Coles Myer Employment Process (1 Viewer)

[Cyph]

What can I say?

I'm simply good, while you're shit.

 

[Collin]

Because of University. Checkouts seriously make me want to remove my eyes with a rusty fork. Why oh why did I have to get this job?

Because you need money that bad, Minky.

Collin and Cyph don't seem to understand what these people are complaining about. I do.

In my brand, there are very few permanent part-timers. For the particular area I looked after, there were 3. The rest of the work was done by casuals.

Casuals in general in CML are not treated by the true definition of casual. You aren't just called in when someone is sick or there is an extra job to be done. Thats why CML casuals start to get upset when their shifts are reduced significantly.

So what is the true definition of 'Casual'? You definition seems inclined towards conditions you wish you had under this fantasy definition, not what is reality. The definitive condition a Casual gets is stated in it's contract; usually just the minimum hours guaranteed over a fixed time period declared. How crudely they allocate hours in regards to your personal schedule isn't relevant.

Yeah that and the fact that officeworks is rarely 'busy' in the kmart/target/coles/bilo sense of the word.

No offence, but that's bullshit. Don't judge a book by it's cover. Officeworks doesn't look busy when you walk inside, but during peak hour you're overloaded with call parks and customer issues. And when it isn't peak hour you have to complete tasks assigned to you through your line managers, other customers and pre-determined to-do lists.

Well Collin is at Officework's IT Department, which would make me happy also - he probably hasn't had to permanently work on the dreads of Registers.

Actually, I've done the tech section, stationary section aswell as POS/checkouts (on permanent basis). Sometimes I yearn to get away from tech and have a 'breather' at the registers (even when some customers decide to bitch at you because her stapler broke).

 

[dodgyfilokid]

I applied on the net then waited around 3 weeks to be contacted again to fax my resume..after that 2 weeks passed before I was scheduled for the group interview...after interview took 6 weeks before someone at kmart bondi contacted me..went in for a 10 minute interview and after it..my manager said 'you're hired' on the spot..got my first shift on a tuesday mornin so had to skip school..since then manager always gives me two shifts while the other casuals get one..i also hav priority on overtime and holiday work and i hav 'power' to negotiate wot times i want to work extra..holidays i got average 16 hours a week...startin next week i get a 9hour shift on saturday and a 4 hour on sunday..holidays mayb a 12 hour one and some 6 hour ones and to think of it im still in year 12.

 

[*Minka*]

Do NOT call me Minky. I DESPISE that. Minka or Mira please.

Secondly, I don't really need the money given that my father is a CEO and earns good money and my mother also does well. However, I need to work, but I want to work somewhere fucking else dammit.

 

[Collin]

CEO of what? I take it then you're just after work experience. God, I haven't a clue why you're at checkouts then.

P.S Sorry Minky.. erm, I mean Minka.

 

[*Minka*]

Exactly - I am basically there to have something on my resume to show that I have done some work though Uni, made some effort to support my studies and hopefully use it as experience to get something better. However, with Uni, I have had no such luck and am hoping to get out of Target soon.

I am lucky that I don't NEED the monet really because my family is financially comfortable, but I don't want to be that girl that gets out of Uni and has nothing on her resume. I am trying to at least do something to help myself.

Oh Shut it! (Yep, you just identified my pet hate. I HATE the word Minky.)

 

[vg_woz_here]

i am a casual @ Coles and i ring in whenever i want to work and what times. Im doin it for the experience and money (lol)..so yeh...

 

[MiuMiu]

So what is the true definition of 'Casual'? You definition seems inclined towards conditions you wish you had under this fantasy definition, not what is reality. The definitive condition a Casual gets is stated in it's contract; usually just the minimum hours guaranteed over a fixed time period declared. How crudely they allocate hours in regards to your personal schedule isn't relevant.

Don't patronise me, and don't put words into my mouth.

I was not displaying any feelings on the 'true' definition of a casual--I was merely stating that in general a casual is one who is called in fairly last minute, to fill in or assigned short periods of work when employees are on leave. However in many of the CML brands, this is not the case. Casuals are the very backbone of the store and are relied upon heavily to complete the great majority of work done.

