Is Primark the best/cheapest shop to ever hit the high street?

Super Vedder

reeferchief wrote:

if the items are being manufactured by people earning peanuts for making them and then sold for peanuts at least that would make their wages more inline.

good point, that certainly would seem fairer.

surfanddestroy

I buy most of my clothes online as I cant stand going out shopping and having to deal with the general public. people piss me off far to much.

reeferchief

Jennytree wrote:

I love it, its great for getting awesome cheap clothes - and even better for accessories.

Penneys (the irish equivilant of Primark) has made me hate customers (mostly D4 women) forever though. I've never had such hatred as I did when I worked in that place. I've never been treated so badly. People think that because you work in a shop that sells cheap clothing that you have no brain, yer thick, and deserve to be shouted at whenever there was something wrong. I would spend 4 or 5 hours folding tshirts, and some bint would come along at 5mins to closing and wreck the whole thing - take out the tshirt at the bottom of the pile, take a look at it and fuck it back at ye. total cunts. There was the odd really nice lady who would make an effort to talk to ye, would make a nice comment about my pink hair and piercings etc...

And it was always women. I got moved to the mens department, and it was awesome. The lads made an effort to hang things back on the right hanger, apologise when they couldn't work the clips on the hanger, and even said thank you!

/rant (you should have heard me rant at customers when I worked on the Service Desk doing returns )

Service desk, ooh what a fun job that used to be, that would definately be a box of chocolates by Forrests definitions.:)
I was also a supervisor as well as ran the mens department, and yes you get the same arseholes in the English stores, with the well everythings so cheap we can treat the store, the stock and the staff like shit attitude.

harmless_little_f***

Super Vedder wrote:

i understand your point completely, don't get me wrong i like to buy fair trade food stuffs as it feels good thinking your helping out a bit. BUT they are so much more expensive than unfair trade i can't see it ever taking a great share in the market, sadly.

Absolutely true. I wish fairtrade was more affordable myself.

Jennytree

Super Vedder wrote:

what's a D4 woman?

Ah, sorry - I got lost in my Irishness there!! Ah D4 woman would be typically described by a few key words - fake tan, daughters with Ugg boots, husbands credit card, posh accent, landrover in the city, stick up their holes and think we owe them something, therefore should pick up all the shit they throw on the ground and apologise for not picking it up sooner...

harmless_little_f***

reeferchief wrote:

if the items are being manufactured by people earning peanuts for making them and then sold for peanuts at least that would make their wages more inline.

Yes but I'd prefer their wages to reflect the quality of their workmanship and skill. High wages for high levels of skill and crafsmanship. What you're talking about is the lesser of two evils. It's a better wage relative to the price you're selling it at, yes, but still not a fair one, even in the context of the poor economy in which it's made.

Super Vedder

harmless_little_f*** wrote:

Absolutely true. I wish fairtrade was more affordable myself.

it ends up being a bit of a catch 22 situation doesn't it? Help others out and end up down in your own pocket OR try and ignore your conscience and buy whatever is cheapest regardless of how people are being treated! And i suppose there is the middle ground like you/i are trying to adopt. Here's to a fairer trading world!! We can only live in hope

Super Vedder

Jennytree wrote:

Ah, sorry - I got lost in my Irishness there!! Ah D4 woman would be typically described by a few key words - fake tan, daughters with Ugg boots, husbands credit card, posh accent, landrover in the city, stick up their holes and think we owe them something, therefore should pick up all the shit they throw on the ground and apologise for not picking it up sooner...

hee hee i get ya now, mmmm sweet sweet fake tan and ugg boot combo's :)eurgh they make me sick those bitches! but how did that get turned into D4??? Suppose i will never truly know

Jennytree

reeferchief wrote:

Service desk, ooh what a fun job that used to be, that would definately be a box of chocolates by Forrests definitions.:)
I was also a supervisor as well as ran the mens department, and yes you get the same arseholes in the English stores, with the well everythings so cheap we can treat the store, the stock and the staff like shit attitude.

