People who work in supermarkets, what’s it REALLY like?

17 comments

1. It ain’t that bad (at least in my view) if all you’re doing is stacking shelves.

   However, if you’re on the tills, then it’s a different story. It ranges from people telling you that you’ve changed the price (Like you have the power to do so), to folks just fucking off to get an item they forgot in the middle of payment so it holds up everyone.

2. Not exactly the same as working in the main store, but I used to work in the petrol station of a supermarket. I genuinely really liked it. Meeting lots of people, quick transactions, and I found restocking and facing up the shelves very satisfying.

3. I worked the in store bakery when I was a teenager. The pay was shite but the job was pretty fun

4. Honestly, fuck customer service jobs in this country. The absolute level of daftness, entitlement, rudeness, abuse you get from the great British public isn’t worth a high salary, let alone an incredibly low one.

5. Consumerist.

6. Not staff but regular customer.

   Every time I go in my local Aldi staff are running around like headless chickens working or chasing shoplifters around the store and up the street.

   I’ve been going there for nearly 3 years and there’s always new staff as others keep leaving.

   If you want to work part-time then it might be ok but fulltime I’d pass.

7. Co-op is one to avoid imo, deliveroo and a lottery machine and a pay point and click and collect and cashless self-service (usually) and never enough staff and always late delivery and (personal experience) truly awful management. Plus a lot less chance or progression since they got rid of the deputy store manager role it just sucks lol

8. Aldi/Lidl pay higher because you’re usually expected to be everyone at once.

   In Morrisons I was a shelf stacker, was never trained or asked to work on tills.

   In Aldi you have to be looking after shop floor, restocking and jumping on tills when needed.

   If you like to be on your feet and in a rush then that’s good for you.

9. Get a shelf stacking job on nights. Stay away from the tills. I’ve done nights replenishment for years, it’s fine as long as you stay away from customers.

10. Shite mate.

    Employee rights are laughed at, hours and pay are garbage, job security is based on profit and upper management’s bonuses.

    The very epitome of the heartless private sector.

11. It’s boring, cold and time doesn’t pass at slower times. Customers gripes and demands will make you hate people.
    On the plus side, it’s a job you leave at the door, shop assistants can be fun to work with and you can often pick up more hours if you want to.

12. I worked in Tesco and you’d get the odd cunt but mostly people were ok. I also worked in Iceland whilst at uni and aside from people coming in and starting fights, the old people were friendly and the staff were good fun to work with.

    Funny story, I worked in the bakery at Tesco and someone came up to me and asked me where the breaded chicken was lol

13. I’m a picker (personal shopper) at a large superstore. I have lost over 30 Lbs walking 5-7 miles per day. I put in my 8 hours and go home, it’s a stress free job for me.

    The downside is that it pays accordenly.

14. I picked peoples shopping orders during the pandemic for 9 months. Apart from running around the shop for 8 hours it wasn’t too bad. Relatively easy work if you fit enough. I very quickly went back to night shifts at care homes because it’s much less work.

15. Customers leave their brain at home. They ask you the most stupid questions because they’re lazy and can’t be bothered to look. We have two chilled aisles where I work, they will stand in one and say “Where’s butter? I can’t find butter, you’ve moved it”. Well it will be somewhere round here, won’t it, cos it has to be. They will then tell you why they couldn’t find it, and it’s usually my fault.

    Some customers are nice, kind and respectful. Not many though.

16. It’s fine. Never worked at Aldi but currently work at a supermarket and I’ve worked for Sainsburys and Somerfield (RIP) in the past. The worst that can really be said about it is that at times it’s quite boring, working load, checking dates, working backstock, repeat. Customers are generally pleasant, despite the reputation they have. Tills are boring, but again pretty easy. More specialised areas like counters can be a bit more varied, but sadly they are dying out and I’d be surprised if the remaining few make it past the next decade. Christmas can be pretty intense but I quite enjoy the Christmas period personally and for the majority of the time like my job. The pay isn’t great though, at my current job I’m on only slightly more than the minimum wage and do struggle to make ends meet, but the job itself is a good enough one, far better than hospitality or bar-work.

17. I used to work for Tescos, I actually liked it to be honest. I did the night shift a fair bit and well I don’t have much to complain about . Did get boring though. Also “do you work here” gets me, no I just happen to be randomly here dressed in the uniform since it’s so trendy

    I did both stacking shelves and ran the checkouts . Perfered the former to be honest, running the tills means you have to deal with the situations like Karen’s who think it’s your fault their card is declined or annoying people who forget something disappear and don’t come back for 5 mins while a huge que has developed or some teenager who argues because they don’t look like they are old enough for that bottle of vodka

    But generally I was kind of happy working there, I probably still would if my parents didn’t convince me that salary is more important than others