To think that the overtime should be paid?

[SorcererGaheris]

In the bookshop in which I volunteer, there are two paid employees - the FT manager and PT deputy manager. (It's a charity shop.)

I've been aware for a while that the charity does not pay the shop's employees for any overtime they do (which is probably the main reason that the deputy manager generally refuses to work more than her contracted hours.) But I assumed that since this was the case, they could therefore not expect employees to do overtime, since it's not paid.

However, the manager is under pressure to keep the shop open for longer during the week and to also keep the shop open on Sundays when the volunteer team for that day are unable to come in. Sunday is the one day when there is no paid member of staff in the shop and it's entirely volunteer led, but but occasionally there are times when the volunteers can't come in to do their shift and when that happens the shop is closed on that Sunday.

From a recent conversation I had with the manager, it seems that the charity does indeed expect her to do unpaid overtime, and there is so much pressure that it seems she is more or less almost forced into doing it.

Discussing this with other volunteers, I learned that the charity offers time off in lieu for unpaid overtime, and that it would be in the employment contract. Time off in lieu would be reasonable IF taking additional time off was usually a practical possibility, but given the nature of charity shops relying on a staff of majority volunteers, taking additional time off is often NOT a practical possibility.

So what seems to happen in practice is that the manager ends up doing overtime that is completely unrenumerated in any way.

This set-up seems unfair to me. In typical retail, I imagine time-off in lieu of payment for overtime would be more reasonable, because all the staff contractually have to be there, so there're more flexibility and consistent cover. This is not the case with charity shops.

Given the nature of charity shops, I think that the charity should either commit to paying any overtime they demand - or at the very least, they should not put pressure on their employees to do the overtime when they're aware that it can't really be compensated.

Sounds like the deputy manager has the right idea tbh. Shop manager sounds like she has an impossible job and would be better off working in Aldi for the same money.

The other days are already covered and Sundays generally are too - except when the volunteers (for whatever reason) can't or won't come in.

Then I'm not sure what the overtime issue is. If the other days are covered and don't have volunteers who are as precious about the basement on those days (so come in and the shop can open), she can take her time off then, can't she? She doesn't have to work overtime, it's just that she'd prefer to work midweek and not Sundays (like most volunteers)?

Hmmm. Seems to me that what's really going on here, is that your manager and deputy manager aren't very good at pushing for the backlog of culled books and rubbish to be collected.

If the Sunday staff continued to volunteer even when they considered the basement to be overfilled, how long would it be before either paid staff member bothered to chase up the lapsed collections? I get what you're saying about the manager and dep manager having lots of other responsibilities, but are those responsibilities truly higher priority than maintaining a safe working environment?

And why aren't the other shift leaders supporting the Sunday leader?

@RawBloomers

I'm not sure it's quite fair to say that we're being "precious" about the basement. When we choose not to come in because of the basement's state, it's because we feel it's unsafe for us. I don't think putting safety first is necessarily being precious.

She doesn't have to work overtime, it's just that she'd prefer to work midweek and not Sundays (like most volunteers)?

Sometimes that can part of it (she attends church on Sundays so obviously wants to commit to that as much as possible and Sunday is her scheduled one full day off.)

However, other times, taking time off in lieu is, at the very least, difficult and complicated in practice. Sundays are totally manager free because we have Lead Volunteers who have enough experience and skills to effectively run the shop in the absence of the deputy manager and manager.

However, other days of the week do not necessarily have volunteers who are capable of or willing to oversee the shop without the manager or deputy present.

So taking time off on other days of the week would require that the deputy manager be there - and the deputy manager does part-time hours, so isn't present for a significant part of the time. The deputy manager won't do additional hours, so if our manager were to take time off during her normally scheduled hours, it would require some juggling around of the deputy's hours, and mean that she (deputy) would then not be in the shop for some of her normal hours that particular week - and depending on when those normal hours take place (in addition to the Sunday, the manager has two afternoons a week free) the manager might then end up having to cover those afternoon hours, which would then be yet more overtime...

I'm not saying that it's not do-able at all, but working it out seems to involve quite a bit of additional preparation and depending on circumstances, sometimes it's just not possible to arrange at that moment.

I can totally understand wanting a particular day off for a particular reason and I realise TOIL isn't always easy to arrange, but I think your initial premise is mistaken. Your manger can avoid overtime by using TOIL or putting more into recruiting volunteers who will open the shop on Sundays. As the manager it is part of her job to arrange cover so that it doesn't cost the charity more than it needs to, or miss service standards and lead to lower profit. These are the primary goals of managing a shop.