Ah thank god someone got my rant! And believe it or not, I didn't mind working there. Most people were fine, and they treated the staff alright. The managers got totally overworked though. I spent over two and a half years there, it got me through college. But the mentality of some people just amazed me. The worst was when I had to escalate an issue to one of my managers. He got such abuse because he was Polish and "stealing all our jobs"... ORLY stay-at-home mother?! And they would argue and argue because I would refuse to refund a €3 tshirt that they had put a fake tan stain on.

harmless_little_f***

Super Vedder wrote:

it ends up being a bit of a catch 22 situation doesn't it? Help others out and end up down in your own pocket OR try and ignore your conscience and buy whatever is cheapest regardless of how people are being treated! And i suppose there is the middle ground like you/i are trying to adopt. Here's to a fairer trading world!! We can only live in hope

People turn their faces up at me but the way I see it, it's better to do something than nothing. Imagine how it would affect economies if absolutely everyone bought even two kinds of product fairtrade regularly. It's not an unrealistic aim. At least it would be a statement against exploitative corporations, maybe even enough to make them rethink how they're doing business. It's starting to happen.

reeferchief

Super Vedder wrote:

hee hee i get ya now, mmmm sweet sweet fake tan and ugg boot combo's :)eurgh they make me sick those bitches! but how did that get turned into D4??? Suppose i will never truly know

Diva wannabes devoid of the bigger picture?

Super Vedder

Jennytree wrote:

Ah thank god someone got my rant! And believe it or not, I didn't mind working there. Most people were fine, and they treated the staff alright. The managers got totally overworked though. I spent over two and a half years there, it got me through college. But the mentality of some people just amazed me. The worst was when I had to escalate an issue to one of my managers. He got such abuse because he was Polish and "stealing all our jobs"... ORLY stay-at-home mother?! And they would argue and argue because I would refuse to refund a €3 tshirt that they had put a fake tan stain on.

what's ORLY mean

it's like having an irish lingo lesson in work this is??

reeferchief

Jennytree wrote:

Ah thank god someone got my rant! And believe it or not, I didn't mind working there. Most people were fine, and they treated the staff alright. The managers got totally overworked though. I spent over two and a half years there, it got me through college. But the mentality of some people just amazed me. The worst was when I had to escalate an issue to one of my managers. He got such abuse because he was Polish and "stealing all our jobs"... ORLY stay-at-home mother?! And they would argue and argue because I would refuse to refund a €3 tshirt that they had put a fake tan stain on.

Yeah I quite enjoyed my stint save for all the said arseholes, met a lot of nice people working there, another thing I did was started working on the new store openings around the country, which in turn led to my next job as a contract merchandiser.:)

reeferchief

Super Vedder wrote:

what's ORLY mean

it's like having an irish lingo lesson in work this is??

Oh Really?

Super Vedder

reeferchief wrote:

Oh Really?

ORLY? Thanks for helping out

Jennytree

Super Vedder wrote:

what's ORLY mean

it's like having an irish lingo lesson in work this is??

haha... RLY! Any thing else you don't understand... gimme a shout! hehe

Jeremy1012

Jennytree wrote:

Ah thank god someone got my rant! And believe it or not, I didn't mind working there. Most people were fine, and they treated the staff alright. The managers got totally overworked though. I spent over two and a half years there, it got me through college. But the mentality of some people just amazed me. The worst was when I had to escalate an issue to one of my managers. He got such abuse because he was Polish and "stealing all our jobs"... ORLY stay-at-home mother?! And they would argue and argue because I would refuse to refund a €3 tshirt that they had put a fake tan stain on.

That stuff that people spout about polish people drives me crazy. Hey Mrs Stay-at-home mother, if they're so uneducated and less-qualified then maybe ask yourself why some uneducated immigrant got a fucking job over your sorry ass, a job you probably didn't get off your ass to even look for in the first place you lazy racist prick!

and there's my rant over too

Heineken Helen

harmless_little_f*** wrote:

Indeed... but the point is, it's the principal of the thing. People deserve to get paid for what they produce.. which they don't, but the sales are just a second blow, a laugh in their faces. In my own personal opinion. It's an issue of principal, and this is only mine.

BUT... if companies like TK Maxx didn't exist... who the hell would sell the seconds and last seasons rejects? If they don't get sold the company makes a loss and is likely to take it out on the workers... so see shopping at TK maxx and places like that as doing a good deed

reeferchief

http://www.primark.co.uk/suppliers.shtml

Heineken Helen

Super Vedder wrote:

hee hee i get ya now, mmmm sweet sweet fake tan and ugg boot combo's :)eurgh they make me sick those bitches! but how did that get turned into D4??? Suppose i will never truly know

D4 is a postcode... Dublin 4! Where all those people live

Fucking pains in the arse the entire lot of them... I can't stand them. I live in a similar area and the shite I have to listen to on the bus from all the 15 year old rosanna davidson wannabees completely plastered in make up with all their fancy ipods and expensive phones and designer shit. URGH!