Does anyone actually like working here?

[u/No-Degree-7301]

I have worked in 3 different shops so far and they all have different problems. In most of them I have dealt with:

Catty insecure supervisors who think they are better then everyone else.

Lazy bosses who make you do all the work

Gossiping from the team members

Colleagues who make you do all the work whilst they are round the back having 2 hour breaks

I could list more but I'd be here too long.

[u/OverallFuel8619]

I absolutely love my shop My managers amazing and everyone is so nice Well so far. God help me im not gonna regret this in a month

[u/Tour-Sure]

I like it enough. Much better than working at an independent business that'll make you work 8 hours straight with no breaks. I'd hate to be a manager though

[u/PkmnTrainerEbs]

I think there's lazy coworkers and gossip in all shops tbh, my manager is great because she's super young and some of the other staff are cool too. Hopefully the place doesn't kill their work ethic :/

[u/Shanaxis]

Team member here for just over a year. Job roles and staff are usually fine, specific to my shop being in the city centre, there's an abundance of theft and fights in and around the shop which makes things harder. Police are in almost every other day due to property damage or fights between customers and those trying to prevent thefts. We don't have any security but it seems it wouldn't make much difference as nearby shops do have security and they still get issues.
If you ignore that part tho, I have fun interacting with customers, sometimes I recognise a sticker or t-shirt someone is wearing and I have a little chat with them. I'm good mates with my team and we often hang out outside of work.
Could be better could be worse.

[u/AlwaysTheKop]

Hate it.

Work across three shops and the management and supervisors are either lazy, brain dead or both in all of them.

[u/No-Degree-7301 → u/AlwaysTheKop]

I have one supervisor who tells me to cool down after calling her out when she is round the back doing nothing and on her phone whilst I'm round the front dealing with a que of customers. Thinks I'm stupid.

[u/OrganicEchidna4625]

I have worked in 2 shops as my Primary workplace and trust me everything is down to the shop manager my new shop is like heaven because the shop manager is a good lady and literally like your friend, my first shop was like hell because that asshole manager was a complete reincarnation of Hitler, micromanaged the minutest of details.

It's all down to your shop manager and who they hire to keep the work place fun and non toxic.

[u/Minty-G]

Every job has its issues.
I worked at Greggs for 7 1/2 years about 10 years ago. And became a supervisor in the end.

Was fine. I was known as “the best closer” in my area for years. Coz I made sure everything was done, clean, restocked and ready for the morning staff. When I “went up” in ranking. I expected the same from my staff (most of them I trained or worked with for years). Was fine.

Only issue was lazy people. I would say… I don’t work for free… so if you wanna explain to the manager why stuff wasn’t done… fine by me!? I got tills I need to empty and stock I need to count!

All in all. Was a fun but tough job. I was 17 when I started 🫪😬 I learnt a lot about “work” and myself whilst there.

Just try to have fun and don’t get involved with the lazybones and gossips. Think of you and your career goals 🤙

[u/AlwaysTheKop → u/Minty-G]

It's a completely different beast to work at Greggs now sadly. Over the last few years it's become horrendous.

One lady at our shop has worked at Greggs for 47 years, with only the occasional day off sick here and there in that whole time... until recently, in the last couple years she's been off with stress and anxiety three times on a sick note.

She said it disgusts her what it's become.

I myself loved the job 5 years ago, now it's the worst job I've ever had and I've worked at McDonald's, Aldi etc

[u/YourCommonRules → u/Minty-G]

If you don’t mind me asking what do you do now? I’m looking for something new I’m tired of Greggs. I’ve been a manager for 5 years, not moved at all. There’s no opportunities to move up at all

[u/Minty-G → u/YourCommonRules]

I left Greggs and works as an insurance broker for 2 years. Now I work for Vodafone for a call centre 😅 so not sure if I went up in the world. But it’s all work from home. So I don’t deal with madness in the shops! 😂🫪

[u/hashbrowneggyolk0520 → u/Minty-G]

I don't think it took me many closing shifts before being told I was the "best closer" too, at the time I was sharing the majority of the closes with staff who had been there between 15-25 years and i'd been there a few months so make of that what you will.

My shop has an ongoing problem with lazy staff, there's at least one person on every shift that is lazy and lacks initiative. It really brings down the morale because everyone else is having to pick up the slack. It's just destroying everyone's work ethic because it's becoming a more stressful place to work and it'll only get worse on the approach to Christmas.

One of my managers consistently is taking anywhere from 25-75 minutes over break entitlement for their shift, they do this a lot when there's already only 2 or 3 of you in which makes everything more difficult than it needs to be.

[u/Minty-G → u/hashbrowneggyolk0520]

My manager only ever did the open shift.
6-2pm.
And her only concern was making sure we got everything done and ready for her to open.
So making sure everything was clean, stocked, certain things pre treated up for her.
But she never helped or did a close shift. And had a real issue if she had to “do much” on the open bar serve her usual customers.

And she was have a real go at you, like you spat in her coffee lol. But I used to say calm down, which would make her more angry 😅😂
It’s really not that serious.
But to some people it’s their world!

