Most depressing Dunnes in Ireland?

zcorpian88

Worked in a Dunnes Stores for 2 years can't say the look of the place was depressing as the place only opened fairly recently. Some of the management I worked under were pretty untrusting. Like standing behind me when im stacking a shelf watching my every move, really grinded my gears! (stacking the shelf isn't rocket science)

One day I unfortunately didn't put my phone on silent, We were in the middle of a stocktake and another manager was standing behind me, he heard my phone. He then says "Turn it off or you will lose it".....like the way a f**kin teacher would say it. Very degrading comment. The guy looked like 5 minutes older than me, Id have floored him if he tried to take my phone, im not the fighting type but that boiled my piss.

Or another day I had to clean a dairy fridge as part of HACCP, I was told id get help from one of my co-workers from a manager as I was to finish work at 6 and they told me to clean the fridge at 5.30. No help showed up and took it up with a manager that I had to be gone at 6 and I had plans for straight after work, had to meet a girl I was seeing at the time, The manager didn't give a ****. Her response was "What do ya want me to do about it, the fridge needs cleaning and you are on hygiene?" If I stayed passed my hours even if its 10 minutes, personnel would be onto me over it, unless if I stayed there for personnel's or the Grocery managers convenience which I done on many occasions if they asked nicely.

Another day I called in my Grandfather died and obviously I couldn't come into work. I called in anyway said that my Grandfather had passed, and the personnel manager said "So your not coming in then?" I don't know if I heard her wrong. The way she said it, was like she wanted me in anyway!, well I said well no I can't come in, I was wanted at home like, wasn't like I was going to be at home with me feet up having a can of Heineken. She said to me then "When can you come back to work?"...there wasn't even a bit of sympathy out of her like no "sorry for your troubles"....its all about the business end with her. I didn't know when id be back in, no arrangements were made so I had to call back, then I couldn't get her on the phone later and had to go to the shop and tell her id wouldn't be back in till the Monday afterwards I think it was. Pretty much shows how management value their staff, there was a few managers I did like in fairness not all of them were bad but that treatment made me lose all respect for the place. Only thing I miss since I left are my old co-workers as we were all in the same daily grind.

Used to hate Christmas too, used to love Christmas until I got the job there. The Christmas music used to drive me insane, it wasn't proper Christmas music like, it was these stupid jingles with no lyrics played on a loop all day, and every Dunnes ive been in outside where I am from plays the same Christmas jingles, ive been in 2 Dunnes Stores in Cork, and one in Waterford. When I was working for Dunnes I used to love heading to the car park to get trolleys at Christmas time especially to escape the awful jingles, plus it got me out of the shop from customers that seem to go mental at Christmas time. Like "Last Minute Husband's" that run into the shop at 4pm on Christmas Eve with a load of bags and he's like "Where's the wrapping paper?" Id be like "You are way too late there isn't a roll in the house...sorry"...then they get pissy and say "What kind a shop is this....blah blah blah" Ya'd nearly say "If I find one ill make sure to shove it up your arse" but I knew there wasn't any after being asked 50 other times during the day. Or the uncourteous customer. One day it was the day before Christmas Eve, I was put on a checkout at the back of the shop I was serving alcohol only for the last of the customers for about 2 hours from 8pm to 10pm, served non stop for those 2 hours. Next thing I was just finished it was bang on 10pm, at this time it recently became against the law to serve after 10pm, the system itself cannot put through alcohol after 10pm, this woman came up with a bottle of bacardi just as I was signing off, told her I couldn't put it through and the computer itself won't allow it, its against the law and id get sacked if I did it and if the right person found out I served alcohol after hours the store would be fined. The customer didn't give a **** of course and I got a mouthful of abuse of her. Sometimes you just can't win with customers, whoever invented that saying "The customer is always right" saying is an idiot, sometimes they are wrong, we just have to act that they are right to keep them happy. They are semi right up until the law is broken.

zcorpian88

zcorpian88 wrote: »

One day I unfortunately didn't put my phone on silent, We were in the middle of a stocktake and another manager was standing behind me, he heard my phone. He then says "Turn it off or you will lose it".....like the way a f**kin teacher would say it. Very degrading comment. The guy looked like 5 minutes older than me, Id have floored him if he tried to take my phone, im not the fighting type but that boiled my piss.

