customer assistant

team leader

customer service representative

sales associate

merchandiser

Marks and Spencer

During the last half of 2018; I had graduated from university in Film Production. I was finding it extremely difficult to get my feet into the desired career path at that time. Desperate for employment, I applied for a temporary seasonal vacancy at Marks & Spencer’s at their Horsham branch during Christmas.

After a one-to-one interview, I initially felt confident about working in that retail environment. But, as soon as I was put into a group training session two weeks later; I knew from the minute that I wasn’t going to have the most enjoyable experience. The manager was a very stereotypical extrovert who had all of us trainees in the same room and forced us all to “introduce ourselves, what our hobbies are and what your friends would say about you”. Admittedly, I am introverted; but once I get to know people—I’m a lot more open and approachable. And I’m not short of friends at all! Being forced to introduce yourself and creating a “vibe” amongst a circle of people I never met in my life; was extremely stressful on my part. I found myself completely out of my depth when the circle of trainees “clicked” amongst each other immediately, whereas I found it extremely difficult to adapt to an environment where being an extrovert is mandatory. No-one that day helped me—or even took an interest to me. I knew my personalities and theirs would not mesh, and all the more it made me feel very uncomfortable.

At first, I shrugged it off as first day nerves and thought I might meet more like-minded folk once I started my shifts. Wrong! I felt completely out of my depth with almost every co-worker at the store. I have never been in an environment beforehand where I felt so utterly alone and misunderstood. A lot of the staff consisted of immature teenagers, whom I had no time for—and even the more mature staff were pretty indifferent. Because of my quiet personality, I was shunned and ostracised by my co-workers. As I’ve stressed before, I prefer to observe people before getting to know them—which I already learnt wasn’t a necessity in the retail environment. You either fit in or you don’t. There was no middle ground. This increased my anxiety every time I started a shift, and by the time I went home after work—I wept in tears! 

Another major problem for myself was the work. Working in retail means you are the most replaceable of all people. You had to be subservient with customers—even if they’re at their most abusive and appalling behaviour. With this knowledge in mind, I found no enthusiasm or purpose within the workforce. As an individual, I thrive on opportunity and ambition, rewarded by great work—which is something you will never get when working at M&S. The work routine was an endless cycle that was psychologically very taxing. I spent the majority of my time working in the tills at the foodhall; and having to ask customers: “Do you need a carrier bag” or “Have you got a Sparks card” OVER and OVER again, got incredibly sickening. 

Due to inefficient training, I was sometimes dealing with unusual requests from customers that I had no knowledge or training of. One example was a customer wanted cash back. Since I wasn’t trained adequately, I didn’t know how the procedure worked—and the customer got very edgy. Naturally, I called management over to deal with the customer, but I also hoped they would teach me the procedure at the same time. But instead, they gave me grief for not fulfilling the customer’s satisfaction—despite the fact the very same management neglected to even go other those “details” during my training. Management at M&S are full of hypocrites!

I learnt during this whole experience that I wasn’t fit for retail—and this made me all the more want to pursue my desired career all the more. One co-worker there said to me, “Once you’re in retail - always in retail.” I knew I had to get out of there fast.

By the time I left M&S after only 3 weeks of employment, I found that my mental health and general well-being improved immediately. Now, I’m in a much happier position than I was a year ago working there - and am finally in a job/career path suited to my abilities. But, I still feel I haven’t quite fully recovered from the whole M&S experience - that I wanted to write this all out and hopefully gain closure.

Overall, I wasn’t satisfied with the lack of interest management have over their employees and how they trained them. The retail industry does not really care if a person is introverted. They just want a person to make sales, and they do not really care if it makes a person uncomfortable. If you’re uncomfortable in working in their environment; you’re dead as far as they’re concerned. I hope this review serves as a testament of the hardships and struggles of anyone who had to go through this - due to M&S neglectful attitude. I perfectly understand that out-going personalities is required of their employees, but they should at least take an employee’s personality into question when assigning them the tasks.

