[Anonymous]

Hey guys please be brutally honest here, because im finding it hard to be objective!

Ive had a job for almost a year now at Uni (i stay here 24/7 except about 3 days over christmas when i went home).

I am on a zero hour contract which means i can leave at any point on my wish or my boss's wish.

There has been several times when I have not been rota'd in for a week, or i get rang up the day before my shift and told not to come in because its not been busy enough. For example, this week, i had 25 hours, which got cut down to 10 because they no longer needed me in.

The thing is, Im staying at my Uni house all summer so i can work, but im also trying to get some volunteering because its my last year before i graduate. This is causing me problems with my boss.

So, my boss normally does the rotas a few days before each week- i normally find my hours out the friday before or something. This is really frustrating because I want to organise my work experience but i cant because i dont know when im working. Thus, i go ahead and organise other things. For example, he told me on friday to tell me that he didnt need me to come in this weekend and then in a very nasty way asked me ''was there any days i couldnt do next week'', now obviously if the rotas had been done, i could have worked my other things around this, but because he leaves them till last minute, i said i couldnt work tuesday because i had a doctors appointment (true), to which he got really arsy saying i was letting him down. But hes only given me 2 shifts anyway?! So all this time i could be organising my work experience and instead he expects me to be sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. If i arrange work experience/volunteering he gets really arsy with me, tells me im useless to him because im not flexible enough. And the thing is i could be 100% flexible and work things around my job if i only knew when i was working. Now other colleagues have mentioned this to him (most places do rotas weeks in advance not a few days before) but he refuses to do this! Hes already threatening to get rid of me because im 'unreliable'.

For example, I found out im meant to be on a Uni conference at the start of september- i told him when i next saw him. And he was like ''you cant go'' and its just pathetic. He can pull me out when it suits him but when i say im going somewhere for UNI he wont let me/agrees in the end but after telling me he'll be getting rid of me. Its just so selfish.

And because im on a 0 hour contract i didnt know im meant to book holiday anyway? And i thought if he thinks its acceptable to just say he doesnt need me then there can be times i can turn round and say im not available.

I dont know. Any advice on the matter?

Im going to be looking for another job but in the meantime what do people suggest?

[Anonymous]

ne1??

[dada55]

You got a few options:

1)Quit and organise your volunteering while searching for a more flexible job

2) Try and find a better replacement job and then quit (if you need the cash)

3) Be stuck in a job that you obviously hate, not that others will definatly be better but atleast there is the chance.

[ninegrandstudent]

Even if you are on a zero hours, you should still have a contract - in there is should say how long rotas should be written for prior to the week. It'll also have things like your holiday entitlements etc.

[Anonymous]

ive never been given anything regards to a contract/statement or anything

[outOfFayz]

Quit and move on.

It's far too unreliable and you've clearly got better things to be doing.

If you consider yourself to be reliable and employable, you'll find another part-time job easily enough.

[JCC-MGS]

You've got a year's experience under your belt so start looking for jobs elsewhere and find a similar job which suits your needs better, in the meantime keep working where you are as a new job is hardly guaranteed. Ultimately your work experience is for your career and your paid work is just another job so don't let your boss skew your priorities

[Anonymous]

(Original post by JCC-MGS)
You've got a year's experience under your belt so start looking for jobs elsewhere and find a similar job which suits your needs better, in the meantime keep working where you are as a new job is hardly guaranteed. Ultimately your work experience is for your career and your paid work is just another job so don't let your boss skew your priorities

yeh thanks thats what im worried about- espesh it being my last summer now to get some experience- but at the same time i need money as i dont have family to back me up or anything.

So yeh im gonna keep the job whilst im looking for something better.

Do you think i should try talking to him? Hes really intimidating and not the most approachable of people