I've worked at Sainsburys for just over two years now and have decided I can't bare it any longer. Quite frankly I'm surprised at the average 3 star rating it has at the time of writing. Let's get the good points out of the way first.

Pay - The pay is pretty decent for a student such as myself and probably for the average worker. It's above minimum wage I'm not sure by how much. I just know that when I was 17 I was earning around £5.80 and now I'm earning £6.08.

Holiday Allowance - There is a paid holiday allowance of 6 weeks. Ok I'll hand it to them this is pretty darn nice. It doesn't have to be paid and it doesn't have to be 6 weeks so my hat comes off for this one.

Other benefits are claimed by the company but they are a bit desperate such as 'staff social events' and wait for it ... 'free uniform'. Have you seen it?! You wouldn't be paying for it that's for sure! There is the staff discount which is a mere 10% or 15% at certain times such as christmas. But when the supermarket is priced above the competition you end up paying around the same as you would at Tesco anyway.

Ok so what grinds my gears about the store I work at?

Treatment - As a Sainsburys worker wearing the uniform you are treated poorly. Customers look on at you as if you've failed your life and management speak to you as if you're a trained monkey. Even those staff just one rank above you such as 'team leader' will delegate their own less desirable jobs to you "When you're done with that roller do mine as well will you?" clearly they have something more important to do such as sit down and chat.
If you work on a checkout I'm afraid it's only worse. You sit there for hours on end as an endless flow of the weirdest people on earth come through with their shopping. I guess that's not their fault but it's not pleasant anyway.

Mind Numbing Tasks - Putting food on the shelf, cleaning out freezers, scanning and bagging. I know it's what I signed up for but I couldn't imagine how soul destroying it is to carry out such meaningless unrewarding jobs. Even when helping customers you don't get a thanks for it, as soon as you've showed them where they need to be you become a nuisance. It really is the look of "that will be all peasant". On the checkouts I even have to play 'time games' my favourite is called 'don't look at your watch until you've tallied 50 customers'. Good times :(

To work at Sainsburys really isn't worth the increased pay. I'm moving on now to a job that pays less and offers less 'benefits' just for the better environment and nicer treatment. So for the last time "is there anything else I can help you with today?"