Working at M&S at Castle Donington is a bit of a curate's egg really.

Pros

- It's a great place to work. Magnificent facility, jaw dropping. Everything is new, canteen is excellent, and the ethos of the management you just know it's going to be well maintained in years to come.

- The pay is excellent. Most other warehouse operative roles are minimum wage. Here, pound an hour more (after 12 weeks). £37 extra a week? Yes please.

- M&S management keep it real. They take the rough with the smooth, very considerate, they expect you to work hard (like in all jobs) but don't set totally unrealistic targets for you to hit. You get the odd miserable manager, but on the whole they are thoroughly pleasant.

- Colleagues are mostly good too. Previous places I've worked you get your fair share of undesirables. The screening phase usually weens out most of the riff raff. Quite a lot of eastern europeans work there, they are honest, hard working etc but a hard to relate too, banter with. They usually form their groups. Brits hang with Brits, Poles with Poles etc etc. Awkward. It gets especially 'entertaining' November time as workers are bused in from EVERYWHERE. Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Peterborough, Stoke. It is unbelievable, literally 2 hour coach journeys! Quality control goes out the window.

- Overtime pay. Time and a half after 37.5 hours in October, November and December. And there is LOTS of overtime in the run up to Christmas too. If you want to work 70 hours a week, it's yours. £12 an hour for a warehouse role? Some weeks you can turn in £600+ a week. Fill yer boots!

Cons.

- Blue Arrow. Blue Arrow. Blue Arrow. If you are a permanent worker, it's all fine and dandy. Agency? Eugh. All of the below relates to Blue Arrow.

- Your essentially in a zero hours contract. At peak, you WILL get 37.5 hours a week and all the overtime you could ever wish for. January and February is DEAD. They get shot of well over half the agency the second week in January, and even if you are 'spared', you'll get very little work. Literally, 0-2 days a week.

- 'Blue Days'. Easily the worst thing about Blue Arrow. If work is slack (often is), you might get a couple of 'guaranteed' days. You get 2 rest days, and then there are the 'unguaranteed' days, or the ''Blue Days'. Essentially, on these Blue Days, you are expected to do nothing with your life and if they call you they expect you to come in at short notice. You're basically covering for permanent staff calling in sick or if work levels pick up. 

Fail to answer to a Blue Day and your marked as absent.

- Your work ethic counts for ZERO. There is no communication between Blue Arrow and M&S. It's pot luck as to how much work you get compared with fellow agency staff. You can be the most brilliant worker, hit all targets, work lots of overtime etc and get no guaranteed work the next week. And the guy next to you, who has only been there a week and doesn't know the job and gets 4 guaranteed days.

M&S/managers have no say who they want in. Pure pot luck.

- Work/Life balance. Rota for the next working week is put up/e-mailed on Fridays. You'll find yourself nervously checking your e-mails every 2 minutes on a Friday. You don't get a 'set' rota. One week you could be working mornings, next week afternoons, but mostly it's all over the place. Coupe of mornings, then a couple of afternoons. All at short notice. Can't plan anything in your life, especially with the pesky Blue Days. You want to do something with your life on Sunday? You'll have to wait til Friday evening to see if your in or not.

- Public transport. 20 minutes walk to the bus and buses are every hour in evenings, depending on your rota/department you may get lucky and just catch it, or just miss it and have an hours wait. Car share with your mate? Forget it as your totally at the mercy of the rota, working different days, blue days, shifts etc.

- Not very good with your data either. Everyone's e-mail addresses were 'released' last year and then one particular annoyed worker used it and started e-mailing everybody regularly saying how useless the agency was. Disconcerting.

In summary, it's a brilliant place to work when/if you get the work. Although expect to be be banging your head against the wall at the incompetency of Blue Arrow a lot.

M & S? More like S & M!
You don't receive your first two weeks salary until you've resigned from the company. So that may be years before you see it.

