[MySweetheartTheDrunk]

(Original post by insignificant)
How long does it take to hear back from the recruitment team after receiving an email saying they have received your application?

Eh I applied to positions in 2 different stores at different times, and in both cases I heard nothing after the acknowledgement email for about 2 weeks. And I don't think the time has anything ot do with whether you are successful or not, because the reply from one store was an unsuccesful email, while the other was inviting me to a group selection day. So, patience my friend

[94_confessions]

Hi everyone! I've applied for a position on checkouts and I've been invited to attend a Magic session. The email states to come dressed in "smart/casual" clothing as there's going to be some practical work, does anyone have an idea what a girl should go dressed in? And any advice for the sessions? Thanks .

[sauce]

(Original post by 94_confessions)
Hi everyone! I've applied for a position on checkouts and I've been invited to attend a Magic session. The email states to come dressed in "smart/casual" clothing as there's going to be some practical work, does anyone have an idea what a girl should go dressed in? And any advice for the sessions? Thanks .

I went in black smart trousers(like suit type trousers if you get me) and a smart shirt-style top with a cardigan on top. Some people were wearing jeans tho.

[callum9999]

Does anyone know what breaks you're meant to have on an 8 hour shift from 8am to 4pm? I'm always getting caught out by the strict rules and losing hours of pay over it!

[Motorbiker]

(Original post by callum9999)
Does anyone know what breaks you're meant to have on an 8 hour shift from 8am to 4pm? I'm always getting caught out by the strict rules and losing hours of pay over it!

Half hour unpaid lunch break and that's it i think.

[callum9999]

(Original post by MHorman)
Half hour unpaid lunch break and that's it i think.

Thanks. I got caught out by a compulsory dinner break once a week for several months (meaning they took an hour off my pay because I didn't clock out yet I actually worked that hour) and didn't want to get stung by some kind of breakfast rule!

Are you sure that's it though? I'm sure I should be getting another break as well, something like 15 mins paid (that's what I get on my 1pm-7.30pm shift along with 30 mins unpaid dinner)?

[Motorbiker]

(Original post by callum9999)
Thanks. I got caught out by a compulsory dinner break once a week for several months (meaning they took an hour off my pay because I didn't clock out yet I actually worked that hour) and didn't want to get stung by some kind of breakfast rule!

Are you sure that's it though? I'm sure I should be getting another break as well, something like 15 mins paid (that's what I get on my 1pm-7.30pm shift along with 30 mins unpaid dinner)?

I did that like twice. If you don't sign out for lunch then it auto takes an hour off.

It's done on hot meal break zones and continuous 4 hours + zones either side of them... On your other shift you have 4.5 hours from start till the beginning on evening hot meal zone(5:30-7) so think that gives you a 15 mins paid break. Not 100% on that though. It should all be in your book.

Funniest thing is the stupid way they make breaks is overly complcated with the hot meal zones etc that if you ask different managers what breaks you get on the same shift they'll tell you different answers. I used to work 12-10(for like over a year) and i still don't know what breaks i was supposed to take each time.

[callum9999]

(Original post by MHorman)
I did that like twice. If you don't sign out for lunch then it auto takes an hour off.

It's done on hot meal break zones and continuous 4 hours + zones either side of them... On your other shift you have 4.5 hours from start till the beginning on evening hot meal zone(5:30-7) so think that gives you a 15 mins paid break. Not 100% on that though. It should all be in your book.

Funniest thing is the stupid way they make breaks is overly complcated with the hot meal zones etc that if you ask different managers what breaks you get on the same shift they'll tell you different answers. I used to work 12-10(for like over a year) and i still don't know what breaks i was supposed to take each time.

5.30 definitely isn't the dinner zone as when I work 12 - 6pm I don't need to take it - I think it's 6.30. Do you know when the lunch zone starts? If 12 then that should give me a break? I don't know why they decided to make this so complex! I was told different things by different people as well and my manager actually said I only had a 20 minute break - but it was my word against their's so I lost out on all that pay!

I got some photocopied bits from the book because they didn't have any at the beginning and I threw it away as it was falling to pieces - sure it didn't have this stuff in it though. I'll try and get a copy tomorrow - hopefully someone in this store actually understands it!

[Motorbiker]

(Original post by callum9999)
5.30 definitely isn't the dinner zone as when I work 12 - 6pm I don't need to take it - I think it's 6.30. Do you know when the lunch zone starts? If 12 then that should give me a break? I don't know why they decided to make this so complex! I was told different things by different people as well and my manager actually said I only had a 20 minute break - but it was my word against their's so I lost out on all that pay!

I got some photocopied bits from the book because they didn't have any at the beginning and I threw it away as it was falling to pieces - sure it didn't have this stuff in it though. I'll try and get a copy tomorrow - hopefully someone in this store actually understands it!

Hot meal breaks are 11:30 to 1 and 5:30 to 7... You have to either sign out or skip meal break if your shift completely covers either of them...

The whole system is stupidly complicated. The trick is if you're not taking a 30 min break to go to the machine and hit "skip meal break"...