Had something similar happen, was doing the stock check after hours and was waiting on an important call from the US. Had asked one of the trainee managers who was working with us if it was okay if I kept the phone on during it. Explained why and he told me that it wasn't a problem and when the call came to go out the back for some privacy if needs be. Anyways, the call came in and my phone rang. One of the other managers came flying up the aisle as I reached into my pocket for my phone and started screaming at me. Told me that I was to hand over the phone and that I would never see it again. I told him that I had permission from a manager to have my phone on and if that wasn't good enough for him, he was more than welcome to try and take the phone off of me. He leaned in and told me to hand it over, I told him that this wasn't secondary school and that he couldck right off. I was so sick of the place at that stage that being fired would have been a blessing. During all this people were looking on in disgust and I'm fairly certain that I'd have been decked one of the manager who I'd asked hadn't came running over and took my side.

In the pub after a few of us were out for pints and I was drinking shots with the manager I liked when the other one walked in. He spent the night sat alone at a table giving the rest of us dirty looks.

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Another day I called in my Grandfather died and obviously I couldn't come into work. I called in anyway said that my Grandfather had passed, and the personnel manager said "So your not coming in then?" I don't know if I heard her wrong. The way she said it, was like she wanted me in anyway!, well I said well no I can't come in, I was wanted at home like, wasn't like I was going to be at home with me feet up having a can of Heineken. She said to me then "When can you come back to work?"...there wasn't even a bit of sympathy out of her like no "sorry for your troubles"....its all about the business end with her. I didn't know when id be back in, no arrangements were made so I had to call back, then I couldn't get her on the phone later and had to go to the shop and tell her id wouldn't be back in till the Monday afterwards I think it was. Pretty much shows how management value their staff, there was a few managers I did like in fairness not all of them were bad but that treatment made me lose all respect for the place. Only thing I miss since I left are my old co-workers as we were all in the same daily grind.

When a family friend died I asked could I get a few days off and was told that they really couldn't spare me. I said that I wouldn't ask if it wasn't someone I cared about and wanted to pay my respects to. One of the people I spoke to actually said "it's not as if they will miss you". In the end they let me start 2 hours later on the day of the funeral. Second time I had to attend a funeral I didn't mention a thing to them and just rang up and told them that I had food poisoning. Figured that it wasn't worth the hassle telling the truth.

zcorpian88

Deleted User wrote: »

Had something similar happen, was doing the stock check after hours and was waiting on an important call from the US. Had asked one of the trainee managers who was working with us if it was okay if I kept the phone on during it. Explained why and he told me that it wasn't a problem and when the call came to go out the back for some privacy if needs be. Anyways, the call came in and my phone rang. One of the other managers came flying up the aisle as I reached into my pocket for my phone and started screaming at me. Told me that I was to hand over the phone and that I would never see it again. I told him that I had permission from a manager to have my phone on and if that wasn't good enough for him, he was more than welcome to try and take the phone off of me. He leaned in and told me to hand it over, I told him that this wasn't secondary school and that he couldck right off. I was so sick of the place at that stage that being fired would have been a blessing. During all this people were looking on in disgust and I'm fairly certain that I'd have been decked one of the manager who I'd asked hadn't came running over and took my side.

In the pub after a few of us were out for pints and I was drinking shots with the manager I liked when the other one walked in. He spent the night sat alone at a table giving the rest of us dirty looks.



When a family friend died I asked could I get a few days off and was told that they really couldn't spare me. I said that I wouldn't ask if it wasn't someone I cared about and wanted to pay my respects to. One of the people I spoke to actually said "it's not as if they will miss you". In the end they let me start 2 hours later on the day of the funeral. Second time I had to attend a funeral I didn't mention a thing to them and just rang up and told them that I had food poisoning. Figured that it wasn't worth the hassle telling the truth.