Typical day at work - coming in and preparing the staffing for the nights delivery. Invariably the delivery would be late and much larger than expected. Staff absence was fairly high so juggling was regularly done.
What I learned - I have a huge capacity for patience...probably why I stayed as long as i did - expecting things to improve. I also taught myself many of the things they were supposed to teach me but somehow never had the time.
Management - Upper management had no clue about what was actually going on on the shop floor as they rarely interacted with the customer assistants. You could only approach them for the needs of the business if your section manager was absent. Otherwise 'do not disturb'.
Co-Workers - very hard-working, going above and beyond what was required of them. I shall miss them
Hardest part of the job - not being thanked for my team doing a good job. I found it very dis-heartening as I believe praise is a good motivator.
Most enjoyable part of the job - Clocking out and going home at the end of my shift.

Like others, the first couple of years were great; so much so that I decided to stay. (Big mistake). From the third to fifth year we had a succession of managers on my department who changed the way things were done on a whim. They didn't bother to get to know the staff and wouldn't acknowledge them on the shop floor unless it was to complain about something they believed should have been done sooner (all this whilst they were doing their work)
Cutbacks from head office meant there were never enough staff in place to get all the required work done in time or to serve the customers. Their solution? Bi-monthly through the night shifts to clear the over-crowded and very unsafe stock-room. And you were expected to come to work and do your shift the next day with less than the 12 hours rest break as stated by law.
Low staff morale meant customer service was poor as its difficult to smile when a manager has just told you off for your area not being tidy when you have customer fittings to do and therefore no time to do your standards.
If staff resigned they weren't replaced. This meant you were suddenly doing the work of three people while they cut back on costs.
No pay slip was ever the same and this was when you worked the same hours every month. If you did overtime, you could spend up to a year chasing them for it and then they'd tell you that too much time had passed so you weren't getting it OR as the manager who agreed the overtime had now moved to a different branch and as their request (for you to do overtime) was verbal - again - they weren't going to honour it.
It was difficult to get your hours changed as 'people who were there longer' were given that opportunity. That wasn't true as people joining the company would invariably get the hours you had spent years requesting.
Bullying is rife from some managers. There's no point in raising a formal complaint as it 'conveniently' disappears.
I left a permanent contract with them to take a job with a competitor on a temporary contract and less pay as I'd had enough. And in this economic climate, that says a lot.
The straw that broke the camel's back? My new manager constantly fixing my clothes. I dislike being touched by people who aren't my friends or family and that invasion of my personal space was literally the last straw.
I feel for the staff who are still there as they clearly state that if they could go elsewhere they would and that they are only there to ensure they can pay their bills. That to me is a clear sign of a business in trouble.
I don't know what happened to M&S but if things continue in their current vein, they will go the way of the dinosaur.

