DD's working conditions

[A580Hojas]

DD works in pub that serves food. I'm not going to call it a gastro pub as it's nothing super fancy, but they serve food all day and every evening.

She is a waitress. Her shifts are usually 4pm to 10pm, 5pm to 11pm - something like that.

Very rarely does she get a break to eat dinner and even more rarely is she given a proper main course from the menu (which as I say is nothing fancy, it's a pasta, burritos, £10 main course sort of pub). Or even anything from the kitchen.

The last 2 nights she's been given nothing to eat and no break.

This is wrong, right?

Part of working in hospitality is that you don't get your breaks at the busiest time, ie dinner time, even if you work a shift longer than 6 hours, because you're needed to serve the customers.
I doubt very much if anyone would be happy with longer waiting times when they went out for a meal because the staff were on their break because it's dinner time.

And if they provide food, and what they provide is up to them, they don't have to provide anything at all if they don't want to or can offer only certain items for staff food if they choose to, which is usually the cheapest option available and not to choose anything from the main menu.

You either eat before you go, on the fly or when you finish if you work dinner service shifts. I quite often bring my staff dinner home with me, because I don't have time to eat it on shift.

That's the service that is demanded and that places need to deliver if they're going to have customers.

They don't have to, but it would no doubt help with recruitment and retention.

Isn't Hospitality one of the sectors that are struggling with recruitment ? like care agencies are struggling to recruit ? People function better with a little break, they like to be able to have a drink and a bite to eat if possible too. Be nice to them and they will often do a bit more, go that extra mile, treat them like shit and they won't and will leave, it isn't rocket science.

How is not letting them eat your profits and taking breaks their not entitled to not being nice to them? What a bizzare suggestion. You do realise hospitality is in a very precarious position at present, and not because if recruitment…

Hospitality is struggling to recruit for a multitude of reasons. Not offering free food during peak service times, isn't one of them.

Surely she eats before going like everyone else does when they go to work.

It sounds like what they’re doing is legal.

However, it’s not a job I could do and I’d advise her to carry on as is, until she can find something better.

@Charcy Hospitality is struggling to recruit for a multitude of reasons

Ok , what do you think are the multitude of reasons that Hospitality is struggling to recruit ?

I used to work split shifts in hospitality many moons ago, officially I wasn't entitled to breaks or food, not a legal requirement and all that, but we had a manager who recognised that it is an industry that has always struggled with recruitment and retention, they treated us well and we reciprocated. A little goes a long way.

Poor pay
Unsociable hours
Rude customers
Crap managers
Unreliable work schedules
Lack of teamwork

The list could go on. As I said in a PP, there are absolutely occasions where some free food goes a long way.

During a 6 hour dinner service shift, is not one of those.

Of course they don’t have to 🙄

They don't even give her a proper main course from the menu, you say? Has she consulted her union?