What are regulations for Easter trading? [OT]

Mike Civil wrote:

In article ,
SteveH wrote:
They aren't. They're being exploited and forced to work.

And your evidence for this statement?

The fact that I've had people in my office explaining their contractual
responsiblility to work bank holidays and Sundays even if they don't
want to. Is that good enough?

Agreed, but, one of the solutions to the rising crime rates etc. in the
country is to ensure families have time together. A large proportion of

Really? A cynic might say there's _plenty_ of opportunity for families
to get together - if they wanted to. However it's easy to pick something
(other than themselves of course) to blame. It's no different from your
statement about people being able to plan for shops being shut.

OK, so, for example, father works Mon-Fri in an office or factory,
8am-5pm. Mother works 3 evenings, 4-8pm, plus, for example, 12-4 on
Saturday and 12-4 on Sunday.

There's not a hell of a lot of time left for family.

Contrary to what you might think, that's an incresingly common
situation.

--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Fiat Marea 20v HLX - COSOC KOTL
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On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 12:29:04 +0100, (SteveH)
wrote:


Huh? What makes you say that? Bus drivers - there's another one.

Who get paid a rather attractive salary for their basic week, with
Sunday being paid at an attractive premium. That's in those places there
is a bus service on Sundays / Bank Holidays.

OK - you may know about the office end of retail but you clearly know
nothing at all about the sharp end of bus driving. Bus drivers work on
a shedule over which they have no control although they may swap
shifts/ assigned holidays between themselves. Some shifts have a 3 or
4 hours break in the middle for which they do not get paid. Seniority
(in years worked) gets the "best" rota. Many of them work the maximum
number of hours that they are permitted to. They get verbally abused,
spat at and threatened on a reasonably regular basis. Hitting £350 a
week (averaged over 4 weeks) is a VERY good month with no holidays and
that's including everything.




Just pointing out that you appear to know sod-all about modern day
retail. (Hint: Somerfield have just closed and / or sold a large
proportion of their estate, Iceland have done likewise, several large
chains have gone bust in recent years, Morrisons have made thousands of
redundancies on support roles, as have WHS and Iceland / Booker......)

Support roles? Like office staff you mean? I didn't realise they had
to work Sundays and Bank Holidays. Things really have changed.


4) What is socially responsible about making a strawberry tart for the
family?

The fact that you've managed to plan a 'family' day, which is,
incredibly important.

It's not "important" it's natural. Today is just a little bigger as
the kids are bringing their respective partners.

No, it's actually very important for people to have days set aside for
family / friends occasions.

I disagree completely. "Setting aside" special days for family and
friends is weird. Every day is a family/friends day, they just get
bigger when the Universities and schools have broken up.




Remember, you're talking to someone who's been in retail for more than
15 years now, so knows *exactly* how minimum wage workers are exploited.
(And yes, I'm on the other side of the fence, meaning I'm often fighting
against the exploitation I'm expected to carry out as part of my job)

Wow - 15 years! That's a long time. Mind you, I did work in my first
shop 35 years ago so I'm probably a little ahead of you. It was a cake
shop and we got to take the unsold fresh cream cakes home at the end
of the day (and anything else unsold of course but there was never any
bread left). I worked in Ratners for a couple of years - sadly they
didn't have the same policy. When I worked in BHS (well, it was called
British Home Stores in those days) the staff canteen was free - anyone
know if it still is?

So you're basing your entire argument on terms and conditions set out
the best part of 20 or more years ago?

Well - I do have several family members/hangers on who work in
supermarkets part or full time, my brother used to run a large Tesco
and one of my neighbours ran a branch of Somerfield until a couple of
years back when he bought himself a franchise and became a "muffin
man".

Oh, and my Mum was a nurse for 47 years and my brother in law drives a
bus. My Dad was a garage mechanic and I worked in IT before the
evevitable redundancies made me pretty much unemployable in my own
field. One of my very best friends is a cleaner but is lucky in that
he chooses his own hours and can spend Sundays where all
self-respecting party animals belong.

Now I idle my days away making Strawberry Tarts, shopping on a Sunday
and decorating - which is why I read uk.d-i-y.

Well this has got boring now. M'off to get those strawberries before
they run out. With luck, one of the kids'll be round in time to prep
the veggies while I stuff the chicken.

Happy Easter all


--
I know it sounds like I'm in denial, but I'm not.

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when Nigel Molesworth
opened his gob and said:

If they weren't stupid, they wouldn't be religious.

