Our Life

I personally love Tesco. It seems most on here hate Tesco. Just wondered if there are many of you in the same boat as me.

Hayley
Store 5151 Carlton Express
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National Forum Rep
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To be honest, your getting everything from tesco, Options etc so no wonder you love them, Most here are treated awful by tesco, your treated like a queen

I love tesco and trust me i dont get treated like a queen but i cant imagine working n e where else and it being as much fun lol

Exactly.
If you're on Options they treat you like the Sun shines out of your arse.

Oh Ill add shes not just on any ol'options shes on the Duty manager options, its mandortory to love tesco!

Im on options and i dont get treated like the sun shines out my arse or n e thing of the sort, i get treated like a bloody slave, have to do my job and everyone elses, esp being a duty manager

yup. i love it.

How come options people are treated better than everyone else, they get things they want, I know people on options and they say its a "peice of p*ss because alot is handed to them"

Alot of people who like tesco, is because tesco give them what they want, these are mainly all for tesco, Tesco can do no wrong,

yep i wudnt have it n e other way mind

well i certainly got nothing handed to me, i had to wrk my ass off and do twice as well as everyone else to get half the praise, ive wrked 15hrs b4 bein unpaid for half of it, to get the store ready for the store director the next day and the store manager jst walked out the door sayin thankyou to the guy next to me and ignored me! i have had to change my life around for tesco, when i moved stores i was forced to give up uni and unable to pick up my much younger brothers from school on a wednesday becoz they wudnt support it but i still love working for the company

See this is the sort of person tesco want "Yes Terry" "No terry" "Ill work christmas day terry for recognition from the company I love but don't give a damn about me"

If you loved uni that much why go on options? I'd rather complete my degree than bend over for a company that illegally tells me when I have to book my holidays, illegally disciplines people for being sick.

To be honest if you gave this up for TESCO are you not a little obsessed with them?

maybe i am, i jst enjoy working there, i went on options to pay for uni, i jst think that ppl think that options candidates all turn to assholes and that managers r mostly assholes and they rnt, i wrk really hard in my job and i wud h8 to think that n e one thought i was lazy and that i didnt pull my weight and do everything possible to help my staff. I bend over backwards to help my staff out and will always do my best to sort out what they want.

Tesco is Britain's largest private employer-i doubt very much that they would get away with having illegal policies on such basic things. what you mean is that you do not like them. you sound a bit mean to me, it is nice that someone likes their job.

I have my good days and bad days. As a general rule I mostly enjoy my job, there are days when I absolutely hate it though. I think that's a normal reaction though. And I'm on options too but I don't think that really makes a difference to it all as I still have my good and bad days. However I must admit I'm getting more enjoyment now I'm on options as I like the challenges it brings. Otherwise the job gets repetitive and I get bored.

i dont mind tesco. the staff that i work with on the tills and kiosk are all a laught they make the day go by shame the same cant be said about some managers. <no names> . although it would be much better with no customers.

tesco 2139

Yes you ave guessed it. Iam one of them aswel that loves Tesco's.I work in s/c and wouldnt change my job for the world.I am on options aswel but beleive me we dont get it any easy.2025

I enjoy working for Tesco I can't see myself working for any other Supermarket Chain let alone another retailer. Been there and done it and decided I wanted to come back to Tesco. Good people to work with and some good benefits.

Treated like a queen?!?!?! Ha ha ha ha ha

I wish! I shipped around stores to cover sickness and general short staffing! I wish I was treated like a queen.

I love them so much i left – but kept my shares! ta

I bum Tesco. It's officially awesome.

I love Tesco on Sunday mornings before the doorsopen at 9.30 Empty of customers is the way I like it

wouldn't say I love Tesco, but I absolutely love the people I work with….if I wanted some demanding job, then obviously I would've left by now, but since the people are the best, I will stay put for now…

There are worse jobs. Alot of the time it is mind numbing boring. The policies suck (SYA etc) and alot of pettiness. If you are not in USDAW you get treated differenly, not so favourably. We need to be in the union just to ensure fairness.Agree with many posts, its the mates you work with that get you through the day. We have such a laugh. Love my work colleagues.

So, are we telling the truth on our viewpoint? i had a bit of sport by ticking all the bad boxes then writing i was a member of the senior team and male-there is only one of those in our store and he is a prat.

I hate tick box things. With the questions, I feel like ticking several different boxes. The whole "I feel manager listen to me". Well, some do, some treat me like a moron. What so do I tick? I'd rather be able to write a short sentence or two in response to the statements. There isn't even an "other comments" section :S

Thats to remove them from recognising your hand writing and knowing its you.

Yeah but still do they ever listen to what we put on them, I read the results last year and they must have made a stack up themselves because it was all good response, its a complete waste of time

not strictly true…all of the new kick stools, moby knives etc was a direct response to the largely negative response to 'i have the tools i need to do my job.' hilarious really-i think new pda's and computers was more what we were getting at

when i was at my old store ALL the day staff, and i mean all, voted that the morale was garbage yet the result came back that 90% said it was good, viewpoint is fixed

I think its because of the express stores reheally, my express rocks :0

hahaha i dont have to do one this year cos i'm at uni and so wont b bak in my store till march :D
the only reason they are good is cos its like having an extra break and so its amazing how long it can take u to tick a few boxes :p

Hmmmm not know it's you ah. Well the last section what department do you work on ect gives it all away. As I'm the only female Team Leader with over 11 years service and in that age bracket as well.

