To think that since covid happened some businesses have 'got lazy and stayed lazy'

[Ilovechocolate87]

DH and i used to have an expression a couple of years back 'because covid' which we used when we thought a company was just using the virus as an excuse for not doing something properly or making unnecessary cutbacks.

But even now it seems that this is STILL continuing, but for no legitimate reason!

Some examples include;
-Our local bank shutting at 3pm...every day of the week.Crap for 9-5 working people like DH!

• No fireworks display at center parcs, which is a shame as it was really good and atmospheric over the lake.
• Soft play at our local sealife centre sitting there unused and wasted...such a shame as there is nothing wrong with it.
• Fitting rooms have been scrapped at sainsburys and asda (maybe elsewhere too?) so there is nowhere to try on clothes, resulting in either having to order online and have the expense and bother of posting it back if its not right (which it often isn't) or travelling to return it, neither of which are very good for the environment either, with all that plastic packaging and fuel!)

Has anyone else noticed that it just seems like SOME businesses/companies 'can't be bothered' anymore and are just doing the minimum possible? And the most frustrating thing is that as usual, they make the cutbacks, but the prices keep on going up!!

My Sainsburys deli counter is still open? There's also a sushi bar and a pizza counter

Yep!! My sons school still has a bloody one way system that makes him constantly late for lessons!! Just no need

My bugbear is when they use the phrase "keeping you safe" to justify charging more money for a reduced service. It was utter bullshit at the height of the pandemic and its just a complete joke now.

@Ilovechocolate87 you are spot on. Calling any company is a shitshow. No changing rooms in some places still. No toilets available in some. No magazines in hairdressers. Less staff.

Shockingly, the care company that provided my s disabled son's respite. They were only giving him 50 % of the hours he was entitled to for two years. They did not take on enough staff and bullied those they had to take on more and more. They paid only 9 or 10 an hour did not pay staff for training . Did not train them properly. Had respite cancelled often with an hours notice or sometimes not communicated at all. Was verbally abused by care manager after I filled out a feedback survey with honest answers. Sons care plan always had out of date information which was not updated even after telling them several times to update it.

My brother lives in Queensland Aus and has a 3 year wait for hip op ‘due to covid ‘- and they didn’t really have any covid ?!?!

My brother lives in Queensland Aus and has a 3 year wait for hip op ‘due to covid ‘- and they didn’t really have any covid ?!?!

Of course they had covid in Queensland.

Totally agree. It's just an excuse now - banks, hairdressers, shops, schools parents' evenings/parties/events/shows, "wfh", public transport, Father Christmas, the terminally anti socials.....
Time to get back to normal now, Covid was so 2020.

With things like fitting rooms I suppose they have found that closing them hasn't impacted sales. Or that any impact is offset by staffing, cleaning and upkeep. Before covid they must have thought they were essential to sell clothes but have learnt that they are not.

Some of my work involves calling businesses, and it's surprising the number of voicemail messages which clearly haven't been changed since 2020. Lots of references to WFH and "at this difficult time"

It's stuff like this which is deliberately shit - even if a company was being truthful that they could only afford to staff it for four hours a day, they've chosen the quietest, most customer-unfriendly time of day. There's nothing stopping them opening from 5pm to 9pm, or from 7am to 9am and 6pm to 8pm.

With regards to the call centre staff wfh, I don't think they're not answering calls because they're wfh, as these jobs have all the call monitoring software which measures how many calls they take, how many breaks they take etc. It's because companies are so frustrating to deal with that these poorly paid staff become punching bags for frustrated customers, so who would want those jobs?

Local boots have had a sign to say they apologise for the delay today and that they are short staffed due to covid. They have had the same sign for 4 weeks now. Same with the dispensary at the doc. In fact the sign at the doc has been there for months.

My optician (which is in an industrial estate) used to allow you to drop by for whatever. The other day I need glasses tightened and was met outside , me sat in the car whilst the assistant went between me and the shop?! Complete with visor on, plus told to book next time, it takes 2 bloomin mins !!!

M&s on the King's Road used to have a large fully-staffed changing room, with at least 2 staff handing out discs indicating how many items you had, then taking the clothes off you as you exit.

Now it's much smaller, not staffed, and you just hang stuff on the rail if you're not buying it.

Do you understand the problems in Recruitment? And the fact that a lot of businesses still haven't recouped the cost of COVID do they can't do what they used to do? It's tough out there.

Lots of things closed round here and haven’t reopened.

You have to pay through the nose for swimming lessons for children (nearly £60 a month for half an hour a week in a chilly pool.)

No rhyme time or story times at the local libraries. So if you want something to do with toddlers you have to pay for classes. And a lot of them want you to pay in a block for a term which is prohibitively expensive for a lot of people.

I am sure a lot of people who WFH are professional but a lot don’t seem as effective as they were in the office.

I think wearing a face mask in the dentist is completely ridiculous. It costs me nearly £100 for a checkup, I don’t really like being dictated to about what I put on my face to be honest.

My brother lives just on the English side of the england / wales border and has a postal address that is england but his nearest recycling centre is in wales. He was not allowed to use it for ‘safety reasons’ - what!?

Yep!

My bank (online) is behind with the times and it's app barely fit for purpose. I needed to fall them and it took 7 days of calls before someone answered the phone to me. They at one point in the automated message said our call wait rimes are down to 60 minutes! I left and went to another online bank and nearly fell off my chair when they answered after 5 minutes and apologised for keeping me waiting

@Whattodo182 I don't work in hospitality but I would agree there. I work in a customer facing role and the behaviour has been absolutely shocking at times. You always get the odd one before COVID but after has been 10 times worse. We have to deal with a lot of suppliers and some are/were struggling due to the sudden increase in demand, lack of staff, working from home and brexit. As the end supplier we took the full force of the publics anger that they couldn't have what they wanted NOW. On one occasion I was even called a c@@t by a middle aged woman because I couldn't di what she wanted immediately (but could the next day) another threatend to blacken our name over social media (for something that was nothing to do with us).

I used to quite like my job and chatting to people, now I get a shiver down my spine everytime I pick up the phone to answer it wondering what is in store for me. If I could leave I would.

Well said!!

Its incredibly hard to recruit in the NHS at the moment. My band 2 team is 33% understaffed and it's not for lack of trying...I have interviewed 6 times!

Hardly anyone wants the job, the people who do apply are poor candidates and when I do find someone they drop out 😩 The money is poor, they get endless grief from patients with unrealistic expectations, the job is stressful and hard work and people can earn the same working in Tesco...I don't blame them for not wanting it really!

Yep, two recent examples:

1. Holiday cottage check-in/check-out time was 3pm/10am pre-covid (7pm/9am in covid), and is now 4pm/10am (National chain)

2. No newspapers, no registrar at local library

You have got some points regarding companies but Center Parcs has stopped the fireworks due to the locations they are in ie forests and the risk of fire and it also causing distress to animals. They now do a light show instead. For the point you are being unreasonable.

The rest is true.

I don't think anyone is going to argue with you.
It was a nightmare pre covid but we told you and still you didn't listen!

We run a business and have some cash and cheques to pay in most weeks.

We deposit now at our village post office on route to work, no need to go into town to a bank.