{"id":70095,"date":"2022-12-21T22:44:36","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T22:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=70095"},"modified":"2022-12-22T16:41:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T16:41:54","slug":"the-nightmare-before-christmas-retail-workers-relive-the-trauma-of-working-the-festive-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2022\/12\/21\/the-nightmare-before-christmas-retail-workers-relive-the-trauma-of-working-the-festive-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nightmare Before Christmas: Retail workers relive the \u2018trauma\u2019 of working the festive holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"has-vivid-red-color has-text-color wp-block-heading\"><i style=\"font-weight: bold\">Tis\u2019 the season for <\/i><em style=\"font-style: italic;font-weight: bold\">panic buyin<\/em>g<strong><em>, bad manners&#8230; and being doused in coffee<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>BIG businesses such as Primark, Tesco and McDonald\u2019s are completely swamped by a barrage of customers over Christmas.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clothes are flying off the racks, Big Macs are sliding across the counters and toys are being snatched off the shelves.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For workers this is the most stressful time of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you are an employee or a customer, no-one really enjoys the fever dream that is shopping in December.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, Christmas shopping is hell.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ironically, carols of love and unity are played and replayed as shoppers battle their way through the crowds, argue with employees, and fight over the last PlayStation in stock.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between the eager early shoppers and the panic buyers on Christmas Eve, retail workers have the joy of witnessing the worst of human behaviour; the selfish, the rude and the greedy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the question is, what is it really like to work for these big businesses over the Christmas holidays?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-vivid-red-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-vivid-red-background-color has-background is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover alignwide is-light has-parallax is-repeated\" style=\"min-height:410px;aspect-ratio:unset;\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim\"><\/span><div role=\"img\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-70609 has-parallax is-repeated\" style=\"background-position:47% 52%;background-image:url(https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/mcdonalds-logo-1024x597.jpg)\"><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-cover-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\"><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">Driving-Thru for Christmas<\/mark><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Sam Bennett, 20, who worked as a crew member in McDonald\u2019s for two years, said: \u201cThe closer it got to Christmas the busier it was, especially Christmas Eve, but even then, the managers expected the same efficiency and output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI just looked less and less forward to each shift.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben Parker, 24, a former shift manager at McDonald\u2019s in Skewen, said: \u201cIt is amazing how angry people get over burgers and chips.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe number of university students and teenagers that get berated and screamed at by customers and then stressed out by managers, all to hit arbitrary speed targets that mean nothing to them, is disgusting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Miss out a ketchup and it&#8217;s Armageddon. People seem to forget that everyone who works there is human and can make mistakes.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>If orders were 100% perfect every time there would have to be robots behind the counter.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<cite>Ben Parker<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Ebony Creed, 20,  who worked as a crew member on three consecutive Christmas Eves at a McDonald\u2019s in Swansea said:&nbsp;\u201cIt was honestly such a traumatic experience,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I have had food thrown at me, people shouting in my face and people walking into the kitchen area to demand food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn one Christmas Eve, I had an older lady throw her hot coffee onto the till area which ended up splashing me &#8211; it was not a nice experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McDonald\u2019s have been contacted but have not yet offered a response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After working in McDonald\u2019s, Ebony became a barista at Costa Coffee in Swansea\u2019s Moto Services.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ebony said: \u201cCustomers were really impatient and rude, especially the older generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEveryone has had to work, so they must know what it feels like to be under so much pressure.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>It is not hard to just be nice to someone, to smile and to say thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Ebony Creed<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Swansea Moto\u2019s youngest Costa employees, Joe Mackenall, 18, worked on Christmas Day last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joe said: \u201cIt was unconventional to work &#8211; I did not want to leave my home, but I had to go to work. Thankfully, everyone was in a happier mood because it was Christmas Day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-vivid-red-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-vivid-red-background-color has-background is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover alignfull is-light has-parallax is-repeated\" style=\"min-height:331px;aspect-ratio:unset;\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim\"><\/span><div role=\"img\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-70552 has-parallax is-repeated\" style=\"background-position:57% 28%;background-image:url(https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/IMG_1588-2-1024x527.jpg)\"><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-cover-is-layout-flow\">\n<h4 class=\"has-text-align-center has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-large-font-size wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">Have yourself a very messy Christmas<\/mark><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Imogen, a customer assistant at New Look in Cardiff, asked us not to use her full name said shoppers forget their manners. \u201cIt is hell when it\u2019s Christmas,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt feels quite disrespectful when we are tidying, and people just drop stuff and leave it there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe get a lot of issues with people kicking off about orders, but we cannot control when your orders show up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I think customers forget that the people who work in the store do not own the store.