Too true, Valerie ,
the first time i filled a viewpoint out, the first question, was '' do you work for dot com ?'' if so skip to section ' blah blah blah' ,, this was after , you had quoted , your sex , age , and nationality,, It would not have taken Einstein to work out, who had said what ! , We only had 4 male drivers, aged between 21 to 60,,, If it's confidential,, they don't need to ask these questions,
It just becomes a joke,, but that was a few years ago,,,, i'm now a Buddist, trans-sexual, with left wing tendances, store manager from Burnley,

Hahahaha

i am doing mine when i'in on the weekend. this will be my first viewpoint.

basicly, i just want to use it to ask for a uniform which i am still without 3 months after starting. I've asked the store manager and my dept manager at least 10 times each.

i dont want to ask the store manager cus he gives me some great little overtime shifts at times he knows suit me. i dont want to get on his nerves about uniform.

So, is there a section where you can say you dont get your uniform?

I think the thing with viewpoint is that the managers forget to tell their staff that if they tick the neither agree/disagree box it goes for the possitive and not many people realise that

Nope it's pure box-tickery.

It's always the same questions every year. I think it's absurd that their measure of how we are treated at work is whether or not members of the senior team greet you! Surely saying hello is a two-way thing, and the burden of doing so lies as much with me as it does with management?!

Nope. It took me six months to get my skirt

I love the bribery of there being sweets or something always available in the room for the staff completing the viewpoint…..

My Viewpoint questionnaire is going to be so easy to figure out whose it is. The female and Produce answers on the back give it straight away as i'm the only female member of staff on Produce. Luckily I don't have too much to gripe about, not that I would be bothered if they did, they asked us to be honest…

My manager:
"Few changes since you did this last year, 'My Managers says hello' isn't Senior Team, it's just your line manager, so don't get up in arms if we don't say hello everyday."
"''I can see myself working at Tesco in a years time' is the company, not just this store, so be sure to be honest with that".

After a string of misfortunes, I absolutly slated my store. Shame, I quite liked it, up till about a month ago.
Think when I make Team Leader I'll make sure lots of sweets are available for my staff. :)

Think you can talk ALL our Front End Team Leaders into that, huh, Scott? :P
Mind you, our old store manager used to come around with huge tins of Roses chocolates every so often. And in Summer, he'd serve us squash. But then he left

right hand side str8 down :-)

viewpoint! wot is the point?

What i find with viewpoint is, the bit when they ask a few little questions about urself….. i work on the deli, there is no men who work on the deli just a group of women….. i am the youngest, so from looking @ my form they will be able 2 work out who it is…. its not hard.

And another thing…. manager wise, yes some will listen to u, but others wont.

I thought the whole point of viewpoint was that it is carried out by an external agency rather than your store or regional management so it makes no difference if the boxes you tick would give away who you are. I've always ticked the nice boxes before now, but I moved to a new metro store when I moved to uni this year and I put in a extra piece of A4 paper just so I could list some of the ways my new store have abused me and tried to rip me off!

from thr format of it, i'd say its most likely processed by machine. the sheer number of the forms to be processed also tends to this as well. this would be why you cant write anything extra: the machine doesnt know what you write and cant collate it nicely with lots of bright and colourful graphs and tables and meaningless statistics to keep the bigwigs happy!

I would have to go for the Value lager. It's 2% strength and tastes like water, even for 88p it's a pointless buy!

The value crisps are pretty dire too.

I wish you COULD actually buy one of THESE from the value range though:
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Tesco_Value_Ferrari

Tesco Value Toilet Tissue: You almost use one roll in one go as you have to fold it several times over to avoid wiping mishaps.

Tesco Value Bread: should be located on the Pet Foods Aisle for the amount of Customers who want it to feed the DUCKS! and BIRDS

lol. i buy value bread for feeding the ducks.

Tesco value breakfast cereal is pretty minging too

I don't mind Value Bran Flakes but the rest are mingin'

surely tesco value water, if you're that cheap use a normal tap?

I work in an express, our manager bought a value toaster for the staff room, all it needs is 3 browning selections, 4 and 5 are to turn bread into carbon, the 6 and 7 turn it into diamond!

Value Sweat Scraper! No joke there is such a thing I saw it in non food in the horse section.

Some of the more ridiculous ones I came across when I used to be on Non Food:

Tent pegs
Handbags/ wallets (for some reason, they were lumped in with Luggage)
Valentine's Day cards
Swimming goggles
Bubble Mixture (key (only) ingredients: washing up liquid and water)

know the feeling nicholas i work for express and toaster never works properley lol

tesco value poncho… enough said.

there's a Tesco 'horse' section?!

Yes. Doesn't impress me, as they also sell (or used to, not sure anymore), riding hats and body protectors. I've ridden most of my life and used to work for a saddlery and items like that are near useless if not properly fitted! And few people who buy riding hates and body protectors from Tesco will know enough to do that. And they won't get the proper advice with it. It's a dangerous enough sport, without being ill-equipped. That's just a disaster waiting to happen. Grrrrr….

