volunteering at charity shop and manager trying to possibly 'push' me out.

Miss_Heartilly

I've been having problems at the place I volunteer at. It's a charity shop.

It's mainly been the manager. He asks me to unpack bags and hang clothes on hangers and sort through them all. Which I don't mind as such but he doesn't let me do much else. Such as use the till, open/close the shop/ or be in the shop on my own.

I haven't had training on doing this with him but have had other workers in the shop and another manager show me so know how to do most of it anyway. He knows this too. The only thing I cannot do is the cashing up at the end of the day. But this is because he will not show me.

I have been there months now and a new girl started and only on her second day he showed her how to lock the shop, operate the till and basically do all the cashing up. He ticked them off on her sheet but wouldn't tick them off on my sheet saying he'd do it later but never did.

Whenever I am in the shop he makes me do the sorting of clothes and hanging them and let's her and other volunteers do the till and looking after the shop in general. I don't understand why this is. As I have been there longer than them, several months longer and I also volunteer there for more hours than they do. I have more experience in general and I do 3 days a week 9-2pm. They do a couple of hours a week.

If somebody can't come in for whatever reason, he will purposely ask another volunteer to come in and do the till, serve customer and open the till and it's often their first day at this particular shop dispite the fact I am in that day anyway and could do it. Whereas I have been here months, the new person is getting to do the best jobs.

One time the other manager left me to run the shop by myself and I managed fine. So I know I can do it. There were a few problems with the till not working but I managed to get this under control on my own despite having no proper till training and just my second time using the till. Which should of been impressive but not even a thank you from this manager or acknowledgement that I do in fact have skills to do this on my own. Yes, it was stressful but I still did it. And each time it gets easier and I have no issues now. Bare in mind that this is an an old till so plays up. For example, some buttons stop working even though I know I pressed them in the correct order, I learnt so much that day then I had in the whole 3 months I have been there. I was challenged. My other manager even said I did a good job. Although granted maybe I shouldn't of mentioned I was a bit stressed. But to be fair, I explained that my son had been admitted to hospital that day (he had crushed his knuckles) and would be needing an operation. So I had to hurry shutting the shop, and didn't have time to put the money that was in the till in the safe. But I did lock up, and rang her the next morning to let her know. She said this was okay, I don't think she expected me to till up anyway as I needed to be shown to do that anyways. But she said she was going to have words with the manager about more training on the till for volunteers.

I work very hard when I am there, I don't just sit at the till like some of the other volunteers so I am not sure why this manager feels I have to do all the boring stuff and doesn't need to train me on things but yet he will train people who's been there only two days.

There was one instance where he showed this new girl how to cash up the till and how to bank it and use other aspects of the till such as registering donations etc,, after closing time and he could have shown me as well. As I was standing right there when he was showing her. I know I have ran the shop on my own before (well once anyway) but I still don't know everything about the till (such as the donations thing etc..) so it would benefit us both if I knew this as well. So instead of showing me, he just asked the newer volunteer to let me out the shop. I was quite upset by this. It was like he didn't want me to learn this.

He also moans that he can't open the shop but when I offer he says 'oh it's ok' I have someone, but yet he will either close it or have this other person travel 10 miles to the shop to open it and they'll often be on their own. But he says to me that they can't have people on their own and there must be at least 2 people in the shop.

I offer to stay later to lock up the shop etc so that the shop doesn't lose as much money but again he says I have to leave when the other volunteer leaves. even though i am capable of doing it on my own. This is making me want to quit as others have opened on their own and locked up on their own too.

How can I progress if I'm not shown to do anything? I feel like I am being pushed out. Like, let's give me stuff to do that's boring and give newbies more responsibility so that I'll leave or something. I don't understand as all i have ever done is helped that shop.

Why is it ok to show newer people what to do, while I have to ask other volunteers to show me stuff? It's like he doesn't want to train me up.

I was first in the shop the other day and he told me to 'go open some bags' why couldn't the new girl do that? He will not move from behinfd the counter till someone else comes in as if trying to stop me serving people. Not sure why as I am actually good at this.

I've been doing that for months (sorting through bags) It's almost insulting. He's not even discreet about training this girl and others more than me. I saw her training sheet and he'd ticked almost everything off in two days, I had about 5 things ticked off in 3 months,. With at least another 5 things needed to be ticked off but he said he'd 'get to it'. I bet he never does though.

