Roxy's Story

this is Roxy's story...she is 31 years old, is a checkout worker, and has been working for the company for 5 years.

here i am; your battered little slave:

hi there, i'm Roxy (not my real name)...i have been at tesco's for around 5 years and thankfully i can finally say what i like about this disgusting company. i have three children, various ages, and i enjoy my job as a whole but just hate the men at the top and the company in general. my mother worked at tesco's before me and when i got made redundant by my last job suggested i tried applying for tescos.
i liked that idea because i initially thought it meant i could fit my busy lifestyle around my job and earn a bit of extra cash to help out my husband when his work had a quiet patch.
when i went for the interview a lovely lady was in charge and she said it could be no problem that i have kids and that tesco would work around my needs ( just like they did with all the other staff, she explained.)

well, my first year was lovely...if the kids were sick then i had the day off to be with them and made up my hours another day. if they had a party, or a school play...then i could do the same.
it all changed just after i celebrated my 2nd year there.
my lovely boss left (promotion) and this new guy came in. very burly, very sure of himself and made no attempt to say hello to his staff or even introduce himself.
the first conversation i ever had with him was when he told me he had to cancel my week off (i needed it off to tend to my sick mother who had left the company the year before). i explained to him my reasons and he tutted and just said "i hear from a good source it's just a week off because you fancy a bit of time off. you have no holiday allowence left so therefor you will be working your normal hours"
i burst out into tears...angry tears...but this made no odds to him. he just opened the door and told me to get back onto my till as, in his words, "time is money, sweetheart."

disgusted, i walked out...and phoned my husband. he was equally as angry and made his way down to speak to him. all he got was from this horrible new manager was "she can have her week off...but as a suspension for walking out of my store this afternoon."

as a member of the union, i thought i had rights...but had to back down as the next day my mother got worse and had to go to hospital. i didn't need any extra strain...i took my suspension and threw myself into looking after my gravely ill mother.

upon my return to work, the sadistic little hitler (who i will just name Him from now on) called me into his office and decided to throw the book at me. he did this even though he was proven wrong by my mother admission to hospital and told me "one more mishap from you and you will find your tesco contract is going to get friendly with my shredder."

as i walked out of the door, my colleague (who we will name cindy), was waiting outside obviously going to speak to Him, too. i walked out with tears in my eyes...and she just smiled at me, flicked her hair and swaggered into the office. before the door closed...all i heard was "cindy! now this HAS made my day..."

when she came back...i asked her if she was in trouble. "oh no..." she calmly said "i was just speaking to him about letting me off next week for my trip to new york." "but you havent got any holiday left..." i told her. "i know! isn't he brilliant? he said it's a reward for making his shop tick along nicely."

so, miss perfect blonde/perfect 10 can have a week off when we're undertstaffed to go to sodding new york but i can't look after my extremely ill mother!!!

i wanted to cry. no, i wanted to scream....and scream i did when i got home.

"what is wrong with this man! why is he doing this" i wailed to my husband...

i am 31 years old. plenty of laughter lines. i am a bit chubby. i wear frumpy clothes outside of work. i have a mortgage and 3 kids. i know i'm no sex kitten...but i work hard. i have 5 years service under my belt and had no trouble on my record.
cindy is 21 years old. natural blonde, perfect 10, killer legs. lives with her mum, has no kids, flirts for england. she does virtually no work, has been suspended for being rude to a customer and her team leader, and has only been there a year!

i pointed that out to my husband...and he told me i was being stupid and paranoid.
i agreed with him...maybe i was...

until the next day...my mother died. i found out mid-shift and i asked my duty manager if i could go home. "of course you can, roxy!" he said...and i made my way to my locker to grab my coat. i needed my kids and my husband around me...i needed my home.

"where do you think you're going?" it was Him. "home. my mother has just died." "how DARE you leave your till with 3 lifts in it! you're staying right here till 4pm." "4pm?" "yes, that's the end of your shift. i just checked." "but mark said i could go home. my mother has just died!" "is mark the boss? in fact, if he does this ever again he won't even be a duty manager for much longer either!" "MY MOTHER HAS JUST DIED." i screamed. and duelly walked out.

he didn't phone me. he didn't even make a squeak when i returned 2 weeks later. it turns out that Mark (our lovely duty manager) had found out what happened, and that on the same day as my mother died he (Him) let Cindy go home early so she could go to a tanning parlour.

faced with at least two cases of evidence against him of favourtism he told Mark he would let me have the next two weeks off and let me off for walking off mid-shift.
when my husband complained to a higher up authority he got told that nothing could be done because he (Him) was too valuable to the company to even investigate.

however, he got moved on to another store...but i'm still left with a sour taste left in my mouth. not just with Him, but with whoever told my husband that would be doing nothing about it.

i enjoy my job immensely and get on with most of the staff...but i despise this company now and all the 'Old Boys' (as Ed and iced fox calls them) that grease each others palms.

oh, and as for cindy...turns out she is now engaged to Him. funny old world, isnt it?

thank you for listening to my story.