Ive noticed how a lot of the Value Range is disappearing, seems Tesco is keen on pushing its Standard own brand and the Finest* brand, even some Major brands seem to be disappearing

Ha, Lex! Long time no see. Lol at the value horse section… Though would have to say value water is the winner for me… Sparkling I can understand though, since I am not gonna sit there and put carbon dioxide in my water…

Did you not hear my initial rant when I first found this out? Wise day to go AWOL :P
I'm not sure; I have an innate distrust of all Value items.
Forgot you worked at Tesco :S

I'm actually going to praise a value item here – the value tortilla chips are actually really good and are a great seller in our store, customers seem to highly praise them – there great with the fresh dips

I agree, they're pretty good!

yeah we got horses stuff down hardlines section but the whip is fantastic fun if you get a decent lass down ya way ;)

The worsts gotta be tesco value chocolate assortments( a box of chocolates) 42p now who would actually give them to someone as a gift, unless it was a joke?x

Tesco Value mince looks very much like sheep food!

has to be value soap,what's the point

Tesco Value chocolate truffles are surprisingly pretty nice!

I expected them to consist of plasticine rolled in sand.

Because have you ever had smelly customers come in? Youd think at a couple of pence they'd be able to afford some soap and maybe even a bottle of Value water. Ewwwwwwww the Mingers!

To be perfectly honest I have use Value mince and found you dnt need to use any oil with it and its not greasy like the standard label mince or steak mince.

So, as you work at Tesco, you start develop "moves"… Things that over time, you have worked out will give you more break, or help you to stand an annoying customer, or just to do a simple task… Let's see how many there are! Share and compare!

1 – "Fake Laugh"; even if the joke is NOT funny, and the customer thinks they are hilarious (and this happens mostly with old people, no offence…), you can't help yourself! You laugh heartily whilst trying to say "Could you just enter your PIN number, please?"… This is really one of those dying-inside moves.

2 – "Quick-turn"; when you see a potential 4 trolleys' worth of shopping coming your way, you can sometimes be tempted to do this move. You swiftly turn totally away from any eye-contact, and mess with either the till, the box for the security tags, or your chair… The customers just feel too darn rude to interupt you to ask if you are open, in case you aren't, and a thousand tons of embarrasment would overcome them. A cliché or suggested idea for this move, would be to do your shoe-lace.

3 – "Flood gate"; when asking the customer if they want help packing their bags, it can get awfully tempting for them to actually say "oh! I never actually say yes, so what the fruitcake, sure!"… You are stuck with that awkward situation of being obliged to pack. Just let all their items go down the conveyor belt in a tetris-style arrangement… Just so that you were "giving them space" for them to put items on. Never actually pack anything more than a few items, and then by the time they get to the other side (all being well), they will tell you they will "be alright now, thanks". A smarmy "no problem" would be good here from you, as you have actually done nothing more than you would anyway. You then get to watch them pack, whilst ALSO having the pleasure of scanning an item and making them feel guilty for not packing fast enough, as all the stuff you have already scanned has flooded the packing-bay.

4 – "Voucher Dismissal"; so, when you have Sports For School vouchers, or something like that, you KNOW that most of the people will want to collect them. But some people just don't deserve them. They have that evil "I want to help kids to have sports equipment in their schools" look in their eyes… So! And this isn't something I would do, obviously… When you have a customer that you don't want to give the vouchers to… Offer them the vouchers, but in a really non-challant "yeah right" sort of way, where they actually feel like they are losing some of their coolness just accepting them. Then, laugh along when they say they don't think they could use them, and store them. THEN! When a customer comes that you want to impress, or make smile, or whatever, you can give them ALL the ones that you have stored up! Everyone is happy; the first person things they have kept their status of being too cool for School (vouchers…), and the second lot think you are breaking the law with your kindness, and vow to name their next kid after you as they are so happy…

— I don't do these moves, obviously, but I have a good imagination —

Haha the "quick-turn" is well used by most (not me obviously)

There is always the old "I wasn't sure about the time, when I went up", when you come down from your break 15 mins late.

Or the old "i'll go and see if that's in stock", then disappear on a break for about half an hour :D

Going to ask someone else where somthing is, thn palming the customer on the unlucky colleague, who either goes and looks for whatever it is, guesses an ailse number, or applies the above rule :D

the classic "ask at customer services" move, if your too lazy to answer a question or cant be arsed to deal with a complaint or query … send them to customer services to annoy the collegues over there hahaha

There's always the "isle 4 move"
"where is the cat food" by one customer to which you reply "isle 4" then casually walk away..

along comes the nxt customer "wheres the milk please"
"oh its isle four"

only difference is this time you run.

There was one I used to use a lot when we got no reply to the customer help team calls. Customers would stand in the queues glaring at me so I would pick up the clipboard with the rota on it and have a stroll around the store ''searching for multi skilled staff''. Made me look useful and gave me a break from the checkouts for a bit.

I've done the voucher thing. I've even taken them home with me and given them to the next door neighbour. Sad but true.

Now I have no use for any of these moves but believe me, I perfected them all.

"Calculations"; I think everyone in their Tesco career (ha) has done this one… Okay, so sure there are times where you want to avoid customers, and do everything NOT to get a certain customer… But there is always the cute girl that walked in, and all the checkout guys are trying to play it cool, but in their head they are making intricate calculations of how long it will take her before she needs a checkout, and how they can optimise their chances of finishing a customer JUST as she comes to look for a checkout… I'm pretty good at this one…

Maybe, it's only me that does this, no?

On our csd we used to have (untill a colleague left!) a really helpful person called dave who worked usually in fmc/stock control! who could sort out most things, unless his computer had crashed, needless to say there was never anyone on the other side of the phone that she was talking into lol

LOL I do this when a particular guy comes towards my till. I ring the bell over and over in the vain hope that someone will get there to serve the customer before him while I finish my customer. EVERYONE does it.

