Frump to Fab - A Whole New World.

MrsPorridge

LL you have summed up what is wrong with M&S in a nutshell.  Such a shame I always, always bought my clothing from them, but not for a long time, for the reasons you stated.  Even before lockdown I had stopped buying their food as well.

chanie

STF maybe you should invest in a non spill travel mug, so you don’t have to worry about hurting yourself.

maman enjoy your beauty treatments.

The M&S talk has just reminded me that I have a gift voucher, I should really spend sooner rather than later.  I still buy undies, nightwear and tights from M&S, but that’s about it, clothed wise.

I have continued to clear out the house.  Yesterday, DD said I could get rid of her toys, as she doesn’t play with them anymore.  It feels like the end of an era, as now both children have just a few toys, as opposed to having toys taking over the house.

maman

Even my DH has stopped buying from M&S. He uses Charles Tyrwhitt (sp?) for shirts and trousers and Woolover for jumpers.
I have a favourite coat from M&S but it's years old. I'd love to replace it but they don't do anything like it any more. I thought it through earlier and I now buy knickers from Victoria's Secret as M&S discontinued my favourites, bras from an independent and when I have my size TKMaxx, tights from TKMaxx or Sainsburys, leggings from Asda (hate the M&S ones with thick waistband), dresses from Zara, odd bits from Primark and John Lewis. Then there's the chazzas. 😁

thepurplepixie

I had a Saturday job at M&S when I was 15.  To be honest their clothes were dreadful then, we all called the dresses "elephant dresses" because they fitted where they touched.  None of us would have bought their clothes.  The shoes were dire as well, not a scrap of leather to be seen.  I think underwear and children's clothes have always been their strong points.  I know their school trousers were the only ones my sons didn't put their knees through in weeks.  I think their jumpers and cardigans were good, menswear was OK but women's wear wasn't a strong point, perhaps it improved but I never thought of them for my clothes as I found them poor when I worked there.  You also couldn't guarantee two items that appeared identical were the same, different manufacturers would make them, we knew the codes, and some were better quality than others.  One classic was tights you could buy two pairs and one would have nicely finished toes and the other would be those horrible bunched up toes.  They were brilliant employers though, we could see a chiropodist every six months and have your hair done at work, we had our own salon upstairs.  You either had it done in your lunch hour, with lunch brought to you on a tray or if you booked it during the day your lunch hour was cut to 30 minutes.  The dentist also came regularly.  The philosophy they wanted staff to be smiley and happy with customers which wouldn't happen if you had sore feet or toothache and they wanted you to look smart so regular hair dos were good.  It was all subsidised including the lunch.  Happy days.

If you worked all your shifts in the week before Christmas you got six weeks wages.  Seemed like a fortune.

thepurplepixie

Just remembered the "parade" before you went onto the sales floor.  You left your things in your locker, put on your blue nylon overall and then walked past a full length mirror to check everything looked OK, then walked past a senior member of staff who would send you back if they thought you needed to comb your hair or you had too much make up or something.  I remember one woman failing her probation as she had a beehive, they told her to choose the beehive or the job.  She chose the beehive.  Would anyone stand for it now?

thepurplepixie

I'm getting all nostalgic now, one of the perks of the job was queuing up at the end of the day to buy food near it's sell by date for pennies.  My mum would be thrilled when I got home with a bag of meat, bread, cakes and fruit for about two shillings.

maman

Fascinating story pixie. 😊
I had a Saturday job at BHS and while they weren't bad employers, we looked on with envy at the people in M&S with their hair appointments! 😁

chanie

pixie I love reading about your M&S tales.  

maman lol about M&S envy.

I’ll do you one worse.  My first Saturday job was Primark.  Absolutely no perks.  They said they wouldn’t give a staff discount because the clothes were already cheap.

thepurplepixie

Maman yes it was great, work all day so you had some money for going out and you could still have your hair done.  Not to mention the brownie points at home when I took a carrier bag of goodies home.
Chanie I forgot the staff discount, I think we got half a crown off per pound.

Customers weren't always nice, one very hot day a customer was complaining about the heat, no AC then.  I agreed with her and she looked at me with horror and said, "You are being paid."  So I suppose I wasn't allowed to feel hot on paid time.

maman

Surprisingly chanie, I find staff in Primark very cheerful and helpful despite no perks. ☹️

My worst job was in an independent department store for Christmas and New Year sales. It was quite high end and sold all the posh school uniforms and gentlemen's outfitters type stuff. What was horrible about it was the permanent staff were on commission and were so obsequious to regular customers and almost pushed us casuals out of the way to get to them first. I also did a very boring form filling job in a factory pay office one summer . I'm sure it all helped though as I was determined to do something more interesting in the long term. 😊