Bet ya it was pleasing seeing the "phone hater" on his own while ye were having the craic. Im guessing the US phonecall was a job offer then? Spent a few months last year trying to land a bar job over there, had interviews and all, heard nothing back though even though they said I would even if it was a decline. I think next time I call in if its death in the family I will lie, especially if I am working for a chain company like Dunnes, where its all business and no sympathy for the employees that are keeping the place going, while they sit on their hole in an office upstairs. They haven't any right to take a phone off staff also, its your personal property, If they have an issue they should just say "turn it off" I just left it on silent all the time, I hardly ever took phone calls or txt people, maybe a sneaky txt when nobody was around and I wasn't busy, Does no harm like. Fairplay for telling your manager off, I wanted to do that with mine, but I managed to hold my tongue

zcorpian88

zcorpian88 wrote: »

Bet ya it was pleasing seeing the "phone hater" on his own while ye were having the craic. Im guessing the US phonecall was a job offer then? Spent a few months last year trying to land a bar job over there, had interviews and all, heard nothing back though even though they said I would even if it was a decline. I think next time I call in if its death in the family I will lie, especially if I am working for a chain company like Dunnes, where its all business and no sympathy for the employees that are keeping the place going, while they sit on their hole in an office upstairs. They haven't any right to take a phone off staff also, its your personal property, If they have an issue they should just say "turn it off" I just left it on silent all the time, I hardly ever took phone calls or txt people, maybe a sneaky txt when nobody was around and I wasn't busy, Does no harm like. Fairplay for telling your manager off, I wanted to do that with mine, but I managed to hold my tongue

It was about some stuff I had written and sent off, they had emailed me to say expect a call at such a time and there was no way I was missing it. Call lead to good things and I have to say that even though atm I'm not working it would take a lot to ever get me back to Dunnes. It's a truly horrible place to work and management are amongst the most useless people you will ever come across. I don't there there is any other chair store that has such a poor reputation for the manner in which it treats employees, it's as if management in each individual store go out of their way to treat staff like crap.

donkey balls

There was a few rumours doing the rounds years ago about a certain manager getting decked by a delivery driver just the way he treated his own staff and other people trying to do a delivery.
We use to all say that to be a manager in Dunnes working taking in the stock one of the questions asked at the interveiw would have to be,Are you a complete utter pr**k who treats both the staff and people trying to deliver your produce like crap if the answer was yes you got the job.:D

donkey balls

donkey balls wrote: »

There was a few rumours doing the rounds years ago about a certain manager getting decked by a delivery driver just the way he treated his own staff and other people trying to do a delivery.
We use to all say that to be a manager in Dunnes working taking in the stock one of the questions asked at the interveiw would have to be,Are you a complete utter pr**k who treats both the staff and people trying to deliver your produce like crap if the answer was yes you got the job.:D

There were three trainee managers there when I was working and only one of them still works for Dunnes. One of them left at the first opportunity and went to Aldi or Lidl and told me over pints a few weeks back that it was the best decision he ever made. The other left before my contract was up but I know that she hated the place with a passion, she was reduced to tears by the upper management on a number of occasions and repeatedly told me to take the first job I got offered. All three could not have been nicer and repeatedly went to bat for us when the senior managers would pick on us. Compare it to Tesco where anyone I know who has worked there praises the management. One friend of mine has nothing but good things to say about the place, when one of his relatives died he still came into work as when he was in Dunnes they wouldn't give him the days before the funeral off. When his manager in Tesco saw him, he sent him straight home telling him that "his family needed him more than Tesco did". A number of the managers came to the wake and the funeral to offer their condolences. As he said to me, "dunnes gave him the afternoon off and the senior cunts didn't so much as offer their condolences when he went to them for the time off while the those in the same position in Tesco could not have done more for him."

Icepick

Deleted User wrote: »

Working there was hell. You were treated like crap and managers would take any opportunity to berate you.

The difference is, they are Irish.

poppyvally

[QUote.

The question is - which is the most depressing Dunnes Stores in Ireland? Which is the .[/QUOTE]

I was just talking about this today after my weekly shop in tesco's. Now I dont go to D/S every week but they are definitely better to shop than tesco's D/S is full of foreigners at the checkouts & they do a good job. When I go to T'co I meet the same old faces that I've been dealing with for years at the checkout. They'll chat away to you no matter how busy it is, so i alternate my shopping, between D/S & T'co & of course my daily trips to my local Centra

Craig Dowling

and yet no one has mentioned blanchardstown
horrible place with psychotic managers running it
unfortunately i still work there and have been close to nervous breakdowns in there sometimes

Corruptedmorals

Could definitely do with a revamp- it's just as busy as Liffey Valley and has a grocery too, so it's strange that it hasn't been. Much grimmer than that around though. One of my old managers was sent there as no.2..a real slavedriver, but a decent person.