PS- avoid old people in Express stores at all costs!

We had two cashiers who's special 'moves' were to do their shopping during their lunch hour and serve each other. Not a problem until a member of staff noticed that not all items were being scanned just put through with the barcode hidden They admitted to have done this before for each other, both were sacked.

paul in answer to yr fit birds bit our store at kingston milton keynes used to come out over the load speackers code 69 in isle wotever (hassen to add i work for express i knew exactly wot they ment while shopping with my hubby) but hubby got used to tesco ligo and wanted to go to that isle hassen to add he got a few punches while pushing the trolley and tesco hav cottoned on to code 69 coz they said they did not hve that code in the first place lol

overtime pulling cages from the warehouse to the floor in the run up to xmas

just clock out and in after your contracted shift, then go home, watch telly, eat some tea, and go back to the tesco to clock out from the 'overtime shift'

I once had a customer ask me if I knew the opening times of bradford bulls gift shop whilst I was on the self-serve. sent them to csd. they know everything.

Hahaha

There's always the old 'I never heard you ask me anything' trick.
Being on .com it is so damn annoying having to search for things for in-store customers when you have tons of picking do and no staff and plus, we're being timed! So usually I try and get away with it by just walking off in the opposite direction and ignoring them =P

And I refuse to move my trolley unless they actually ask me to. Have manners people! I like shoving my trolley right in front of customers that are rude and nasty and getting my own back!

tracy that cat in your picture looks like blofeld's cat from james bond….

*strokes cat in evil fashion*

meh, if someone pissed me off, or I couldn't be arsed with them, I just pretended I could hear them.

OWEN HOW DARE U HE IS MY BABY AND COST ME A LOT OF MONEY HE IS PURE PEDEGREE AND WOZ BRED TO JUST BE AND INSIDE CAT AND NOT RUN OF YR MILL MOGGIES LOL, (NOT THAT I DONT LIKE RUN OF YR MILL MOGGIES BUT JUST CLD NOT BARE THE THOUGHT OF COMING HME FROM WORK AND FINDING HIM MAYB RUN OVER OR SOMETHING). SO I KNOW SPENDING A LOT HE WLD BE SAFE AND SOUND AND DRIVE ME ROUND THE BEND AT 3AM IN THE BLOODY MORNING PURRING IN ME EAR AND HVE TO BE AT WORK AT 6.30AM HENSE NO PIC OF ME COZ OF BAGS UNDER ME BLOODY EYES LOV LOL.P.S. BTW SO U MEAN MY KITTY IS A SUPERSTAR THEN LOL STILL.?

ahhhhhahahahahahaha lol ok ok lovely cat :p

glad u got the message lov lol dont u dare mention my pussy again still pmsl coz bin onto pinewood stuidos and want to use him for nxt movie lol

I find with the help packing question.. if u ask if they are "alright packing" they generally say yes.. cos too proud to say no lol..

Customer – "Excuse me do you have anymore Limes…?"
Employee – "I'll just go and check"
*Walk inside warehouse… *
*Look at watch a few times*
*Walk back on to the shop floor*
"No sorry we haven't got any"

*Feel a bit guilty*

lol. see how long you can make them wait. presonal record: dont know how long, but enough time to sneak round the side and go for a fag!

Are all of your Stores having Christmas Parties? If so, how much are you being charged? Ours (Bognor Regis) is £18 for staff and £25 for guests…and its at a hotel miles away from the store, which will cost a fortune in taxi's to and from Ho hum…at least its in December this year (1st) last years one was the end of January

£18! fkin hell what do u get for that?! ours is £5 :S

ours is ok bar it being in january1 (chester broughton) £10 each 3 course meal, free bar, disco etc, we need a serious party after our refit lol

ours is just up the road in the uni halls and only £6 liverpool branch2022

ours is at the somerset county cricket club on the 8th of december £15 for staff and £15 for guests 3 course meal followed by a disco and a table quiz .
On a related theme is any body going out for a christmas meal or drinks with their department taunton store csd are going to the half moon pub for a meal does anybody prefer that to a big works do ?

Haha, £5 here… But I'm at the same as Owen…

Can't believe you are getting charged £18 for it, or whatever… They must think you crap out twenties…

Weve got a meal, £10 deposit, then you gota pay for what you have We aint alowed to take any partners oh well im working anyway!

ours was free and we had it in july coz our store was being refurbished! plus the three previous years wev been banned from all the venues we were at!

We're not having one… rubbish!

at the PFS in Mold one year we had it at Highfield Hall it cost somethin stupid like £40 and you had to pay extra for drinks! it was a good night but it was a bit posh – we ran riot

ours costs £1 and £2 for guests, and when thats finished we are off into town :D

we just had a party to celebrate the end of our refit too

WOT XMAS PARTY WE HAVE NOT EVEN GOT ONE AT OUR STORE

Ha free to staff and £2 for Guest at Bishop's Stortford

We had ours on Saturday at a social club, with buffet, bar, disco and raffle. The staff were free but guests paid £2. I also won 2nd prize in the raffle winning £50's worth of vouchers for a top Italian restaurant. We only stayed for a couple of hours then hit the town, we all got into WS1 (nightclub in Walsall) for free when we produce our staff discount card. Didn't get home till 4.45am so it was a good night, lol.

