A sad sign of the times I fear. Too few jobs, too many people looking for jobs, too few staff doing too much work and too many customers clammering for quicker, cheaper, more convenient ways to shop. Companies want high profits and low overheads and its often the workers who suffer. I once worked a Christmas period for a high street department store and it was awful. I regularly missed my breaks because I wasn`t allowed to leave the till or shop floor until someone relieved me, inbetween bouts on the till there was a million and one other jobs to do such as refilling or tidying stock, manning the fitting rooms, dealing with customers or simply fetching and carrying things from the stockroom, often very heavy weights or trolleys. The managers expected you to work day in, day out, 7 days a week and then after Christmas they could lay you off without a thank you or by your leave because you`re on zero hours. I can honestly say in a full day`s work the only time I ever stopped or sat down was during my lunch break, if I actually got one and my stint at the store was in the days before internet shopping so it looks as if things haven`t changed at all. Nowadays it all seems to be confined to warehouses but such treatment is nothing new.
