Morrison, (WM) Supermarkets

●Introduction●
In this review I am going to tell you my story of when I worked for Morrison's and I'll also be mentioning what the customers should beware of. This was the last job that I had before the job that I have now. Please feel free to have tea and biccies because I am, If not you choose what you like. Anyway getting a bit carried away with tea there so I'll begin.

●How I got the job●
I got this job from the jobcentre. I was looking on one of those touch screen job finder things, and then I got a printout. I went up to the advisor and she arranged for an application form to be sent to me in the post. I waited for the application forms and about two weeks later they arrived. I wasn't expecting this job to be a good one as all of the jobs that the jobcentre had previously supplied me with were awful, either the pay was non existent and didn't pay tax or I ended up being fobbed around. So I filled in the two forms, one was for a petrol assistant and the other one was for a checkout assistant, and I sent them off thinking that I wouldn't get much of a response.

To my surprise I had a phone call a week later to come in for an interview. Now I started to get a bit excited as I'd been out of supermarket work for a long time, and I usually get the job once I have the interview because I'm so good at selling myself...Apparently. The day had came for the interview and I'd got the usual stuff ready (record of achievement, National insurance Number, p45, passport and bank details). I got the job there and then at the interview which I was surprised with, they'd set my hours out at 20 and a half hours which I thought the extra half hour was a bit strange, but I thought nothing more of it as it was extra pay. I was also booked in for an induction day the following Saturday and I was to start work the Monday after.

●The Induction day●
When I got to the shop, I went up to the customer service desk and then I was shown the way to the room that I was supposed to be in. I'd got myself settled in the room and the woman running the induction day explained the order of the day. We was set to watch about 5 videos, fill out various questionnaires and exam type assessments, receive our staff handbooks, have 2 15 minute breaks through the course of an 8 hour day and be shown round our department by the leader of that department.
Firstly we were given our staff handbooks and all the paperwork for the tests. We were told that we had 28 days holiday leave; we had two public holidays a year which was Christmas day and New Years day. Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Years Eve was paid at time and a half as well as all Sundays. We were also told that we would be paid £5.00 per hour and then rising up to £5.05 after the 13 week probationary period. We were also offered a private healthcare plan and company pension. There was a staff discount on non food items of 20%. I never brought anything because I'd heard a lot about staff not getting their discounts at all, and even if they did they had to wait about 4 months to receive the discounted money back after paying full price originally.

After the brief introduction, we watched a video about the history of Morrison's. I couldn't tell you much about the history because the training was that drawn out that I forgot some of it. I can remember the business was started in the late 1890's somewhere in York by a man with the second name Morrison. I think that was pretty good memory recollection, but it may be slightly wrong as I've got the memory of a sieve. Lol. We then had a 15 minute break and then we were back to watching the video's. We watched one about Health and safety and then had a test on it, then we watched one about how to handle a dustbin (which was a bit strange and referred to the dustbin as a dog that you walk and put in it's Kennel, it was sort of comical in a lame way), and then we did a test on that too. The next video was about career promotions (which were almost non existent unless you wanted to work there for the rest of your life).

The woman who was leading the induction day then took us for a tour of the supermarket, showing us the fire exits and explaining where the meet up place was if there was ever a fire. We didn't really get much of an explanation of the other departments because we were told that we would find out about the departments if we were working on them, we were just told where which departments were by pointing and saying that's the pie shop or that's oven fresh. Then we went for another 15 minute break. When we came back the woman introduced us to our department managers and they took us down to have a closer look at our departments. When we went down to our departments for a tour there wasn't much to it. The man just pointed out the checkouts, the desk that you report to when you start your shift and the customer service desk. I at least thought that he would tell us what was involved when you are on the checkouts for example: What you do when there are no customers? Or what do you do if you need any help?

We didn't get any answers; we were just booked in for even MORE TRAINING. I thought, well at least they're thorough. Then we had to go back up to the induction room to do an assessment that felt like it lasted for ages, but at least it was the last thing before we could go home. I was the last one out (with me being a slow coach, but at least I have an eye for detail).