Do you all get a good turn out at the parties? Our store Manager came round today to see if we where going. He is real nice really I'm going for a bit but have an early start in the morning it's this Saturday.

you do have a xmas party at your store tracy, just they chose not to tell you :) lol

ours was just £2 for guest but 2 yrs a go they had to send riot vans to the xmas party cus our security guards started beatin every1 up, they got two weeks off paid an are currently bein trained as managers how i love tesco

we've organised our own. meal out then off into town for lots of beer. ;-)

oi owen lol thats not on lov seeings i am the d/m and they do as they r told and my staff lov me to bits coz i let them drink tea at the tills in the winter months, (and i make it for them as well i hassen to add) I clear up all their rubbish for them, and pamper to their needs and help them when i can when they want to leave early or come in a bit late (only on my shifts though coz the others wont let them) i think they would have told me still lol at yr thread

Had christmas party last Saturday was a bloody good night.

well they usually giv it to us for free every year.. but not this year cos they already gave us a launch party for the tesco goin extra!
so this year they not doing anyhting! cheap bastards!

soo instead we're havin sperate department parties.. and the c/o lot goin bowling n then aroma for £11.40 altogether……ohh im soo not lookin forward to it! lol

just had our one on sunday night…. was a james bond theme and there was free wine and they gave us 25 quid a table to spend on drink, someone was arrested and people were kicked out for being to drunk…… on the whole a very amusing night!

About 2 years ago my store had an "Oscars" night with a James Bond theme and we all got to vote in the lead up to it for various categories such as "always running late for work", "top department" "best newcomer" etc. Our hosts for the night were James Bond and Pussy Galore a.k.a 2 of the managers from our store. Was a great laugh and various people got up to award the winners with plastic oscar trophies.
However last year it was just a party which no one really went to, by the sounds of things, and this year there isn't one till February. So i'm going out with the Counters lot for a meal at a local pub.

our 'night of the stars' tesco award ceremony is in febuary! (Great Dunmow) an is £5 wooo

yea ours was hosted bvy pussy galore and james bond (2 managers) and we had all them oscars to such as longest tea breaker heart of gold ect, was the best party we have had! ive been to 5 of them….. we seem to get banned from most places!

Free to staff, £2.50 for guests and it was on saturday lol

Anyone ever feel that way? do a hard days work or loads of tasks and then you got to do something else?

just a number…. thats what i keep getting told we are

Same here

I am 17 and did a 11 hour shift on Christmas Eve as my Manager was stuck

Did I get any thanks … Nope

I passed the Mystery Shopper in my First Week .. Thanks? … Nope?

The Section Managers Daughter passed the Mystery Shopper .. Box of Chocolates and now gets to run the line at 17

So yes … you're only a number

i agree; even a values award would be nice, even if it is essentially worthless, at least its some recognition
how many do you have to get before you get a badge thingy?

yeah always feels this way lol stay an hour late, theyre just dissapointed u didnt stay 2 hours

Personally the value awards are a load of cr*p. All the things i do for my store and i've never received one. I'm not bitter because i think a simple thank you is far more effective rather than these.

yeah that's true too

I have a good scan rate at my tesco. So they put me on the busiest tills all the time. I got fed up, asked to be put on a quieter till for a change. Immediately after I was put on the busiest checkout. SO ANNOYING!

completly agree boys and girls…. we dont get sod all..(managers) form our managers e.t.c

However I always but my stafff an easter egg at easter… the £3 ones (19 i have to buy)
And prior to that at xmas i got every one a bottle of wine…. 4quid each….

All out of my own pocket…. yet other managers at the store dont do anything like that………
So I guess its all about who your line manager is…….

Every Little helps lol

Its only natural tht people have different skills, but were all encouraged to "live the values". Personally i make a point of thanking my team at the end of their shifts, i feel really strongly in thanking my team i also try rto find out about anything thats going on in their lives , without prying to much. Ive always bought the dept easter eggs and birthday cards , xmas gifts etc even though it means 30 gifts. Its my way of saying thanks for doing what you do, I always lead by example and will always do so. As for value awards 4 awards = blue badge, 7 awards= gold badge and if you get 7 awards in one year you get the yearly coloured badge which as the year engraved on it. This years badge is a green one .

Are stores supposed to follow the 'values awards' process?

i didnt think they exsisted anymore

Has anyone had their Overtime cut cuz of budget? how can u run a dept without staff :-S

haha yeah this is a classic one

we dont have any money to give overtime. so we spend ages calling multiskilled staff off shopfloor

surely a slightly higher budget would mean spending abit more, but bringing in alot more. all the time staff are off shopfloor the shelves arent being restocked and customers cant necessarily spend as much as they wanted to. thought maybe its down to the people organising it…I don't know how budget works but i assume they get a monthly/quarterly/yearly amount to work off. As soon as they get their budget they go crazy with it handing it out left right and centre, then we end up with no OT for ages

If I remember correctly, you have to exceed budget sales by something like 10% to get 3% increase in wages allowed for that week?

that was right back in the day….. hit volume and ou get a few extra quid now it all has to go back in the group pot…. cause they've overspent!

Little tinkers….. i've still got 1600 outstanding in overtime job change blah blah….. think i'll have to get group team and the union involved unless my gov sorts it out!

Wage sub anyone?

we have an overtime ban at the moment, bloody annoying 'cos I need the money.

