Can I/should I say something?

[Twister]

I work in a supermarket and obviously supermarkets tend to stay open on bank holidays with the exception of the 'main' ones i.e Xmas day, Easter Sunday etc. I know I'm expected to work some bank holidays which is fine I don't mind.

But my problem is that I'm working good Friday as well as Easter Monday, am I being unreasonable in being a bit peeved that I'm working both Easter bank holiday days? And should I ask my manager if I can have one of the days off? I'm not contracted to work Monday's anyway they are over time days for me (yet I seem to work most Mondays anyway) and we were given forms a few weeks ago asking us which bank holidays we would prefer to work and I didn't put down any of the easter bank holidays down, although it did state on the form that we may have to work on days which we did not specify, I wouldn't mind if it was just one of the days, but both? It just seems like my manager has completely disregarded my form and so what was the point in me filling it in in the first place?

Honest answers would be appreciated, sorry for rambling on a bit.

 

[laurabe]

Hmm not a helpful reply from me but just that I know how you feel as I work in the railway. I work bank holidays, xmas, new year, very early mornings, late nights & loads of weekends. Sympathise with you. If I need time off its usually relying on a swap of shifts with someone else cos annual leave is rostered in for us we cant choose when we get time off

Sorry for my rant.

I soo want a new job

 

[Twister]

Don't worry, rant away. I hate my job too, to be honest i'm just about at the end of my teather with it, it's causing so many problems both at work and within my home life with oh as well. We just seem to be arguing about my job all the time, it's so stressful and I'm worried that the stress just isn't good for the baby thing is I applied for this job under the impression it was part time but it's been anything but and I just can't take it anymore, I've told oh tonight that I'm writing my notice tomorrow to hand in on Monday so I'll be gone from there after two weeks, I have about 4 months until I can go on mat leave but at the same time I just don't think I can last that long, most days I struggle to get up and go in and my hours are so errartic with tonnes of overtime I just don't think I can cope any longer. When I had my risk assessment my manager asked me if there was anything they could do to keep my stress levels down and all I said was keep my shifts down yet I've still been doing five/six day weeks when I'm only contracted to do three. I don't mind over time but there's a limit and oh thinks they are taking advantage of me because I was doing mad hours over Xmas and didn't complain once.

I'm stuck in a bit of a dilemma now, part of me just wants to leave and enjoy the rest of my pregnancy even if that means losing out on smp, but then i'm worrying about what my mum would say since we live with her and my step dad still, I just don't want to let them down especially when I said I wanted to try and work as far into the pregnancy as possible, and the other part of me is saying 'no that money will come in handy' but then i'll end up sacrificing general happiness and i'll be under a lot of stress because of the erratic hoursands forced over time. I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm so confused, if I thought I could I would just plough through the next few months but honestly i'm so worn down that I don't think that's a possibility now, I genuinely hate it there to the point where I cry about it which is pathetic. I'm worried that I'm going to get depressed, or maybe I already am I know I sound pathetic but that's exactly how I'm feeling, pathetic.

Sorry for going on a bit, it's just stressing me out so much, I want to do best for baby but I don't know what the best thing to do is.

 

[mummy1985]

Honestly I think if you are not contracted to work Monday anyway you should tell them that you can't work that day. It's unfair that they are just expecting you to work and your oh is right, they are taking advantage because you haven't complained before.

If you are not contracted to work, they can't force you and they certainly can't sack you or anything.

If you are seriously unhappy there it might be worth working out if you qualify for maternity allowance before quitting, as you may end up with no maternity money otherwise.

 

[supernippers]

You'd think the bigger supermarkets would have some kind of family-friendly policies for mums during school holidays etc. I'd have a word if I were you.

 

[mumandco]

You work in asda don't you? I'm sure I read in a previous post of yours. I used to work in asda oh has been working there for 9years now. Your only required to work 2 bank holidays in the year.so once you've done 2 you can refuse to work any others regardless if your contracted to them

 

[Twister]

Thanks, yeah I have posted about it before, it's all I ever seem to post about on here and it's never good things either, people must be getting so fed up with reading about me complaining all the time so I try not to post too much but bnb is a really good outlet for me so sometimes I just have to, I feel sooo much better after ranting it out. I've had jobs I don't like in the past, but this is getting beyond a joke now.