Worked for m&s for around 3.5 years. Absolutely loved it for the first month then I saw the wolf in the sheeps clothing. The staff working in m&s are either 50+ or late teens to early 20s. Everything went downhill when I realised being a Christmas temp meant if someone had to go cover on a different department it would always be me because I was the newest. They didn't take things in turn it was always about hierarchy. 
I started off working on lingerie which I really did enjoy as I had made a few friends.
Even though my contract was only 20 hours per week, the overtime was flowing in. I ended up working 11 days on, 1 day off sometimes 2 days off because no one else wanted to work they would always make me do all the rubbish jobs. They will try to persuade you to work overtime so you feel like you don't have a life.
After Christmas I had to apply for another job in m&s and got it, still on lingerie. However I found out that they could keep extending your temp contract up to 3 times before making you permenant. 
My contract changed yet again and I ended up working in the warehouse in A&A. I hated it with a passion and I didn't get on with my new colleagues. After complaining I wasn't enjoying it, I was moved onto menswear/customer service. I got on with the colleagues more but I just wasn't enjoying it anymore as the management referred to us as 'bodies' when they needed you on a different floor 'I'll send a body down to cover for an hour' I realised none of us were being valued human beings you just become a number.
I finally got moved back to lingerie and was taught how to be a bra fitter which was an interesting experience. But I was being moved around more than ever to different departments. I disliked it intensely as I have mental health problems and I start to become anxious as I like to stick to a certain routine which they were not respecting even though I had explained this previously.
I was promised to be trained to become a section co as my manager had said but this had been taken away from me as I had too much time off. Their sickness policy is ridiculous. 
If you have 3 separate absences within a 12 week period you get a written warning. Even if it is genuine sickness or covered by a doctor. During my time here I had a written warning for 12 months which then got extended for a further 6 months. Which then increased to a second written warning to a final warning. All of my sickness was covered by a doctors note for chronic stress in the work place alongside severe depression. When I did come into work I would have panic attacks, cry and hallucinate. I never received any support and was told 'it's better to work it keeps your mind occupied' even when I had started to received treatment I eventually left due to lack of support from management. Management and the 50+ golden oldies would be the worst for gossiping about other members of staff, especially those with various home life issues or struggling with anything personal.
As my time there went on, staff were decreased so much, constantly understaffed, constantly being sent to other departments. And you were never asked to do something, you were told to do something as you were only a body to them. No room for progression unless you were a favourite, you couldn't even greet another colleague good morning for a manager to come along, tell you off for chatting and send you to a different department. When most of the time, groups of managers would stand in the middle of the shop floor chatting and nowhere to be seen when there was a problem.

Having worked two separate temporary contracts in completely different departments, I have enjoyed working for M&S greatly.

I first worked within Customer Services, which includes processing refunds and exchanges and consequently either marking damaged/discontinued items to be sent to Head Office or placing returned items orderly on racks for returning to their designated department.
It also includes processing M&S's in store collection/reservations. As I worked here over the Christmas period, there were plenty of packages waiting for collection! It was fun to do, as a lot of customers had only seen what they had ordered in pictures online.

I adored working in CSD, and wish that I could have worked there longer, but my manager was so busy that she forgot to give me an extension!

A month or so after I finished at CSD, I was hired within the Cafe. This was a totally different experience. It was constantly busy, which meant that we had to work harder. This job worked on a constant hourly rotation. One hour, I was serving customers on tills, the next, I was preparing dirty dishes for the industrial dishwasher.
Within the Cafe, there are 6 written roles:

-Hot Food - Where you prepare the toasties, baked potatoes, soups, other hot meals and cold drinks such as smoothies.

-Delivery - Where you serve the hot food and cold drinks prepared by those on Hot Food to the customers who are waiting for their order.

-Tables - Where you clear tables, place dirty plates, cups etc onto trays before taking them to a tray stack and organising the different crockery by type onto trays. When the stack is full, you take it to the Dishwashing area. This was probably one of the busier jobs, as generally, it was too busy to only do one table at a time.

-Dishes - Here, you take the cutlery, plates and mugs from the tray stacks and place them onto racks for the dishwasher. The worst thing about this role was that the dishwasher constantly broke down, due to there not being time to rinse anything before putting it into the dishwasher, resulting in the drain clogging. It takes 45 minutes for the dishwasher to get back to working order. Within this time, I suggest wiping down dirty trays and making sure the fridges and cake table are well stocked.

-Till - Here, you processed the customer's orders, I enjoyed this part of the role, because I liked interacting with the customers.

-Machines - This was the role which I only slightly got to experience. Here, you made the teas, coffees and hot chocolates for the customers. I was taught by two seperate people how to make the drinks, both of which were not qualified to train others on the machines. (The worst one was being taught how to froth milk by a 6ft 3 colleague - I'm 5ft 1 - and having the milk jug held above my line of vision. I could not see!)

