To be shocked by what DD told me about her workplace?

[whatinthenameofcrapisthis]

DD(17) has a part time job at Greggs around her college hours. She told me today that they (the staff) regularly find used needles in the toilets from people injecting drugs, and that it's well known that particular people spend a long time in the toilets doing that. The same people also often shoplift sandwiches and drinks. I asked DD what the policy is for dealing with this, ie do they contact the police, and she said "we don't ring the police, we just report the drug use via a specified number", ie a drug hotline for Greggs itself (?), and that some staff have protective equipment to pick up needles. I was so baffled by this.

Surely used needles being left in toilets is a matter for the police? Greggs staff are not paid enough to have to deal with this surely? I told my daughter she should not be doing this.
Granted it's not the best area where the store is that she works at, lots of poverty and crime etc, but still... This has really shocked me!

AIBU to expect my teen daughter who is paid minimum wage in Greggs not to have to handle used needles?!

YANBU but it doesn't surprise me. The UK has the highest amount of alcoholism now I think even more than Scotland (sorry Scottish MNrs) and our kids drink more than anywhere else too.

Drugs are rife, I didn't realise how much of a problem nitros oxide is with Asian men in England. That bbc drug map programme is an eye opener and not a very nice one.

OP your DD is not having to dispose of the needles. And it will be because she is 17. She is legally still a child and is covered by safeguarding legislation. It is why many businesses will not employ under 18s. Once she turns 18 she may be given the training and be disposing of needles as appropriate.

Round here it’s the massive cream chargers that are used for nitrous oxide hits. Seen a driver doing hippy crack whilst driving. Having the cream charger between legs, blowing balloons from them then inhaling balloons. He was swerving all over the place.

This is why in my opinion all public bathrooms should come with needle disposal bins. It makes the whole situation safer and won’t, as so many always counter argue suddenly make more people inject drugs!

When my son was a 17 he worked for a well-known outdoor retailer, when they had shoplifters who left the shop, he was delegated to chase them. Considering he was once held up by gunpoint, myself and his father told him not to. We told him to wait round the corner from the store and then go back and say he couldn't catch them. All that for minimum wage.

If you pay attention, you will see that this is everywhere you go.

The only reason to go into Greggs is to use the toilet for a wee if you ask me.

The police don't come for shoplifting any more. The rules changed a while back and I think for thefts under £75 value there's no prosecution, just a verbal warning. People used to use a loose brick adjacent to my shop, as a drop/collect point for drugs. The police knew but took no action, so far as I was aware.

I should imagine that this happens in most food outlets in iffy areas or even very populated areas. The police have bigger priorities to deal with and their budgets are finite.
Your DD could regards this as discovering the real world out there and her safety is with the company she works for. Their policies she should follow.

I worked in a fast food restaurant in a city centre 20 years ago and we’d see it all the time then. The state that some people would leave the toilets in still makes me feel like vomiting - on the floor, smeared on the walls. I mean, who even does that?!
I remember getting a warning because I refused to unblock a backed up toilet because it was like something off Trainspotting. My £3.75 an hour was in no way enough for that!!

There was an horrific incident recently in a cafe in Belper, one of the workers was stabbed as after allowing the person to use the bathroom he wouldn’t let him charge his phone. Tory Britain just gets worse and more lawless.

Your advice was very sensible. I am glad he followed it.

I used to work in a garage and we had to put a code lock on the door for this reason. I think it did deter people a bit but I would never stop someone from using the toilet or stop them from shoplifting as it's not worth the risk. They could become aggressive if the staff refused to give them the code. Unfortunately, I've seen it happen. We had people come into the shop (Esso garage with a spar shop) shoplifting all the time but the police would take days to come.

Problem is in my store the SLs steal 6-8 bottles of spirits which is £90-250, depending on what it is.

What an enchanting world we live in. Time for a purge!!!

Sorry your daughter is experiencing this. It is the very grim side of some retail.
Prople seem very naive about what several things. Police won’t come out over a stolen sandwich. They probably won’t come out over an attack on a member of staff.
What are you hoping they will do with cctv of a probably homeless drug user? Fine then so they steal, put them in an overcrowded prison?
Retail and hospitality and lots of public facing roles deal with every element of society, a lot of it not pretty. Most retailers either can’t get staff or rely on cutting staffing back to the minimum (frequently both).
They need a PIN code for the door with codes changing frequently, that happens in most cities.
With minimum and living wage going up, which at face value is great, most employers will simply employ less staff.
I am glad they are providing safety gloves etc to clean this up. She should certainly ask for protocol around cleaning up.
I genuinely understand your concern but as a retail manager, retail is tougher than many realise. I am not in fast paced or food retail but since Covid, retail is harder than ever. I hope she gets adequate training.

Mentioned in the thread previously Until someone dies from being abused/attacked from a SL or an extremely vile piece of scum of a customer, nothing will be done about protecting the retail staff from these.

Then when someone dies, it will give a bolt of shock from the media and they and the victim's family will campaign for (name of victim)'s law to be introduced for tougher sanctions towards SLs and/or rude and abusive customers.

Retail, especially in supermarkets has come a long way tougher than it used to be. Back in the days, checkout staff sat on tills and be on the kiosk.

Now its self checkouts, smart shop, lottery, doing orders for online - website or courier firms - Just Eat, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Then some retailers have an app for Click n Collect - that's another system to use.

For many customers, especially the elderly have no idea that we have more feathers in our caps than we used to.

Quite a few years sgo my daughter was working in a betting shop and they had the same problem. The company paid to have special lights fitted in the toilets that have a blue tinge. Addicts hate these because you then can’t see any of your veins. It doesn’t stop everyone though, you’ll always get one who’ll give it a go anyway. And NO!!! Your daughter must not touch a needle under any circumstances.

I totally agree. Just working a checkout is much easier.

Where I live 95% of the public washrooms have a sharps bin installed. Doesn't always mean it's used, but it is there. I also don't think it matters what part of a city you live in. Drug use and theft is rampant most everywhere. Several of our shops here have security officers at the front door and I don't mean just the high end shops. Even our dollar stores have security guards.
So hopefully at your daughters young age she won't be required to handle needles etc and that there are certain staff members trained in cleaning it up.

It makes me think of an interview I saw with Thomas Sowell, where he comments that when he was growing up in Harlem, when it was too hot to sleep inside at night, it was common for the residents to sleep out on their fire escapes, or in parks, and no one considered it unsafe. He walked their dog in a park that today no one would let a child play in. This was in the 1940s.

Which is to say, while things have been bad for a while, none of this stuff is normal, even for many areas that were poor and underprivileged.

It was the same when I worked in kfc and that over 20 years ago!

Smoking in the toilets, drugs in the toilets, prostitution in the toilet!

then there’s the shitting and pissing on the floor or graffiti etc.

no theft but that’s because there was nothing actually out to take like McDonald’s I think,

police didn’t get involved unless there was an actual brawl in the shop.

on a massive plus though when we worked nights (shop could be open as late as 3am at certain times of year) the manager used to put a taxi on for us to get home.
it’s something I really appreciated and even all these later think of as a classy move by the manager.

No way should anyone be touching used needles. If thats the case should also be vaccinated accordingly and be trained in needle stick injuries. Greggs have a duty of care to staff and they will need to find a resolution.

Your daughter shouldn’t be touching them but neither is it a matter for the police