What do i do ? work related

MaX_PoWah · 12 May 2007 at 03:01

Basically i work at a pub, which i like working at, when i first came there was one boss, and now there is a new one, called michelle.

Now michelle, i am sure, is stupid, i am convinced of it, not to mentioned her ever stupid comments sound even worse due to her scouser acccent, nothing against scousers really, i just find it hard to take her seriously.

Now the pub we work in is busy, and occasionally people want to pay by card, now this causes a problem because we can never find a pen.

Michelle's latest effort to form us all into mindless atomatons is to buy us all completely un-needed new uniforms, and as part of this new uniform, apart from new shirts, she is making us wear an apron, and in this apron we are supposed to place a pen, this is its only purpose, now i am guy, i am 21, i dont want to wear a apron, especially when all i do is pull pints and collect a few glasses, ie no other use apart from this mystical pen.

So tonight she hands me it all, and she expects a response off me, we end up arguing, and i say, why dont you just stop people using there cards after 8, and plenty of people agree with me, (including her soon to be assistant manager, not at that moment obviously, as in all our confrontations nobody else says anything) because its ridiculous, and it completes ties up one of the limited tills for a good 5 minutes when the bar is absolutely solid, thinking this was the obvious reason behind making us wear aprons, but oh no.

She then says whats this got to do with people using cards, i at this point, dont believe what i am hearing, she says oh its incase a customer wants a pen, which has happened, once ? in the last 5 months i have been there, and oh i never got the pen back which is obviously going to happen.

So what is the point in the apron the other 362 days of the year?

Well who knows, her closing comment was her well thought out end game statement of " if you dont like it you can leave " which she knows i dont want too, making the comment even more annoying, no compremise, no discussion, just oh well you can leave, and her next sentence will no dought be why are you all so miserable behind the bar ? because you dont give a monkeys perhaps ?

Just feel well frustrated now right now

Felix E · 12 May 2007 at 03:14

You should try working in the restaurant that I work in.

I would consider it to be at the cheaper end of the market - £4 starters and £8 mains - but we still have to wear black trousers, a company polo-shirt, black shoes and an apron.

We're supposed to have 3 pens, a lighter and a bottle opener on us at all times. You're also not allowed to grow a beard or any stubble, unless you grow it during a holiday period and it is longer than a certain length (not sure of the length right now).

According to my manager, McDonalds is a lot worse! The most anal company you could work for apparently, he turned down a job offer of £30,000 a year and a company car from them the other day, so they must be pretty bad.

felix

MaX_PoWah · 12 May 2007 at 03:20

Felix E said:
You should try working in the restaurant that I work in.

I would consider it to be at the cheaper end of the market - £4 starters and £8 mains - but we still have to wear black trousers, a company polo-shirt, black shoes and an apron.

We're supposed to have 3 pens, a lighter and a bottle opener on us at all times. You're also not allowed to grow a beard or any stubble, unless you grow it during a holiday period and it is longer than a certain length (not sure of the length right now).

According to my manager, McDonalds is a lot worse! The most anal company you could work for apparently, he turned down a job offer of £30,000 a year and a company car from them the other day, so they must be pretty bad.

felix

At least in your situation its understandable that an apron may be of some use to you though, and not just an off the cuff decision made while sat in the office drinking a j20.

I have heard really bad things about mcdonolds from a few people, the trouble is there are so many people who blindly accept even the most ridiculous of things, i should know, i work with some of them that i am sure they get away with it

Felix E · 12 May 2007 at 03:25

The apron gets filthy when I work on the bar! We have to do deserts and coffee's on the bar as well as other drinks and it's very busy so mainly the apron is used to wipe your hands on! nice..

Don't know enough about your situation, but if you want advancement within the company then maybe the best thing to do is to tow the line, however much you hate it. If you do this and suggest your own ideas (maybe you don't even like them but you think Michelle will) you might be looking at becoming the assistant manager yourself.