I do not have a 'fantasy' of what a casual should be...as a 2IC I chose my own hours and wasn't directly affected by the bureaucracy and budgeting issues--but I did see first hand how it affected others and its quite pathetic. With better training for line managers spending on staff could be far more effective and fair.

Doesn't matter now though, Im working as a para-legal part-time until I get my LLB next year, so once again, don't patronise me.

No offence, but that's bullshit. Don't judge a book by it's cover. Officeworks doesn't look busy when you walk inside, but during peak hour you're overloaded with call parks and customer issues. And when it isn't peak hour you have to complete tasks assigned to you through your line managers, other customers and pre-determined to-do lists.

No, its not bullshit. Take everything you just said, and add on top of that twice (if not more) customer traffic....and there you have a typical casual's day at kmart/target/bilo/coles.

Try working the service desk for 10 minutes trying to operate a register, look after phone calls on 8 lines, answering customer queries and cleaning up after people. ALL AT ONCE. And if you dare step away from the counter or turn your head to talk to another staff member you get yelled at by a customer who thinks it is their born right to recieve service the minute they walk through the doors.

 

[*Minka*]

I was not displaying any feelings on the 'true' definition of a casual--I was merely stating that in general a casual is one who is called in fairly last minute, to fill in or assigned short periods of work when employees are on leave. However in many of the CML brands, this is not the case. Casuals are the very backbone of the store and are relied upon heavily to complete the great majority of work done.

Try working the service desk for 10 minutes trying to operate a register, look after phone calls on 8 lines, answering customer queries and cleaning up after people. ALL AT ONCE. And if you dare step away from the counter or turn your head to talk to another staff member you get yelled at by a customer who thinks it is their born right to recieve service the minute they walk through the doors.

Correct and Correct.

See, the issue starts when Casual's are told at the time of their employment that the employer will work around School/University hours. However, the employer than tries to get out of that committment once you start working there. It is a problem because I would not have accepted the job offer if not for that. Cutting back hours / getting very unpleased with the ones who choose to go to Uni and attempting to baulk on the committment to schedule work around those Uni times is fucked up and a problem.

And dman fucking straight to casuals doing most of the work. I am a casula and honestly work twice as hard as many of the ones who are full/part time who seem to enjoy doing shit all and having converations with each other. There is always so much for me to do with no stopping and yes, even asking a fellow eomplyee to do something or help out with something is met with some customer telling you to quit your gossipy chit chat and bow to their feet at once. Yawn.

Htae Coles Myer.

 

[Collin]

Don't patronise me, and don't put words into my mouth.

I was not displaying any feelings on the 'true' definition of a casual--I was merely stating that in general a casual is one who is called in fairly last minute, to fill in or assigned short periods of work when employees are on leave. However in many of the CML brands, this is not the case. Casuals are the very backbone of the store and are relied upon heavily to complete the great majority of work done.

I do not have a 'fantasy' of what a casual should be...as a 2IC I chose my own hours and wasn't directly affected by the bureaucracy and budgeting issues--but I did see first hand how it affected others and its quite pathetic. With better training for line managers spending on staff could be far more effective and fair.

Doesn't matter now though, Im working as a para-legal part-time until I get my LLB next year, so once again, don't patronise me.

Settle down. Had a bad day today? Seriously, take a chill pill. If anything, I should be asserting you as the one patronising me over the comment that Cyph and I don't seem to understand what these people are complaining about. Just because I don't agree with you means I didn't comprehend?

Like I said, the definitive condition a Casual should expect is it's contracted minimum hours. Is it explicitly stated on such agreements what your perceived general definition of a Casual position is? No. It isn't relevant. The only incompetency which could be labelled relevant to this whole issue is if they rostered people such that it broke their contract agreements. Sure, it may be hard on the Casuals from a moral point of view, but you read your contract and you signed it prior to official employment. You have no grounds to criticise over a potential issue implicitly created by yourself. If the managers asserted something, then something else resulted.. consult your contract. No one said it isn't tough for some of you out there, but my point is that the criticisms directed are misguided.

No, its not bullshit. Take everything you just said, and add on top of that twice (if not more) customer traffic....and there you have a typical casual's day at kmart/target/bilo/coles.

