Who's getting the service jobs?

danger mouse · 23-09-2011 2:35am #1

Firstly this is not an anti foreigner rant. Anyway case in point being,

I'm just wondering what the story is... In the last few months a big Tesco store has opened in my local area and i've noticed that a very large and disproportionate amount of the staff employed by this Tesco extra store and the shops in this retail park are of non Irish nationality. I cant understand this serious percentage differential in favour of non Irish. I know there is a very large queue every month of people signing on the labour exchange that are Irish in this area that would happily take these kind of jobs.

But when I explored this brand new Tesco store and it's auxiliary shopping partners i found most of the new jobs were filled by non irish people and mostly eastern European nationals.

Saila · 23-09-2011 2:52am

danger mouse wrote:

Firstly this is not an anti foreigner rant

ah it is though

OPENROAD · 23-09-2011 2:54am

Not again

Pompey Magnus · 23-09-2011 3:20am

Saila wrote: »

ah it is though

Out of interest what did you see that was anti-foreigner in the post? The OP was simply asking what reasons would be behind a minority group of the population making up a larger proportion of the workforce within a particular company than would be expected given their numbers here compared to native Irish people.

As it is a new store it can't be explained as being because they had been working there for years, starting at a time when not many Irish people were going for Tesco work. Assuming the OP is correct in his observation then he is just wondering what the explanation now could be. It may simply be that unemployed Irish people still aren't going for Tesco work (I would be surprised if that is the case though).

I don't see what makes the question an "anti-foreigner rant" though?

LH Pathe · 23-09-2011 3:58am

yeah I'd be interested in the severity or truth in this 'favouritism' if it regards tesco.

strokemyclover · 23-09-2011 4:08am

Thread will result in some sort of 'Final Solution' to our jobs crisis I expect

mapaco · 23-09-2011 4:27am

friend of mine is in copenhagen and struggling to get a job cos everywhere requires fluent danish and gives preference to the danish candidates.

damn right i say-no matter what you're lookin for these days in ireland its a battle to get your message across and for the other person to get their message across.
a basic grasp of english should be a requirement in any job

rant over:D

OPENROAD · 23-09-2011 4:31am

mapaco wrote: »

friend of mine is in copenhagen and struggling to get a job cos everywhere requires fluent danish and gives preference to the danish candidates.

damn right i say-no matter what you're lookin for these days in ireland its a battle to get your message across and for the other person to get their message across.
a basic grasp of english should be a requirement in any job

rant over:D

Haven't found it a problem

mapaco · 23-09-2011 4:47am

looking for something in a supermarket
queries with magazine subscription
problems with mobile phone
enquiries about broadband

OPENROAD · 23-09-2011 4:58am

mapaco wrote: »

looking for something in a supermarket
queries with magazine subscription
problems with mobile phone
enquiries about broadband

No issues with any of them personally

Crazy Horse 6 · 23-09-2011 6:58am

It's beyond a joke at this stage. My sister in law has sent out CV's to all the major supermarket chains and keeps getting turned down for work whilst they continue to hire eastern europeans. Everyone knows the reason but few are prepered to stand up for the Irish worker.

CardBordWindow · 23-09-2011 7:37am

Tesco don't like hiring Irish after the last one they did hire ended up on the X Factor and quit her job.
Once bitten, twice shy!

23-09-2011 7:46am

OP have your or anyone you know that has experience and is available for flexible work ( not a student and not someone with no retail experience ) applied for the jobs in that tesco and been turned down in favour of an eastern Europe?
is that what you are saying.

jester77 · 23-09-2011 7:49am

Experience? Most places hire people based on experience. And it was not so long ago that a lot of Irish people were turning their noses up at jobs like these which resulted in a lot of non-Irish people taking on these roles. I remember during my trips back to Ireland 5 years ago and it was rare to get serviced by an Irish person. I would take a wild guess that most of the people Tesco hired had acquired relevant work experience pertaining to the role during the last 5-10 years.

23-09-2011 7:53am

The problem I suspect is to do with how our social welfare is constructed and maybe a bit to do with childcare.

