Like working with a bunch of big kids.
Pros
The best thing about working for the co-op was the 10% off and member vouchers I got on the shopping each week for my parents. Besides this, in the 3 years I worked there the pay went up a little, and I got a nice little bonus around june each year, considering I was only 16 when I joined the pay was pretty decent.
Cons
The management was beyond poor and inappropriate. There is a general lack of support and communication with staff, I'd go as far to say they harass and bully staff in and OUT of the workplace. If unwell, you would call up and be bullied in to either finding cover for your shift, actually coming to work ill (even if you complain of stomach upsets -food hygiene?!) or told to take some paracetamol and call back later. The managers are cliquey and unprofessional, with clear favourites, often they would sit around out back and mess around or chat, and expect us to stay for up to an hour to sort out their mess once our shifts had finished, even after being confined to the tills all day/night. Rotation of staff tasks never happened, as I said before you'd be left on a till for the entirety of an 8 hour (or longer shift). I did a lot of overtime when I first started that I never got paid for, because the manager took advantage of me not having a clocking in code, he was deceitful and would make us question things we had said and done. The store was freezing cold, the heating and air con was either completely broken or faulty for the 3 years I was there, in addition to this we were made to face up freezers without protective gloves. Staff moral was non existent, and even the customers commented on how poorly they had seen staff being treated by management. I believe around 30 employees resigned from this store over a 2-3 month period. Everyone jokes and calls it the 'un-cooperative'.