[callum9999]

(Original post by MHorman)
Hot meal breaks are 11:30 to 1 and 5:30 to 7... You have to either sign out or skip meal break if your shift completely covers either of them...

The whole system is stupidly complicated. The trick is if you're not taking a 30 min break to go to the machine and hit "skip meal break"...

Is it definitely 5:30? I definitely don't lose any pay by not taking a break on my 12-6.30 shift.

We aren't allowed to skip because of "abuse" (presumably people skipping but going to the break anyway?).

[Motorbiker]

(Original post by MHorman)
Hot meal breaks are 11:30 to 1 and 5:30 to 7... You have to either sign out or skip meal break if your shift completely covers either of them...

The whole system is stupidly complicated. The trick is if you're not taking a 30 min break to go to the machine and hit "skip meal break"...

(Original post by callum9999)
Is it definitely 5:30? I definitely don't lose any pay by not taking a break on my 12-6.30 shift.

We aren't allowed to skip because of "abuse" (presumably people skipping but going to the break anyway?).

Yes that's because you sign out before 7... It's only if you completely cover the hot meal break.

You're not allowed to skip it if you actually take it obviously. The reasons i've skipped mine lately is like when working 1:15-5 then staying on for another 2 hours so signed out at like 7:05. Only took like 15 mins paid break in the middle so had to set it to skip otherwise it would have auto taken time off...

[callum9999]

(Original post by MHorman)
Yes that's because you sign out before 7... It's only if you completely cover the hot meal break.

You're not allowed to skip it if you actually take it obviously. The reasons i've skipped mine lately is like when working 1:15-5 then staying on for another 2 hours so signed out at like 7:05. Only took like 15 mins paid break in the middle so had to set it to skip otherwise it would have auto taken time off...

Ah sorry I must have missed that bit - it makes sense now.

Yeah I know that how the skip works, but we aren't allowed to skip any more. If you skip and carry on working, they will still take a meal break out of your wages. I just meant I assume people doing that is why they've taken away the option to do so.

[thecdon]

I have worked at an ASDA Wal-Mart store for about 7 months now, I'm on a gap year and wanted to earn money to supplement my gap year plans, so I do about 35 hours a week on the chilled meat section. As expected, the job is very very boring indeed but the pay is decent enough - £6.30 odd an hour. I start at 6am and finish at 1pm except one day when I finish at 3pm. I like the fact that I start early and finish relatively early in the day so can make plans for the rest of the day.

What I can't stand is the people there. To be fair, the majority are ok and pleasant enough and decent to get along with, but the managers and sections leaders are absolute t w a t s.
They have their favourites (coincidentally the male managers suck up to and favour 18 year old mildly attractive girls and anyone who isn't their favourite, they will ignore and won't even say hello to and will treat like dirt - namely by patronising and talking down to staff. This I can't stand - there's nothing worse than being patronised and treated as if I'm stupid - for example one of my chilled managers did a beauty course at college, is a complete air head and talks to me like I'm 7 years old and have Down's Syndrome lol, like the other day she said "I need you to date check. Do you know how to do it?" I was like ummm yeah I have done it about 60 times before... bellend. I know I've got prospects and I know that if I go back there in 5 years time most of the people will be in the same mundane job there, and I'll love to go there and just laugh at them haha sounds harsh but they treat me like sh1t!

I applied for a job at Co-op and got it, started there last week, so as of now I have two jobs and will be working about 35 hours at Asda and 20 odd at Co-op...so about 55-58 hours a week... gonna be tough, but at least I will know which job I want to keep, as I don't think I can sustain working that many hours a week and not getting depressed!

My plan is to take advantage of all the upcoming bank holidays at Asda and then leave.

/essay

[Motorbiker]

(Original post by thecdon)
I have worked at an ASDA Wal-Mart store for about 7 months now, I'm on a gap year and wanted to earn money to supplement my gap year plans, so I do about 35 hours a week on the chilled meat section. As expected, the job is very very boring indeed but the pay is decent enough - £6.30 odd an hour. I start at 6am and finish at 1pm except one day when I finish at 3pm. I like the fact that I start early and finish relatively early in the day so can make plans for the rest of the day.

What I can't stand is the people there. To be fair, the majority are ok and pleasant enough and decent to get along with, but the managers and sections leaders are absolute t w a t s.
They have their favourites (coincidentally the male managers suck up to and favour 18 year old mildly attractive girls and anyone who isn't their favourite, they will ignore and won't even say hello to and will treat like dirt - namely by patronising and talking down to staff. This I can't stand - there's nothing worse than being patronised and treated as if I'm stupid - for example one of my chilled managers did a beauty course at college, is a complete air head and talks to me like I'm 7 years old and have Down's Syndrome lol, like the other day she said "I need you to date check. Do you know how to do it?" I was like ummm yeah I have done it about 60 times before... bellend. I know I've got prospects and I know that if I go back there in 5 years time most of the people will be in the same mundane job there, and I'll love to go there and just laugh at them haha sounds harsh but they treat me like sh1t!