Tesco are not giving out full-time contracts, they want someone who is flexible enough to work 20 hours one week and 30 the next and to be very flexible about their working hours, the above is not a full-time job and is very hard to combine with any social welfare entitlements or childcare responsibilities.

Nodin · 23-09-2011 7:53am

Crazy Horse 6 wrote: »

It's beyond a joke at this stage. My sister in law has sent out CV's to all the major supermarket chains and keeps getting turned down for work whilst they continue to hire eastern europeans. Everyone knows the reason but few are prepered to stand up for the Irish worker.

What is "the reason"?

cosmicfart · 23-09-2011 7:55am

id say these non Irish people getting these minimum wage jobs has something to do with the fact they probably work harder in and dont go around all day moaning with a sour puss face on them like most Irish who do work in these types of jobs using look like.

squod · 23-09-2011 7:58am

cosmicfart wrote: »

id say these non Irish people getting these minimum wage jobs has something to do with the fact they probably work harder in and dont go around all day moaning with a sour puss face on them like most Irish who do work in these types of jobs using look like.

:mad: Generalisations like this are racist and outrageous.

Tazz T · 23-09-2011 7:59am

Or a poor grasp of English means that when they apply for the job, they don't understand that 'intern' actually translates as 'no pay'.

stupidusername · 23-09-2011 8:01am

mariaalice wrote: »

The problem I suspect is to do with how our social welfare is constructed and maybe a bit to do with childcare.

Tesco are not giving out full-time contracts, they want someone who is flexible enough to work 20 hours one week and 30 the next and to be very flexible about their working hours, the above is not a full-time job and is very hard to combine with any social welfare entitlements or childcare responsibilities.

Because irish people are the only ones wits children

I'm sick of all these stupid comments about irish people being too lazy to work.i dont know one irish person like that

cosmicfart · 23-09-2011 8:02am

squod wrote: »

:mad: Generalisations like this are racist and outrageous.

yea i agree but when im shopping I like to see a smiling face on the other side of the counter not sum 'TUTTING little i dont want to be here bitch' usually Irish, unfortunately true.

beagle001 · 23-09-2011 8:03am

You can't say that what a misguided statement.
I never have a problem being served by an Irish person,at least I can understand them and get a bit of a smile or have the craic.
Eastern Europeans for the most part the women are very pleasant but the fellas are a disaster when it comes to customer service.
I do feel sorry for our youth trying to find a job for college or the summer it's next to
Impossible for them.
I always held down a weekend job from 15 right through college and it was never a problem finding one.
Now it's a different ball game,we should have a rule where any of these businesses must employ a certain percentage of Irish nationals as they do in other nations.
Tesco are no example to use though as they exploit everywhere they set up.

cosmicfart · 23-09-2011 8:05am

beagle001 wrote: »

You can't say that what a misguided statement.
I never have a problem being served by an Irish person,at least I can understand them and get a bit of a smile or have the craic.
Eastern Europeans for the most part the women are very pleasant shít fooking hot but the fellas are a disaster when it comes to customer service.
I do feel sorry for our youth trying to find a job for college or the summer it's next to
Impossible for them.
I always held down a weekend job from 15 right through college and it was never a problem finding one.
Now it's a different ball game,we should have a rule where any of these businesses must employ a certain percentage of Irish nationals as they do in other nations.
Tesco are no example to use though as they exploit everywhere they set up.

fixed ya post :cool:

CardBordWindow · 23-09-2011 8:05am

Nodin wrote: »

What is "the reason"?

They're a band from Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reason_(band)

ShadowHearth · 23-09-2011 8:06am

danger mouse wrote: »

Firstly this is not an anti foreigner rant. Anyway case in point being,

I'm just wondering what the story is... In the last few months a big Tesco store has opened in my local area and i've noticed that a very large and disproportionate amount of the staff employed by this Tesco extra store and the shops in this retail park are of non Irish nationality. I cant understand this serious percentage differential in favour of non Irish. I know there is a very large queue every month of people signing on the labour exchange that are Irish in this area that would happily take these kind of jobs.

But when I explored this brand new Tesco store and it's auxiliary shopping partners i found most of the new jobs were filled by non irish people and mostly eastern European nationals.

Maybe because some people don't like low payed hard jobs? So when they don't want it, foreigners come over and take those jobs.

