Pampam Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 The shopping centre where I work has now decided its opening hours on Boxing Day are now 9till 6 (unless you work at next cos there it's 5.30 am start) it used to be 10 till 4 which was okay cos staff got to see their families a little . Now theyare opening New Year's Day too . What a joyous holiday ....NOT !!pp....shopping IS the new religion.:)..... Talk about christmas cheer at work this past week it never ceases to amaze me the bad manners, rude, ignorant ,impatient ,miserable ,vileness of the general public.bleaugh horrid things that they are!!!...god I feel better for that rant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caddies104 Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 AN that's just the Staff, lol... Sorry your working ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pampam Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Caddies :- I nearly said that myself haha we do get a camaraderie going though (them &us thing) like in the trenches in 1st world war lol pp. it's the big retailers that force the issue. GREED ! Although I think morrisons let their staff have a day off . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Retail therapy................the curse of the capitalist society....................those of us who are immune..........can only pity the afflicted :-S.......... :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowtelse2do Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Pam, at least your warm inside the shop, just pity the 'poor' footballers outside in all that bad weather then having to travel home afterwards if they are the away team. :-( :-) My wife worked in a care home and those days were only at normal hourly rate. She had to work either Christmas Day and Boxing Day or New years Eve and New years Day or sometimes they would mix them days, but the inevitable always happened when some of the staff didn't turn in, the home would call her in. Their excuses were always illness and they were always the same people, what they had were hangovers. Same goes for my daughter, she is a theater nurse at the local Hospital with other nurse using the same excuses. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 I totally agree that the commercialism of Christmas has exceeded all boundaries of sanity. People will queue before Christmas, buy mountains of food that will never get eaten, and throw it all away come the 29th. Then they will do it all again over new year. Then they will promise themselves they will go to the gym to slim down to wear the bikini or male equivalent for summer, but give up by the 15th January. It is not just Christmas where the retail industry has forgotten all sense of humanity. Here in Edinburgh we get a lot of tourists all year round and to watch hordes of Germans, Dutch, Italians etc all panting at the bit waiting for the Stores to open at 10 am on a Sunday is depressing. It is not as if in their own countries these Stores don't shut all Sunday and often Monday morning as well, but they expect us to cater for them. Some will claim it is all the hardworking Poles who are manning the Stores, but they tend to b....r off for the Christmas break back to homeland leaving the locals to pick up the deal. As the UKIP bird said' Send the lot of them home' and bring back Sunday closing. Oh, I forgot people nowadays would get bored having a day at home, so need something to occupy their sad minds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pampam Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 Yes I was talking to a carer today who was working Christmas Day afternoon , which makes you think about all the forgotten elderly folk alone at christmas(her job is worthwhile :::: whereas I am just a retailer selling more STUFF to people who have already got tons of STUFF:when I open up on Boxing Day morning I'm amazed at the people mooching around the centre waiting for the shops to open ...it's like the dawn of the dead:......why aren't they at home with family or walking to park it's like an addiction .im convinced its the new religion ,&shopping centres the new place of worship,we even get the fanatics who shop every blinking day .and the terrorists who come in to shop manhandle the goods and ask really mind numbing questions Grrr :yes another rant off pampam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Pampam - 2013-12-09 9:22 PM Yes I was talking to a carer today who was working Christmas Day afternoon , which makes you think about all the forgotten elderly folk alone at christmas(her job is worthwhile :::: whereas I am just a retailer selling more STUFF to people who have already got tons of STUFF:when I open up on Boxing Day morning I'm amazed at the people mooching around the centre waiting for the shops to open ...it's like the dawn of the dead:......why aren't they at home with family or walking to park it's like an addiction .im convinced its the new religion ,&shopping centres the new place of worship,we even get the fanatics who shop every blinking day .and the terrorists who come in to shop manhandle the goods and ask really mind numbing questions Grrr :yes another rant off pampam. Perhaps it is BECAUSE the shoppers have had to spend Christmas Day at home with their 'wonderful' families that they want to escape to the Boxing Day sales to get out of the house ... before they end up planting someone on top of the Christmas tree!!! :D Now that I COULD understand when you see how some families act when they get together at Christmas!!! :$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capcloser Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Me and partner are both lucky,we work at same factory which closes down for xmas,we have to save the days from our annual holiday plus this year a couple of extra days we didnt use ,so we finish on friday 20 th dec and go back on 2nd jan,on nights so enough time to recover from new years day,our friends work at a local chicken factory so get 2 days off for the whole of xmas.Sorry you have to work but at leastyour not at home arguing with the family or even worse watching crap xmas tv lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek pringle Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Hi Pampam, Sorry to hear you are working so much over the holiday, my daughter and granddaughter are the same. I just suppose the treble pay and a day off in lieu is some consolation for you though hey -- I jest. merry xmas derek and lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 I can't imagine how we used to manage to live like it but when I were but a lad shops used to close on Saturday afternoons, all day Sunday and had half day closing one day a week. If we were to return to that we would all manage, the shops would probably sell just as much and with lower running costs could even be more profitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Boxing Day sales are when people go out to buy a load of stuff they don't actually NEED, because it's cheaper than usual. Fortunately they don't have to wait too long for the New Year sales, when they can repeat the process. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave225 Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 My wife used to work for that well known 'never knowingly undersold' retailer. She, and her colleagues hated after Christmas as at opening time there would be hordes of people waiting with bags of goods to return. Christmas gifts that had been chosen and bought, but unwanted. It was not just the wife returning the skimpy underwear, or even better returning the mistress's skimpy underwear she had found in the wardrobe, it was anything and everything, and of course the customers always wanted the cash back. She said that frequently the Store had a negative retail day or days. The other 'scam' was to buy an item at a £1 and produce a £10 gift voucher and again want the cash difference. There was of course the frequent return of a party frock which 'did not fit' but when examined often had drink stains or even a ticket for a nightclub in the pocket. Get the money back and have a free frock for the evening. The scams that people would get up to are sometimes beyond belief and it was not just the poor people who did it, very often it was the upper end of society who had plenty of money, that were the worst. One pleasure my wife sometimes got was when the wife wanted the money back, she could inform the customer, politely of course, that as her husband had used his credit/store card to buy the stuff, she could only re-credit his card. That invariably caused them great anger but tough cooky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 10, 2013 Share Posted December 10, 2013 1st rule of thrift at Christmas...............Its better to receive than to give :D........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 One of the reasons we love France, the 2 hour lunch breaks when everything goes quiet, and their Sundays when one could be forgiven for thinking a curfew had been imposed, and is a great day to travel as for those that have not been,virtually every truck is off the road. Yes the UK is sheer madness, but I have to say to the OP, as an ex Birmingham cab driver working permanent nights back in the day, you haven't lived until you've rubbed shoulders with all the merry makers over the period, over indulged people and vomit to clean up in the middle of the night was a delight, as was trying to avoid fights with drunks who did not want to pay. Then I had a road to Damascus moment after having the cab written off by a drunk driver in the early hours one Christmas day, whilst lying in the Alexander hospital decided enough was enough, came home, told the missus if she was in agreement we would sell up and move here to Wales. I hadn't got a single clue what we would do when we got here, but I knew what I was doing was not living. What we eventually ended up doing was so far removed from anything I could have thought of at the time, and all came about by accident ( excuse the pun ) ,the rest they say is history. Even though we are now retired we still get the benefit from our former employers, of free extended stays at a house near Castillon la Bataille in France with it's own swimming pool set in acres of vinyards ! As far as I'm concerned there are always other options, it just takes some courage to go find them, and remember life is not a rehearsal, you only get one shot at it, I was 25 only three weeks ago ! ! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pampam Posted December 13, 2013 Author Share Posted December 13, 2013 1footinthegrave. So what did you end up doing in Wales? That was so different to what you d been doing? Am a intrigued pp:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pampam Posted December 13, 2013 Author Share Posted December 13, 2013 It's Friday 13th just noticed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Pampam - 2013-12-13 5:02 AM 1footinthegrave. So what did you end up doing in Wales? That was so different to what you d been doing? Am a intrigued pp:) We were equally intrigued to read one day in "The Lady" magazine, this advert below that my wife has kept in her "memories" box ! "Capable hands on couple required to manage and run all aspects of a large country house, with grounds and gardens extending to 6 acres, set in a commanding position over looking Cardigan bay. In addition to the owners use the house is let out to paying guests on a self catering basis for a part of the year. In return we offer an excellent salary ( It wasn't that excellent, but money isn't everything :-S ) together with a detached modernised cottage with all outgoings found" So it was very much different for an ex HGV, Coach driving, ex Black cab driver, and we loved every moment of our 16 years there, until we retired to spend more time travelling in our MH. At one point we had the opportunity to do a similar job here ( below ) when we were "head hunted" but didn't like what was on offer at the time, mind you we may have got to meet some of you folk as it has a CL. :D http://www.llanfendigaid.co.uk/ In fairness I should add we didn't get away completely from working over the Christmas period, but it was restricted to supplying baskets of logs, and attending to any minor issues that may have arisen in the house, and chasing the odd sheep out of the grounds. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pampam Posted December 13, 2013 Author Share Posted December 13, 2013 Wow if it hadn't have been for that drunk driver you might never have had your epiphany and would still be driving your cab round Birmingham :) fate is so weird : (that sounds a bit hippyish )but you get my gist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted December 13, 2013 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Pampam - 2013-12-13 9:40 PM Wow if it hadn't have been for that drunk driver you might never have had your epiphany and would still be driving your cab round Birmingham :) fate is so weird : (that sounds a bit hippyish )but you get my gist? Its never been lost on me the implications of turning left or turning right that can and does sometimes have huge life changing results............and you are right, I'd probably still be on the rank at New street station, most of my ex cabbie friends though are long gone, so getting out when I did may just have saved my life, as well as my sanity at that time. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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