I applied for a job at Co-op and got it, started there last week, so as of now I have two jobs and will be working about 35 hours at Asda and 20 odd at Co-op...so about 55-58 hours a week... gonna be tough, but at least I will know which job I want to keep, as I don't think I can sustain working that many hours a week and not getting depressed!

My plan is to take advantage of all the upcoming bank holidays at Asda and then leave.

/essay

Tbh i do know exactly what you mean and you will get the managers/key colleagues doing that. The worst people imo are the "professional shelf stackers" these are the adults whose entire lives revolve around being the bottom rung at ASDA and it's their greatest acheivement to come in and be really annoying... They act as if they're so amazing because instead of getting a good degree and getting a real job they've become sadly proficient at stacking shelves...

Tbh if you wanna get out of the chilled mess just move to tills. That's what i've done and apart from the occasional person that you ID that may kick off it's the piss easiest job in the entire store by miles...

At one point i worked 20-25 hours a week on chilled an 40 hours a week on Home & Leisure... Oh to be 16 again...

And for the bank holidays i'm working 8 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours, 10 hours... 36 hours in total so that's About £350 for 4 days of work... (£6.80 + time and a half ftw...)

[Entangled]

(Original post by thecdon)
/essay

Don't worry yourself too much, that essay is cyclic. I remember getting my first twinge of that around 4 months, maybe half a year, into the job (counters). It ends up not being too much of an issue for a while, and then about a year ago I basically relapsed big-style into that essay. Now, 2 years and 10 months into the job, I've learned not to invest too much of myself in the job and not to take things to heart - I end up switching most of myself off and autopiloting the day.

I should say that I'm balancing the job against Uni just now, so I'm not in too often aside from the holidays.

[thecdon]

(Original post by MHorman)
Tbh i do know exactly what you mean and you will get the managers/key colleagues doing that. The worst people imo are the "professional shelf stackers" these are the adults whose entire lives revolve around being the bottom rung at ASDA and it's their greatest acheivement to come in and be really annoying... They act as if they're so amazing because instead of getting a good degree and getting a real job they've become sadly proficient at stacking shelves...

Tbh if you wanna get out of the chilled mess just move to tills. That's what i've done and apart from the occasional person that you ID that may kick off it's the piss easiest job in the entire store by miles...

At one point i worked 20-25 hours a week on chilled an 40 hours a week on Home & Leisure... Oh to be 16 again...

And for the bank holidays i'm working 8 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours, 10 hours... 36 hours in total so that's About £350 for 4 days of work... (£6.80 + time and a half ftw...)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels the way I do about the job! And yeah I think it's funny those people who are about 50-60 and have the 20+ years service badges on and they act as they're the don...I just think how are these people not embarrassed by the fact that they are doing a job and on near enough the same wage as a 17 year old?! Suppose that's just me that thinks that then lol!

On Friday I was doing the 3 for £10 promo ends and the manager came over to my meat team leader and told her the ends looked sh1t and made me feel really small and they were patronising me etc... I thought wtf?! the ends are stacked full and look perfect... so I thought I'm not taking this bull**** so I took a picture on my phone and went over to another manager and said please tell me how the ends look crap?! Even he was like no they look great... so I went over to the manager and said what's wrong with the ends and he said "ooh there's a pack of bacon that's in the wrong place" How petty can you be, you guys know how many people always go for the 3 for £10 end...if you leave it for 2 minutes customers always move things around and generally make it look messy which is to be expected... On reflection I just thought it was funny how I got *******ed initially, then I confronted them and asked for an explanation and then they didn't really have a leg to stand on. c**ts

(Original post by Entangled)
Don't worry yourself too much, that essay is cyclic. I remember getting my first twinge of that around 4 months, maybe half a year, into the job (counters). It ends up not being too much of an issue for a while, and then about a year ago I basically relapsed big-style into that essay. Now, 2 years and 10 months into the job, I've learned not to invest too much of myself in the job and not to take things to heart - I end up switching most of myself off and autopiloting the day.

I should say that I'm balancing the job against Uni just now, so I'm not in too often aside from the holidays.

Yeah I do try to autopilot.... I just keep thinking roll on Sept!

[yates]

just wondering is it hard for school leavers to get a job, what is the pay like? And would i be able to get saturdays off?

[Motorbiker]

(Original post by yates)
just wondering is it hard for school leavers to get a job,

what is the pay like?

And would i be able to get saturdays off?

Not really hard tbh but depends if your local store has vacancies and whether or not they like you...

Pay ranges from £6.24 to £6.80 depending on area(Devon to Brighton). It may vary by more in like central london , i'm not 100% sure. Also pay *1.5 on bank holidays is very useful lately...

You could get saturday off but then you'd definately have to work sundays... And if you mention this iin your interview they're more likely to pick someone that can work saturday as well...

[insignificant]

Still haven't had an email back about whether I've got an interview or not..

[Motorbiker]

(Original post by insignificant)
Still haven't had an email back about whether I've got an interview or not..

Ring your local store at 9:05 tomorrow morning and ask to speak to someone in personnel and then ask them. Either that or email them, Ringing is better as it gets straight to the case and you can't ignore a phonecall...