In my experience nobody gives a **** if you are foreigner or not when you apply for a job. As long as you have needed skills for position and you got good enough English.

beagle001 · 23-09-2011 8:08am

Off topic slightly but I was recently oversees where I was speaking to a well
Traveled New Yorker.
He said he was recently in Dublin for the first time and loved the city but could not find an Irish person working in the hotel or pubs and shops near by he said it was full of Polish and this was a negative to him as he wanted the Irish banter but they just did not engage in conversation.
This is the way Ireland is now for a tourist,spot the Irish in a shop.

23-09-2011 8:09am

I didn't say Irish people are lazy far from, there were Latvian living next door to me in my last house, they were a couple and their teenage son and her parents,

Thats 4 Adults and one child in a 3 bed house all the adults worked and they also minded another child for other Latvian friends, because they lived like that they could take poorly paid jobs with out full hours, that what I am saying.

Nodin · 23-09-2011 8:10am

beagle001 wrote: »

Off topic slightly but I was recently oversees where I was speaking to a well
Traveled New Yorker.
He said he was recently in Dublin for the first time and loved the city but could not find an Irish person working in the hotel or pubs and shops near by he said it was full of Polish and this was a negative to him as he wanted the Irish banter but they just did not engage in conversation.
This is the way Ireland is now for a tourist,spot the Irish in a shop.

..."Wheres Paddy? Finding the Irishman - A tourists guide"

cosmicfart · 23-09-2011 8:11am

beagle001 wrote: »

Off topic slightly but I was recently oversees where I was speaking to a well
Traveled New Yorker.
He said he was recently in Dublin for the first time and loved the city but could not find an Irish person working in the hotel or pubs and shops near by he said it was full of Polish and this was a negative to him as he wanted the Irish banter but they just did not engage in conversation.
This is the way Ireland is now for a tourist,spot the Irish in a shop.

he would probably find more of what he is looking for if he stayed at home!!!!

beagle001 · 23-09-2011 8:12am

Their plastic paddies over there.

squod · 23-09-2011 8:18am

beagle001 wrote: »

Off topic slightly but I was recently oversees where I was speaking to a well
Traveled New Yorker.
He said he was recently in Dublin for the first time and loved the city but could not find an Irish person working in the hotel or pubs and shops near by he said it was full of Polish and this was a negative to him as he wanted the Irish banter but they just did not engage in conversation.
This is the way Ireland is now for a tourist,spot the Irish in a shop.

I generally prefer shopping in places where the majority are Irish. Been in many places where staff have received basic sales training. Takes very little time, costs feck all and is generally a massive gain for the owners business.

cosmicfart wrote: »

yea i agree but when im shopping I like to see a smiling face on the other side of the counter not sum 'TUTTING little i dont want to be here bitch' usually Irish, unfortunately true.

One of those things. Having worked retail meself for three years I realise these people are under pressure. Some retail jobs are target driven. Could be the cause of the attitude you're getting.

The Scientician · 23-09-2011 8:19am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWNho8g0lsU

smash · 23-09-2011 8:21am

Irish people on the dole think they're above working in somewhere like this. And sure the dole is probably only €10 a week less and they get to sit on their ass.

veryangryman · 23-09-2011 8:32am

smash wrote: »

Irish people on the dole think they're above working in somewhere like this. And sure the dole is probably only €10 a week less and they get to sit on their ass.

#1 reason in my opinion. That extra tenner is earned by having to deal with d1ckhead bosses/supervisors in supermarkets. Who in their right mind would work in one.

That said, the dole needs dropping if/when we get out of this mess. Not so much now as the jobs are tough to come by

Toby Take a Bow · 23-09-2011 8:33am

mapaco wrote: »

looking for something in a supermarket
queries with magazine subscription
problems with mobile phone
enquiries about broadband

All enquiries I had regarding broadband (trying to disconnect from Eircom) were handled by Irish people: three of them very nice, one a little strange, and one woman was beyond-rude: questioning everything I said, told me I was being ridiculous and the like. Not sure how she managed to get the job.

beagle001 wrote: »

Now it's a different ball game,we should have a rule where any of these businesses must employ a certain percentage of Irish nationals as they do in other nations.
Tesco are no example to use though as they exploit everywhere they set up.