●The job and the things I started to notice while working there●
My First day was full of training and tests. They went ok but again it was really drawn out. I must admit that the training was well organised and everyone was always well trained and there were always refresher courses. It was also arranged for me to attend a two week check up with the people who held the induction day, this was to make sure that I was settling in and that I was progressing well. There was another check at a month after starting, but I didn't attend to that one as it wasn't compulsory and I was working at the time.

My first few weeks were brilliant. Everything was going fine and I was beginning to get my confidence with the customers. It was into my second month when I began to notice that things were not quite as they should be. I had noticed that some of the chairs on the checkouts were broken. It didn't bother me too much but I did go home with a sore back on a lot of occasions because the back support used to move around with me so it didn't support my back at all. That was the start.

When I came into work one day I was 15 minutes early because I had to buy a bit of food for my mum that was on offer. To my surprise I was called by the tannoy to start my shift. They were only supposed to call you if you were late. I'd only just got into the Isle. I rushed around like a blue ar*ed fly thinking that I was late because I didn't have a watch on me. I still had to get to the check outs to pay and get my uniform on. When I got onto the shop floor I noticed that I was actually 5 minutes early. I didn't say anything but they said that I was 10 minutes late; I just thought that she was tired and didn't notice that I was early. The next day I brought a watch in with me to make sure that I wasn't late. This time I was 20 minutes early to make sure that the same thing wouldn't happen again. As soon as she saw me come through the doors, that were it, she was calling me on the tannoy again.

●When things started to go downhill●
This time when I got down to the shop floor I had to put some food back that had been left over that customers didn't want. There was some ice cream in the trolley that had completely thawed out, I asked the supervisor at the desk where the tannoy was if I should put it back or not. She just told me to put it back in the freezer at the back so it would freeze again. I wasn't sure about this as we were told on our induction day that if something frozen or chilled was left out for longer than half an hour that it had to be thrown away to reduce contamination. So I went round by myself to figure it out. I didn't know the set out of the shop very well as it wasn't my area. I managed to find my way to the frozen Isle and found someone working on there that helped me. He took the Ice cream and put it back. He just said "Oh, don't worry, the customers won't know." And then he threw it into the freezer! There was also some prawns and fruit that was supposed to be frozen but were thawed out that he put back too. There was a frozen pie that the box had gone all soggy and there was a hole in the side of the box, some chicken nuggets and some fish fingers he told me to put them in the warehouse because they were wasted (not presentable). That shocked me a lot knowing what risks they were taking by putting thawed out food back in the freezer.

I managed to make my way around the shop putting all the things back, and then I made my way to the warehouse. When I got there I felt as if I was in a horror show. None of the walkways were clear, most of the products were on the bare floor with no pallets underneath them with the packaging falling off, and these were supposed to be things that were put away (yeah they really look put away in the middle of the gangway). I went over to someone who was in the warehouse and asked them where I should put the wasted food because I didn't know where the bin had gone for them. He told me to put them in the bin that was for paper and cardboard. He didn't seem too worried about the fact that some poor unfortunate soul would have to pick out the bits of fish fingers and chicken nuggets, I did tell him that there was food there, but he didn't seem to care as he was more interested in reading his magazine while skiving and smoking in the warehouse.

I then found out a week later that the warehouse was overrun with rats! The problem was not resolved and I believe he still works there to this day. At this point of my employment I was starting to get friendly with some of the staff, and other members of staff I would stay away from because they looked like they were up to something.

One time when I was on my Friday shift I noticed that a certain dodgy looking woman was working on the till next to me. I was happily serving customers when I noticed that she was acting a bit erratically. She looked guilty of doing something but I didn't know what, so I kept an eye on her. She was totally oblivious of me watching her like a hawk. At the moment after she'd finished serving a queue of customers I saw her lift a wad of money from under her chair and then she went under the till. She'd made it look like she was getting some more carrier bags as they were kept under the till. When she came back up from under the till she had the bags plus a strange bulge in her trousers which made her look like a transvestite, as she sat down on the chair once again she was fiddling with her trousers to presumably sort the bulge out. I knew what she'd done but I didn't know how.