Though I enjoyed working at the Cafe, I found it was far less organised than CSD. Near the end of my contract, I was offered an extension, which I had to decline due to family issues (which are now resolved) and was told I would get an "unsuitable for reassignment" because I hadn't been on the machines station enough. This doesn't mean I'm not allowed to work in the Cafe, it means I'm not allowed to work in any department of any M&S ever again. It upsets me that such a small flaw within one department means that I cannot work in another completely different one.

A typical day at work starts with me counting stock using an RFID system. Once that is completed I would probe that count manually for any discrepancies between the system and what was counted. This is followed by everyday tasks such as sending stock back to our distribution centre, processing damaged stock, general tidying of the stockroom, training colleagues on the in house systems we use for stock control. Also daily we liaise with management, head office and distribution centre via emails, phone calls etc about current stock issues, promotions, upcoming events. Also general customer assistant duties such as helping customers on the floor, taking payment through the tills and using our iPads or hubs to assist customers with online purchases. 

I have learnt how to give great customer service as our in house training has given me the tools to insure I assist customers in helping them find exactly what they would like. I have learnt how to use multichannel applications such as iPads to assist customers in purchasing items they require and how important that aspect of sales is to business. Working there has also helped me to develop the skills I need to be able to communicate with management and those of a senior role effectively. Also as I work in a small team I have learnt the importance of building strong communication between everyone to become an efficient team to enable us to complete tasks to tight deadlines and also allowing me to prioritise workloads so when working on tasks set by management I can confidently complete these knowing that if when working on these alone if I do need my colleagues help they will be there for that. 

My manager and I have a great working relationship. She is there for support when I need her but she trust me in my job allowing me to confidently complete tasks without her checking them all the time. She has given me guidance in progressing with my career and allowed me several weeks working at head office on attachment helping with user acceptance testing.

My co workers are a very nice supportive team who I can always go to ask for help if I am ever unsure about something. As the team is so small I feel it has helped me develop as a person not only in a profession capacity but also on a person level too. 

The hardest part of the job is when systems fail and all of the hard work you have done is lost. Knowing that it is not your fault and it will all work out in the end does make it better but I love getting results and saving my store money, as saved money means more profit for the business making our pay and working conditions better in the long run.

I love the pace my job offers, working to deadlines is where I thrive. My job role allows my inquisitive nature to shine through as the role involves me saving the store money through stock loss. I love being able to probe into why we have stock missing on deliveries, delivering results by finding missing stock, coming up with ideas on how we can save money. Also up skilling assistants on the shop floor about the current policies the company have in place to prevent stock loss from happening.

they always kept you on your feet and because we were temporary customer assistant workers, we didn't have a permament department so we went from working in the gift shop, to helping womens, going to home and helping the gift shop again, all in the span of 3 months but i guess that made it stimulating because we didn't get bored of one area and got a feel of most of the departments. 
Some management was racist and one even belittled me because of one of my A-level subject choices? LOL I was so confused and I still am. But despite that, most of the other employees were really nice and made me feel comfortable. 

We all expected a little more structure to the training and induction so I think improving that would be helpful as we all expected more form M&S training. 

There were some periods where there were no customers and then out of no where you'd get a huge line. so it was quite stressful at times. 
The most enjoyable time I had was lunch time when I could sit and eat (although sometimes we were placed to work in the other store but my locker was in the other store so I had to waste some of my lunchtime to walk over and get money lunch etc which was really annoying (there are 2 stores in merry hill with different departments)). 
-a funny but scary experience I will never forget is when it was closing time on a Sunday night and everyone was going up to the lockers but our stuff was at the other store which was at the other side of the shopping centre but that store had already put its shutters down and the manager got mad at us for not telling her we were transferred from the other store when she definitely knew we were from there because she asked for us? so she dropped us at the back of the other store where the bins were to access the back way to the store and stuff and just drove off without making sure we were even able to get back in. All the doors were shut and we couldn't get in (we did have our cards and knew the pin that we normally get in with). It was also mid winter so we didn't have our coats or jackets just standing outside where there was no one because most stores had closed and everyone had gone home. We finally spotted some employees form LUSH taking trash out and we asked them for help, they led us in and the nice manager from there phoned the help line team in M&S which is always supposed to be active but they weren't picking up. so in she kindly let us use her phone to call our parents to pick us up becuase everything of mine were up in the lockers including my phone and keys (they don't let you have your phone in the shop floor). So in the end out parents picked us up and we went home with none of our belongings. Luckily we both had a shift the next morning so we could collect it then. Me and my colleague were both very young at the time so we were quite scared ngl and this could have turned out to be worse but I am so glad that the lush employees came out at that time. 
But other than this experience, it was a character building and fun time as most of the employees and management were nice apart from some customers which you can find at any store to be honest.