Surely the company should hire based on the person's experience? Best person for the job and all that. Agree regarding Tesco though.

Lando Griffin · 23-09-2011 8:37am

In our local German owned supermarket they had advertisments for sales assistants and three out of three were non Irish.
This did not surprise me, but I did a bit of research as to why.
I asked one of the new assistants had he worked in Ireland long and he replied that he worked for a major Irish retailer for 6 years and left them to work here. I then posed the question " and are they good to work for" and he replied "excellent, the other place was awful and I hated it, here you work and are appreciated for it and if you work hard enough might get promoted"
And there is your answer, the non Irish have worked the jobs that were undesireable to work in during the bubble, now they have the experience to apply for and get the jobs the Irish want.
When I go to the shop I want to be served as quickly and efficently as possible, not listen to some speel about the weather or how Mickeling up the road crashed his car last night.

smash · 23-09-2011 8:38am

veryangryman wrote: »

#1 reason in my opinion. That extra tenner is earned by having to deal with d1ckhead bosses/supervisors in supermarkets. Who in their right mind would work in one.

Exactly. There are a lot of skilled people unemployed and they don't want to be stocking shelves taking orders from some jumped up little pr!ck who's 2 years out of school and did a 5 week part time FAS management course.

23-09-2011 8:39am

No I don't think Irish people think they are above a job like that, but I do think the way we have set the system up make it hard for Irish people to work at jobs that expects people to work very flexibly as regards to hours and pay a very low wage.

As I said before a lot of Irish people looking for those job in tesco would have been students with no retail experience and maybe that's not what tesco are really looking for.

smash · 23-09-2011 8:42am

mariaalice wrote: »

with no retail experience and maybe that's not what tesco are really looking for.

you're cracking me up... retail experience to work in Tesco. good one.

crotalus667 · 23-09-2011 8:47am

Crazy Horse 6 wrote: »

It's beyond a joke at this stage. My sister in law has sent out CV's to all the major supermarket chains and keeps getting turned down for work whilst they continue to hire eastern europeans. Everyone knows the reason but few are prepered to stand up for the Irish worker.

Most of the eastern european that come here have an exclent work ethic and dont call in sick when hung over, during the boom they would work when ever they where wanted "some (alot) of the irish" where laying down terms in the interview like "i cant work fridays coz i go out with the lads on thursdays" some of the irish still have this atatude

i have worked with a lot of forgiener's they have had to work hard to get here so they work hard when they are here

23-09-2011 8:52am

Look at the attitude that is coming a across here, a supermarket having a preference for someone with retail experience is something to laugh at!!!! ..all the managers in supermarkets are dick head ( maybe true but get over yourself its work a place to go where your earn money for you real life )!!! I would not have a 20 year old manager telling me what to do!!! ( again get over yourself ).

My oldest daughter worked in tesco before she went to college and became a nurse, she loved working there and even ended up working in the head office in Dunlogharie for a while.

Lumbo · 23-09-2011 8:57am

smash wrote: »

you're cracking me up... retail experience to work in Tesco. good one.

OK, I'm interviewing two people for a job.

One is Irish with no experience. One is non national with lots of experience.

Who do I choose?

smash · 23-09-2011 9:02am

mariaalice wrote: »

maybe true but get over yourself its work a place to go where your earn money for you real life )!!! I would not have a 20 year old manager telling me what to do!!! ( again get over yourself ).

For an extra €10 a week I think people don't have to put up with this and "get over themselves" as you put it.

Lumbo wrote: »

OK, I'm interviewing two people for a job.

One is Irish with no experience. One is non national with lots of experience.

Who do I choose?

You choose the one with experience, but the bottom line is that you don't actually need retail experience to work in Tesco. That's why they're trying to leach off the intern scheme.

General General · 23-09-2011 9:07am

Who gives a monkeys where some one is from in the EU?

& as for grasp of service skills... I see no effective difference.

COYW · 23-09-2011 9:20am

Crazy Horse 6 wrote: »

It's beyond a joke at this stage. My sister in law has sent out CV's to all the major supermarket chains and keeps getting turned down for work whilst they continue to hire eastern europeans. Everyone knows the reason but few are prepered to stand up for the Irish worker.

