Pros
50% off is decent, though not exceptional. My store manager and team were nice and supportive, though this'll obviously vary between stores. Free hot drinks is nice (though I don't have hot drinks).
Cons
-In violation of my contract, I am CONSTANTLY working way above my contracted hours. I know it says they can bump it up in emergencies, but for every single member of staff in the shop they've been working way over contract for ages. It seems to creep up. I started off at my contracted hours then it's just been gradually getting up-one person I am working with is contracted to work 18 hours yet they are constantly working 35 or so. This is the same for every Gregg's in the area. -Not so important for me as I'm a part-time worker, but there's clearly absolutely terrible career progression. Most store managers have been grinding away with these 50+ hour weeks for literally 10-20+ years (my manager over 25 years) and the vast majority evidently don't get promoted beyond that. There's one area manager for like 30+ shops, so obviously the avenues for promotion are quite narrow unless you go diagonally. This doesn't seem to happen much considering the years individual store managers have been working here. It's just not somewhere you can make it further up the organisation. -Area manager is constantly denigrating of shop staff, constantly not letting shops hire when they need it and not helping them do so when managers are too busy from working 50+ hour weeks, including unpaid overtime. The whole upper management pretend you're a family when they clearly detest anyone from shop manager downwards. A story: my store manager's husband had a medical emergency and needed life-threatening surgery (high chance of them dying) AND THEY DID NOT LET HER HAVE A SINGLE DAY OFF TO GO SEE HIM IN THE HOSPITAL. This is the same for every Gregg's in the area. -You're not allowed to take stuff home so if you're closing (as I always am for some reason) you have to waste an astronomical amount of food and I feel awful about doing so. Plus I don't know why we can't at least take home a little bit if it's just going to go to waste. As always, the company would rather save every little penny than give their "family" a little bit of enjoyment in case 1% of people take advantage of it. Pah! -Every shop in the area is chronically short-staffed to breaking point, everyone working in the whole borough are miserable and hate the job from what I can see. -The union is not very helpful in all this, evidently. -Customers treat you like you're not human and are often openly rude to you. They always ask for a bag after they've paid and then whine when I say it's 5p. To be fair, they shouldn't be charging 5p anyway considering they're PAPER BAGS, but that's not my fault, is it? -Over time there has been a creeping increase in responsibilities despite no increase in pay-related to previous issues on here. -It's hot, greasy, and grimy. -The delivery/logistics team never get orders right so we're always out of key things e.g., even running out of sausage rolls, which means I customers get more angsty and I have to explain the same thing AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. -The interviewer (the store manager) lied to me in the interview when I explicitly told them I couldn't work more than my contracted hours because I am balancing SO MANY OTHER THINGS RIGHT NOW. She's a lovely lady and honestly really supportive, but I wish she'd told me the truth. -The "benefits" are all terrible and a complete joke, even when compared to other retail companies. -Pay isn't good enough and certainly hasn't risen even close to inflation. Again, what is the union doing about this!? -There was a bit fight in the store and blood was everywhere but they still made us re-open even though the staff on shift were near-traumatised and, at the very least, extremely disturbed by it. Thanks, area manager! -After looking up the nutritional info of Gregg's pastries (so much saturated fat) I feel guilty serving this stuff to kids, many of whom are already clearly morbidly obese because of their parents. -The Just Eat thing is such an annoying noise and the machines for them and click + collect are always malfunctioning and putting things back on that we took off. Drivers are often rude and impatient because they are also being crushed under the boot of a company that only cares about profits. Never enough staff to manage both the store and Just Eat. -Slightly more minor: no wifi in the shop, even for staff, even though it clearly is possible as the allergen menu ipad has it. -Slightly minor: management has no access to CCTV meaning police investigations into serious events are majorly delayed + harmed, they probably wont even bother as a result. This is not the case in other shops. Slightly minor: The training program is boring af and not engaging. The videos didn't even play because the computer was so slow and old. Took ages to load. This is taking over my whole life because I'm always so exhausted after work and anxious about going to work because I hate it so much. It's making my suicidal depression much worse but I can't quit because I need the money. I hate this world, I hate this job, and I hate Gregg's.