Start at 11.00, jump straight into the morning rush until 13.00 when the lunch time rush starts. Meet and greet customers, inform them of items out of stock and/or additions to the menu while seating them on a table that i will have to clean as turn around is so fast and staff sadly are not as fast therefor the table will not have been cleaned. Leaving the customer (to look over the menu) i have just seated i will go to another whom i sat about 5 minuets before and take an order from them, selling up and recommending something to suit there needs. After taking the order i will place it on the till and await it to be made for hot or cold station then take it to the customer in the hope that everything is to there satisfaction.Repeat this over the day and insuring customers in my co-workers sections are being looked after, paying attention to the regular customers who know me and have trust in me to insure there orders are completed and to there satisfaction.

During my time at M&S Kitchen i have learned that i can restore faith in even the most  hardest to please customers and this makes for a good day.

I would say the hardest parts of the job are:-
1. spending 8-9 hours a day running around cleaning up after coworkers who find there time is much better spent on planing their  social life than making sure the business is running smoothly.
2. When one of the stores many managers/head of departments comes in i find it frustrating that the my manager/supervisors and the rest of the team will "bend over backwards" to make sure that they get what they want and as quick as they can, i find this strange as if they choose to come and dine with us then they should be treated with the same lack of importance that the other customers must injure, Not get there order rushed though so they don't have to wait, this puts the customers order back and upsets the customers but sadly this is out of my hands. I STRONGLY believe that EVERY person who walks though the door should have the V.I.P treatment not just those who are employed by the company, it is shocking and unfair to the full paying customers to whom without we/they would not get paid. As managers/ Head of departments they should know that staff budget is very tight and therefor not expect to receive such a (royal) service and be more concerned that the customers are being looked after firstly and for-mostly after-all M&S staff are provided with a discount canteen in another part of the building out of sight of customers.

The most enjoyable part of my day is when a customer who has been previously makes there payment and is very happy with the service I provided and their mind has been changed to remain a customer for the future, when this happens i feel its a great boost to ones confidence as hearing other customers complaining about waiting times,unfriendly staff and the service not to there expectations, it is soul crushing that there is not a great deal I can humanly do about it except apologize and give them my word the next time they are in I will look after them. 

The work culture of M&S is difficult to describe succinctly.

You might think the staff groups are: Foods, Womens wear, Menswear, Kids wear, Home wears and Lingerie but this is not the case.

There are two groups; those on "old" contracts who have job security, better pay, unsociable hours pay, set shifts, permanent contracts, a massively decreased workload & respect. 

Then there's the other group; those on new contracts.  The people on new contracts don't have set shifts, don't get unsociable hours, get looked down upon and in some cases bullied by the older staff and just generally treated like throw away objects.

I worked for for the Forestside branch in the Warehouse department from July to December 2012; my temporary contract was extended once during that time.

While I worked there, I pretty much held up the loading bay while fat, middle aged dossers walked around doing nothing.  I also got bullied by one fat, grey haired individual because I was "Stealing their jobs" (context; I am English, living in Belfast, have done for 18 years, spent more of my life here than there).

There are too many managers, again on much more "fulfilling" contracts and again, even the most useless ones are protected by paperwork and nepotism.  