It beggars belief that anybody could believe such superstitious
clap-trap in the 21st century.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

In article , Greg Hennessy
wrote:
whilst demanding that we destroy all the tools and goods that we had from
the same common cause (eg engineering and electronic tools and goods) and
needed for economic revival.

Those terms applied to all recipients of lend lease.

But not to the USA as recipient of the quid pro quo.

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing

In article ,
Derek ^ wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 10:46:43 +0100, John Cartmell
wrote:

In article ,
Derek ^ wrote:
The occasion might well have benefitted if we had been able to buy
fresh bread.

uk.d-i-y
Make your own?

BTDTGTTS

I've made some very good bread but can't rely on it turning out well
for a party of 10. To bake white and brown would also be very time
consuming.

Unless you have a bread machine it's actually easier producing a batch for ten
than for 2 - and a double batch is no real hardship.

The part baked stuff is crap.

There is better; but it's OK for what it is - ie emergency rations.

--
John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822
Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com
Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing

In article ,
SteveH wrote:

In article ,
SteveH wrote:
They aren't. They're being exploited and forced to work.

And your evidence for this statement?

The fact that I've had people in my office explaining their contractual
responsiblility to work bank holidays and Sundays even if they don't
want to. Is that good enough?

Whoa there. So they didn't read their terms and conditions before signing
on the dotted line? I'll say again, where's your evidence for them being
exploited and forced to work?

Really? A cynic might say there's _plenty_ of opportunity for families
to get together - if they wanted to. However it's easy to pick something
(other than themselves of course) to blame. It's no different from your
statement about people being able to plan for shops being shut.

OK, so, for example, father works Mon-Fri in an office or factory,
8am-5pm. Mother works 3 evenings, 4-8pm, plus, for example, 12-4 on
Saturday and 12-4 on Sunday.

So (genuine question) why do the example parents have a family then if
they don't have any time at all to look after it (or expect society
to pick up the pieces)?

I'm a railway employee, work irregular unsociable hours and am contracted
to be available for work on weekends and all bank holidays . My wife
works. Sometimes I don't see her for a whole week. But we still have a
loving and caring family life. It can be done.

Mike

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 14:45:57 UTC, wrote:

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 14:11:24 +0100, Dr Teeth
wrote:
It beggars belief that anybody could believe such superstitious
clap-trap in the 21st century.
It beggars belief that people knowing that stores will be closed on a
certain day cannot use their brains and go the day before to do their
shopping or is it that some people just love to moan and groan about
anything that is currently happening . You won't catch me near any of
the stores during holiday periods except where like Asda and Tesco
they open 24hrs and I can go at 03.00 am and shop in piece I shall not
be setting foot in any of the stores during the daytime until next
Monday at least .

Please buy some commas while you are there.
--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 14:45:57 GMT, wrote:

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 14:11:24 +0100, Dr Teeth
wrote:


It beggars belief that anybody could believe such superstitious
clap-trap in the 21st century.
It beggars belief that people knowing that stores will be closed on a
certain day cannot use their brains and go the day before to do their
shopping or is it that some people just love to moan and groan about
anything that is currently happening . You won't catch me near any of
the stores during holiday periods except where like Asda and Tesco
they open 24hrs and I can go at 03.00 am and shop in piece I shall not
be setting foot in any of the stores during the daytime until next
Monday at least .

Watch out for the Garlic shelf.
Beware the Hot Cross buns!
--
Regards,
Mike Halmarack

Drop the (EGG) to email me.

wrote:

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 09:32:40 +0100, (SteveH)
wrote:


Is it too much to ask that for one, single day of the year, stores will
remain closed allowing people to do other, more socially responsible
activities?
Such as ............. .

You obviously have no friends and with attitudes like yours your family
have probably disowned you, so I wouldn't expect you to understand.
--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Fiat Marea 20v HLX - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 14:45:57 GMT, wrote:

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 14:11:24 +0100, Dr Teeth
wrote:


It beggars belief that anybody could believe such superstitious
clap-trap in the 21st century.
It beggars belief that people knowing that stores will be closed on a
certain day cannot use their brains and go the day before to do their
shopping or is it that some people just love to moan and groan about
anything that is currently happening . You won't catch me near any of
the stores during holiday periods except where like Asda and Tesco
they open 24hrs and I can go at 03.00 am

That would be 3-00 am on Friday or Saturday morning then !

and shop in piece

LOL

I shall not be setting foot in any of the stores during the daytime until next
Monday at least .

Well it won't be fresh then will it.

Not that the stuff's fresh when the supermarket sells it, but that's
bad enough.

DG