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Original poster

Job offer withdrawn because I asked for a stool

123 replies

Charliescar · 30/09/2019 15:45

I was offered a job as a receptionist and they wanted me stand for 30 hours - one day for 9 hours . No stool at the reception desk .
I said I would accept if they provided a stool and that I have done the same job with a stool and it was fine . They said it would make the reception area less efficient. I am not sure if this is ok ? Any experts ?

OP posts:
Original poster
Charliescar · 30/09/2019 16:41

Yes - I have seen hotel receptionist standing. It’s ridiculous although they do have a back room to sit in for 5 mins here and there - my friend works it one .

OP posts:
DobbyTheHouseElk · 30/09/2019 16:42

Purely from personal experience, but the receptionists who used a stool were generally really lazy.

Loads of other jobs to be done, greeting clients, taking coats, making drinks. Tidying waiting area, dusting etc. None of these jobs are done on a stool.

Original poster
Charliescar · 30/09/2019 16:43

The desk is a high desk - so you wouldn’t have seen stool .
I am just cross as I am fed up of this stupid idea of standing . A dr doesn’t need to dot at a desk -but they do !

OP posts:
LipSyncForYourLife · 30/09/2019 16:45

I don’t think a stool is unreasonable. You should have requested a cheese and ham toasty maker too.

Rachelle11 · 30/09/2019 16:49

But receptionists at a hairdresser do move around. They aren't just standing there all day. You have to help clients with coats and getting water, cleaning things up at the front.

Original poster
Charliescar · 30/09/2019 16:49

I am aware of that Dobby . I have mentioned I didn’t want to be constantly sitting . Just 5 mins here and there ,

OP posts:
OUwhatnext · 30/09/2019 16:49

You need to look for a sitting down job and stop stressing about this one particular job that requires standing, for whatever reason. Move on.

thatoldpinkumbrella · 30/09/2019 16:50

Loads of other jobs to be done, greeting clients, taking coats, making drinks. Tidying waiting area, dusting etc. None of these jobs are done on a stool.

so what? No one is asking to stick to the stool and wheel it everywhere, I am sure any normal human being knows how to get up and move when necessary.
The rest of us manage quite well.

timshelthechoice · 30/09/2019 16:51

Receptionists in hotels often move around but they should be allowed to sit when they can. Reception is such a shitty role as it is, undervalued, underpaid dogsbody that people look down on, and then expected to stand still for 9 hours? Fuck that.

thatoldpinkumbrella · 30/09/2019 16:51

But receptionists at a hairdresser do move around. They aren't just standing there all day. You have to help clients with coats and getting water, cleaning things up at the front.

why should that mean they can't have a seat for when they are not doing any of that?

Original poster
Charliescar · 30/09/2019 16:59

OU have you / do yo work in seated role ?

OP posts:
RB68 · 30/09/2019 16:59

Its actually contrary to HASAWA 1974 and the Mgt Regs - if the job can be done sitting it should be as there are health risks to standing for prolonged periods of time such as varicous veins. The risk is ill health due to standing for long periods of time - the contol measure is to provide suitable seating - and make sure that also meets requirements of being adjustable

incognito76 · 30/09/2019 17:01

YANBU to ask if you can use a stool. They are also NBU to say no. Regardless of whether you or anyone else thinks it would be OK for the receptionist to sit on a stool, they are perfectly within their rights not to allow it - their salon, their rules. You don't have a disability and therefore they do not have to make adjustments for you.

You are not willing to do the job you applied for in the way they want it done. It's that simple. If you want to work sitting down, apply for different jobs.

You also keep saying you've dodged a bullet and wouldn't want to work for that sort of company anyway, and I'm pretty sure they'll have no bother finding someone else who is happy to do the job in the way they want it done, so I'm not really sure why you can't just accept that and move on? Neither you nor the salon has actually lost out on anything here.

FWIW the receptionists at the salon I use always stand.

FunOnTheBeach20 · 30/09/2019 17:02

Think it’s ridiculous they won’t allow you to have a seat when nobody is in, you’re on the phone etc.

Original poster
Charliescar · 30/09/2019 17:08

Am moving on don’t worry - I just don’t understand the problem with people resting for 5 mins - this applies to lots of jobs that are on your feet .

OP posts:
dottiedodah · 30/09/2019 17:15

I think standing in one place is very bad for Back problems, and would be very uncomfortable and quite pointless as well .Some while ago there was some kind of research stating that being able to stand all day at a desk was good for you(Doubt the researchers tried it though!).I dont think YABU at all.

Genevieva · 30/09/2019 17:16

Accept the job without the stool. See how it goes and if you get back pain then ask for a stool to use occasionally. It might be too late now, but give it a go.

Fluffy40 · 30/09/2019 17:20

I was a care assistant, we could sit for short periods, we gave each other massages after a long shift.

EleanorReally · 30/09/2019 17:24

i cant believe you asked before you even started

Lovemusic33 · 30/09/2019 17:25

There’s a huge difference between having a job where your on your feet all day to a job where you are stood on the spot all day. Standing on the spot and hardly moving all day is more painful than moving around, I have had both kind of jobs and my feet were a lot more painful after being stood still rather than moving. I don’t think op was being unreasonable asking for a stool, does a person really need to stand all day behind a reception desk?

NoProblem123 · 30/09/2019 17:26

I remember you posting about this and asking if you thought it was ok to ask and I think everyone said yes !
Can’t believe they would decline a stool. You’ve dodged a bullet, who wants to stand for 9 hours a day unnecessarily.
All the best getting a good employer 💐

Dongdingdong · 30/09/2019 17:33

I can't believe they would expect you to stand for nine hours straight - that's awful! I'm not that long in the tooth and I don't think I could do it.

Alpacathebag · 30/09/2019 17:36

Well you do build stamina to it, I worked in a job for five years where I was on my feet for 7 hours a day, often standing in the same spot for 2-3 hours at a time when dealing with a long queue of customers and I built up so much stamina. Two years out of that job and I’m a sitting role and I can’t do it anymore, so it does become normal after a while.

Besides which you wouldn’t be expected to stand during your breaks so actually it would never actually have been a full 8 hours straight of standing, would it?

OnlyTheTitOfTheIceberg · 30/09/2019 17:43

Perhaps if fewer places insisted on their employees standing 'just because' when the moving-around elements of the job are over for a while and fewer people joined in with this general "well my employer beats me with a broom handle if I so much as shift my weight so suck it up buttercup" race to the bottom, perhaps there would be fewer people off sick with bad backs costing both businesses and the NHS a fortune every year. Preventative medicine and taking responsibility for your own health are the big things in healthcare at the moment; shame some employers (and employees) are too stuck in the dark ages of "but that's how we've always done it" to realise that a small change now could save them a lot of money and/or pain down the road.

Definitely sounds like you've dodged a bullet there OP.

AllStarBySmashMouth · 30/09/2019 17:44

Yeah that happened to me in a shop. Unless pregnant or disabled, no stool for you. I have a dodgy back from an accident, but it's not a disability so I just had to deal with it.