The next time when I came into work I knew she'd be in and I was prepared. I was going to figure out how she managed to get way with this and try to get some evidence to stop her from doing it. I went up to the staff room to get ready. As I was putting my things into my locker I noticed another dodgy looking woman who didn't notice me, putting some money into a transparent bag with other money in it. This made me begin to wonder how many people were fobbing the customers off. Anyway, I'd got downstairs onto the shop floor and I was told to sweep up all the rubbish off the walkway because I was late again (which I wasn't). By this time I had realised that they were giving me tasks that was supposed to be done when there wasn't many customers, instead I was given these tasks as a form of punishment which didn't make the experience very enjoyable when it should have been something that I would like doing when there wasn't many customers.

Tea and Biccies time again or any other drink or just a break if you want.

When I'd finished sweeping the floor I was then finally allowed to go on my till, this made me late in signing onto my till. I was next to the woman again and this time I was keeping an eye on what buttons she was pressing. There was a button on the till that was used to take items off the bill if the customer didn't want them or if the assistant had beeped them too many times. One customer came up to her with a lot of alcoholic spirits. She started to pass the food through and when it got to the alcohol I was horrified to realise what she was doing. She passed one item through and then took it off the bill. The only thing was is that the customer did want this and I didn't hear it beep twice. Then the customer put the bottle in her carrier bag not realising what the assistant had done. She went on to do this for all 5 bottles of alcohol. I'd worked the alcohol out to be a total of about £50. At the end of the transaction the customer paid with her card which she could get cash back on. The assistant asked if she wanted any cash back and she said no, but instead of the assistant pressing £0 cash back she pressed £50 cash back to make the bill look correct on the chip and pin screen when the customer entered their pin (usually the same one to take money out of a cash point unless you change the pin). After the last customer of the queue had gone and the till was still open she had the till open for longer than usual. I couldn't see exactly what she was doing because there was a Perspex window in the way, I just assumed that she was getting the stolen money out of the till ready to stash on her somewhere, then she shifted on the chair and put something on her seat (the money).

After the assistant sat back down on the chair she was fiddling with a few receipts that were supposed to be in the till. Then she grabbed a pack of chewing gum and scanned them when there was no customer to pay for them, she got the transaction up to the point where the customer is supposed to pay. The assistant picked up the receipt and instead of swiping the card or putting it into the chip and pin machine (because there was no card), she manually typed in the number of the card. Then she typed in another £50 cash back and picked up the chip and pin machine to enter the pin. The transaction was now finished and the till was open ready for her to steal someone else's money, and sure enough just like the last time she shifted on her seat to put more money underneath her bum, and went under the till again to get some bags and stash the money in her trousers.

The supervisors were busy at the other end of the line of checkouts so they couldn't see what she was doing. I was trying to figure out how she had entered the pin for the card, when I got my next card customer I looked at the receipt that was to go into the till. On that receipt was all the information needed to make a dummy transaction; it had the card number, expiry date and the pin. I was horrified to realise that she could get way with stealing other people's money and they don't even know. Because there was a few ways that she was doing it, it wasn't only card transactions that she could do it with; she could do the same thing with cash transactions. There weren't even any cameras on the tills so nobody had any proof of what she was doing. In fact the only camera that they did have that worked was set looking at the cash office. Because I didn't have any proof of what was going on, I was powerless to take any action, so I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut. I could have told a supervisor or a higher member of staff but they would have wanted evidence and I would have looked a bit stupid accusing someone when I didn't have any proof.