Fishrman

Was in merchants quay upstairs. Half it is boarded off at the back. Grim. Bleak. Quiet. Y front displays. I think the clocks tick backwards.

jill_valentine

Just wanted to say, everything everyone said about the Crumlin one was true. Dear God.

amdublin

Pherekydes wrote: »

The one in the Swan centre is a dump. And the one in Clondalkin.

Ah the good old swannie. A dead mall if I ever saw one.

amdublin

Craig Dowling wrote: »

and yet no one has mentioned blanchardstown
horrible place with psychotic managers running it
unfortunately i still work there and have been close to nervous breakdowns in there sometimes

I was there this morning. Bought some nice little bits in Carolyn Donnelly and then food shopping for lunch and dinner today.
It's absolutely fine imo.

Sorry you don't like working there though

pajor

Fishrman wrote: »

Was in merchants quay upstairs. Half it is boarded off at the back. Grim. Bleak. Quiet. Y front displays. I think the clocks tick backwards.

More than two years later this is still the case. Seems like it gets smaller every time I'm in it.

EyeSight

Georges street, Dublin City. It's small, dark and during heavy rain there are loads of leaks in the place(I say this as a customer who was shopping there on a rainy day).
You can tell the managers are assholes so staff have low morale. Also cause of the location they get some interesting junkies coming in so there's usually drama

That's why i preferred Stephens green dunnes

Special shout out to the Merchants quay Dunnes in Cork. Don't know how that's still open

Archeron

Archeron wrote: »

And there was always a mum with kids struggling to get a pushchair, three kids and 200 bags of shopping up that ominous seventy step staircase. I earned a lifetime of karma points helping people get their stuff up that.

Did you cash them in yet? :pac:

Im shocked that Dunnes are still such a market leader. Just never seems to be busy when you go into them. The one on Kieran St/Market yard in Kilkenny to be fair has a bit of activity about it but ive never seen the Davis Road-Clonmel one to be hectic (although it could be the times i am in there with proximity to town centre also being a factor).

I notice also that you'd rarely if ever see/hear an advertisement from Dunnes anymore. Compare to its competitors like Tesco, Musgrave and the German discounters, its poorly promoted.

suicide_circus

I avoid dunnes where possible. Their legendary mistreatment of staff is off putting to say the least.

I firmly believe that anyone who treats their staff like dunnes managers do is lacking something in their own lives and are to be pitied

Dermighty

Dermighty wrote: »

The Dunnes that used to be on the main street in Mallow. A long narrow cave, in which the drapery section was between the front door and the checkouts. It really was all the series of Lost in a shop :P

Oh Jesus, that place. It didn't even feel like a real Dunnes, more like a holding facility for products and staff that were rejected by nicer Dunnes.

suicide_circus

suicide_circus wrote: »

I avoid dunnes where possible. Their legendary mistreatment of staff is off putting to say the least.

I firmly believe that anyone who treats their staff like dunnes managers do is lacking something in their own lives and are to be pitied

Its smacks to me like HR is fairly non existant and that the organisation as a whole just haven't moved with the times. They badly need an organisational shake up. There is a framework in place to deal with what they are doing to staff and sooner or later the chickens will come home to roost

playedalive

For me, the most depressing Dunnes is a toss-up between Rathmines, Stephen's Green, Clondalkin and Nutgrove. Though, two of me were the ones I worked in. :pac:

Though the main reason why it is such a depressing place is they don't treat their staff well, constantly take on new people and cutting hours to pull tricks in Employment law. Travelling into work for three hour shifts are terrible. After 3 months, or if you're lucky a year, you'll have the pleasure of training in your replacement (if you're non permanent) :rolleyes:. As a result, there is a low morale. Then, the store managers enjoy their power trips and shout at you in front of customers, Also the artificial lighting doesn't help, terribly old shelving units , dust.

