Working at Primark - Q&A

I find primark really annoying, well not just primark but any retail store, because when you apply, it says on their website that they'll train you to do certain things like stocktaking and till work but they expect you to have experience....really frustrating, applied to lot of jobs but still havent got any

I used to be contracted 4 hours on the weekend when I was at college and when I finish college I just picked up overtime whenever I could. Most weeks I ended up doing 37.5 hours. Cash Office and CSD trained so the overtime never stops..

That's the same as my contract.
I've been given 8 hours in total and will only be working on Saturday and Sunday
I got upset because I wouldn't mind working more hours
I wish I could be on the tills, it sounds like so much fun but they've put me in the fitting rooms
Any idea how the work is like? What I'd be doing? It's not gunna be fun right ...

They just emailed me today saying I have got the job! Woo

I will be working weekends...is there a high chance for me to do overtime?

I used to be contracted 4 hours on the weekend when I was at college and when I finish college I just picked up overtime whenever I could. Most weeks I ended up doing 37.5 hours. Cash Office and CSD trained so the overtime never stops..

You will probably end up with more than 8 hours on some weekends. Some, you may just get the minimum 8 hours but others, you may get more (e.g. 6 hrs on Sat and 4 hrs on Sun). This would not be classed as overtime.

Remember also that you should be able to sign up for any overtime Mon-Fri or additional on weekends if you wish to and if there is sufficient demand for it. Overtime also doesn't necessarily have to be in your own department/section, however it usually is more sensible to stick to something you are trained/experienced in.

In the fitting room, I'd imagine you'd be dealing with clothes left by customers and dealing with any customer queries. I also know that, in our store, when we have clothes on our floor (first floor) belonging to the ground floor we take them down to the fitting room who then give us clothes belonging to our floor.

Congrats!

Fitting rooms.. hmm, that is a boring department. That being said, people on the fitting rooms in my store like it, probably because they can sit down lol.

I am on tills and I hate it, after 6+ months of tills it really gets to you when you have to do 4 hours of it a day. I have a 20 hour contract and always do overtime. I did 39 hours for 2 months in a row once.

Depends on your store. At my store we always have late night shifts for recovery, when you tidy the store.. You just have to ask your HR manager or whoever does the overtime sheet. One thing I will say is if you ask for overtime/get the shifts don't call in sick - it'll make you look unreliable. I've worked for primark for 3 years and the way my store works is as follows.

You're either in the good club or the **** club. If you're in the good club you get good shifts, good jobs to do at work and decent lunch breaks.. if you're in the **** club you get dumped on fitting rooms as a punishment or you get crappy overtime hours. You get the rubbish lunches and just generally get dicked on. Being in the good club got me a crazy amount of working hours and days off when I need it.

Lmao thank you! Yeah after speaking to people about being in that department it does seem a little chilled but I really wanted to be on the tills! It just seems so much fun lmao

That's a lot of hours! Do you work full time

Lmaooo that is so crazy!! It sounds like school all over again lol

They've put me in the changing rooms anyways, is it that bad? Why's it considered punishment? 😭

How did you get cash office trained? Did a manager approach you?

Thanks for letting me know, I'll speak to someone about signing up to do overtime on the weekends

Oh that doesn't sound too bad a little boring though

Does this mean I'll never get to be on the tills?

I certainly wouldn't have thought it would be punishment for you considering you are just starting at a new store.

Yes, I also like the sound of being trained in the cash office; however I am pretty sure you have to be at least 18 to work in there so I wouldn't be able to yet anyway.

I have no idea you get trained in the cash office though.

I'm not sure it means you'll never be on tills, however, I wouldn't think you'd be on them much, especially as you are starting after the busy time of year ends. The fitting room in our store is not on my floor so I'm not 100% sure how it works or what the staff there do.

We have something called "queue-busters" (I'm assuming it's not just our store) which means you work on a department on the shop floor (possibly also fitting rooms but I'm not sure) and are called to work at tills for a brief time if it becomes very busy.

You could apply for overtime on tills if it is available but make sure you are trained on tills first. You could possibly express your interest in working on tills to management and ask if you can be till trained ASAP.

I was 17 when I was trained and my store manager just called me into the office and demanded that I get trained. I'd suggest just talking to your line manager. if you're CSD trained they'll be more inclined to say yes to training