Our store is ridiculous for this, most Saturdays you'll not a single person on Grocery because they're all on till and the rest of the departments are fleeced for DotCom, so you end up with nobody actually tidying or filling, which then means if you're picking the shelves are bare or the aisles devastated… then you get moaned at when you get back on your department because it looks a state. Also unpaid overtime for stuff like cleaning because there's some 'inspection', or they'll give you time in lieu you never seen to be given.

What else….

Getting NOTHING for Christmas, no bonus, just a generic card. This wouldn't be so annoying if it weren't for the fact when I started you'd get SOMETHING, even if it was just a pack of After 8's.

No temps for Christmas either, we used to get a few in for the week before. Now we get zilch, and the taking people off the shop floor for tills/DotCom still happens. Just what you want on the busiest days of the year.

Whats all this about badges for values awards?

Ive never seen anyone in our store get one, im sure there must be soemone who deserves one lol

I got one for helping with our refit about 4 months ago and only just found out last week. A tiny note about the size of a credit card on the wall at the bottom of the stairs. RECOGNITION

No I dont personally think the hard workers get any recognition. However, there is one member of the senior team in our store who always thanks me. My section manager says thanks too which is nice!

I did 12 hours for them last sat…and then sunday i got in Informal for being 1 minute late ! i was WTF! i just did 12 hours for you and you never even said thanx FGS!

xxx

That sounds a bit petty to me for 1 minute!

Speak to the people at the top they don,t care so the manager below them don,t care so on and so on.
So why should those at the bottom G/A's have to be good at their job and be measured only so managers can be measured at achiving something.

Lately, I've been getting on very well with my section manager and it makes work so much better, because we're willing to co-operate with one another to get what we both want. I find I'm more motivated when I'm willing to help someone out, rather than being forced into it. Same with customers, really. I'll go that bit further for people who smile and are friendly than the miserable gits who snarl and snipe at me. Same with any job, really. The people around me provide the main motivation. I'd go into the care industry if I hadn't seen how heartbreaking it is. (My mum works in it and she'll come home crying about clients who ar in hospital or have died. At least that doesn't happen in Tesco.)

thanks for explaining that ive only worked for the company for 13 years so somethings take longer than others to filter down! on an upnote my dotcom manager bought me a bottle of wine last week as i had helped hom out! thanks simon

I've been borrowed out a lot to other departments lately. Was on grocery today for half an hour cleaning up the aisles (then I ended up helping with a milk delivery!) and I'm on counters 2 or 3 times a week.

However, my boss actually thanked me for going to work on counters on Saturday. If you do the work and do a little bit extra, she will thank you for it which is fine. A little goes a long way. If someone comes to my department to help out, I will always, without fail, thank them because they are doing you a favour.

What I'm finding is that people are leaving and simply aren't being replaced so everyone else has to pick up the extra work. When a couple of people left, my last boss (not my current one), gave the extra hours to the part timers in the department. Now we're left with a Sunday that nobody wants to work and evening shifts that also don't suit anyone. Had my last boss simply rehired to replace the hours then there would be no problem!

One of my Team Leaders is really nice and always thanks me for working the 7-10 Saturday night shift (love you Kaylee) which is nice, but one who normally works on a Sunday afternoon just tells me to do things without saying please and if you call her over to find something for a customer she'll go really slowly and if she can't find it she'll forget about it and not tell you that she can't find it, which means I'm sitting there like a lemon apologising to my queue for the holdup while she's swanning around chatting to customers she knows, grrr

I'm so glad I'm out now, mind you it wasn't simple

I worked overtime in my last week cos my team leader hadn't had a day off in ages, and had a family birthday or something to attend. Despite giving 5 weeks notice of leaving and arranging to do the overtime 4 weeks before it happened, tesco still didn't pay me for it. When I went back in to complain I was told it was my own fault for working overtime in my final week. after 2 letters spelling out exactly what I was due to be paid they tried to give me a cheque for half the amount, I returned it with the calculation written in red again. Still nothing.
They changed their tune when they got the employment tribunal papers tho!
Within 2 days I had a cheque for the full amount, so I notified the tribunal it was settled out of court. Then had a letter from Tesco Lawyers asking me to withdraw the complaint. YEH RIGHT!

Don't accept the way your treated find out what your entitled to and fight for it!

Okay, I got this idea from a Pink FLoyd group. I'll write a line from a song and the next person has to name the song that it came from. Then they write a line from a song. Only Dylan songs please. I'll start off easy.

"How many years can a mountain exhist, before it is washed to the sea
How many years can some people exhist, before they're allowed to be free."

Blowin in the wind

"Twas in another lifetime, on of toil and blood.
When darkness was a virtue and the road was full of mud"

shelter from the storm… (btw it s blackness not darkness)

"I hate my self for lovin you, and the weakness that shows,
you were just a painted face pn a trip down suicide road…….."

Dirge

….All right, I'll take a chance, I will fall in love with you
If I'm a fool you can have the night, you can have the morning too…

Is your love in vain?

"all except for Cain and Abel, and the hunchback of Notre Dame, everybody is making love, or else expecting rain

desolation row

"Never done nothin' but build to destroy, you play with my world like its your lttle toy"

Masters of War

"Little red wagon, little red bike, I ain't no monkey but I know what I like,
I like the way ya love me strong and slow.."

Buckets of Rain

"There are no mistakes in life, some people say
It is true sometimes you can see it that way"

Man in the Long Black Coat

The enemy is subtle, how be it we are so deceived
When the truth's in our hearts and we still don't believe?