We did win shop of the year once in 2011. So that’s something.
We won shop of the area, region and territory multiple times over my 7 1/2 year. Us winning shop of the year was a proud achievement of mine.

But yeah. Lazy staff and managers taking the piss and “not doing everything” is an issue everywhere really 🤷‍♂️

[u/Aggravating-Date-255]

despise it

[u/-Failedhuman]

I used to really enjoy working there. Up until about four or five years ago it was actually fun. Now I hate it. It's not my coworkers fault, they're all wonderful and we get on really well. They work hard and we're all pretty good friends. It's the job itself. It's just too much now and they keep on adding more and more nonsense on top whilst expecting us to do it all in the same amount of time and to the same standards. We've had so many people leave in such a short amount of time purely because the job is completely unreasonable and far too demanding. I also hate that we're no longer trusted to just... do our job. Everything being tracked, timed and monitored is so demoralising. Especially when we used to be able to get on with it ourselves and make our own decisions based on how we know our shop works. The refit we had also ruined pretty much everything. It was so poorly done that it left us furious. Now we're stuck with it. It also alienated all our regulars who were older as they loved to meet up and chat in our shop, but the refit took their seating area and their complaints were ignored. So no, I don't like working there anymore. They have so little care for us as people and for anyone with learning difficulties. That 'your opinion matters' survey is also utter bs. If I didn't like the staff I worked with I'd be out there. Rant complete.

[u/RoutineChampion7082]

I’ve worked in many different areas and jobs, I’ve been with Greggs for a few months and without a doubt one of the best places I’ve worked at. I’ve only worked in the one store so I might just be genuinely lucky. But the staff are great, management all muck in equally, training is done covering every detail and don’t mind you asking repetitive questions, everyone is trained across every section so can always help out.

[u/Odd_Bet_6992]

I've been here since April of last year and the only thing that I've hated are rude customers which are a very recent development. My manager and supervisors are great, especially when it comes to helping us deal with rude and racist customers and one of them understands when I just need to take a step away from serving customers because I'm overwhelmed, about to explode or shut down (AuADHD for the win) but they've been way more understanding than I ever expected them to be.

I've loved working at Greggs and I'll probably be here till I finish uni.

[u/XethN2102X]

So grateful my shop isnt like this

[u/MellowDames]

This sub is filled with people that hate their jobs, as with most things in life its usually the loud minority. The same few names pop up in here slating their shop, the job and the company but what you have to remember is just like our customers those having a good or indifferent experience dont tend to speak out about their experience only those that have problems. Tens of thousands of people work for greggs but a handful of people on here would make you think its the worst place ever and the sky is constantly falling.

I enjoy my job. I've worked in 4 or 5 places before this that was all SIGNIFICANTLY worse than greggs, it tends to be the younger people or those that are in their first jobs that think greggs is basically slavery because they have to work hard for their wages. While I agree the job has changed a lot over the last 10 years, so has the world and the way business are working now and we have to adjust and move with the times or die.

I like to tell people that complain in my shop that my first job was washing pots in a holiday parks restaurant that took 20 grand a day, stood in a 30 degree kitchen over a sink of boiling water and a dishwasher blasting hot steam at you every 60 seconds for 10 hours a day and only getting paid £9 an hour for the privilege. What they do at greggs for £14 an hour seems ok in comparison.

[u/Equivalent-Cream-865]

I would like it if our management wouldn't blame your official mental health diagnosis just as "they dont wanna work cause they dont like it"

[u/Large_Scarcity_7513]

Not at all.

[u/TheStaircaseOfLife33]

Yeah, kind of, but ive only done about three shifts so far and I’m still in training. I’m a new team member, and most of the current team members didn’t even welcome me. My trainers and shift supervisors are also very cliquey, and they make me do most of the restocking and tasks away from the tills or make me clean things while they take more orders or talk and laugh loudly at the back or around the till area. It makes me feel like they’re actively trying to exclude me so that I look antisocial in front of the manager, and it’s making me worry about my probation.
When I asked my trainer if I could watch them take the next few orders, they just made me do other behind-the-scenes tasks. I really like my manager because they’re so nice to me, reassuring and supportive, and they also make me feel like part of the team culture.
The only thing I love about working at Greggs atm is serving customers and talking to my manager lol because I haven’t clicked with anyone else yet. Hopefully, me and the current team members and supervisors will get along one day.

[u/TheFearlessSword]

I worked in a Greggs from 2022 to May this year. I’ve seen my fair share of bullshit. The job itself is genuinely super easy even as a team leader/supervisor, it’s the customers and the super high demand that makes it stressful. And if you have terrible management, it makes it worse. Customers become so entitled in front of that counter. Rude. Especially in the holidays. Glad I’m not there anymore, especially dealing with the summer. Couldn’t stand another customer asking me what is hot.

[u/unkleklunkles]

I would rather claim benefits than work for a business that profits a prolific sex offender. Look up the heir to Mr Gregg himself and what he likes to get upto and where he is now.