getti g discounts while carers visiting multiple people or working in care homes are ineligible.