Precious Angel

Now this is a tricky one

My head can't toler…understand no more, what my heart don't tolerate
Well I know she'll be back someday, of that there is no doubt
And when that moment comes Lord, give me the strength to keep her out

If You See Her Say Hello
(A 1976 bootleg recording version from The Rolling Thunder Revue)

The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
Thinking of forbidden love.
But the desk clerk said, "It happens every day,"

Black Diamond Bay

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
"Rip down all hate," I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull.

my back pages

this situation can only get rougher,
why should we needlessly suffer?
let's call it a day, go our own different ways, before we decay…

We better talk this over

"OOOO-WEEE, ride me high!
Tomorrow's the day my bride's a-gonna come
OOOO-WEE, we're gonna fly
Down into the easy chair!"

Ye aint goin nowhere

For whom does the bell toll for, love? It tolls for you and me

Moonlight

"I wouldn't do it for all the farms in Cuba!"

I Shall Be Free No 10

"You're a hard worker baby, but I know you well,
and this weekend in hell is making me sweat."

Its Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

If there's an original thought out there, I could use it right now…

Brownsville Girl

"As easy it was to tell black from white,
It was all that easy to tell wrong from right."

Bob Dylans dream.

"Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you"

spanish harlem incident (i think)

Now we all agree with Hitlers' views,
Although he killed six million Jews.
It don't matter too much that he was a Fascist,
At least you can't say he was a Communist!

Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues…That's a good one

here's mine, someone guess!

….come closer shed softly your watery eyes,
the pangs of your sadness shall pass as your senses will rise….

to ramona?

It's just my foolish pride,
But sometimes a man must be alone
And this is no place to hide

The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest

Lot of water under the bridge, Lot of other stuff too
Don't get up gentlemen, I'm only passing through

Things Have Changed

"Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of her farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lot of gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall"

Spirit on the Water

She knows theres no success like failure and that failure's no success at all

Love minus zero/no limit

This might be a bit trickier, i hope…

I ain't gonna get lost in this current,
I don't like playing cat and mouse…

Inside the museums, infinity's going up on trial,
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while

He not busy being born is busy dying

"The suns not yellow it's chicken." or "They asked me for collateral, so I pulled down my pants."

I'm slim shady, I'm the real slim shady, all you other slim shadys are just imitating. so won't the real slim shady please stand up

Sarah, so easy to look at, so hard to define.

Dude I swear I was listening to Visions of Johanna and that part of the song was playing when I was reading your post. But anyways…one of my favorite lines is the opening to that song…"We all sit here stranded, though we are all doing our best to deny it."

"everybody needs something to believe in"

"It's all over now, baby blue." Such a damn good song.

you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

"I used to care, but things have changed." I just think it's great, and it makes me smile.

Also, "You just kind of wasted my precious time, but don't think twice. It's all right."

Or, "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes. You'd know what a drag it is to see you."

There are so many profound ones, but sometimes Dylan really has a way of clearly and abruptly saying what we all wish we could.

howbout "ive heard you say many times that youre better than no one and no one is better than you" or any line from positively 4th street, but especially "i wish just one time you could stand in my shoes and for one day i could be you – you'd know what a drag it is to see you"

and then of course motorpsycho nitemare and i shall be free no 10 are both full of great lines

Or how about:

Money doesn't talk, it swears.

"Ain't it just like the night to play tricks on you when you're trying to be so quiet"

Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain

"Beauty walks a razor edge, someday I'll make it mine."

I have alot, this one always gets me though:
"And every one of them words rang true, and glowed like burnin' coal. Pourin' off of every page like it was written in my soul: From me to you."

GOD! I loved Tangled up in blue…and Dylan in general

The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off

we always did feel the same, we just saw it from a different point of view

orr…

your magnetic movement still capture the minutes i'm in

aww to ramona♥

"Don't criticize what you can't understand…", from The Times They Are A-Changin'

"I saw one man who was wounded in love/ I saw another man who was wounded in hatred", A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall

"Her profession's her religion/her sin is her lifelessness" Desolation Row

"And there's no use in tryin'/to deal with the dyin'/though I cannot explain that in lines" To Ramona (actually Bob, you just did…)

"I close my eyes and I wonder/If everything is as hollow as it seems", Tryin' To Get To Heaven

"I bargained for salvation and they gave me a lethal dose", Shelter from the Storm.

"Your a cow! give me some milk or else go home"

"Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow."

I am sorry, this is not a one liner, but this stretch of sentences and how he sings it with such passion makes tambourine man so good

You'll never know the hurt I suffered nor the pain I rise above,
And I'll never know the same about you, your holiness or your kind of love,
And it makes me feel so sorry.
"Idiot Wind"

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine

"I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes. You'd know what a drag it is to see you."

or

"don't criticize what you can't understand"

here's to the hearts and the hands of the men who come with dust and are gone with the wind.

of course, if we are going with single lyric lines, the classic choice would be "all the tired horses in the sun, how'm i suppose to get any riding done?"…. seeing as thats the whole song and all

thats hard. probably…

"i might look like robert ford but i feel just like jesse james" (describes my situation right now)

"everybody's either making love or else expecting rain"

"this ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face"

"even the president of the united states sometimes must have to stand naked"

"aint it just like the night to play tricks when youre tryin to be so quiet?"

every word that comes out of his mouth is just poetry. damn

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

Are any of your stores aloud to have water on checkouts or on the shop floor or maybe on their dot com trolley in other stores?