I don't know the ins and outs of your basement situation. Maybe the other volunteers and the paid staff are ignoring a health and safety issue, maybe you are being "precious" about it. But my precious label was more because you (as a team) don't seem prepared to open the shop if no one can go in the basement in contrast to the other volunteers, even though no one needs to go in the basement to open the shop. So it isn't a safety issue. It maybe a "we get bored" issue when you can't go in the basement. Obviously, as volunteers you can have whatever standards you want, but from what you've said it seems like there are other volunteers who are not as bothered, so it does look like your team is precious and you aren't what the charity really needs in that role. They are managing costs so as to preserve income for the mission, that may well mean having cheaper, less reliable resources for things like waste collection. If I were the manager and really wanted the Sunday off, I'd be looking at increasing volunteer recruitment specifically for Sundays and shaking up the Sunday team a bit.

@RawBloomers

But my precious label was more because you (as a team) don't seem prepared to open the shop if no one can go in the basement in contrast to the other volunteers

The basement is never officially out of bounds even when it gets overstuffed. It's used all the time. If going into the basement was forbidden, the shop wouldn't open at all because the other volunteers wouldn't go in either - there would literally be no work for them to do. In order for the shop to be open properly, work needs to be happening in the basement, because the necessary jobs can only be done if the staff are allowed access to the basement.

It's not a case of other volunteers being prepared to open the shop if no one can go in the basement because there is never an official rule that no one can go in the basement. The shop opens on those other days because the other volunteer teams are using the basement. If the basement was decreed to be out of bounds, they wouldn't go in either.

even though no one needs to go in the basement to open the shop.

In order for the shop to be open as normal, volunteers do need to be working i the basement, otherwise the jobs can't get done properly.

So it isn't a safety issue. It maybe a "we get bored" issue when you can't go in the basement.

I don't understand why you think it's a case of getting bored when I've explained that there is no work we can do in the shop (apart from the single volunteer on the till) unless we go into the basement at least part of the time.

The till is upstairs on the shop floor - but all that needs is one volunteer. There are three others of us that comprise the Sunday team.

Can you suggest what work the rest of us in the Sunday team can do if we don't go into the basement? All other jobs in the shop require entry into the basement. Surely you can see that there is no point in volunteers sitting on the shop floor doing absolutely nothing?

Pricing stock - we couldn't do that, because all of the unpriced stock is in the basement

Sorting unpriced stock - all stock that needs to be sorted is in the basement.

Replenishing stock - all of our priced stock is kept in the basement, which means we'd need to enter it in order to bring up new stock.

Culling stock from our priced shelves - all our culled stock is stored downstairs, so again, culling stock requires taking it into the basement.

If the Sunday team came in on a Sunday when we feel it's unsafe for us to be in the basement, then three of us would be sat around doing nothing at all. Because aside from serving the till, the other jobs that we are trained to do mean that we have to enter/use the basement.

“I don't understand why you think it's a case of getting bored when I've explained that there is no work we can do in the shop (apart from the single volunteer on the till) unless we go into the basement at least part of the time.”
**
“Surely you can see that there is no point in volunteers sitting on the shop floor doing absolutely nothing?”

I’m suggesting it might be a getting bored issue because you seemed to be saying that you could open the shop if a second volunteer was prepared to sit in the shop and do nothing. Since a second volunteer has to be in the shop for it to open this isn’t a “pointless” thing to do. It may well be boring, but it achieves the point of opening the shop so people can buy and the shop can make money - which is the shop’s raison d’etre.

But this is caveated by my assumption that you can run the shop without people, on that one day a week, going into the basement and assumes that you don’t need to get new stock sorted and priced right then in order to have the shop open. Which I thought you had confirmed, and I’m still not seeing what needs to happen in the basement at the same time as it is open to customers. But maybe I’ve misunderstood?

I have worked in shops (including volunteering in charity shops) and have often been bored when traffic is low, but have generally found things I can do on the shop floor - tidying up, cleaning glass, replacing items that have been moved, helping customers (though most do not want any sort of help!), bagging/wrapping items, etc. and if it’s empty or people just browsing, then chatting to whoever is on the till to relieve boredom.

