Redundancy

[Nigel]

I got made redundant from the school I worked at last Friday. A friend told me that as I have beed binned I can claim job seekers allowance, unless I've got over £16,000 in savings. Tried signing on this morning but my Police pension means that I'm not eligible. Why doesn't their system flag up such circumstances when one phones in? It would have saved me a walk to the job centre this morning.

Eileen tells me that there are a lot of things to do round the house "now your'e retired." Consequently I've got an interview next Tuesday to work at B & Q here in Spalding. It was a Focus store but they've gone bust and B & Q are taking it over. The problem is, I'll have access to DIY stuff and I'm really a GSI person.......

Nigel.

[Roger]

Nigel,

Still time to learn a new trade!!

Regards,
Roger

[Steve]

Nigel,

One of our local Police Officers retired recently, and he is working in the local Homebase.

It is a shame so many firms are going bust at present.. like Focus that you mentioned. Oodles seem to be going where in other countries things seem much more 'business as usual'.

I guess the UK has its own unique problems, like our unions.. at a time when they need to help the government/people by ensuring we all pull together what do they do.. give their own staff hefty pay rises and bring their members out on strike... No wonder the UK seems to be lurching towards ever more serious problems...

I'm afraid I see little future in DIY at present.. and I'd predict that all the main store groups will go bust over the coming years.. with the sole survivor perhaps being B&Q, as they stand out as being the sole one of them who seems to have some idea how to do a good job.

Steve

[Walter]

I heard that B&Q may tske over Focus.
The Focus in Winnersh is shut.

[Nigel]

I did some more research and it appears B&Q will be a good move for me, if I can get a job. They are apparently excellent employers and forward looking with regards to business. Another nice thing is they're going more green too. Less packaging, water saving measures, renewable energy and etc. These benefits also make sound business sense. Having done my due diligence, I am really quite enthusiastic about the possibility of working in their Spalding store when it opens September(ish).

Nigel.

[Steve]

Nigel/Walter,

Our local DIY store was a firm called Great Mills.. they were great.. but they sold out to Focus.. who then messed the store up totally and finally closed it quite some time back. It is still empty now.

I like wandering in DIY stores and getting bits and pieces etc. B&Q seem way way out in front at present as they have a huge range at decent prices for a start... where if you compare prices in spots like Homebase.. well.. I've found it shocking to do that at times.

I find it sad that firms I used to like and use lots, like Homebase and Comet for instance... are now places I try not to shop in.... and I'm pretty sure that goes for a good percentage of the shopping public...we tend to all have the same sort of experiences when store groups start to do things badly I think. I used to have the same feelings about spots like MFI.. With MFI they decided that those who bought a kitchen from them must buy another kitchen if they wanted a replacement sink basket...honestly.. that's what they told me...just before I ceased ever buying anything from them again... With Comet they made me pay for a repair to a cooker that was just over a year old when its grill failed...clearly something that should last maybe 5 years, not 5 minutes.. I haven't been back since, I used to spend a lot in Comet...

So, sadly I think a lot more stores will close and that we'll end up with a very depleted shopping scene in the UK.. in fact comparing the UK to the US now is a little like comparing Russia to the US years back.. you could never quite understand why they didn't have all the nice stuff.. the UK is now getting like that... it is too expensive and difficult and unprofitable to do business here now.

I guess my concern about it all is where it may take us... food is becoming harder and harder for those on fixed incomes to buy.. I do our shopping and I'm astounded how fast food prices are rising at present. Things that cost £1.80 a year back are often at amounts like £2.90 now... One effect of this seems to be huge security details in run of the mill shops... something we all pay for in the inflated prices... I love that when I picked up some rechargeable batteries in Sainsbury's the other day I then had my own personal security man standing at the end of every isle I was in, waiting for me to try and steal them... always makes me smile that stuff...I used to be a Supermarket Manager and I was in court more than 20 times myself as a witness against folks who stole from me.. but these jokers can't tell which side you are on... and a single male with any £10 or more item seems to get their own guard as I say.. it would be better if they had him carry the basket really.. at least it would be useful and friendly...

Good luck to you with your interview anyway Nigel.. and if you get it I hope you don't find it too much like hard work. Retail can be tough depending on what they get you to do.

Steve

PS: If you get a Best Buy out there in the wilds as they expand then I think you may want to try for a job there Nigel. Advising on computers and gadgets may be right up your street, and a lot more fun than advising on washers and nails and stuff.

[Walter]

What happened to Marley Payless DIY store?

[Nigel]

I then had my own personal security man standing at the end of every isle I was in

Good luck to you with your interview anyway Nigel.. and if you get it I hope you don't find it too much like hard work. Retail can be tough depending on what they get you to do.

Our Sainsbugs are quite relaxed. The security staff are so unobtrusive I think they just watch a bank of TVs out back somewhere.

Thank you. I've done a bit of work on what I may need and printed out a cheatsheet of their mission statement, values and the attributes required for all their different positions.

Nigel, helping people create homes to be proud of.

[Steve]

Nigel,

Our one has a very visible guy on a podium by the entry, and that has a screen in it that can show what is on the massive number of cameras in there.

The ones around the store may not be noticed too much by most folks, likewise cameras and one way and round corner mirrors and so on, I tend to spot every detail when shopping, from spotting a lot of those shoplifting to noting all the security to seeing who is following me around and why.. comes from being a supermarket manager when I was young I guess. I was a shop manager age 17, I doubt you'd get that these days.. it was even technically illegal for me to clean my own bacon slicing machine as I was too young etc.

I used to find some of the ways folks tried to steal things quite ingenious... delivery men who had you check the top sheet of their delivery notes and who only as they left handed you a bottom carbon sheet that had the odd extra item on it...and stuff like that. Staff could be devious, putting items they wanted to steal outside of walls or inside other items etc and getting them later in very simple ways.

Steve

[Nigel]

Staff could be devious, putting items they wanted to steal outside of walls or inside other items etc and getting them later in very simple ways.

Like eating the pies in store....

Nigel.

[Steve]

Nigel,

Eating the stock is a very common problem in supermarkets, and we even had assistant managers arrested for that. 2 years probation was the outcome I think.

Steve

[Mike]

Nigel,

Eating the stock is a very common problem in supermarkets, and we even had assistant managers arrested for that. 2 years probation was the outcome I think.

Steve

In the USA they have a name for that! It's called "Grazing" over there.

[Nigel]

I went to Peterborough B&Q for Assessment yesterday. Walk around the shop floor and offer help to prospective customers, "sell" a product to the assessors and join in building a tower out of available parts to hold up a small bag of screws. Passed all that and went on to interview. Now have to wait to see if I've got a job at the upcoming Spalding B&Q when it opens, probably September.

Nigel.

[Roger]

Good luck! :-)

[Penny]

Good luck from me too Nigel.

Penny