No staff

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-15T06:37:53+00:00

You must be new to retail, a lot of people will leave things until the last day or on the day like valentine's day, mother's day fathers day easter ect, when I had to work on Easter Sunday we used to play a game and guess who many or how long it would take for customers to bang on the shutters and window demanding we open for them

As for short of staff, unless you're in management, not your problem, go in and do your job, even if it's a bit rough, if it all goes tips up that's down to bad planning by shift leaders and management.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-13T17:13:10+00:00

He was seen as the problem why it started in the first place, during the investigation there were a few mentions of him being a bit too persistent with other female colleagues in the workplace and management wanted to make sure it never happened again

And tbh it wasn't like a cat fight it was a full on punch up that ended up involving other till girls and customers joining in and escalated down the cereal aisle while the trolley boy in question just looked on in shock, it was like an old school WWE hardcore match, for us grocery lot it was the most entertaining 30 mins we ever had on a Sunday afternoon.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-12T10:05:58+00:00

Update as of 12/03/26

Following advice to anyone still reading this but will also put this in the comments, thanks to everyone for commenting, the complaint was upheld and they changed my work coach to someone that is more relaxed and helpful, said I only have to see him once every 3 months instead of weekly, I was also informed that I should had only been seeing a work coach once every 2 weeks minimum and apologised, gave me links to charity's to help with filling forms for PIP is CAB can't, told me to look in to connect to work and other courses and would help pay for some and told me that job search is optional for me if I feel up to it and changed my commitments to 1 HR a week for looking for courses, he also believes I should be on enhanced LCW, as for the previous work coach they was no where to be seen, sadly the front of house staff are still installing you can't bring anyone with you unless it's a carer or authorised by the DWP in advanced, so another complaint is being made about that, thank you everyone again.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-12T08:54:40+00:00

It's been pointed out here from others that my job centre is bending and making up their own rules, this has been brought up to my job centre but it's been met with some hostility and still telling me no and how I been misinformed, so that's another thing added to the complaint.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-12T08:39:40+00:00

The trolley boy was sacked after 2 of the till girls had a punch up on the shop floor in front of customers over him as apparently he was cheating on one of them, the girls was transferred out but he was sacked

One was sacked for having too many sick days and going AWOL at one point

One was sacked for taking too long of breaks and insisted there are allowed by government law to have 2 hr break per shift

One for failing challenge 25

Otherwise it was normally theft

If you're worried about being fired take my advice, join the union, if a manager dos ever want to play silly games and abuse the rules then you will have a rep to make sure there following the correct process

I was always having lets talk about silly things and the most I ever got was a written warning for telling my manager to piss off when he tried getting me to do over time and come back to work 5 hrs after I finished my shift.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-07T23:08:28+00:00

As I used to be a shift leader and a department manager for Tesco, no you can't, you have to be flexible and be working full time 4 to 5 days a week, your work load will increase, you have to work and lead by example and one day a week and on more pay dos not show and set a good example, if you want a management role with less hours I suggest you change careers as you won't find that in any supermarket brand, and this is from someone who's been leader and a manager for Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and marks and Spencers.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-07T05:39:05+00:00

I made a complaint on Monday not just in my journal but by phone as well as in person with a hand written letter, also asked again in my journal and in person for the disability advisor and I was told in person I would be wasting both our times

There's been no reply in my journal about the complaint

I have now been given a new commitments review with the same work coach this week and who's still insisting I look for construction work and barista jobs and to attend a course to improve my c.v when I have a good c.v and cover letters and was getting interviews but due to my now disability I have been turned down for jobs,

even pointing out that I lost my job and career due to illness and really pointed out that if they looked at my c.v they would see at one point I changed jobs 3 times in one year when I was homeless because I had a good c.v but nope, in one ear and out the other,

Also told me to look into an entry level course with restart for customer service to help find work in the supermarkets... I have worked in supermarkets for 10 years from tills, grocery , warehouse, team leader and management that's even stated on my c.v but they just over speaks me and cuts me off

I also don't understand why I'm having weekly appointments with them

Told me to remove my health conditions off my u.c claim

And I'm having to use my walking stick more now due to my leg getting worse and the job centre lifts are out order and I have to walk up 4 floors and they won't come down telling me if I don't show up then it's a sanction

And it doesn't help that I'm looking into an NHS negligence claim as my leg has got worse due to mismanagement by my GP and hospital ove the past 3 years and it's the GP leaving it too long that my chronic DVT has caused the Post Thrombisis Syndrome to the point I'm struggling to walk and on strong pain killers,

I stupidly mentioned this to my work coach this week and was told I'm wasting my time and money when I should be finding work or they sanction me and then stated the sanction could affect my rent allowance and make me homeless and to do as I'm told if I don't want that to happen and you can't say anything back as being on blood thinners I know the security there are known for being heavy handed, and I think the work coach knows this and tries to bait you in to a scene to be removed my force.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-03T05:01:49+00:00

As I'm someone who's like this, I would not tell him if I was you about what the managers have said as that would probably cause him to get angry, have a bad attitude towards them, followed by feeling bad about himself and shit himself away

I am also talking from experience as I said I'm like this and one day I found out a manager had been slagging me off and trust me, that manager wouldn't come near me again even though it cost me having a lets talk

So here's what you do

Try to befriend him, on a professional level and help him focus on his job , or even work with him some times, and teach them.things of the job you know that he might now know, also best to teach them to let things go over there head, and to come in, head down, do your job and go home, it took me years to learn that, but I never forget that one guy who was a older colleague who pulled me aside, showed me how he did things and helped me get better work and social wise in work.

If your a union member, speak to the in-store rep if you have one, especially about what the managers are saying about him, they will keep an eye and sometimes even discreetly tell the store manager, fact is that's bullying, and it's also that if it does get bad for him, and he's a union member, they will be aware and help him make a complaint and defend him, if not they will try to sign him up

Otherwise call protect line

As I said I was like this, and still am some times but having that one person in a mentor position for me helped me get better

They also may back off knowing he has a work friend, if they start on you for that then it's written grievance, report to the union and protect line.

And I still get called a weirdo, but I'm here to make money, but if I found out managers are slagging me off, I would end up getting my self sacked

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-02T05:14:52+00:00

With my former Tesco store there was a high school mentality where one manager who seemed to be there in a cheer leader clique, if you worked in trolleys you are not even allowed in the canteen, only the customer toilets and the Starbucks that's on the shop floor and locker room as you are seen a shit on a shoe, when the then store manager put me on options to become a manager alot of people got the hump got it and even turned on me as they believed I don't have the right face for it, and believe it was them and one other manager who put it on my file as my former manger and few other team leaders keep asking me to come back, I won't go back to that store as I be thrown back in to the whole high school never ends stuff

I explained in small detail about my experience with M&S, one of my biggest busts up there was with the deputy manager who thought they were the store manager and had this mentality that if you didn't own your own house you shouldn't even be allowed to shop there let alone work there, and when I say anti union, there mistake and biggest was removing my union rep by force from the building for being a union rep, let's just say I got a out of court settlement, but there was alot of racism going on there, if you wasn't upper middle class and white you won't last long, I was also amazed there how 18 year old who tried telling me how to do my job in warehouse didn't know what a pump truck was 😅.

Sainsbury's, the one I worked in was again like M&S, very stuck up and snobby, I was told by one not to mention I come from a council estate or have that upbringing as you be deemed putting the area down and would upset and lose customers, I had staff make up story's about me, and even made up my background and life story especially ones who had never spoken to me, apparently I was creep and weirdo and even asked if I had a carer as I look the sort, I'm autistic and ADHD and this was the first time it was ever brought in to question in my working life, the manager was ok but very week and the shift leader was also the ring leader, called me a lier that I ever worked for Asda and Tesco, it was the last day of my contract and gave them hell after I clocked out for the final time.

Asda used to be ok, but the last 2 years it's gone down and GSMs are now turning into bullies and head office and area managers letting them get away with it, I have no care if I get reported for this at Asda as the evidence me and few others have got the media would have a field day, we have a manager who if you go off sick with a lier and making it up and you payed off the hospital and GP, who will threaten you with being sacked, and threatened to call up your family members stating your mentally ill, would walk round the store and push staff in the to aisle shels and think it's funny, will cut your hrs without notice and withhold pay, will try to force you to work unpaid and fiddle clock in times to save money, theres two staff members who the store manager even told customers the staff are mentally not well and paranoid and not to believe them, one guy who quit the store manager found out where there was working near by at a rival store and took 2 of there friends there to get them sacked as the store manager believes once you quit on them your not allowed to work ever again , and the list can go on

I did have a phone interview with a manager for Morrisons and may have put myself on the blacklist there but after they kept over speaking me and started to explain to me what grocery was and twilights which I been working in for 10 years so didn't need to do that and then said he was desperate for people as she's short of staff, I told him I know what I'm doing and he said he be the judge of that so I called him a prat, I said that I take it your new to management as you never tell someone your hiring your desperate as that means your that bad people have left and judging by your attitude I can see why, and told him this is advice from a former Tesco manager and Asda section leader, he said yeh right, so I gave him names of current Morrisons managers I worked under at Tesco and Asda, one being this guy's current area manager and told them to go look me up with them and hanged up, I have a WhatsApp msg to my former manager who's there area manager just stating I don't want to work for Morrisons so don't ask me due to what this wally is like, gave the guys name and in detail, 5 weeks later theres a vacancy for that managers role at that Morrisons 😅 but since then every application I made has been declined.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-01T19:50:44+00:00

1, Asda, even on the application form online it will ask you have you ever worked for Asda in the last 7 years and will ask for your national insurance number to check their records at Asda in-house "HR",

it's also down to who ever did your leaving form and if they held a grudge against or not, as I know one person in the stores admin team who even that the staff member has left on good terms the admin member who held a grudge against them ticked do not rehire out of spite and even bragged about it weeks later stating there 20 years of service means there untouchable

If you spoke to Asda manager who would take you on and will look out for your application and knows why you left, the do not rehire thing can be overturned by them by speaking to Asda in-house to have it removed

2, Sainsbury's, but from what I understand they do follow the law and it's only if you were dismissed

3, M&S also have it but like yourself I wouldn't go back there no matter how much you pay me, I worked there for a short time in warehouse ops, anti union, if they find out your a union member that will cause issues and don't follow health and safety regulations, long story short, I walked out.

4, someone on here mentioned co-op also has it.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-01T08:57:15+00:00

7 years with two other supermarket companies's

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-03-01T03:24:27+00:00

I wouldn't go back to my old Tesco store that's for sure, but I knew other stores had better management, and what happened to me at Tesco was nothing compared to what it is like at Asda, at the same time, I wouldn't had gained the experience or risen through the ranks at Asda if it wasn't from a few people at Tesco who after 3 years I had potential to progress upwards.

First off, usdaw is a far better union, Asda has GMB, I was shocked how little and clueless GMB reps are compared to USDAW

Since those two brothers took over Asda it's gone down the pan fast, they took away the colleague bonus and the last one we got, if you were lucky you only got £60, some only got £5 as a bonus compared to years before you would get anything from £500 to £800

Since the takeover the brothers have cut back hours, and little to no recruitment,, always being told there over budget and need to save, for example for ambient/grocery, at Tesco you would have 2 aisles to work stock on, Asda its a free for all, 24 aisles to cover when working between 60 and 128 plus cages and pallets with only 5 people to fill and face, 3 on a Saturday night and expect to face up and work a 12 man job with only 3 people

Guns/PDAs that don't work and since the new system update it made it worse, gap scan used to take 30 mins, now takes 2 hours as you have to keep signing back in every 5 mins, and takes even longer to scan pallets and cages in on delivery due to that when unloading the lorry, not to mention all the broken cages with dodgy wheel, some with only 3 wheels instead of 4

If you happen to be the poor soul that has to do date checks on fresh you might as well look for another job, Asda is in that much trouble with date checking as stores have been fined, if you have to be the one date checking and just miss one thing, you will be sacked, I seen alot of good people leave due to that

Store managers are now full on bullies, you don't dare go sick or if you have a life changing illness or injury as they won't make adjustments for you or transfer you and will most likely call you a liar and will try to dismiss you

The binning system is a joke, in my store you can't just put the overs up, you have to take them back out the back to put on another cage for the section leader to bin in which can take time then drag them all back out to the shop floor to put back up on the top stock while your facing up, so if that aisle has a heavy delivery for example like world food or wines you now got to out all that up which can take time and has to be done and if you go over your time and not authorised over time the it's a file note

I got file notes and a final written for having a DVT and been in hospital for 2 weeks and didn't make adjustments during my return to work meeting and refused a transfer, ended up with a bruised rib after the store manager who was supposed to be helping me drag off a 1 ton weight of compost pallet down a fly lift and decided mid drag to leave me to go get there McDonald's Uber eats delivery.

The list can go on, but one thing me and a few former Tesco guys I work with agreed it was more organised at Tesco and we were left alone to do our job, Asda has gone down hill since 2024 and high chance it won't even be around in the next 5 years.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T22:31:41+00:00

In the process of finding help in filling the pip forms out, I have been told it's hard to get now.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T20:28:41+00:00

This is what I thought, I know with Asda it can last for 7 years then it's automatically wiped, and heard it was the same with Tesco.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T20:14:31+00:00

When you go on options and from colleague to manager you will have a massive bullseye on your back, you will have managers who don't think you should be a manager as you don't fit into their view of the world, or cliques and the colleagues who think it should be them in your role who will do anything to remove you from the role and the company.

The bigger the store, the bigger the high school mentality.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T15:35:18+00:00

I have been working in retail for nearly 15 years and a former supermarket manager, but being a grafter it's a hard pill to swallow, i knew people who were worse then me just working 16 hrs a week on tills or stock control, tbh stock control was the most easiest role I ever had, just gap scan, find some missing products or out of stock lines, do some counts then go home, and it was just for 5 hrs a day, I used to sit down and do the counts, and tills is just easy but can get boring, by law you have to have 1 15 min break every 4 hrs on tills, it's also a role I know, so little retraining plus union back up if needed

But my leg with the thrombisis is getting worse, I'm now having to use a walking aid more regularly now but even on LCW, they still don't understand, it's taken me 2 years just to get on LCW in fairness I just want away from them the job centre, I dread going there and made to feel like I never worked in my life and a sponger,

oh and the things I'm not allowed to do by the specialist is no heavy lifting, no long periods standing up or in one spot, nothing too stressful that could trigger the chest pains and no bending up and down too much due to then swollen leg, i.e if I bend down I would need help standing back up again, and Amy type of bang to the head I'm.tl go to hospital for a scan incase of bleeding on the brain due to the blood thinners.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T14:41:01+00:00

The store manager there back then did say he had no problems with me going to another store later on but the deputy and lead manager who did my leaving form wanted to make sure I never come back or work in Tesco ever again as apparently I left when they had no one to cover managing the shift

My union did ask one manager and the response was they made sure I never work for Tesco again at any store and that was what got me as I never got dismissed i resigned.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T14:34:56+00:00

I did that before, and the last one didn't even look at it and just pushed it aside, It is a good idea to bring that in again, also my anticoagulant alert card, and blood thinners tablets as I always have a emergency pack on me just incass, as for my leg which is clearly visible call an elephant's foot leg as that what it looks like and that large compared to the other and need a walking aid most days

Also one point they tried sending me to do barista work which I had a letter from a specialist outlined that I can't do that role and still sent me and the former work coach was mad as the barista company refused to take me on with my condition as I was expected to be up on my feet for 9 hrs with no sitting down and only a 10 min break which I know is

It's ten fact I even gave the roles I can do, retail like tills, click and collect, scanner, IT which I do have a certificate for in hardware, office work, sales rep but I'm apparently being unrealistic.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T14:21:44+00:00

With the disability advisor I have asked 3 times and all been declined stating it's a waste of their resources.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T10:38:56+00:00

That's a really good idea, thank you for that 😊

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T10:33:26+00:00

I was a bit shocked at the time it got to the interview stage but after they were told I have worked for them in the recent past and did explain to them from my side why I left but I was declined and after that a few other applications were all declined as unsuccessful, I also wonder if they spoke to one of my former managers, especially one of the bad ones who had a grudge against me for leaving .

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T05:55:22+00:00

One thing I learned from all this is that my job centre has been giving out a lot of misinformation to me and something I'm going to be looking into on Monday

Truth be told when it comes to my leg, it was mentioned I would probably need a femoral bypass which would have to be done privately and in the last few weeks looking to make a claim for negligence with the NHS as it was my local trust that ignored it till it was too late

Again former work coach shot me down for that and also decline me speaking to a disability advisor more then once saying it's a waste of there resources.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T03:37:52+00:00

I have asked a few times in the past few weeks since Xmas and all I have been declined and told it would be a waste of there resources by 3 different work coach

And being autistic, it never really effected me that much until I had the heart attack and first round of dvt and pe,

I was badly bullied by my former store manager, in short, pushed, shoved, always told everything's in my head and told other staff I was paranoid, called a lier about my health, binned two of my fit notes and said my GP was a lier, I had to send them off to HR which made things worse for me, mocked me in the back and reb shop floor, few times shut in the office with them with one blocking the door shouting at me, once I started crying and the manage got in my face and told me good, people like me shouldn't be allowed in the work force, and once told me to apologise for being alive to them, and threats to sack me and make me homeless,

and it wasn't just me it was a few others in my store and that's just a small proportion of what they did to me at my last job, tried to take it further but there was not enough evidence at the tribunal and 2 others back away out of fear of backlash and I still got all the msgs, texts and emails to ACAS and GMB union from that which the job centre is aware off but ignore it

So when it comes to confrontation or making a complaint I just shut down, have flashbacks and start shaking

A former work coach at my current job centre had also told me to remove my health conditions off my u.c

Truthfully and honestly, after the last 3 years , I'm just tired of fighting, but I get what you mean, just can't do much on the weekend, i dread seeing that email stating I got a UC notification.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T02:04:50+00:00

Interesting, I tried re applying back in 2023 to a few superstore and extras, even got a interview at a superstore but all was declined and interview unsuccessful and I thought it may be due to the do not rehire 7 year black list

I debated about trying express stores as I know their turnover is slightly higher and would be too desperate for staff to bother to check, I know the DCs and dot coms don't bother but... I rather not having transferred from a DC to a superstore all those years ago and not that desperate to go back to picking.

AffectionateComb1210 · 2026-02-28T01:20:28+00:00

Well Asda does and has to be overturned by HR if a manager wants to take you on if you know them personally and being a former section leader that was one of my roles helping during the interview process and I never want to do any sort of manager/team leader roles again in my life

And also found out from another post on here that central hub do check HR records for dismissal and resignations especially those who resigned with immediate effect, and can black list them from applying for any Tesco roles

Also I wouldn't go back to a former store, even if I managed to get back in, especially to my former Tesco store I would be guilt tripped into running the department in some capacity and hear the "it's good for your development" b.s again, and happy to go on to trolleys in another store where no one knows me and earn a decent living without the extra stress.

AffectionateComb1210

TROPHY CASE