If you don't and you're happy with your job, maybe you just have to put up with it. I think a lot of things at my job are pointless and purely concerned with paranoid 'health and safety' ideas, but at the end of the day I go to work for a certain amount of time and I get paid for that time, if some of the stuff I have to do during that time seems pointless, then so be it - I'm still getting paid!

MaX_PoWah · 12 May 2007 at 03:40

Felix E said:
Don't know enough about your situation, but if you want advancement within the company then maybe the best thing to do is to tow the line, however much you hate it. If you do this and suggest your own ideas (maybe you don't even like them but you think Michelle will) you might be looking at becoming the assistant manager yourself.

If you don't and you're happy with your job, maybe you just have to put up with it. I think a lot of things at my job are pointless and purely concerned with paranoid 'health and safety' ideas, but at the end of the day I go to work for a certain amount of time and I get paid for that time, if some of the stuff I have to do during that time seems pointless, then so be it - I'm still getting paid!

lol i do suggest things, in the staff meetings, i suggest obvious things which are initially shrugged off but then 2 months down the line mysteriously end up been implemented, so much so i dont even bother anymore.

I Wish i could attribute some of the things she implements to health and saftey at least thats a reason.

Perhaps the money thing as you say is half my problem 50% of the time i dont really need the money as i am at uni and have another job and it isnt great money either which doesnt help, at least if i needed the money i could accept the rediculousness in the same way you do, where as i see them just hindering my occasional enjoyment of working at a pub.

Felix E · 12 May 2007 at 03:51

Hah yeah I see what you mean! It should be a not too hard, reasonably enjoyable job and she's making it suck for you!

Personally I'm on a leave of absence from uni so I'm working full time at the moment. My job pays the minimum wage, which since I'm not yet 22 (21 on July 3rd) is £4.45 p/h. However with tips I average around £7.50 an hour over a week - so I must admit any crap I have to put up with is worth it!

I don't know mate, I guess you either have to put up with it or find something else, especially if there's not much you can do to change it. Catering work can be very frustrating that's for sure!

SAM81 · 12 May 2007 at 07:13

MaX_PoWah said:
So tonight she hands me it all, and she expects a response off me, we end up arguing, and i say, why dont you just stop people using there cards after 8, and plenty of people agree with me,

who's really being stupid here? your suggesting not taking card transactions after 8 so you dont have to carry a pen around? thats moronic.

DustyMiller · 12 May 2007 at 08:17

Basically as i see it, you have two choices,

Her Way or the Highway.

She at the end of the day is the boss, and whether you like her descision or not is irrelevant. She has made a decision. Like it or lump it.

Moaning on here is not going to change her mind. Neither it seems is talking to her about it.
Get over it, where you apron with pride, and pull out your pen as and when asked.

simple really

alexakasloth · 12 May 2007 at 09:01

It's just an apron :confused:

Calder · 12 May 2007 at 09:15

I know trousers etc don't come with an instruction manual, but you do know what pockets are for, right? The way you've written that sounds like finding a pen is so much trouble, just keep a tub of them at the back of the bar or something. :confused:

P.S - Use less commas.

Defcon5 · 12 May 2007 at 09:39

Just put a cup with several pens in it next to the till?

Avalon · 12 May 2007 at 10:22

She clearly wants to jump your bones and the new uniform is part of the fantasy

Jokes aside didn't this all become a mute point in Feb when chip & pin came in ? Surely this can't be about a pen as you suggest ?

kmistry · 12 May 2007 at 10:24

Defcon5 said:
Just put a cup with several pens in it next to the till?

Yes would this not seem like a logical idea? :confused:

MaX_PoWah · 12 May 2007 at 10:45

simoran1 said:
who's really being stupid here? your suggesting not taking card transactions after 8 so you dont have to carry a pen around? thats moronic.

regardless if the reality of the situation is that it is moronic to do that, it does cause caos, 4 people to a till one has a customer who is too lazy to go to a the cash machine in the building, or b the one across the road and decides to use a card.

The resulting situation is customers time is wasted, and the staffs time is wasted as it takes 5 minutes+ to process a card basically because of there extreme laziness, i mean how many of you would go into a pub on a nite out and start wipping the card out ?