Most charity shops I go into seem to have someone in this sort of role.

@RawBloomers

Thanks for explaining more.

I’m suggesting it might be a getting bored issue because you seemed to be saying that you could open the shop if a second volunteer was prepared to sit in the shop and do nothing. Since a second volunteer has to be in the shop for it to open this isn’t a “pointless” thing to do.

I think we've got a different view of the point of volunteers' purpose in being in the shop. From my perspective - the point of volunteers going into the shop is to get some work done, so if there is no work for those other volunteers to do, it seems a waste of time in that regard.

You seem to see the volunteers' primary purpose in being there is to allow the shop to be open to trade, rather than the volunteers getting jobs done themselves, per se. So I suppose that is the root of it, we seem to have a different view on what constitutes the volunteers' main purpose to be present - for me, it's for them to actually be getting jobs done, whereas for you it's to allow the shop to open.

But this is caveated by my assumption that you can run the shop without people, on that one day a week, going into the basement

I would say that the shop could not be run as effectively and efficiently as normal without volunteers also attending to duties in the basement/going into the basement. I see what you mean in that, yes, the shop can be run but it would be in a more basic, skeletal way and the customers would probably not get the same service standards as they would if things were operating as normal.

You could say that it's still worth two of us agreeing to come to run it on that more basic basis, but I think we'd feel like we weren't getting things done properly in that scenario and prefer engaging in our work in a more fruitful, efficient way.

tidying up, cleaning glass, replacing items that have been moved, helping customers (though most do not want any sort of help!), bagging/wrapping items

There's not really a lot of the above that needs to be done on the shop floor. It's the basement that generally needs tidying up. We're a bookshop (though we sell CDs and DVDs as well) so there's hardly ever a need to wrap items that we sell, placing them into a bag is enough, and the person on the till does that.

Customers tend to only ask for help if they're in search of a specific title or subject matter - if it's not in the appropriate place on the shop floor, then the only other way we could help them would be to look in the basement, but given that we're referring to times when it's so full that we feel unsafe in there, that's not an option for us.

A few of those things could perhaps be done, but they'd be so minimal (on the shop floor) and so quickly finished that they'd probably be done in half an hour or less. The volunteer who's not on the till would just end up feeling like a fifth wheel and it would be hard to see it as a productive use of their time.

Compelling to to work for no wages. Thats slavery. I cant see how it can be legal whatever is in the contract.
I briefly, very briefly worked in retail .
They wanted you in the shop 20mins before opening and you werent to leave until the supervisor cashed up. Generally another 20mins. 40 mins unpaid per day. Which is over 3 unpaid hours in a 5 day week. Nope.
I put up with it for a week. 2nd week I left exactly when my shift was due to finish. They objected. I handed them my pass.

When I've worked in bookshops there has always been work to do putting books in the right spot, turning the books the right way round, etc.

But from your perspective getting the things you think of as your jobs done may well be a lot more fulfilling to you. And as a volunteer it's fine for you to have that perspective and not be prepared to be bored on the shop floor. But I'm talking about it from the charity's perspective and the sort of volunteers they need there at the moment, and so should probably be looking for. From their perspective having the shop open consistently is going to be a lot more important than having it open occasionally but the volunteers being more efficient on those days.

If you're right about the basement actually being dangerous, the charity should be tackling that and I can see it would help with volunteer quality and retention. It seems they disagree with you, though. Obviously I can't say who is right. I assume there are a lot more than 4 people who are there in the week and think the basement isn't a safety issue to the extent they shouldn't be working there. But you could test your perspective by calling the council or Health and Safety Executive and reporting it - confidentially if you are concerned about anyone knowing. If it is a health and safety issue it will probably help your manager get the resources needed to improve waste/stock management.

Compelling to to work for no wages. Thats slavery.

No. It's not.

You obviously have no idea what slavery is nor do you understand the concept of two parties coming to an agreement and memorialising it in a contract.

You decided you didn't like the terms of the contract and left, as the contract permitted you to do, without penalty.

Bet all the real slaves wish they had your flexibility and choice.

Not if they are breaking employment law.

No employment contract can over ride the law.

I think its a given that a large charity would not be.

Also that i cant think of a single company stupid enough to contract in writing something that is not lawful.

If people choose to volunteer extra unpaid hours that's on them. The contract will not be demanding that for, if it did, the employee would be able to sue.

they will calculate their national budget with no OT. She shouldn’t be expected to do unpaid Ot though.