Can I just ask, this is a random question but did you or does your oh have to let the manager know you were leaving before you left when your shift finished? The only reason I ask is because I finished at 3pm today, I'd finished cleaning and shutting up my till and was just emptying my bin and security tags over at the customer service desk when my manager comes up to me and asks what I'm doing in a "what are you doing!?" sort of tone and in a way which implied she didn't know that I finished early today, I said I finished at three, she looked at her watch and then told me not to sign out of my till until I'd told her I was finished.

Thing is I've never ever been told to do this before, and upon observing other colleagues in the past they don't do this either.. I said "I've never had to do that before" and she just said "no" and walked off. I had no idea I was supposed to ask permission to leave when my shift ended, and i can't understand why I would have to? The manager of all people should be aware of who is due to leave at what time surely? It's like she just plucks new rules out of thin air sometimes. She usually thanks me as well after a shift, she does with everyone but she didn't today, not that I'm bothered about that but it seems like when she's in a bad mood she takes it out on us but in a not-so-obvious way iykwim, picking at petty things which she wouldn't normally and stuff. I'm inclined to talk to my personnel manager about it but I'm gonna ask a few colleagues who I get along with first to see if they have to do the same, but I've never seen anyone do that, most people just go. I've NEVER been told to wait around to let her know I was leaving before, she usually sees me before I go anyway and has never mentioned it before

Just want to know if this is the norm kind of thing and if it is why was I never told to do this in the first place?

 

[mumandco]

It is a bit hit and miss tbh I used to work on tills sometimes I would have to phone and ask to close up but then sometimes I would just close up myself and leave! Asda is a truly shocking shitty place to work.i don't know how I managed 7years there.

I think their testing you to see how far they can push you or how much crap you'll take off them.if you seem like a person who will take anything they will treat you like absolute crap. Stand up to them now,it took me 5years to stand up to them and so glad I did.if you ever need any advice your welcome to pm me,my oh knows quite a lot on the "rules" they try to impose such as the bank holidays etc

 

[Twister]

Thanks, it just came from nowhere. I remember in my first few days i waited and carried on serving until a runner came and told me I could go and they told me I didn't need to wait and to just put my closed sign up talk about mixed messages!

I can't wait to go on mat leave, and I'm definitely not going back that's for sure, the only reason i'm staying is because i'm pregnant, otherwise I would have been gone by now but it's not just me I have to think about now, although the stress isn't doing me any good at all. Only four months or so to go, that's all I have to keep telling myself. Feels like an age though even though it's not really. They are shocking tbh, I thought they'd be really good with their staff but they're just not. I even got moaned at for booking my first midwife appointment when I had a shift even though I didn't know my hours for that week, and it seems like I'm there all the time anyway so what am I supposed to do? Especially as they only had appointments available for that day! I'm never getting a job in a supermarket again after this. Every time I wake up on a day I have work I get this instant feeling of dread and it's so hard to drag myself in, ugh sorry rambling again.

 

[mumandco]

Don't apologise hun,I know exactly how u feel,the day I gave my notice in I just felt a huge relief.

The things I could tell you about the way oh and I have been treated by them I will be here all day. Couldn't you go on mat leave early if you won't be goin back?

 

[Twister]

Earliest I can go on maternity is 29 weeks is that right? I'm going to try and tag any holiday I've accrued onto the start of it so I can go a little bit earlier. I'm around 12+4 atm so got a little while, although got my scan next week so I'll get a more accurate idea of how far along I am then (hopefully ill be a few days further). The day I leave for maternity I think I might just have a party to celebrate lol I feel happy just thinking about it, it's gonna be such an amazing feeling and i'm going to be so proud of myself for sticking it out. I know it won't be much but the smp will really help, means I won't need to touch any money I will have saved up for that much longer.