Deleted User wrote: »

The one in Ballina was perhaps the most depressing place on earth. I think it was actually at one time called the dirtiest Dunnes stores in Ireland. They gave it a bit if a face lift a few years back but it remains a pretty grim place. I worked there years back and at Christmas was told I was on hygiene duty which is just a fancy name for sweeping up. I'll never forget the first day when I looked under the shelves and saw a good decades worth of crap that has been swept under. There was 3 inches of dust, mouldy food and other treasures to be found.

Yeah I was put a few times on hygiene duty by the store manager, when duty cleaners were not rostered. He made me sweep the whole 2 floors of Dunnes and belittled me for taking so long. They always get the non permanent to do it as they think they have the upper hand. P*ick.

Simonigs1.0

Dunnes Stores in Coolock. The place seems so cramped, I can even touch the ceiling in places.

And the staff are ignorant ****s.

FloatingVoter

EyeSight wrote: »

Georges street, Dublin City. It's small, dark and during heavy rain there are loads of leaks in the place(I say this as a customer who was shopping there on a rainy day).
You can tell the managers are assholes so staff have low morale. Also cause of the location they get some interesting junkies coming in so there's usually drama

They've gotten rid of most of the staff now. Replaced with self-service tills. Its only redeeming feature is its dead handy for shoplifting. In one door and out the other. Buggers deserve it.

fleet_admiral

The one in the swan is depressing

Thargor

Do you ever notice all the random brown tape in Dunnes Stores? Tape in random lines on the dirty floor, old tape on the tills, ancient flaking tape holding the credit card machine in place, holes punched in the wall covered up with strips of brown tape and damaged mannequins in the clothing department taped back together, its completely baffling the way you see it in every single Dunnes even the new ones, is there absolutely zero budget for repairs or maintenance or something? No other shop does this...

Muahahaha

The Dunnes in Crumlin shopping center is pretty depressing, made even more so by the fact that they're they only remaining shop that is still trading in the entire centre. What makes it worse is that it isnt one single shop, there are three separate units, each of them surrounded by closed and shuttered up shops.

I get what people saying about the Dunnes management and they do indeed seem to be arseholes. But on the other hand most of the staff in the Dunnes I use are pretty ignorant, when paying for your goods its not uncommon for the server never to even acknowledge you and often they are in a full scale conversation with one of their colleagues whilst they are serving you. Its only really common with the younger members of staff where I shop but I find it highly ignorant that I'm spending money in their shop and they cant even give a polite hello or refrain from completely ignoring you when they're serving you.

Down at my local Eurospar there was a Polish girl who worked there. Wouldnt give you the time of day, no thank you, nothing, then she would put your change down on the counter as if to suggest your hands are too dirty to place it there. Then a while back she changed job to go work in Aldi up the road, she served me in her first week and was as rude as ever. Couple weeks later ahe serves me again though this time she is full of smiles, how are you, please, thank you, just basic customer service skills. Obviously the management in Aldi had taken her to one side and warned her if the sourpuss routine continues she may take a walk. That was six months ago and now anytime I see her at work in Aldi she always looks like she genuinely enjoys working there. Just goes to show the difference a bit of good management makes.

FloatingVoter

Muahahaha wrote: »

The Dunnes in Crumlin shopping center is pretty depressing, made even more so by the fact that they're they only remaining shop that is still trading in the entire centre. What makes it worse is that it isnt one single shop, there are three separate units, each of them surrounded by closed and shuttered up shops.

Has the Tesco closed ?

evolving_doors

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Has the Tesco closed ?

Legend has it Tescos own the whole centre but Dunnes won;t move out because when they do the whole centre will be an UberTescos of almighty proportions. That's the word on the street anyhow.

FloatingVoter

Armelodie wrote: »

Legend has it Tescos own the whole centre but Dunnes won;t move out because when they do the whole centre will be an UberTescos of almighty proportions. That's the word on the street anyhow.

Tescos is the flagship store - I'd be surprised if they left.. Once Tescos is still there - only reason I bother going up there. It is a depressing fleapit of a place.

Turtyturd

Company I worked for in a former life had a contract with Dunnes which meant a lot of travelling to various ones all over the country.

Worst ones off the top of my head were Bray, Enniscorthy, Dundalk, Kilnamanagh.