I haven’t read the full thread and only the OP.

it’s the managers job to manage and that includes rota management.

if a volunteer is unable to work which I am sure they give notice , then it’s the managers job to ensure their is cover, eve if that means the manager/paid employee has a day off mid-week.

It’s basic management.

@RawBloomers

When I've worked in bookshops there has always been work to do putting books in the right spot, turning the books the right way round, etc.

Yes, I'm not saying there isn't any of that to be done, but it's such a minimal amount of work that the time spent doing it would take up perhaps half an hour of the 4-5 hour shift.

From their perspective having the shop open consistently is going to be a lot more important than having it open occasionally but the volunteers being more efficient on those days.

In fairness, I would say that we are still open the majority of Sundays, even when allowing for volunteer time off/holiday and deciding not to come re. the basement situation.

I can understand the charity wanting the shop to be open as much as possible, but if you're right that they're less concerned about volunteer efficiency then I would say that confirms my general feeling (which seems to be shared by many other volunteers) that those who run the charity do not care too much in general about the staff who man the shops and the circumstances in which they're working.

It's obvious (and understandable) that their priority is getting as much money as possible, which equals being open as much as possible, but I suppose I'd expect there to be some consideration for the staff and and understanding of the practicalities of having the majority of the workforce being volunteers. I personally think both of those things appear to be in short supply.

For example, you suggested a few posts back that the charity is probably trying to cut costs by using cheaper waste collection companies. I suspect that that is true - but if this then results in the waste collection companies not fulfilling the terms of their contract (weekly collections) and going as much as 6 weeks in a row without showing up, then that makes conditions in the shop more inconvenient/difficult for the staff. Not only does it create health and safety issues in the basement, it also it means that we have to avoid culling our shop floor stock as much as possible (due to there being zero or much more limited spaced to place it), thereby meaning that priced stock and donations also continue to accumulate in the basement.

So this has a negative impact on the shop and, to some extent, the staff.

So I think it's a two-way thing - if they want the staff there as much as possible, then I feel they could be more proactive in trying to ensure that the conditions are better-suited and making sure the resources we have (waste collection) are more appropriate and suitable.

But like I said, I get the impression that those running things are not too interested or concerned about the staff or the conditions in the shops as a whole.

But you could test your perspective by calling the council or Health and Safety Executive and reporting it - confidentially if you are concerned about anyone knowing. If it is a health and safety issue it will probably help your manager get the resources needed to improve waste/stock management.

Thank you for the suggestion. When it comes to the nitty-gritty of health and safety rules, I suspect that some are being violated even at the best of times, but I accept that full compliance with all health and safety rules is perhaps not entirely possible in a relatively small basement. I should also imagine that this is the case for a lot of other charity shops, not just the one I'm in.

One thing that happens fairly frequently is that bags of donations get placed on the stairs going into the basement(donors bring them to the person on the till, which is right beside the stairs into the basement. It's not just volunteers doing this, the managers would also place them there themselves and then not request that anyone take them into the basement - if I would see them piling up, I would generally start to transport them downstairs, but they really shouldn't be placed on the stairs at all - I would think that that's surely a health and safety no-no. On one occasion I did in fact nearly trip over something (can't remember if it was a bag of stock or what) that had been placed on one of the bottom two stairs and I miscalculated the amount I'd have to move to the side to avoid contact with it.

but I accept that full compliance with all health and safety rules is perhaps not entirely possible in a relatively small basement.

I would say that full compliance with all health and safety rules is especially important in a small space. And especially in a basement which tend to be more dangerous in emergencies where evacuation is required.

If the issue really is that it cannot operate safely then it shouldn't be operating. If the issue is that it's to full to do the things that need doing then that's less of an issue.

Things on the stairs does sound like a problem and I'd encourage you to try and get an inspection some time when the place is too full.

I agree the charity should have some regard for it's staff and volunteers - enough that the long term health of the shops is not endangered. But is it hard for the charity to recruit staff or is turn over high? Because if not, they're almost certainly doing a reasonable job on that front. Similarly with volunteers - your team is feeling put out by the charity, but is that generally the case? Is volunteer turn over high generally? And is it really down to the charity or have you got a manager who just isn't very good at their job (including volunteer appreciation)?