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Carys Hope, 21, worked at Primark in Swansea aged  16 on a Christmas temporary contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carys said: \u201cIn a store that big, you really do feel like a number, not a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was in the children\u2019s department filled with frustrated mothers and crying babies and that was not a positive experience at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI saw a lot of selfishness between customers, like arguments over the last size&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8211; it was a very strange thing to see over Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would find items dumped by customers everywhere. People would just leave baskets of clothes on the floor because they decided not to buy them &#8211; it just all felt really disrespectful.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople would pull all the folded clothes apart and you would have to spend your whole day refolding the same clothes on the same table all day long<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I don\u2019t think people realise what they are doing or even see how much work goes into keeping a store like Primark clean.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Carys Hope<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Primark have been contacted but have not yet offered a response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-vivid-red-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-vivid-red-background-color has-background is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover alignfull is-light has-parallax is-repeated\" style=\"min-height:316px;aspect-ratio:unset;\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim\"><\/span><div role=\"img\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-70546 has-parallax is-repeated\" style=\"background-position:67% 68%;background-image:url(https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/amazon-3-1024x576.jpg)\"><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-cover-is-layout-flow\">\n<h4 class=\"has-text-align-center has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-large-font-size wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">Santa Claus is shipping to town<\/mark><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben Parker, after working in McDonald\u2019s, worked as a stower and picker at Amazon\u2019s Swansea warehouse on a three-month contract over Christmas. The job involves  locating the goods that customers have ordered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ben said: \u201cIn short, you are a small cog in a very large machine, from the get-go you feel like a number, not a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you are a strong-minded person this job might suit you as you spend a lot of time alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would have shifts where I did not see anyone except for on breaks, no human contact for two to three hours at a time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>It is a very good paying, but very soul-destroying job.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Ben Parker<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>A spokesperson for Amazon said: \u201cWe\u2019re really proud to keep investing in Swansea and in recent weeks we\u2019ve recruited an extra 500 local employees to support our fulfilment centre through the busy Christmas period and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe fact is, if&nbsp;you want to work in a warehouse, you\u2019ll want to work at Amazon. In addition to offering competitive pay and benefits we ensure everyone is supported, treated with dignity and respect, gets regular breaks, and works at a comfortable pace.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut we know we\u2019re not perfect, and we\u2019re always working hard to listen and improve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-vivid-red-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-vivid-red-background-color has-background is-style-wide\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover alignfull is-light has-parallax is-repeated\" style=\"min-height:303px;aspect-ratio:unset;\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim\"><\/span><div role=\"img\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-70550 has-parallax is-repeated\" style=\"background-position:63% 52%;background-image:url(https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/tesco-1-1024x260.jpg)\"><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-cover-is-layout-flow\">\n<h4 class=\"has-text-align-center has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-large-font-size wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color\">All I want for Christmas is some understanding<\/mark><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Ann Watkins, 63, worked in a Marks and Spencer store in Swansea for 10 years up until her retirement in November 2022.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ann recalled: \u201cPeople were not particularly understanding. If I was on the till and there was a queue of four or five people, they would say \u2018why are you not opening another till\u2019? They just could not understand that we were short-staffed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jacob Evans, a customer assistant at Lego\u2019s Cardiff store said: \u201cPeople become more hostile and more sensitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMost issues are clearly not our fault. It is usually because the systems are slow, not us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMore young people are understanding of what it is like to work in places like this, whereas elders tend to question you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alicia Woods, 20, who worked at Tesco for over a year, said: \u201cThe lead up to Christmas was fun but the hours were longer and there was a lot more pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen we were in lockdown, the upstairs section of the store was closed, and a dad was in the store shouting at me because he could not get a certain Christmas present for his child.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere was nothing I could do to help him, so he just continued having a go at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Customers should really understand more about the pressure that employees are feeling during this stressful period.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<cite>Alicia Woods<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tis\u2019 the season for panic buying, bad manners&#8230; and being doused in coffee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":70900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,3],"tags":[1291,1516,5169,5301,2953,2453,8224,7219,712,8223,1638,8222,137,4034,7402,2955,138,1583,1165,7660,4054],"coauthors":[8086],"class_list":["post-70095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-longer-reads","category-news","tag-cardiff-2","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-day","tag-clothes","tag-customers","tag-holidays","tag-lego","tag-ms-2","tag-mcdonalds","tag-new-look","tag-news","tag-primark","tag-retail","tag-santa","tag-santa-claus","tag-shopping","tag-shops","tag-swansea","tag-tesco","tag-toys","tag-xmas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast 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property=\"og:description\" content=\"From companies like Primark to McDonalds, ex and current employees speak out about some of their more &#039;traumatic&#039; Christmas shifts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2022\/12\/21\/the-nightmare-before-christmas-retail-workers-relive-the-trauma-of-working-the-festive-holiday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-21T22:44:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-22T16:41:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/final-xmas-feature-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2125\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"914\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" 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