store manager

assistant manager

sales assistant

retail sales associate

bookkeeper

Bargain-Booze

I was employed temporarily to work 16 hours per week in a popular convenience store, to carry out duties such as greeting customers in a friendly and approachable manner who enter the shop, assisting shoppers to find the goods and products they are looking for, giving advice and guidance on product selection to customers, responsible dealing with customer complaints and dealing with customer refunds. I was also responsible for stocking shelves with merchandise, keeping the store tidy and clean, this includes hovering and mopping, receiving and storing the delivery of large amounts of stock, being involved in stock control and management. A did a lot of cash handling and using store til, I was responsible for processing cash and card payments, balancing the til and receipts.  I was trained how to operate the machine that generates Lottery tickets, and I was also trained to operate the stores Pay Point machine, I used both machines on a daily basis and I am now confident to use these. I was very flexible to my work as I did a lot of cover shifts and overtime. Each week I worked over my 16 hours that I was contracted, because I was motivated to learn, better myself within my work role, and to prove myself to be a reliable team member. i enjoyed working with my colleagues and learning new things from them during my time in the store.
My only upset was that the overtime and all the cover shifts i done were not greatly appreciated, even when i offered to do the early morning shifts and my correct wage was not paid to me and i had to get this investigated and still 4 weeks on this is still not been rectified. throughout my time here i done my best to please my colleagues and employer, and although his was my first job and i may have seemed a little quiet whilst i found my feet, all my hard work wasn't appreciated and i was let go during my probational period, reason being i wasn't motivated enough, although i worked much over my 16 hours that i was contracted to, this was a small knock back to my work confidence but i am willing to get back up and go back out there and try my best and improve my work ethic.

My boss was very nasty to me on many occations. she was hypocritical very often and she told me many times that i was unloyal although i was never late for work, I frequently went the extra mile, i worked to the best of my ability all the time, i comforted her when she was having problems, i covered many shifts that i wasn't supposed to so that she could have the night off etc.
she would never give me extra shifts when she said she was struggling when i offered. she would only ask me to cover unconvenient ones and would get very nasty if i was unable to cover 1 shift due to a legitimate reason even after covering many other shifts.
i have a back condition which causes a lot of pain sometimes and she would get angry with me when i was stopping or pulling faces because i was in extream pain. she sent me home once as she said 'go home if you're going to be in a mood and pull faces' i made her aware that i was in pain but she wasn't having it and she thought i was pulling faces because i hated working there which wasn't the case as i enjoyed my job.
the pay wasn't very good either so i took the opportunity to cover shifts straight away unless i was unable to do so.
my boss had me in tears on many occations nearer the end of my employment as she was so nasty.
she has been very nasty to her other staff on many occations also. she loses customers frequently as she can be very nasty to them aswell.

Overall working at bargain booze wasn't the best experience but i learned to deal with some nasty situations and how to keep my emotions hidden. i also gained a back bone working here. so although there were many bad things about this job i did gain some things from my time there.

There was a lack of training and development from the start.  The work life balance was not good due to the long hours worked.  There is a lack of structure to the organisation and no opportunity for development.  There are no development plans in place. 

There is a high turn over of staff with some people leaving after a few weeks.  Managers and HR do nothing about this and are very reactive in their approach.

There is a distinct lack of support, so when staff take holidays all of their work will be on a desk when they get back, so there is day to day work to do as well as work building up when taking a holiday, which makes holidays stressful.  This has resulted in a pressured and stressed culture.

The management appear to be trying to lead the company to a more corporate culture, however, from working in a corporate company, Bargain Booze is not succeeding because they don't really know where they want to go, or how to get there.

Advice from teams such as HR is quite negative because the team are not really that well qualified or experienced, do not get involved in staff training and development and do  not have any impact on staff morale or retention of staff.

The managers are given too much work and too little time to focus on the staff as the company tries to take on more stores than they can realistically look after. 

Day to day was quite stressful and this is the sort of job to gain some experience and then move on. 

There is a staff sale which sells cheap products, which is the one good thing about working there.