Try working the service desk for 10 minutes trying to operate a register, look after phone calls on 8 lines, answering customer queries and cleaning up after people. ALL AT ONCE. And if you dare step away from the counter or turn your head to talk to another staff member you get yelled at by a customer who thinks it is their born right to recieve service the minute they walk through the doors.

What's your point? That's the same with me, since like I said, I have a certain workload expected to be COMPLETED everyday, whilst having to maintain a robust level of IT sales customer service protocols (infact monitored by third-party 'mystery shoppers' employed by CML Head Office) and having numerous call parks from the service desk racking up ("BM Call Park 2.. BM Call Park 4, second call.. blah blah").. resulting in a heavy stack of multi-tasking. Some customers take up to 45 minutes to consult, and when you have 20 or so eager customers roaming around the tech floor looking for service when you also have a substantial amount of pre-assigned tasks from line manager(s) to complete by the end of your shift aswell as a consistent background of call parks with only 2-3 of you at most in your department at work at any given time, things get busy, thank you very much. The fact that you were willing to conclude workload of a brand you have minimal knowledge of simply based on how a few particular store floors seemed (in terms of 'busy-ness') shows inherent bias. I'm fairly displeased about things when people want to debate in this manner.

 

[glycerine]

ummmm

i'm casual and i have yet to sign a contract at coles. i think you're thinking of the wrong thing.

 

[Collin]

Excellent, that proves my point even further. You aren't even guaranteed minimum hours from the company.

Seriously though (bias aside), many Casuals do sign comprehensive contracts. I myself was forced to upon employment with Woolies awhile back, and was guaranteed 1 hour a week minimum of work.

 

[Collin]

I think the 4 hour shift rule applies throughout CML brands. There have been incidents where people have worked for less than 4 hours at Officeworks (God, we were desperate for staff on the floor), but the managers probably worked around that by declaring they did 4hr+ to Head Office, and then making them come back another day to 'finish off that shift' without signing in, if that makes sense. Heh heh heh.

 

[sunjet]

I had a one on one interview with the manager and i'm now a checkout chick at coles

 

[Cyph]

Seriously,

if you're not getting enough hours... you need to go part or full time, you won't ever bitch about hours or consistency of hours again. There's nothing I'd like more than to knock back a shift or two every week so I can do some thing I'd like to do such as have a night out on the piss, exercise, whatever.

If you can't do part/full time, you're casual for a reason and you really do have to take what you're offered when you're offered it.

 

[glycerine]

yeah I was going to go part time then I realised that, even if there are issues with being casual, at the end of the day I enjoy being able to knock back/reduce shifts to fit in with uni/my social life/how motivated I feel at the time.
for example last week I had 3 assignments due, only worked 2 days. this week I'm doing 33 hours at least; it may well go up depending on how busy it is and how many people call in. next week, I have heaps of stuff due, I'm going to try and do only 2 or 3 days to fit everything in.
so yeah, I may not get sick leave and stuff, but if I choose to make it so, they work around me... not the other way around.

oh and it's not minimum 4 hours everywhere in CML; at my store at least it's 3 which I think is the actual standard

 

[Cyph]

Sometimes I miss being casual... well, at least I do at this stage until I've been there 12 months and I get my holidays + sick days accumulated, because I can't go away for a few days when I have work commitments which kinda sucks!

I've done a minimum of 30 hours a week and I'm trying to do 5 subjects at Uni + a Diploma Massage.. might have to drop a subject to go back to 3 days a week at Uni 'cause I'm getting smashed trying to keep up with it all at the moment.

I guess it's a catch 22, with the money comes the lack of freedom to spend it and do what you want you want when you're casual, and then you don't have the money to do it

 

[MiuMiu]

Yeah the minimum is 3, Kmart gives 3 hours shifts sometimes, usually on public holidays so they don't lose as much cash. Cheap bastards.

 

[Collin]

I got a 3 hour shift once. Sooooooo not bloody worth it, since it takes me an hour just to get to work. But since I usually get 7-8 hour shifts, 3 hours did go by mighty fast.

 

[vg_woz_here]

lol i always get 4hr shifts at coles..its so stupid and ridiculous..