Sainsburys Staff feeding frenzy

Fondue_2

I'm firmly in agreement with the OP actually. I'm struggling to think of a situation in my own working environment where there would be a benefit which would be open to staff if not taken up by a customer, but if there was I'm damned sure that the customer would get the first priority. That's because it's a business, and the customer is the person paying, and I am the person being paid, so clearly the customer takes priority.

If supermarkets want to offer cut price fish, or whatever, as a staff benefit, then they should clearly sort it out behind doors rather than making paying customers wait at the counter while they get first dibs.

Perhaps it is a sign of old age, but I am always polite and pleasant to customer service staff, for example if someone is shelf filling I try to wait for an appropriate gap to grab what I need. But when I go to my local Tesco I quite regularly get barged into by staff who really don't seem to get the concept of me being the customer. So I have taken my custom to Waitrose, problem solved.

uktim29

Fondue wrote: »

and the customer is the person paying

In this case the staff are the paying people as well.

vikingaero

uktim29 wrote: »

In this case the staff are the paying people as well.

I think you'll find that in the vast majority of supermarkets and retail stores, staff are given their normal discount even on sale and discounted goods. So in effect this local store is cutting their own throats by allowing the staff precedent over waiting customers.

Reggie_Rebel

This doesn't bother me in the slightest.

But then I don't like fish

C_Ronaldo

SUESMITH wrote: »

not allowed to do that at our sainsburys - they have to wait to the end of their shift before shopping

even thoguh we dont have any counters in my store everyone puts aside bits and pieces which tehy will buy when they have clocked out,

C_Ronaldo

nellytheelephant wrote: »

Lol.. Made me laugh.

Most customers are incredibly rude to staff at supermarkets, and think they're superior. So annoying the crap out of a customer is quite often a perk - there's nothing quite like winding up a customer when so many wind you up!

I'd be very annoyed if a customer got first pick of something reduced before the staff if it happened at my work.

yeh i know how you feel, we see it as a perk when stuff is reduced

Optimist

If anything was on open sale and the counter staff ignored me as a queuing customer in order to serve staff who just appeared as per the OPs story, I would be extremely annoyed. I would also make my displeasure felt to the manager of that store

grayme-m

Happychappy wrote: »

I was shopping in Sainsburys yesterday and was in a queue waiting to be served at the fresh fish counter, as I waited I saw most of the fish was being reduced by over 50% which seemed to be perfect timing, unfortunately as this happened other Sainsburys staff started appearing behind the counter speaking to the supervisor and ordering their fish.

The two women serving customers then stopped serving and started removing the fish on sale and putting it at the back of the counter where another woman then bagged it and gave it to the staff ? I couldnt beleive it, complete disinterest in customers until the feeding frenzy of staff was sorted. needless to say all the bargains had gone and a very poor experience of Sainsbury staff.

It may be an interesting thing to bring to the manager's attention in a politely worded letter of 'disappointment'.

Not only are customers being given poor service of which there can be no justification*, but stock is being reduced in what seems to be an organised way, i.e. it looks like it was possibly reduced in collusion.

Of course price reductions and staff benefitting first goes on, but as said above, if it doesn't adversely affect customer service and the customer doesn't know about the price drop then who can complain?

* As we seem to need to post our qualifications to post now, I worked at Tesco in various departments for four years. Lots of numpties, a few real !!!!!! but most on the whole were neither.

iltisman

I have seen similar activity in Macclesfield Tesco where stock is taken to other departments by staff then brought out when reductions start.I think this is a bit off as most staff have a discount card anyway.

grayme-m

We used to have bread and other left over bakery items for 20p each.

Nobody lost out, it had been reduced on the shop floor before the store closed (it was pre '98) so it was only unsold items left, but that was like a frenzy as people looked for the donuts, etc.

It's got nothing to do with how little we were paid, whether we had a discount card or not, it's how it is done and when.