The Bookies version of "Cheers" (Ladbrokes)

Name: johnnycarrotheid

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Product:	Ladbrokes
Date:	24/05/06 (2525 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good atmosphere, pay is ok. Perfect for Students/Talkative people

Disadvantages: Occasional rude customer.

I started working for this company, while i was still a student, and i must say it is the perfect job.
As a student i had certain days i could work, and this was easily slotted in. Best of all, unlike many others i knew, it didnt eat up into night-time too much as the latest they ever close is 9:30 , so stearing away from the dreaded bar/club jobs a lot of students fall into.

Pay Rates -
Currently the pay rates to go into are

Trainee cashier - £5.35
Cashier - £5.45

Managers etc generally are promoted from within, as its the only real way to learn everything involved in the job. These rates vary on scale.

Every shop has things a little different, but cashiers will generally be contracted to a maximum of 30-35 hours.
Hours over this are at Time-and-a-half.
Sundays are taken at Double time.
Bank Holidays, Boxing Day, 1st + 2nd Jan, are paid extra at Double Time. (Only English Bank Holidays apply)
Some are Paid days off, (not taken out of Vacation allotment), for example May Day and Xmas.

Holidays are given as 4 Weeks per year.
Sick pay isnt given in the first year, only after 12 Months with the company.

Compared to other bookmakers this is quite good, as some may give a slight increase on Ladbrokes hourly rate (5-15p), but wont give double time at all, only 1 1/2 pay at most.

Shop Hours

Winter Hours - 10.15 - 6.30
Summer Hours - 10.15 - 9.30 (April - Start Sept)
Saturdays open 10.00 - Above
Sundays remain - 11.00 - 6.00

These may change as Summer night racing may be extended to Winter as well, in the coming year or two.

Not thats the bulk of the information out the way.

What is it like to work for Ladbrokes?

It's actually really quite a good job.
It generally requires sitting behind the betting shop counter, taking bets, giving betting information and generally chatting away to customers.

Ladbrokes like to have the best customer service in the sector.
What this basically means they employ the friendliest people they can, as they will get on with the customers and the regulars in their shop. And if the customers are happy they keep coming back.
It's essentially like the whole service industry except for one thing.
Most service jobs, the employee deals with the customer and will most likely never see them again.

In Ladbrokes, you get the regualars back practically every single day, rain, hail or snow.
I know as ive worked in a few different shops, and whoever i work alongside, knows the names of most the customers.

This obviously is going to work well for the company.
It also works extremely well for the employee.

It turns the shop into a bookies version of "Cheers".
Everyone knows everyone, so therefore there is hardly ever any trouble.

The actual job isnt too difficult.
Taking bets is the main part obviously, and this is computerised as much as possible.
You feed the bets in a computer, input the instructions on the betting slip into the computer from a menu and thats it.
The computer does most of the work for you, it calculates the winners, losers and payouts.

The majority of the time you are either inputting bets or chatting away to customers.
It's like getting paid to sit behind a counter and just talk away to people .

If you are a people-person, this is the perfect job.

A lot of the regualar customers are older or middle age.
While those in their 18+ to Twenties, will pop in to put on their football coupons. Maybe play the Roulette machines.
Think this cuts down a lot on the hassle, as its not full of younger guys in being noisy or abnoxious. (im not old either, i'm 21)

The atmosphere is great. ESPECIALLY after the smoking ban here in Scotland.
No smoke just seems to make the place a lot brighter and cheerier.
All the posters and TV's make it bright and pleasant so its not like the old stereotype of dingy old bookies.
We even attract in a lot of women, mainly to put on the Irish Lottery, where before they were put off by the image of the smoky, dirty places there was before.
All the old dirty shops have been moved or re-fitted long ago, as the various bookmakers realised they got a lot more customers in the shops when they actually looked nice.

You get to know your workmates well, and will definitely be going out at some point with them. Theres staff nights, charity nights etc. And of course, just going next door to the pub after your shift. Theres ALWAYS a pub next door to a bookies. That or 5 minutes from one. Honest go and see, its true. People sit in the pub a while, then its to the bookies, then back to the pub and so on lol.
You will make friends, and if you live in a town, you wont walk down the main street without a wave.


Hours work around what you can do.
These are worked out weekly, as there is no fixed shifts.
For a student it means any Festival Weekends are easily worked around, days off are easy to plan for anything you need.
They are worked out weekly but if you can only do certain days, then you will just be put in for these days every week, so its easy to fit in.

For any amount of hours you can work, it is a good job, especially for students.
Students can work on their day off, or at the weekend, and if they do Sundays will get £10.90 an hour.
It doesnt cut into socialising time so its suited to those studying in my opinion, as lets be honest, you cant survive at College/Universtiy without a job.

All in all, i enjoy my time at Ladbrokes. Even the long days of 10.15 - 9.30 are good as it condenses my hours into a few days so i get more days off. Thats just a preference for me, others dont like them and prefer doing more normal hours.
I might be going back to studying next year, and i know i will be able to work no problems, keeping a decent income without doing too many hours or exhausting work, which would inevitable hurt my studying. While also keeping my nights free for the usual student fun ;)

Summary: Great job, it's more making friends than doing work