Overheard in Poundworld today.

melb

I take it pete111 hasn't ever been responsible for picking up children from an after school club where they close at a specific time and that has been taken into account by the employee when they have applied for a job which has a specific finish time which allows them to get there in time. Not always possible to be flexible even if one wanted to - especially with 30 minutes' notice. that strikes me as bad management.

Owain_Moneysaver

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

No. That's poundworld for you.

What do you expect from a place that sells 30 out-of-date Rocky bars for a squid?

Do they really? :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:

Owain_Moneysaver

shikoku wrote: »

How did you make that leap?

Because by offering him wine they may be offering a form of reward which other workers would be able to accept but he can't. Or they've decided not to offer him the reward because they assume he won't accept it.

Either way it's open to be challenged as less favourable treatment on grounds of religion.

Pete111

melb wrote: »

I take it pete111 hasn't ever been responsible for picking up children from an after school club where they close at a specific time and that has been taken into account by the employee when they have applied for a job which has a specific finish time which allows them to get there in time. Not always possible to be flexible even if one wanted to - especially with 30 minutes' notice. that strikes me as bad management.

*FACEPALM*

You appear to think I am thumping the table on behalf of management requiring vast amounts of unpaid OT. I'm not. I'm telling you how it is in the real world where a bit of flexibility and showing willing can go a long way to both protecting your job and potentially enhanching your career prospects .

You will note that my (made up) example also included mention of other points during the working day ie the start of the day and lunchtime. If you really need me to break it down for you why one employee may be more favourably looked on than the other by Mgt then I truly despair..

Kajimba

Pete111 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. A very odd decision indeed and not one I or most others would have taken with two otherwise equal employees.

It's simple, two employees had worked for the company for much longer than the three of us, plus one of them was full-time. The part-time person who's been kept on has known the franchise owner since she was a small child. In order to keep her on, they've fired a fourth part-time worker who had only joined three months ago. I have no idea what their work rate was like: it's unlikely it was any lower than the people they've kept on.

duckmaster

Pete111 wrote: »

Lets take 2 employees

One turns up at 9am, works until lunch when they take exactly one hour and refuse to schedule meetings etc during this time. At the end of the day they leave at 5,30pm on the dot come what may. When asked at 5pm if they can do an important and urgent piece of work that will take an hour they say 'sorry, I can't get it to you until tomorrow'

The other often turns up a little early for work, sometimes works a short lunch break depending on what is happening that day and tends to leave between 5.30 and 6pm. When asked at 5pm if they can do an important and urgent piece of work that will take an hour they reply that they will get right on it and complete the task that day before heading home.

All things being equal, which employee gets made redundant? (hint, It's not employee 2)

Actually you're wrong.

If someone had this vitally important piece of work sitting on their desk all day and they decided not to give it to you until 5pm, you'd sack them.

If the work had just come in at 5pm and you were the only person in the building who could deal with it, you'd sack the training manager.

melb

and I repeat if your childcare provider closes its doors at 5.45 pm you cannot leave your child outside to wait for you. If however one is asked to work through one's lunch, one might do so to be flexible as it is within one's gift to do so.

patman99

Sounds like the attitude of one of my OH's former employers. She used to work at Marks Tey transport cafe when it was owned by a guy by the name of Nigel Holland (he who upset Harrods by naming his now-defunct cafe at Rivenhall 'Hollands'). His philosophy was that work came before any family matters, and that it was OK to pay £100 cash in hand (but assuring the employee that Tax was being deducted) for a 35 hour week. His attitude to health and hygiene left a lot to be desired as well.

cassieB57

"Maybe we should send children down the pits and chimneys again!"

Cracking idea!! (though it's "up" chimneys surely?)

peterbaker

Thank you for the OP for naming and shaming Poundworld for what looks like a blatant breach of Human Rights.

The retail industry in malls up and down the UK now relies totally on employing monkeys paid peanuts as "managers" who care less or know nothing about right and wrong, who are supported by an army of child workers on "zero hours" contracts who earn less than the normal minimum wage (because they are mostly still at school) and who never quite know what the roster holds for them because basically it is in their boss's head and changes as often as the air that wafts through it.

And then you get other air-heads who seem to know just as little about what really goes on in the UK commenting on a thread things like

Do you have a point? Many people work over their allocated hours every single day!

and

Planet 'Reality' ... Every company I have ever worked for has had a clause similar to the below in the contract: Your standard hours are xxx per week but you are expected to work unpaid beyond these as required to ensure the proper fulfillment of your duties...

...You appear to think I am thumping the table on behalf of management requiring vast amounts of unpaid OT. I'm not. I'm telling you how it is in the real world where a bit of flexibility and showing willing can go a long way to both protecting your job and potentially enhanching your career prospects.

I really despair sometimes of the total and absolute mess which is the UK reflected in these forums.