 

[mumandco]

Don't hand in your notice before you leave for mat otherwise they won't pay any smp. I got maternity allowance instead of smp as I only worked 11. Hours.
Congrats on the pregnancy btw x x x

 

[Twister]

Thank you and yeah don't worry I won't probably hand it in once my smp has finished when I'm 'in the clear' so to speak. I'm only contracted to work 13 hours but ever since my second week working I've always done a lot more than that, double that probably, i guess its working in my favour now because I should qualify for smp, but it also means I never get to have a life either! Not that they give two hoots even though I've broken down in tears a couple of times now because of the hours I'm doing and the stress it's been causing me, they never do anything to help me out even though my job performance has been affected! You'd never think I actually liked it there to begin with. Never understood why they don't hire more people if they need me and other colleagues to do so much overtime, I don't mind overtime but it would be nice to have a choice as to whether I want to do it or not, my friend who worked at another store did! Oops there I go again I could go on all day and I've only been there since October.

Thanks for your help anyway! Nice to know I'm not just being dramatic and there are other people who worked at asda and hated it! need to get ready for work now, supposed to be leaving in 20 minutes and I'm still in my pj's!

 

[mumandco]

Could you not tell them you only want your contract hours hun? Of you don't mind me asking what is the smp like do u get it for the full 9months??

 

[Twister]

I have asked to reduce my hours, a few times now, it changes for literally about two weeks and then it goes back to how it was before, like my manager forgets or something, ive pretty much given up trying and am just plodding along... When I had my risk assessment, she asked me if there was anything she could do to help me and keep my stress levels down (she knows about my previous mc), I was still doing long hours and 6 day weeks at this point and I said to reduce my hours (I do want to do a bit of overtime so I get smp) but all that's happened is I'm working the same amount of days (although I refuse to do 6 days a week anymore) just shorter shifts, which would be fine but some days I wonder why I was even on the rota in the first place especially if it's really quiet or there isn't a spare till it's like I'm just there for the sake of it sometimes.

I'm not sure exactly how much I'll get, I did the online smp calculator the other day based on last months earnings and it said I'd get something like 6 weeks at £150-odd (90% of weekly earnings) and obviously before tax and then full smp for the rest of it, can't remember how long for though might have been the full 9months or it might have been just 6 months don't trust those calculators though

 

[Twister]

Bit of an update, I now have Easter Monday off. I didn't actually speak to her I was just talking to another colleague about what we were working over Easter etc, I wasn't really moaning, just saying in passing "I'm working both bank holidays and it sucks" kind of thing and didn't think much of it. Anyway he went and told my manager and she pulled me up on it implying that I'd been spreading it around or something when I haven't, I hadn't even mentioned it to anyone at work until today

She said because I'm a 'new colleague' (been there since October, not sure how long I'm classed as new for?) that I have to work any bank holidays they put me down for! So by that point I was thinking "oh well guess I'm gonna be working them then" then she went back on that and said she'd have a look and see if I can have one of the days off and took me off the Monday. Bit confused as to why she would do that when I apparently have to work them if I'm on the rota but I'm not complaining guess she was just doing me a favour, I didn't protest what she said about new colleagues or anything I was just like "ok". Definitely agree with you though, asda treat their staff like crap, when I first started they were making out like colleagues get this that and the other and I was thinking "this should be a nice Place to work" but then you find out about all the rules which give us no leaway what so ever lol. Oh well at least I've gotten one bank holiday off. Been made to feel guilty about it but I'm sure I'll get over it.

Edit: and I spoke to one of my colleagues who's been working at the store for years about the asking to leave when my shift is over thing and she said that no ones ever had to do that and basically said my manager made it up and that she should be aware of what time staff are due to leave anyway, she basically said that she completely made it up. So I'm not going to follow up with her ridiculous request and if she pulls me up on it I'll tell her that I've never seen anyone else have to do that and why was I not informed of this 'rule' when I first started working there. Tbh I feel somewhat victimised over it but I'm not gonna do anything about it, however i'm going to remember it just in case anything else happens in the future which makes me feel singled out iykwim.