I'll give you a few good reasons, proper reasons :

- The eastern Europeans are far better workers than the Irish.

- During the boom years, the supermarket jobs were above the Irish. If the economy started growing again, the Irish people would be flocking out of the supermarket jobs and the company will have to hire and re-train a whole new roster of staff. They Eastern Europeans are experienced in the area.

- The level of customer service from Irish supermarket staff is appalling. They are more interested in yapping to their co-worker about going to the pub than serving the customer. If you ask an Irish staff member where something is located in the store, you will get an aisle number if you are lucky or a finger point in the general direction. The eastern European worker will bring you to the item location.

- Also, the eastern European will not turn up for work hungover or half-cut, thus spend half the morning in the toilet and the rest of the day stinking of a mix of stale drink and deodorant.

beagle001 · 23-09-2011 9:31am

COYW wrote: »

Crazy Horse 6 wrote: »

It's beyond a joke at this stage. My sister in law has sent out CV's to all the major supermarket chains and keeps getting turned down for work whilst they continue to hire eastern europeans. Everyone knows the reason but few are prepered to stand up for the Irish worker.

I'll give you a few good reasons, proper reasons :

- The eastern Europeans are far better workers than the Irish.

- During the boom years, the supermarket jobs were above the Irish. If the economy started growing again, the Irish people would be flocking out of the supermarket jobs and the company will have to hire and re-train a whole new roster of staff.

- The level of customer service from Irish supermarket staff is appalling. They are more interested in yapping to their co-worker about going to the pub than serving the customer. If you ask an Irish staff member where something is located in the store, you will get an aisle number if you are lucky or a finger point in the general direction. The eastern European worker will bring you to the item location.

- Also, the eastern European will not turn up for work hungover or half-cut and thus spend half the morning in the toilet and stinking of a mix of stale drink and deodorant for the rest of the day.

Wow how do you manage to live here with that attitude.
Talk about a load of bull###t categorising every Irish person into a drunk unhelpful worker and full of praise for every saintly Eastern European who in your opinion are far better than their native counterparts.
Get real were a nation praised for our work ethic,I find the people who post such nonsense like yourself have neither worked for long periods overseas and seen the respect people have for the Irish and also have never been in a senior role to judge a worker on his or her competency as you obviously have no idea of any of the above if you can role out such negative statements towards the Irish workforce.

23-09-2011 9:58am

Like others have said, it's because the EE workers have the experience. They did these jobs during the boom when Irish people thought they were beneath them. I don't think you can disagree with that. Now that the economy has gone to sh*t, I don't think it's very fair for Irish people to waltz in and say 'hey, I want that job'. A lot of the Eastern Europeans have settled here and their kids are Irish born. You can't just throw them out now that their jobs have become more desirable.

23-09-2011 10:10am

I have had an appalling customer services experience from an eastern Europe woman it was a bagel place, she was glaring at customers and said to me ' vot do you vant' in an aggressive way and was almost throwing the food at people.

FlutterinBantam · 23-09-2011 10:13am

squod wrote: »

:mad: Generalisations like this are racist and outrageous.

No they are not, just stating a lot of the truth.

Ask any employer.

Crazy Horse 6 · 23-09-2011 10:19am

mariaalice wrote: »

The problem I suspect is to do with how our social welfare is constructed and maybe a bit to do with childcare.

Tesco are not giving out full-time contracts, they want someone who is flexible enough to work 20 hours one week and 30 the next and to be very flexible about their working hours, the above is not a full-time job and is very hard to combine with any social welfare entitlements or childcare responsibilities.

No they just don't like hiring people who might stand up for their rights. It's really that simple .

23-09-2011 10:34am

So what you are saying is that tesco has a thought out policy that says disregard retail experience, and 24 hour available and only employ eastern Europe people no matter what experiences they have, don't ever employ Irish people because they might stand up for their right.

Is that just in Ireland or is it the same in the UK

I am not standing up for tesco by the way they are a big operation and are there to make money that's all, they like every company want to run their business as cheaply and as profitably as possible.

Who's getting the service jobs?

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