The other manager let's me do both the sorting out and the till/serving customers so i don't get what his issue is. Anybody have any advice or similar experiences? I want to do this as a career one day so am obviously hoping for more experience.

Masomnia

Miss_Heartilly wrote: »

I want to do this as a career one day so am obviously hoping for more experience.

Go for it now. Waste no more time at the shop.

xapprenticex

You just have a manager who doesnt seem keen on you, maybe he fancies the other girl, maybe he is just trying to spite you, maybe he is genuinely incompetent and is doing none of this on purpose.

Is there a career in working in charity shops though? Just sounds like a job to me (assuming you get paid).

Miss_Heartilly

I am going for it. I just wanted to get say a years experience doing this before I applied for paid jobs. Eventually I would like to manage a charity shop. I am also starting a management qualification in september, however nobody else knows this.

Miss_Heartilly

Maybe he does fancy her. I don't know to be honest. But she isn't what I would call attractive but beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all.

It just seems he'd rather train everyone else over me to the point where it could actually affect the shop. How much longer can he keep ringing people up to cover? Especially when said people work at other shops. He could just properly train me and I could do it. I have offered to do everyday for him, he just says 'oh it's ok i don't need you' but then struggles on his own, gets someone else to do it who probably could do with help as well or just simply closes up or Gives everybody else better jobs to do with more responsibility than me dispite me being there longer.

Your right he does seem like a bad manager though. It took the area manager to tell him to train people for him to actually show people what they should be doing, in my case several months after i started and even then not everything i should of been shown.

I think there is a career in it yes, you can be a charity shop manager on a salary of around £23,000 with British heart foundation for example. But it's not the pay for me, I just really enjoy doing it. I have a passion for it. So i figured why not to it as a career seeing as I like it so much.

xapprenticex

You specifically want to run a charity shop? I dont think they would pay very well (maybe you dont care). It would be more rewarding and better paying (imo) being a paid adviser at one of the many charities offering civil law, financial or benefit advice, and getting experience is not difficult.

EDIT: Ive just seen the above post, well you seem to have thought about it so good luck. Just bear with it if you can, keep your eye on the prize.

kazwookie

Move to another charity shop.

Mojisola

Miss_Heartilly wrote: »

I've been having problems at the place I volunteer at. It's a charity shop.

I have been there months now

I do 3 days a week 9-2pm.

I work very hard when I am there

How can I progress if I'm not shown to do anything?

I feel like I am being pushed out.

Is this the only charity shop in your area? Could you try a different place?

Sometimes you get a personality clash like this and there's no way to force a manager to treat better if he/she doesn't want to.

As you've had several months experience volunteering, would you consider applying for paid jobs in shops?

PasturesNew

Move to another charity shop. They'll all be different, so you'll gain more experience by seeing how 2-3 work, than if you stay at one.

The manager obviously doesn't like you for some reason... that happens.

Tiddlywinks

You are a volunteer - take your time and your effort to another store where they will appreciate you.

I have to say though that the manager is showing signs of not trusting you - could it be because of the incident where you left the cash in the till instead of putting it in the safe?

Are you giving off vibes of not being confident? Appearing nervous or hesitant?

You really just need to ask the manager why you are being treated differently - don't be aggressive or confrontational - just approach him with your concerns.

You might be surprised by his feedback.

Miss_Heartilly

I have looked at other jobs in area and most are saying they want a years experience. I have 3 months. They also want people who can do certain other things that the manager doesn't seem to want me to learn, but yet training others to do these things.

I don't think it's a personality clash as such as he seems to be deliberately not training me, giving me boring things to do whereas others can do the more exciting stuff where they actually learn something. They get more responsibility it's like no matter how hard i work it's not noticed I don't get given opportunities. I am the only volunteer left that originally worked at this shop everyone else has left or has possibly left (there's one woman who volunteered everyday who is refusing to answer her phone for weeks now) so seeing as i'm the one who's left.. I thought this is good maybe i will actually be able to help run the shop or try new things. But this rarely happens, he just gets people from other shops.. who I had to show how to switch the lights on as they didnt know where they were. They'd never been in this shop before. Which says it all really.. I get on with him ok apart from this.