Once they were done with me, they offered me another contract with hours they knew I could not commit to (overnight shifts when there were no busses) and it was so totally obviously on purpose.

To add insult to injury, after working my knackers off constantly and consistently, I was promised a reference by my line manager who then proceeded to pretend he'd never heard of me when my new employer requested it. Thanks!!

** BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!! **

Remember how I said I was one of the lucky ones? Get this:

They are part of a "work experience" scheme which trawls the local jobcentres for humans on the dole; these humans put in full working weeks and all they get is their Jobseekers allowance - To put that in perspective, these people get the same money for a whole day's work as the paid staff get for an hour's work.

These "scummy scroungers" as the Daily Mail Demographic would call them get strung along with vague promises of a proper contract at the end but, yep, you've guessed it, they don't get a proper contract. Ever. It's just free labour to keep the middle class machine running.

Overall, the worst workplace I've ever set foot in and I've worked in outbound call centres, scratch that, I was once one of those dudes with the umbrella and the clipboard trying to sign people up to charities and even that, outside, in winter, in the rain, in Derry STILL wasn't as bad as sparkies.

Fortunately, the days of human rights abuses and imperial nepotism aren't going to last forever; the foods department is holding up the whole of marks & spencer and it won't be long until it collapses under the weight.

And then I will laugh, and laugh, and then there will be cake.

I worked in Castle Donington M&S site for more than 2 years (nightshifts), across different departments 

PROS: 
- Fair salary
- I met a lot of chilled and nice people there 
- Nice canteen with warm food, baverages, good coffee and soft drinks
- Some managers and team coordinators were really respectful and likeable
- Easier jobs: auto-pick, pack, inbound, despatch

CONS:
- 12-hour night shifts (two on-two off-three on-two off-two on-three off) make you feel really exhausted - Even when you have those 3 days off you are to tired to use that free time properly and productively
- There are many days when you do not have time for anything, you just sleep, prepare your food and go to work, and again sleep, food, work... 
- You are invisible to most of the managers, what makes you feel like a number. You can spend more than 2 years there and never speak to some of them because they would not even answer your 'hi' 
- Managers from pack often spend their time talking to girls they like, some write them on Facebook and try to pick them up
- All the better jobs are assigned to those young and pretty girls 
- Some of managers and team coordinators are really mean and openly rude even if you are a nice person! 
- No chance of being promoted or getting a contract unless you are friends with a manager or team coordinator 
- People work hard and their efforts are not recognized - hardworking people try to get a full-time position sometimes for as long as 4 years, and this good-looking girl or a friend of a manager, or an English person, who just started working there, will get it before them
- I really feel like this workplace is sexist 
- I have seen people been discriminated because of their skin colour and nationality
- If an African man or an English person does something wrong, they would seldom say anything; if you are white and non-English they would tell you off straightaway. 
- Me and plenty other people have been in many situations where an African men started working on my bench, or logged me out which we could not do, and instead of kicking him out of my workplace managers just told me to go and find myself another place to work. This is because some of them are loud and quarrel if you do not do what they want, so managers are affraid to tell them anything. There are a lot of really cool African guys and I really like them so I am not being a racist, its just a fact
- There are more and more quiet periods with not many shifts, and sending people home after a few hours
- Harder jobs: manual pick, ppp, despatch (peak)
- They will tell you off if you do not reach your target during peak time, even if you meet your packing target every hour and miss it once 
- If you make a mistake this would be registered and there are people who would go to managers and talk behind your back, hoping to get promoted 
- There are many guys of all the nations looking for a wife or a girlfriend or just s*x who would constantly annoy women of all ages, talking to them and offering dates, asking for their numbers, sometimes in a really bad way

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Customer assistant 35 salaries reported	£13.28 per hour
Team leader 9 salaries reported	£33,211 per year
Customer service representative 8 salaries reported	£13.13 per hour
Sales associate 9 salaries reported	£20,322 per year
Merchandiser 8 salaries reported	£39,563 per year

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