Then obviously the fact remains that is the only good reason as why we would need to carry a pen and wear an apron, however this escapes her completely, which i find frightening and makes it stink even more of "i thought this up while sat in the office"

kmistry said:
Yes would this not seem like a logical idea?

I kid you not, it doesnt work, the customers steal them / eat them and i am sure some of the staff do the same, people have bought boxes of them and before we know it there all gone.

Calder said:
I know trousers etc don't come with an instruction manual, but you do know what pockets are for, right? The way you've written that sounds like finding a pen is so much trouble, just keep a tub of them at the back of the bar or something.

P.S - Use less commas.

Aye sorry about all the commas, it was late and i do have the grammer skills of a trained chimp, you would not believe i was at uni would you haha.

but coming to your point, this is far too obvious a solution to a problem that doesnt even really exist, at least not the problem she believes she is solving, i was literally dumbstruck that a manager of a pubs reasoning for all this expenditure is simply incase a customer asks for a pen, which for one they never do and two once they have stolen your pen which they will do, what then ? why am i wearing this apron ?

Helium_Junkie · 12 May 2007 at 10:52

Just let your inept new manager destroy the pub and suck it up, or leave. Unless you're in a position to do something about it, which it sounds like you aren't.
You won't change her mind, she will just end up firing you - and since you've been arguing with her she's liable to give a bad reference out of spite if you p her off even more.

Tough break mate, hope it pans out for you.

MaX_PoWah · 12 May 2007 at 11:03

Helium_Junkie said:
Just let your inept new manager destroy the pub and suck it up, or leave. Unless you're in a position to do something about it, which it sounds like you aren't.
You won't change her mind, she will just end up firing you - and since you've been arguing with her she's liable to give a bad reference out of spite if you p her off even more.

Tough break mate, hope it pans out for you.

Well you dont need a reference to do pub work do you really i guess, in the long term scheme of things i dont care what i say to her, she cant fire me for having an opinion, she knows what i am like, if she does something ridiculous she must expect a ridiculous response these days.

The stupid thing is she tells some of the staff sometimes that she knows that i know what i am on about, which arguably i do, and ideas she will intially pull me down for end up been implemented weeks later so half the time i think its a principal thing with her.

Ripper · 12 May 2007 at 11:20

What colours the apron? Either way, just stick a leaking pen in it every night, they'll need to order you a new apron all the time if it doesn't wash out.

Meaning:

You = winner

Vibez · 12 May 2007 at 11:34

Felix E said:
Hah yeah I see what you mean! It should be a not too hard, reasonably enjoyable job and she's making it suck for you!

Personally I'm on a leave of absence from uni so I'm working full time at the moment. My job pays the minimum wage, which since I'm not yet 22 (21 on July 3rd) is £4.45 p/h. However with tips I average around £7.50 an hour over a week - so I must admit any crap I have to put up with is worth it!

I don't know mate, I guess you either have to put up with it or find something else, especially if there's not much you can do to change it. Catering work can be very frustrating that's for sure!

Erm I must be wrong here, but that's got to be below the minimum wage?

Didn't the Government raise it in 2006 to £5.35

Felix E · 12 May 2007 at 11:43

It's £4.45 p/h from 18-22 and then once you're 22 it rises to £5.35. Ridiculous really since I'm working fulltime and getting paid less than part-timers who've been in the job less time than me but happen to be a bit older. It's the law unfortunately.

daz · 12 May 2007 at 11:45

MaX_PoWah said:
regardless if the reality of the situation is that it is moronic to do that, it does cause caos, 4 people to a till one has a customer who is too lazy to go to a the cash machine in the building, or b the one across the road and decides to use a card.

The resulting situation is customers time is wasted, and the staffs time is wasted as it takes 5 minutes+ to process a card basically because of there extreme laziness, i mean how many of you would go into a pub on a nite out and start wipping the card out ?

It's not your job to worry about these things.

Just serve drinks.