So I carried on knowing this awful secret and seeing more and more people doing the same thing. The time had come when my boyfriend was moving to Newcastle and it was a stressful time. I decided to put through for a transfer so I could go up to Newcastle and live with him. Once he'd left to study in Newcastle I started to get run down because of the stress, so I was getting colds and stomach bugs quite often. I ended up having days off a lot more than I used to, and because of this I was getting told off at work for it. What was I supposed to do, go to work and sneeze all over customers food or worse, be sick all over their food. At this point I was told to come into work anyway, even if I felt ill, and they would decide if I was fit for work. I did this for a few weeks and I knew I wasn't fit for work. All the customers were telling me that I should be at home. I looked like death warmed up on most days even if I put make up on. If I started to cough too much the supervisor would take me off my till and make me sweep the floor or fill up the cupboards underneath the sweet stands. All of these tasks produced a lot of dust (nothing was cleaned as much as it should have been) which made me cough even more. Every day that I worked when I wasn't well enough to work exacerbated the problem.

I had got to the point where I was going onto the shop floor with a packet of soothers, a pack of tissues, my inhaler, ibuprofen and those instant powder relief things that you just put in your mouth. I'm a person who doesn't like to take medicines unless I have to, so as you can imagine I wasn't very well at all. I had decided that enough was enough when I got up one morning and had an asthma attack because this cold had got that bad (I had this cold for about 2 months!). So I gave in to my mum saying that I needed to have a day off and phoned in sick. When I phoned up they said that I should come in to verify that I had an asthma attack, at that point I told them that I wasn't well enough to make a 1 hour journey into work and even if I did make the journey I would probably need to go into hospital when I got there. They said that it was not acceptable that I was having that many days off and that I would have to see a member of management when I came back to work when I was well enough. When I next went into work I had to see the head of personnel. She told me that the amount of days off that I'd had was well above the 2 days a year that was allowed. Staff was only allowed 2 sick days off a year, I thought it was obscene and I wasn't told this in my induction day. So basically staff were expected to work when they were not fit to work and then they would end up contaminating everything that they touched. The head of personnel gave me a disciplinary for having 6 days off in six months. My transfer to Newcastle was also trashed (cancelled), but I wasn't going to let that stop me from being with my boyfriend. So I had nothing left to lose and a month later I handed in my notice and left to move to Newcastle.

●Summary●
There were many other things about Morrison's that I didn't like. And there are still other things the staff do that isn't fair on the customers. If you are thinking of working there, I would ask you to work somewhere else because you are just a number to the higher members of staff who think that they are better than everyone else. The members of staff that are on the same level as you are mostly nice and helpful, but that's about as far as it goes. If you are a customer here I wouldn't advise shopping here because of the unclean procedures and the credit fraud.

Here are some general tips to all who are worried about being a victim of fraud:

1. The main ways that credit fraud is done is through a bank card that gives you cash back in shops so don't have your pin the same as your cash point number, you can change the number if you contact your bank. The other main way is though cash. Fraud can also be done in any shops that offer cash back.

2. Keep a close eye on all the amounts on the cash register (there should be a monitor that faces you which comes up with every item scanned and how much the bill comes to, cash back and change given). If your paying by card only look at the chip and pin machine when it asks you to put your pin in, all other times look at the monitor because it is the most accurate and tells you any extra money you have apart from the bill and it will tell you what change should be given (check the money that is given to you too).

3. There are many ways that a checkout assistant can steal your money and it's possible to do it in almost any shop and so be vigilant.

4. If the assistant is not giving eye contact and fidgeting or shaking then they are probably hiding something from you.

5. Never make yourself look vulnerable (in a rush, not well).

6. Don't go shopping in a supermarket on your own because there is less eyes to watch what the assistant is doing.

7. Try not to buy items that are near a round figure (£11, £19.99 e.c.t).

8. If you must buy items that are near a round figure, put each of those items in a separate transaction.

I hope this has been an eye opener for you all, and I hope that you all realise that anyone could be a victim of credit fraud. I hope you all know now that it isn't all gangsters that do credit fraud, it could be an innocent looking checkout assistant, and it can be done in all shops. Remember be vigilant and take your time to take notice of the little details. I have warned you all so you now know how to steer clear of it, and not end up being a victim.

Thanks for taking the time to read, your comments are very much appreciated.

☼Fazel☼