I'm not saying the charity is obviously great and you're being too picky. They may be awful. My main point of all this back and forth has been to counter the claim that they ought to pay the manager overtime for Sundays - because it sounds to me more like you have a manager who isn't up to her role. Didn't you post a while ago about the manager being short with you after you couldn't flush the loo because it was in the middle of being fixed? I wonder if she's just in the wrong role and ought to look for a regular retail management role rather than one that involves volunteer management?

@RawBloomers

I would say that full compliance with all health and safety rules is especially important in a small space. And especially in a basement which tend to be more dangerous in emergencies where evacuation is required.

I definitely think it's important, it's just not always possible - especially when the collection company doesn't pick up our culled/scrapped books when they should.

I don't know if I'm being unfair, because I'm not actually aware with the full extent of health and safety rules, but from what I presume they'd cover, I think there are times when some are likely being breached. In the basement, we keep priced books on shelves, and unpriced books in boxes beneath the shelves, but depending on volume of donations, we'll often end up with additional unpriced books piling up on the floor beside the boxes - I would imagine that possibly constitutes a trip hazard?

I agree the charity should have some regard for it's staff and volunteers - enough that the long term health of the shops is not endangered. But is it hard for the charity to recruit staff or is turn over high? Because if not, they're almost certainly doing a reasonable job on that front. Similarly with volunteers - your team is feeling put out by the charity, but is that generally the case? Is volunteer turn over high generally? And is it really down to the charity or have you got a manager who just isn't very good at their job (including volunteer appreciation)?

I don't think volunteer turnover is high (not at our shop, anyway.) I do know that volunteer numbers are quite significantly reduced in many charities across the board - obviously there will be some individual shops for which this doesn't apply, I'm talking overall. Volunteer numbers haven't, as far as I'm aware, come back to their pre-Covid levels. I think some volunteers (especially older ones) just decided not to return after Covid diminished and people in general have less time to volunteer, people are staying in paid work for longer, etc - so the overall pool of volunteers is smaller.

I belong to a private facebook group for Oxfam volunteers and a few of them express their disagreement/displeasure with how the charity does certain things. I can't say how common this is, but from comments I've seen in the FB group, at least some people have similar thoughts to me.

I'm not saying the charity is obviously great and you're being too picky. They may be awful. My main point of all this back and forth has been to counter the claim that they ought to pay the manager overtime for Sundays - because it sounds to me more like you have a manager who isn't up to her role.

I wouldn't call the charity awful, but my general opinion is that they put too much on their shop managers and at times have unrealistic expectations. I don't think the pressure is fair for the salary they're paid. Recently they've been trying to encourage Boxing Day opening over the Christmas period, which I think is rather cheeky, and would probably be pointless anyway. I can't imagine a charity shop is going to be a port of call for most people who are inclined to go to the shops on Boxing Day. Apart from that, I doubt any volunteers would agree to come in on Boxing Day, so it would be just the two managers - anyway, it can't be forced, as Boxing Day is a holiday, but I think just trying to encourage it is a bit of a cheek.

A couple of years ago, Oxfam employees went on strike over low pay - our shop was closed on the strike days - and even though an agreement with the union was reached, I'm not sure it was a huge improvement.

I'm not saying there are no issues with our manager's performance - there are areas where she could probably do better. There are certain instances where I feel maybe she's not doing the job as well as it should be, but also times where I can see the difficulties she's in where things are outside of her control. So I think it's akin to six of one and half a dozen of the other. She might have failings, but the way the charity currently operates has some failings too.

Didn't you post a while ago about the manager being short with you after you couldn't flush the loo because it was in the middle of being fixed?

Yes, that was me.

Thank you for the suggestion. When it comes to the nitty-gritty of health and safety rules, I suspect that some are being violated even at the best of times, but I accept that full compliance with all health and safety rules is perhaps not entirely possible in a relatively small basement. I should also imagine that this is the case for a lot of other charity shops, not just the one I'm in.

One thing that happens fairly frequently is that bags of donations get placed on the stairs going into the basement(donors bring them to the person on the till, which is right beside the stairs into the basement. It's not just volunteers doing this, the managers would also place them there themselves and then not request that anyone take them into the basement - if I would see them piling up, I would generally start to transport them downstairs, but they really shouldn't be placed on the stairs at all - I would think that that's surely a health and safety no-no. On one occasion I did in fact nearly trip over something (can't remember if it was a bag of stock or what) that had been placed on one of the bottom two stairs and I miscalculated the amount I'd have to move to the side to avoid contact with it.