In very hot weather we sometimes are, or if we have a doctor's note. But usually, no, we're not allowed

Well, according to the Tesco Human Rights Policy:

"All staff are entitled to … portable water at their place of work"

http://www.tescocorporate.com/ourpolicies.htm then click Human rights policy. Print it off and take it in. Stick it to your bottle of water. Then see what your store thinks it says! ;)

Graham, interesting…

Nice… doesn't fuss me personally. I'd rather be allowed a book with me on checkouts for quiet periods :P Or comfortable chairs.

I've printed that off. Very good but I'm surprised it slipped past me as I'm always on the lookout for ways of making the workplace better for staff.

water yes, repeated toilet breaks, no

Technicly no in Llandudno, but Checkouts staff aslong as its water in a sport cap bottle, so this doesnt need to be opened and is discreet then yur fine. Have a chat with your union reps on this one as ours has put a note on the USDAW board with a note dated may 07 basicly saying that Checkout staff as they don't have easy access to water can as stated above.

Bottle of water?
You need a bottle of vodka working at Tesco

in my store checkout staff arn't allowed water at all over christmas the heating was on and i was put on the till where you end up boiling coz theres no fresh air, i got some water from the cafe n got told were not allowed liquids on the till, which kinda doesnt make sense to me coz we are constantly putting liquids through and even some that have been opened with half of it being drank

laura i suggest you speak to your union rep

in our store just say to a t/l and they'll go get a big cup :) (if your nice they might get u a copy)

Start screaming "THIS IS A VIOLATION OF MY HUMAN RIGHTS!". Might cause a scene, and/or cause people to think you're mentally deranged, but you'll be making a point.

I think we were allowed bottled water on the tills.

it was a t/l that told me i wasn't allowed it n he was stood next to a manager so i jst downed the whole cup in one, wasn't good coz then had to wait 2hrs to go the loo

they cant mak you wait to go toilet either.you REALLY NEED TO speak to your uion rep.

Company policy (at least in our Group!) is that you are permitted bottled water at the checkout, as long as it has a sports top, and that you have the receipt. The sports top is necessary so that if you knock it over, the electrics don't get shorted out and you don't blow yourself up…

In an AR of mine my manager asked if there was anything that could help me out with my headaches, i said yeah if i need to get paracetemol can i ask and get some also can i have a drink on my till as often being dehydrated causes my headaches, she looked at me like i had just asked her to kill someone, and i was like only water she was like ok ok ok

wtf?!

you are allowed water on the till-the new health and well being training video even shows it.

Just to let you all know that the discount card is now available from 6 months service. Just saw it on the people at tesco website… for all you who havent worked for tesco as long as me lol

its infuriatein to me
and every 1 else thats had to wrok a year to get it!
goddanm assholes could of brought it in a year ago when i started!

I hit a year last week, then this happened. Oh well

tesco got a lot of feedback that people wanted it after 6 months so usdaw foiught for it and got it. I think its great

Haha. I've worked at Tesco for six years in August, but last September they accidentally signed me off whilst I was waiting to be transfered. As a result, my privilege card got cut off cos they thought I had left. (Amazing how quickly they cut you off, but takes them ages to sort out a problem their end.) Therefore, despite almost 6 years service, the hassle to get me back on the system and get my pay sorted out took precedence and I am still waiting for a replacement card. It's slightly frustrating.

Back on topic, I think six months is a good thing on the whole. One year was too long, but any shorter would be a joke.

I too am annoyed by it. Some staff have worked bllody hard over a 12 month period to earn this benefit and now new staff only need to be working for 6 months to get it I reckon they should cap new starters one at a lower rate than established staff and once 12months service has elapsed open it to full cap.

i no its ssooo frustrating, i think that when we leave we should get to use it for a year after anyone agree?

To be honest even with my discount card i cant afford to shop in my store. Crazy that. My mother works at Wilkinsons and she gets 13% discount. A company like tesco with its billions in the bank and can only give 10%. Maybe i just expect too much.

I actually emailed Tesco about that myself about the Price Matching etc and said that even with my discount card I could still go to ASDA and get the same stuff alot cheaper than Tesco. Response was they don't aim to undercut others.

I was annoyed that even after all the years I had worked for Tesco they then decided to drop the Discount threshold from £3 to £1. Maybe they should reimburse us back then AND they should start paying us for our 15minute tea breaks!

Yeah its ASDA where i do my shopping. I filled a big trolley to bursting point (not with there equivilent value range either) and it came to 110quid. I'd never have got that much from Tesco. Thankfully Asda are coming to my town so i'll save even more by reducing my petrol costs.

why not work at asda then ?

Because there is not one at present near me where as tesco is a 2 min walk from me and i don't drive thats why

Sure, it's irritating to those of us who have already been there a year, but it's a much better system. A year is simply too long.
Though those of us who had to wait a year should get some sort of bonus :P

The reason for the reduction was brought about by members of staff asking for it through the Store Forums.
Very nearly Store Forum time again …..
What are you going to ask for?

Irritating that they did this just as I'd earnt mine for being there a year, but its a better system I spose.

The Discount Card is an evil device meant to trip us up!

Well, perhaps not, but seeing as they don't ever refresh the rules or let you see a full copy of them, it's not particularly very fair.

I was nearly sacked and am now on a final written warning because I used my discount cards on some friend's shopping (it came to the value of about 13p off) and several others have found themselves in the same situation. Security in our store are jobsworths.