Working at Wetherspoons?

Former Member

Hey,

I'm starting working at wetherspoons tomorrow whilst I wait for a training date for another job I'm going for. Now the pay is reasonable for what it is (£5.80, I was expecting minimum wage) and It's good experience to throw on a CV - but I'm starting to get a bit concerned about a few things I've read on the internet, that it's somehow a really bad company to work for and the working conditions are terrible.

I'm not going to lie to you, I need the money and I need to get working again. It's been hard enough to get a job anywhere at the min and I've been trying for months finally to get this break. As I said, the money isn't terrible for bar staff, especially since I have no prior experience in that field.

So what I'm asking is, has anyone worked for wetherspoons before? Do they give you plenty of hours? Whats with all the bad comments I've read regarding them as an employer?

Former Member

I wouldnt worry too much, ive had several friends work for Wetherspoons and none of them ever complained about it!
Working conditions will of course be dependant on which branch you are at but as it is quite a large company now i would imagine quite a high standard throughout.
But like you say anyway, you need the money, so im sure you will find everything out in due course

Former Member

Yeah try not to worry about what you read on the internet... people are far more likely to write stuff down and complain if they have bad feelings towards the company rather than good feelings.... giving an unbalanced view. Good luck and see how it goes in time =]

Former Member

I worked at a Wetherspoons for a while when I was on my gap year saving money to go travelling. I hated it to be honest.

Like someone has said before, it really depends on what branch you are at, and who else works there.

The pay is reasonable per hour (for bar work), but you end up working way over those hours. I'd work from 3pm til finish say (which would mean I get paid til midnight), but we'd still be clearing up until at least 2am. The employees there were a bit of a clique (they'd been there for years and they didn't really welcome me as they knew it was only a job for me, not a career)

As for the customers, it's depressing! Wetherspoons is well known for housing alcoholics during the day, and there's something about old men queueing up at the door in the morning then having to serve them a double whiskey just to help their morning shakes that you can't help feeling guilty about. Working fri/sat nights is manic as you can imagine, and don't even get me started on the uniform!

I love bar work, don't get me wrong, but I would definitely recommend looking at independent bars, somewhere where you can enjoy your work, engage with customers more, and hopefully learn more about drinks and bartending.

Oh, and it will put you off eating there for life!

Former Member

I've just re-read your post and realised that you must have already started there.
Hope it goes well - hopefully they're more friendly in Liverpool!

If you want to continue in barwork then its a good place to get basic experience. But if I were you I'd do it for a few months or so and have a look around at other bars.

Former Member

1337 posts, nice.

Former Member

Well spotted Shyboy :-)

Former Member

i've worked at wetherspoons for well over a year and tbh it's not that bad. i work at an airport pub and my standard hours are 4am-12noon (argh) which is actually a reduced shift because most people i work with work for ten hour shifts. i don't think it's any worse than any other company and for a pub company it's actually better than many. the 'on the job' training is a bit shite and consists of about 15 workbooks which take the piss but they are good training.

generally the career progression opportunities are pretty good, because most of the management are hired from within so if you work there for a long time you are pretty much guaranteed a promotion unless you are shite. they are good at accommodating students as well in that they are really good at finding people transfer pubs to work at if they go to uni away from home. they should have given you an employee handbook which is good for reading your rights as an employee. on top of your pay if your pub performs well you get a monthly bonus which depends on takings, stock and mystery shoppers (which are one of the worst things about working at spoons) and after 18 months(?) service you get freeshares in the company.

having said that, some of the things they make you do are just stupid (eg. 100 club) but it's good if you know nothing about bar work because they train you from scratch and there's actually quite a limited stock. there's no extra pay for bank holidays and you have to encourage sensible drinking, whilst at the same time upselling extra shots for £1.50 more.

i totally agree with pink soda about the food and you've probably made that decision yourself already, lol. hope you're getting on ok though, it's not all bad, just tiring and as with any customer service jobs, makes you lose all faith in humanity