As I thought. This is absolutely a management issue.

I didn't say so before, but I have volunteered in charity shops, including Oxfam, and the managers I have had were red hot on this kind of basic safety. None of them would have allowed donated stock to be placed on the stairs down to the basement, not even for a moment. The trip and slip risk is blindingly obvious. In Oxfam, we had rules about not culling stock before the previous lot had been collected, because the crates of culled stock could not be allowed to go beyond x boxes high due to topple risk. The piles of culled stock could only be placed in specific areas, where they wouldn't block anyone's route to the fire exit.

One of management's primary legal duties is to maintain a safe workplace and this actually takes priority over her responsibility to make money for the charity. Your problems with waste collection solely stem from the fact you have management who are slack on it. If your management was on the phone chasing it up every time the company failed to appear, the waste company would be keeping the booking. Why is the shop still using this company when it doesn't turn up? Is this one a company that pays for good condition books, or one that your shop pays? If the latter, is your manager getting a kickback?

If the shop can't dispose of the old stock/rubbish, the shop needs to be placing a sign up at the door saying that you can't accept donations at the moment. It's what other charity shops do.

Definitely applies to men too, and extends to volunteer managers.

My friend was a volunteer shop manager for a charity and he had to give it up as it was making him unwell. Pressure to keep the shop open, as well as attend outdoor events with a mobile shop. Transporting the merchandise in his own car, no recompense for petrol etc. It was a full time job. He rarely had any spare time at the end.

It was quite surprising what the expectations were, especially as he was a volunteer.

Anyone who cares more about 'a scolding from above' than about protecting her own free time is likely to be vulnerable to exploitation in any job, unfortunately.

@AstonUniversityPotholeDepartment

I agree that it is partly a management issue, but I also blame the charity overall for choosing to use these kind of unreliable waste collection companies in the first place.

None of them would have allowed donated stock to be placed on the stairs down to the basement, not even for a moment. The trip and slip risk is blindingly obvious

This one is definitely on the shop's managers, I agree.

If your management was on the phone chasing it up every time the company failed to appear, the waste company would be keeping the booking.

Our manager does chase it up when the company fails to appear. Because of the contact system she has to use, she is not permitted to phone the waste collection company - but she emails the company to report that they haven't shown up (and emails every other week that they fail to show) as well as telephones Oxfam Waste Management and reports their failure to show up.

In this scenario, she does do what she can - she reports it consistently. I don't see what else she can do besides that.

Why is the shop still using this company when it doesn't turn up?

The shop doesn't have a choice. It's not the individual shops that choose the collection company, it's Oxfam as a charity, so the shops are stuck with whatever company they've hired until/unless the charity decides to change it.

Is this one a company that pays for good condition books, or one that your shop pays?

The company takes all our scrap stock to be thrown away (recycled) and it includes both culled stock and stock that was in too bad a condition to put out for sale in the first place.

Our individual shop doesn't pay the company - it's Oxfam as a charity that hires these companies and pays them. The individual shops don't have anything to do with it.

If the shop can't dispose of the old stock/rubbish, the shop needs to be placing a sign up at the door saying that you can't accept donations at the moment. It's what other charity shops do.

That does happen occasionally, although perhaps not as often as it should do. I think our manager is reluctant to turn newer donations away (even when our Scrap is starting to get out of hand) because she feels under pressure to meet sales targets, and turning newer donations away means potentially loss of sales.

@Createausername1970

Doesn't surprise me at all, sadly. I wonder why this particular charity chose to have the shop manager be a volunteer rather than a paid employee? Not able to afford it, or cutting costs? It doesn't sound like a role that's at all tenable for a volunteer.

I think the expectations were, in the main, coming from the paid employee who oversaw the shops in this area. Possibly they were putting him and other shop managers in this area under more pressure than they should have done, because they in turn were under pressure to increase shop sales. And sales figures per area were published internally on a regular basis. All the tills in each shop automatically reported takings when the close down procedure was run at the end of the day, so it was easy to see which areas/individual shops were doing well or not. This particular shop was one of the best performing in the area.

If someone asked "at the top" if what this volunteer shop manager was being asked to do was their actual policy, I suspect the answer would have been "no, of course not".

He said he really couldn't find the wherewithal to argue/reason with his manager for something he wasn't being paid for anyway, so he walked away.