Supermarket Saturday staff

When my children were very small I worked student hours in our local supermarket (Saturdays and evenings) while OH looked after them. I can honestly say that all the students I worked with were friendly, hardworking and polite and would go out of their way to help customers.

It's a pity the same could not be said for the Department Managers, who treated them appallingly. Missed breaks were not unusual when the Managers couldn't be bothered to rota them correctly. Students were spoken to rudely, frequently told that if they didn't like it there were plenty of others to take their place! One poor 17 year old girl was told by a Dept. Manager that someone had made a mess in the Gents' toilets and that she had to go and clean it up because he didn't have time to call for a cleaner! It was only because of the intervention of myself and several other young mums who were working there that this Manager got his come-uppance and was eventually disciplined by the Store Manager.

Although I was 28 years old at the time, I looked much younger (wish I still did!) and some of the Managers who didn't know me very well got very short shrift when they tried the same tactics on me!

I've never forgotten my experiences from that time and always try to be friendly and pleasant to any young shop worker that I come across.

I think its more to do with giving regular staff the weekends off,if they want to.
The young ones will be on basic flat wage,with no premium.
Have a look around the supermarket if your shopping on Sunday(or Saturday) and see how young the staff are.

Recently I had ordered some water filter cartridges, on line, to be picked up from Robert Dyas.
As DH was going to be in town, I forwarded him the email saying they were ready to be collected. In store he was told that as he had none of my ID, he couldn't take them, by an assistant with a personality bypass.
Next time we went together and the same young man was on duty. Still rude and really not cut out for a retail job. Shame.

The Saturday staff at my local Waitrose I find are very helpful. It would appear that more females than young males have been employed.

probably want to be in bed!

Teenage boys often lack the confidence and social skills (for want of better words) that girls have. This is pretty well known and acknowledged.

As for "wanting to be anywhere else", I'd be rather surprised if any teenager didn't!

OK you've all convinced me. I'll give them a second chance!!!

In general boys are less communicative than girls at that age, at Waitrose they are pretty good or they would not have got the job. When they first start they cannot possibly know where everything is, they are supposed to find someone who does, often they are too shy to ask. Their first job would be replenishing shelves and they don’t realize, finding things for customers is part of that job.

Aldi work not poorly paid. They pay above the minimum wage.

Like Casdon I try and pass the odd pleasantry (without holding up the queue) in shops. There’s a young man in Aldi who is very professional, helpful and pleasant, whereas a new chap in M&S barely speaks and makes no eye contact.
I suspect a lot of us did poorly paid Saturday/holiday jobs Theexwife - it was par for the course and some of us may have actually enjoyed it.
Hopefully these experiences will bring some ‘boys’ out of their shells and give them more confidence to interact with strangers more easily.

We have a young man in our village, aged 18, who recently finished his education and works in Tesco. He has various problems with hearing, sight etc. but loves being on the till, chats to everyone and is very helpful. I noticed today that everyone who knows him, makes sure they use his till. Tesco are lucky to have him.

I think teens can be quite gauche and I suspect that as boys tend to lag behind girls in maturing, maybe that’s why they can seem monosyllabic.

Although in my experience, boys or girls, teen shop workers tend to be rather helpful and pleasant. Like Casdon I’ll make a comment about the weather or ask them if they’re knocking off soon or whatever and then they’ll chat away.

Teenage boys often aren’t the best at talking to adults, they aren’t as confident as girls at that age. I always find though that if I break the ice and ask if they are busy today, or whatever, they are happy to exchange pleasantries.

They probably would rather be anywhere else, they are not working there beacause of their love of a low paid retail job.

Oh I don’t agree at all we ve got some lovely young lad assistants around here and my 87 year old friend has the most caring of lads at her local coop she seems to attract young helpfuls anyway but she’s always cheerful and for a joke

It's not really a case of being "nice" or not nice it's what I have noticed over the last year or so and I am a frequent Saturday shopper in fact a daily shopper.

Glad that your experience is different RosiesMaw there's hope that my experience maybe is not general.

I have had precisely the opposite experience recently in Waitrose! A young lad, perhaps with a view to a future career in retail impressed me with his willingness to find an item for me and could not have been more helpful.
Impossible to generalise though, isn't it?

It's nothing at all to do with male/female or young /old . Some folks are nice, some aren't. Most are!