Working in a supermarket can feel like a thankless job, but without those people who stack shelves and scan our groceries, we’d be stuck with no way to get our weekly food shopping.
One former employee of one of the UK’s most popular supermarkets has lifted the lid on what it’s really like to work in a food shop – and some things might surprise you.
The unnamed woman, from South East England, worked in a supermarket for seven years until she left in 2014, and The Sun reports she “enjoyed it” overall.
And while she may have made some lifelong friends in her co-workers, the woman insisted parts of the job were far from glamorous.
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The woman said she worked in various departments within the store and was also a first aider – which she thought would be a “noble thing” to do until she discovered the truth.
She said: “I was a first aider which I thought would be a noble thing to do! However working in a student town, came with student drinking.
“This meant I was a glorified sick cleaner (only first aiders are apparently allowed to clean up bodily fluids!) I even had a student be sick on me while I fetched him a sick bucket. That would be by far the grossest thing.”
The woman also warned customers to always avoid using the toilets at a supermarket, as even the staff-only ones are lacking in the cleanliness department.
And when she wasn’t cleaning up other people’s bodily fluids, the woman spent much of her time being horrified at just how much food gets thrown away at the end of each day.
The woman claimed it was “gross” to see the food getting binned, and even though she “fought hard” to try and get her managers to give the excess to the homeless, she was always told that it would raise too many “legal difficulties”.
She added: “It is quite gross how much gets thrown away though, especially bakery goods. At the end of the night everything gets binned.
“When I worked there, I fought to try and get it sent to the homeless, but it came with a bunch of legal difficulties - although I think this might have changed now!”
The former employee also had some helpful tips to share with customers, as she said the best times to shop are 7am - 8am, 11am, or 8pm.
She also encouraged customers to “be nice” to supermarket workers, because they can often find themselves becoming a joke amongst staff if they’re rude.
The woman even lifted the lid on what happens when a supermarket shuts for the night – and it involves the staff playing Supermarket Sweep!
She said: “We also held an initiative to improve staff morale called ‘fun at work’. This would involve various activities that would just give a 10 min boost of fun to the day.
“Being on night shifts, there are no customers around, so our fun at work included aisle races and supermarket sweeps. We even held a bike ride (stationary of course!) for charity!”
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