Lone working (even at night) from very early on after starting. 
Minium wage and not even paid for 20 mins break. 
The only days you have enough work to do without going insane is delivery days and promotion change. (As a new starter you wont get to do promotion change though)
No radio. 
Fridges havent worked in years and you will have customers complain everyday but head office refuse to replace. 
No heating or aircon - freezing in winter, unbearably hot in summer. (Bring a scarf into work and wear thermals)
They have changed it so if you are part time they only pay you pro rata for the first 4 weeks of the year so you get paid less for being on holiday than being at work. 
Head office have unreal sales expectations, and wonder why they aren't met. 
Been there 10 years and it gets progressivley worse.
Staff rota will be changed on extremely short notice (a few hours).
No extra pay for bank holidays. Store open 365 days a year.
You will probably be required to work Christmas Day.
You will stay a sales assistant forever - there is no opportunity to progress salary wise but you will be expected to take on deputy manager tasks on your minimum wage.


working at bargain booze was brilliant. i was taught to stock take, shelf stack, and how to maintain a clean and happy work space. Some times i worked till late on on a night alone. this gave me the chance to prove myself as an employee. i fell into my routine fast of cleaning the shop and cashing up the extra till whilst still serving customers until the final minuet. i then cashed up the tills locked the shop up securely and headed home. with all of this i learnt to run the shop on my own and start and end the day alone. working late at night in the middle of a busy high street itself brought along some difficult customers which i learnt to deal with on my own and excelled at. the management was always on the end of the phone if needed. they were supportive and friendly and easily approachable. the co-workers were fab good to have a laugh and make the day fly that little bit faster we supported and helped each other this helped us create a happy working environment. The hardest part of the job for me must of been the late nights as i was alone and at first nervous however i soon over came this a thrived in my working environment. I loved working with all the different people and building up a rapport with them and looking forward to seeing the smiles.

The staff are friendly and reliable, during a typical day
i would start by opening the tills ready for the day.
this would be counting in the float from the evening before to check for discrepancies, after completing that task i fill in the scratchcard sheet for the lottery that is then used by the other teams members throughout the day to balance their tills and ensure they are error free. the cash machine is the next port of call where i would go in and print the daily management receipts and act on these according, for example if the cash is low i would fill it up. i then open the safe that contains the takings from the previous day i then take the cash and the various reports upstairs to the office where i fill in the paper work and check for errors and rectify these if possible, and inform the relevant managers or directors if needed, i.e. missing cash uplift. 
at this time i would also top up the float used for the cash registers if needed. After all this i would then start my day specific tasks which apart from Monday and Thursday(delivery days) would be to stock take or organize a new display for the store.

On a typical day at work consisted of using the till and taking payments for products sold, checking and refilling stock when necessary generally checking the cleanliness of the store, I also had responsibility of key handling which included locking and opening the store.
I learnt how to check stock and make orders. I also learnt the health and safety regulations of lifting and carrying heavy objects.
The managers and co workers at the store were friendly and approachable. They were always willing to help if necessary and made me feel welcome when I was new to the store. Even though the store is part of a large franchise, it felt like a small family business.
I didn't really feel like there was a challenging aspect of the job, once I settled into the new working environment i thoroughly enjoyed all aspects especially the interaction with local customers.

Day to day running of a shop serving customers and being professional at all times and also aware of asking for I.D at all times 
General Cleaning is a must, and also dealing with ordering and deliveries, banking money and checking tills are correct.
Rotation of stock is a must
Closing and opening the shop.
The customer is always right always be polite.
I enjoyed working at Bargain Booze although it was a long time ago.
because most customers was intoxicated it made the job more fun could really have a laugh and got to know all the local customers.
It was a very long time ago so it is a different owner now.
The hardest part of the job was intoxicated customers although we could a have a laugh sometimes it could get difficult if they wasn't happy but i could always calm them down
I am very good with customers face to face.

Bargain booze was a fun place to work, staff were all nice and easy to talk to furthermore many customers would be nice and fun to serve and help but obviously with the nature of the store, there are other customers that aren't a pleasure to serve. It involved precise shelf stacking - all items must be aligned and front facing as well as touching so as not to fall over easily if knocked. The most important part of this job was serving and talking to many of the customers as they would crack jokes and help make your job easier. A very decent place to work.

Checking of cash holdings (takings, tills, change, banking)  Stock control (orders, deliveries stock taking). Serving customers, replenishing stock and organizing visual displays and promotion change-overs. Organizing staff rota's, training and any issues is sometimes all in a days work. I have learned to be extremely thorough in all aspects of my duties.  I have good relationships with my co-workers and great rapport with customers and area managers.  I get satisfaction providing an  excellent service and increasing profits whilst working to a tight budget. The hardest part is frustration of not being able to provide that service, and seeing customers dissatisfied due to present management being out of touch with the needs of the business.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Store manager 2 salaries reported	£26,090 per year
Assistant manager 3 salaries reported	£20,511 per year
Sales assistant 1 salary reported	£8,786 per year
Retail sales associate 1 salary reported	£12.71 per hour
Bookkeeper 1 salary reported	£21,450 per year

Working at Bargain Booze: company overview and reviews

Bargain Booze

Bargain Booze ratings

Popular jobs at Bargain Booze

Salary satisfaction

Jobseeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected