Bloody Bank Holidays!

[Deleted]

May 6, 2013 22:44:17 GMT @simate said:

May 6, 2013 22:42:54 GMT @storm said:

Some companies STILL pay double bubble on a Sunday ( like mine ) I also get paid double time from 12 noon Saturday . I'm not a lover of working weekends but in my industry it's the only time the work can be done .

What industry are you in?

Facilities , basically looking after building infrastructure and services

[Deleted]

May 6, 2013 22:43:40 GMT Perpetua said:

May 6, 2013 22:35:49 GMT @simate said:

I don't agree with working Sundays. Sundays are a family day, well they were when I was a boy anyway. I know shops say "we need to open every Sunday or we'll go under". Shops back in my day seemed to do alright being closed. Its easy for them to say that at the moment due to the financial state of the world but we haven't been in a resession for donkeys years yet they still wanted to open every Sunday. Its pure greed and nothing more.

You won't find many shop workers actually wanting to work Sundays, I hated it with a passion Si . . . my feeling has always been people only have so much money to spend, whether that's over 6 or 7 days. It doesn't increase business, just spreads it over more days.

But as virtually everyone does now trade 7 days it's become expected by customers and no business wants or can afford to lose out. It's the shop worker who is the loser . . . but we all have to be grateful for the employment these days so there isn't much of an option.

Not that they will but if the government banned Sunday trading the companies wouldn't go under as people would just have to do their shopping on one of the other 6 days like we used to do years ago. Like you said, it just spreads it over more days, there is no benefit from it. I imagine all the companies would kick up a fuss about how they'd go under but I don't think they would at all, they would achieve the same amount of trading, just over 6 days instead of 7 like they used to do. It wouldn't surprise me if Christmas Day becomes a normal trading day in the future!

[Perpetua]

May 6, 2013 22:54:56 GMT @simate said:

 It wouldn't surprise me if Christmas Day becomes a normal trading day in the future!

Very sadly me neither . . . there's a number of shop chains that open on Boxing Day now. 


I worked full time in the days of Monday - Saturday trading, shops had one late night a week if that and I coped with getting my shopping, all pre-internet days as well.

As Oneday said, you just need to be organised and forward plan. 

[Gasper]

I was working in retail when the Sunday trading thing kicked off. Funny thing is, that all the vehement anti people who gave us a hard time about doing so were the first ones through the door filling up their trolleys....

I am a School Caretaker now and more often than not spend every 2nd Sunday at work and enjoy it, I can pootle around the site and get more done than I can during the week.

[farzooks]

May 6, 2013 14:40:16 GMT OneDay said:

Lobey when I lived in Scotland many years ago each little town had it's bank holidays on different days spread through the year, and there was an annual calendar showing what towns were shut on what days. So if your town was on a bank holiday the next one over was open. Have they all adopted the 'national' holidays now?

And they had different Market Days and half-day closing too, which meant you could nip from one to the other depending on what you needed.

[lobeydosser]

Official half day closing is a thing of the past. Now the shop owners decide what, if any days, they are going to close.

Living in a small village, we tend to either go into the nearest town, 15 miles away, and shop or tour around the surrounding villages to do our shopping.

The bank opens on Mondays and Thursdays. The local witch doctor closes on Tuesday afternoons. The chemist used to close then also, but now closes on Saturday afternoons instead.
The Chippy and the Jenny Aw' shop has closed completely through lack of trade. I don't believe that, but that is what the notice on their windows say.
The local butcher opens when he can be bothered to get out of bed and because we live in a "dry area", the local co-op sells more booze than milk.

Going shopping around here is more an adventure than a necessity and the number of times you get back to the house with what you went for is few and far between.

[ChillerVapes]

I also work all bank holidays... I went to do the weekly shop yesterday only to be told I have inserficiant funds in my account, even though my telephone banking told me otherwise.
After ringing them and speaking to them, it turns out because of the bank holiday, my funds were pending to go in!
I mean seriously, it's all friggin automated these days, you can't tell ne they turn the bank system pcs off on a bank holoday too?

Really peed me off as I have to go shopping again today!

[Gasper]

May 7, 2013 2:25:13 GMT ChillerVapes said:

 you can't tell ne they turn the bank system pcs off on a bank holoday too?

Really peed me off as I have to go shopping again today!

Probably, they are "bankers" after all

[alijoy60]

For many years, I worked BH, Xmas and weird hours as a nurse.

I now am still a Reg Nurse but work in a private home care Company assessing client need and training staff. I get every BH off and Xmas.

Love the Christmas off but would rather work BH and have the time off when I choose.

Having said that, am off this week, Grandson is staying and we had a lovely day on the beach yesterday, a mile from my own door. Would not dream of travelling much further!