Pimp yourself instead! Its easier and more money! (ASDA Stores)

Member Name: funagogo

Product:	ASDA Stores
Date:	04/09/07 (2920 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Make great friends, good social life

Disadvantages: Customers! Brainwashing, poor people managment

I, like many people who work at Asda, was a lowly student who needed a few extra quid during holidays and at weekends, little did I know I was signing on to be part of a Nazi-esque regime! I left just over two years ago so some of the stuff may be a little out of date, and some may only apply to the Lincoln store where I worked.

Applying:
To get a job at asda you need to fill in an application form - this is available from the personnel department via writing, or from the customer services desk. To get to the next stage you will need to satisfy a points quota. Just so you know if you put "Asda", "Team" or "Teamwork" you will get one point for each mention! Plus I think you get a point for filling out your name and address correctly. And best of all it is multiple choice!
Once you have handed your form back in at the Customer Services Desk or posted back (probably a safer bet) you will be called to a Group Screening. This is basically where you will have to do a little presentation in front of about 20 people about yourself, be told about the Asda regime and then be split into groups to have a tour or to do a group activity.
These usually last a couple of hours and they will let you know if you have a job and on what department within a day or so.
Don't be put off if you don't get offered a job, Asda are guilty of positive descrimination and have quotas of people that need filling.

Departments

George
Warehouse
Bakery
Brought in Bread and Cakes
Freezers
Beers, Wines and Spirits
Grocery
Health and Beauty
Counters
Checkouts
Restaurant
General Merchandise

Shifts
Your pay is calculated by a swipe in card which you scan before and after entering the shop floor. I would advise you keep a note of how many hours you are working as they can cock it up. You work a week ahead, wage-wise and you get paid every 4th Friday, which means one month a year you get paid twice!
Day shifts run from 6am - 10pm and Night is 10pm - 6am.
On your application you will be asked how many hours you want to work - I would suggest you go for about 18 hours because you will always be able to pick up overtime. Also it is a lot easier to change your contract up than it is to do it down.
If you want to work at Asda you have to do either a Saturday or Sunday, which is not so good.
You will get a 15 minute break for every 4 hours you work and if you work between the hours of 10 and 2.30 you will get a half an hour break (which is unpaid.) Also if you don't clock out during this time, you will automatically have an hour taken from you! On long shifts watch out because they will try and shaft you out of breaks so be careful.

Holidays
You get holiday days worked out pro rata on how many hours you work. If you work full time, 38 hours I think it is 25 days a year. If you want to book a holiday you need to give at least 2 weeks notice and if there are more than 5 people off on that day you have no chance of it getting approved. This is something you really need to take into account as some of the older ladies who know when they are going on their summer holiday, will book a year in advance - so a last minute holiday is usually out of the question.

Christmas/ Bank Holidays
Bank Holidays are usually 9-6 and you get paid time and a half and it if you are contracted to a Monday you have to work them. As for Christmas, it is utterly insane. The latest you will usually be asked to work on a day shift is 10, although this changes to midnight at Christmas time. Which means you will get extra money at night rate but it is also a big consideration if you dont have a car and are going to have to walk home!

The Brainwashing
Asda has a load of things you HAVE to do, for example, if someone asks you where something is you can't just point them in the right direction, you have to physically accompany them to that item and then ask if there is anything else they need help finding, which as you can imagine can be very distracting from your actual job 20 times an hour.
Also if you work on a checkout you have to say "Hello, would you like your bags packing?", pack all the frozen and non-food goods, ask them if they want cashback and bid them a fond fairwell. This becomes incredibly mind numbing after an hour or so!
Also on a Sunday morning before the store opens you have to do an "Asda chant" which is a group pocket tap. Bleurgh!

The downside
When I hear people slagging off checkout girls I actually want to throttle them, they just do not understand how awful it is and if they were chipper to every customer they need to be institutionalised or are on drugs.
*Imagine if you will, getting up at 5 am on a Saturday morning when all your friends went out the night before, and you obviously couldn't. Then add a scabby lime green sweat trap uniform, horrible polyester trousers (that if you are tall are only half-mast), then add the prospect of sitting on a till asking the same questions for about 10 hours. Then on top of that, you are only getting paid about £5.90 an hour, it is hard to stay chipper.
*It is a cardinal sin at Asda not to wear a name tag!
*Just because you are wearing a uniform people feel they can ask you questions, even if you are pushing around a trolley, wearing trainers and a coat. It makes it almost impossible to do shopping before or after a shift. It also means people can just help themselves to things out of your trolley.
*The customer is always right! - I was working on the customer service desk one day and was yelled at for being a "F***ing Incompetent Bitch" because someone didn't like their sandwich. I had to refund them amongst of a tirade of abuse, and was given no back up by any managers despite being physically threatened.
* On the same theme, people will try it on and it is your fault if they get away with it. You are told to refund everything, with a reciept, without, still with security tags on, but if you accidentally overcharge someone for a mars bar, you are recorded. People will bring back things that have blatantly been worn, not been bought from Asda and will kick off when you question it. My favourite was a woman who had bought some mouldy cheese from Sainsburys and demanded we refunded her because Sainsburys was closed!
* If you need time off, don't expect you will get it. My friend's brother-in-law died and she wasn't allowed bereavment time or time off for the funeral because "he wasn't a blood relative." Also I know of someone whose husband left her and she wasn't allowed to leave early to pick her kids up from school.
*Asda works on an "if your face fits policy" some people do bugger all all day when others have to slog their guts off. If you are a managers favourite your life will be a lot easier
* The disciplinary system is ridiculous. They will suspend people on the spot for being late, yet will not for someone getting in a fight! I'm sure there are legal rights you have as a worker and I don't think these routes were followed in any of the cases I saw.
* The uniform is disgusting

The plus side
* You get a 10% discount on your shopping, which is valid for you and one other person in your house
* They employ a whole lot of people and you will make some amazing friends - also the social scene is pretty good, dinners, cinema and nights out.
* At Christmas you get 1 day where you can get 20% off clothes, cds, dvds and booze items!
* The staff canteenis pretty good and is really cheap, I used to get a plate of roast potatos and gravy for 12p!
* Er......
* Yeah thats it!

Overall
If you are just after a couple of quid or to get out of the house for a few hours a week, go for it. Asda is ok in small batches. Plus if you want to go up the ladder and become a manager they have a good scheme for people to train as they work. However this does take several years and you will be expected to work ridiculously long hours on the same hourly rate as everyone else!
How asda wins best places to work awards is completely beyond me, the store I worked at had no people skills - one day during my final uni exams I asked to go home as it was quiet and I needed to revise, and was told by my manager "Well you look like s*** I don't want you scaring the customers!" How professional!
Also many departments have a number of managers and it is definitely a case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing!
The people in charge tend to develop God Complexes, especially when it comes to the distribution of breaks. On checkouts you can't have a break until someone takes you off and if you are more than a second late coming back off your break you are in for a bollocking! I had a strip torn off me for being on the phone finding out my mum had a heart attack and was told I could only go to the hospital if I worked 2 weekends to make up for it! Going home is another issue too, you have to wait until someone takes over from your till or until you are allowed to close it down, which could be an hour after your shift finishes if it is busy!
My advice is seriously think before taking this step, there is a reason why this place has such a high staff turnover!

Summary: Oh the nightmares