How are you today?

[RobB]

I don't think there is a short-cut (a direct link from the lap-top to these boards) so the photos will need to be up-loaded to a hosting website (i use photobucket.com) and then from there, a url is produced for each photo which you can then use as a direct link to a message board. Alternative urls are also produced for each photo for use with other destinations or uses.....emails,Images, etc etc.

[alx5962]

you can upload directly using file attachement, but filesize is limited so if images are too big, photobucket or flickr are good starts to host them.

[RobB]

Thanks for the info Alex, i had no idea that was possible. It certainly saves a lot of time during it that way.

[blue]

Thanks Alex, I'll have a bash when I get back home this evening.

[blue]

Went with Kate this afternoon to a professional photography studio to have some pics taken of Rocco, oh my god what a little poser he is!! He was practically doing tricks like a performing seal.

The photographer was showing us some of what she'd captured as she went along, I have a feeling Kate is going to be spending a fortune on lots of pics.

[blue]

Hmm, I could potentially be losing my job tomorrow morning. The Area Manager is coming in to have a 2-hour meeting with all staff.

Holland and Barret have closed or converted loads of our stores since they bought out the company, and recently they've been taking hours away from the stores that are still surviving. I have a feeling we're going to be made redundant at this meeting, but even if they're just reducing our hours I'll still have to find another job, as my contracted hours are only 20 a week anyway, and I barely survive on that.

Oh well. It's only a job I guess, and I've pretty much hated it ever since the disgusting, vile Holland and Barret took over. Have I mentioned how much I loathe this company and their frightening obsession with profit above all else? Have I told you how they treat their employees as if they're machines in a factory, not human beings, and how they regard their customers as nothing more than walking wallets from whom as much money as possible has to be extracted when they enter the store, via staff harrassing them and stalking them round the shop? No? Well, now you know.

[RobB]

After that, i'm not sure if i should keep my fingers crossed for you that your job is safe or not?

It would be nice to have had another job lined up before leaving this one but by the sound of things maybe it would be better to take the money and run?

[blue]

I've only been there coming up to three years Rob, I wouldn't be entitled to anything more than a week's wages.

My supervisor actually just rang to say it's been postponed because a load of the H+B big-wig bully-boys are descending on our High Wycombe shop tomorrow to tear the place apart, and our AM wants to get in on it. Ugh. They disgust me. They've already forced the manager there to quit by refusing to give her time off WHEN HER HUSBAND DIED. She was told to be back in work the day after the funeral or lose her job.

Think of that next time you're contemplating buying anything from H+B. They are scum. Hit them in the only place they care about, their pockets.

[RobB]

I've only been there coming up to three years Rob, I wouldn't be entitled to anything more than a week's wages.

Thats rather mean. Most reputable companies usually pay a weeks severance pay for every complete year the employee has worked, upto and including 12 years.
Normally you could have expected at least three weeks money which still isn't much as compensation for losing your job but still a lot better than one week.

Just for you, Beth...


http://everything2.com/user/Hazelnut/wr ... 26+Barrett

[blue]

Just for you, Beth...


http://everything2.com/user/Hazelnut/wr ... 26+Barrett

AHA, that is brilliant! AND TRUE!!

Oh my god, I'm so grateful some good people out there are on to this stinking hypocritical greedy shower of thugs. That piece should be required reading for anyone who shops in H+B.

I love that he highlighted the fact that their staff are 'salesmen' as opposed to 'retail staff'. This is exactly right, and it's what they've been trying to force our staff to become since they took over the company. They call it 'active selling', ie you are not there to help and guide customers to get good value and so on, you are there to SELL. So, you have to give every customer who walks in the door exactly the same spiel, you're taught to 'overcome objections' just like he points out in the article, in other words you are expected to act like a robot and treat the customer as a walking wallet who must be persuaded to buy as many products as possible. It is a vile, nasty way to treat staff and customers, and is worlds away from the standards of excellent customer service I was taught in previous retail jobs. It's a horrible American approach that makes me feel physically ill and annoys the hell out of customers.

The backlash will come though, because people are getting this in every shop they go into now, as well as the bank, the building society, the post office. We're hearing tales of customers getting so irate with this bullshit they're putting down their goods and walking out of the shops. There's been a study done recently in America on the effects of this forced 'active selling' on staff, which indicated that levels of depression and anxiety due to the stress it causes them have risen and consequently more sick days taken.

Idiots, these company bully-boys. Brainwashed morons who don't have a clue about what genuine customer service is, and don't care either. Stupid arrogant oafs. People of the consumer societies, make your feelings known! Refuse to buy their products until they start treating you and us like human beings!

[sound world]

Back in the day, Holland and Barrett were well-known for their links with apartheid in South Africa, and were duly boycotted by all of us wholefood types.
Even since apartheid ended I haven't felt the inclination to support them still by patronising their shops.

[paul-pgss]

They've already forced the manager there to quit by refusing to give her time off WHEN HER HUSBAND DIED. She was told to be back in work the day after the funeral or lose her job.

That is really harsh and unthoughtful. Being a manager myself I know it is sometimes difficult to find the right line between the wishes of the colleagues and the wishes of the company. But this is a thing that would never be asked from anyone in the company I work for.

Think of that next time you're contemplating buying anything from H+B. They are scum. Hit them in the only place they care about, their pockets.

I wouldn't say that out loud Beth. It would mean you would lose your job for sure.

Just a piece of advice: maybe it isn't wise to use the companynames here. A lot of companies have people searching the internet on negative comments. With all the personal information you have provided on this board elsewhere, it would be easy to know who's writing this. You could be sacked for that alone.

[blue]

I wouldn't care to be honest Paul, in fact I'd probably relish the opportunity to say it to their faces.

If companies don't want to be badmouthed on the internet, they should behave like civilised human beings and treat their staff as such.

[blue]

Rocco got taken to his first football match today.

Apparently he slept all the way through it, which is what any sensible person would do at a football match.

[blue]

I have to be in work for 8am tomorrow, it's the meeting with the Area Manager to find out what's happening with the shop. I may be back here tomorrow afternoon very drunk, celebrating the end of my employment with the Hated Ones.