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Weekend Work/Xmas Work:Problems With Manager!!
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Work & Study
Hello there,
I've got a bit of a dillemma to put it bluntly. Its going to be pretty long this one, so grab a cuppa and take a seat.... :rolleyes:
Im 18 years old, and study at 6th form full-time during the week. On a weekend, i work friday,saturday and sunday nights as a DJ. The breakdown of this is as follows:
Friday: I work for a DJ/Disco Agency, and this company pays me to go to any pub that they chose for me to go to on a friday night, hours range, but basic pay is about £50 for 3 hours work. The agency work is all above board i believe and i recieve monthly pay cheques into my bank and i am sent monthly invoices for my salary.
Saturday: Work for a pub from 9 til 12pm, work is paid cash in hand (on the sly) hours are straight forward, dont change and pay is again £50 for the 3 hours.
Sunday: Same as Saturday but only 2 hours 9 til 11pm, pay being £40 for this night.
I have worked as a DJ for over 2 years, and have worked for a number of pubs and clubs, mostly getting paid cash in hand over through the books.
Now you know the basic background, here is my dillemma:
My boss of the pub (not agency) is wanting me to quit the agency and work for him on friday night. The agency currently do the friday night at his pub and he is obviously having to pay them more, than he would have to pay me. Now he hasnt offered me a wage increase for me doing this, so if i am to do it, although i dont lose anything, i still dont gain anything.
Furthermore to this, the same pub are telling me that i am working on christmas eve, new years eve and now ive just been told tonight boxing day too (this was only told to me as i had said that i had made plans for the night, they possibly wouldnt have told me until next week if i hadnt said!!) for the same wage (£50 each), and so not getting paid double or even just a slight increase! With the work going on until 12pm this leaves me with nothing or nowhere to go afterwards as all of the clubs will be full at this time.
Basically im not very happy at the following:
Only just being informed of dates that i am working (i.e. short notice)
Not being offered a pay increase for the nights i have now been told im working (even though other workers at the pub such as bar staff and bouncers are getting paid double).
Not getting any appreciation for the fact that i turned down work from other agencies and pubs for new years eve and xmas eve, even though i was offered upto 5 times more than what they were offering for only upto an extra 3 hours more)
Not being allowed one night off over the xmas period where i can go out and enjoy myself, apart from the ones where nowhere open like new years day and xmas day....
Now i have tryed speaking to my boss and i havnt recieved any really positive answers, for example when i said about me being offered other work he just said that i work for them, and when i asked about being paid more, he said (in a kind of sarcastic/joking way) that i get paid too much as it is.
Now i know im young and people are going to think i shouldnt be greedy, but being a dj is a proffesional job and a dam hard one to be good at, and i particularlly think that (although this will sound big headed, i assure you im not trying to be!), my skills are worth more than what he is trying to pay me.
Has anyone any ideas of what i could do? I have thought of writing down a list of bullet points of what to say, and then ringing him up, meeting him somewhere other than the pub and having it out with him....... but then again is this wise?
Basically i should have the upper hand here, as if i quit and leave, he cant do a thing as he hasnt got a replacement dj (thats why i rarely get a night off) and so he would be stuck, also i am not going throught the books so he cant get me done in a legal sense, therefore he should really be bending over backwards to please me i would have thought....
Any views on this? Also any questions or further detail required just ask!
Cheers
Adam :wave:
I've got a bit of a dillemma to put it bluntly. Its going to be pretty long this one, so grab a cuppa and take a seat.... :rolleyes:
Im 18 years old, and study at 6th form full-time during the week. On a weekend, i work friday,saturday and sunday nights as a DJ. The breakdown of this is as follows:
Friday: I work for a DJ/Disco Agency, and this company pays me to go to any pub that they chose for me to go to on a friday night, hours range, but basic pay is about £50 for 3 hours work. The agency work is all above board i believe and i recieve monthly pay cheques into my bank and i am sent monthly invoices for my salary.
Saturday: Work for a pub from 9 til 12pm, work is paid cash in hand (on the sly) hours are straight forward, dont change and pay is again £50 for the 3 hours.
Sunday: Same as Saturday but only 2 hours 9 til 11pm, pay being £40 for this night.
I have worked as a DJ for over 2 years, and have worked for a number of pubs and clubs, mostly getting paid cash in hand over through the books.
Now you know the basic background, here is my dillemma:
My boss of the pub (not agency) is wanting me to quit the agency and work for him on friday night. The agency currently do the friday night at his pub and he is obviously having to pay them more, than he would have to pay me. Now he hasnt offered me a wage increase for me doing this, so if i am to do it, although i dont lose anything, i still dont gain anything.
Furthermore to this, the same pub are telling me that i am working on christmas eve, new years eve and now ive just been told tonight boxing day too (this was only told to me as i had said that i had made plans for the night, they possibly wouldnt have told me until next week if i hadnt said!!) for the same wage (£50 each), and so not getting paid double or even just a slight increase! With the work going on until 12pm this leaves me with nothing or nowhere to go afterwards as all of the clubs will be full at this time.
Basically im not very happy at the following:
Only just being informed of dates that i am working (i.e. short notice)
Not being offered a pay increase for the nights i have now been told im working (even though other workers at the pub such as bar staff and bouncers are getting paid double).
Not getting any appreciation for the fact that i turned down work from other agencies and pubs for new years eve and xmas eve, even though i was offered upto 5 times more than what they were offering for only upto an extra 3 hours more)
Not being allowed one night off over the xmas period where i can go out and enjoy myself, apart from the ones where nowhere open like new years day and xmas day....
Now i have tryed speaking to my boss and i havnt recieved any really positive answers, for example when i said about me being offered other work he just said that i work for them, and when i asked about being paid more, he said (in a kind of sarcastic/joking way) that i get paid too much as it is.
Now i know im young and people are going to think i shouldnt be greedy, but being a dj is a proffesional job and a dam hard one to be good at, and i particularlly think that (although this will sound big headed, i assure you im not trying to be!), my skills are worth more than what he is trying to pay me.
Has anyone any ideas of what i could do? I have thought of writing down a list of bullet points of what to say, and then ringing him up, meeting him somewhere other than the pub and having it out with him....... but then again is this wise?
Basically i should have the upper hand here, as if i quit and leave, he cant do a thing as he hasnt got a replacement dj (thats why i rarely get a night off) and so he would be stuck, also i am not going throught the books so he cant get me done in a legal sense, therefore he should really be bending over backwards to please me i would have thought....
Any views on this? Also any questions or further detail required just ask!
Cheers
Adam :wave:
0
Comments
I also believed that i was in strong postion to negotiate with him, yet he just seems to not budge and i find it almost impossible to talk to him and get a straight answer when i go to work due to my other colleagues all being around too.
I believe that my idea of bullet pointing things onto a piece of paper (as my memory is like a sieve) and then explaining to him what it is that i have a problem with then he should at least either give me a night off during xmas or pay me more.
Anymore ideas/suggestions/views would be appreciated!
Cheers
Adam :thumb:
Look at it this way - if you managed a pub/club, and had an act that was good - would you rather pay them more to work over the bust Christmas period, or risk it with an unknown act for less money?
Heck... £50 to work some of the most unsociable hours of the year. It's a fair amount of money, but not if you get the same rate on normal days, that sounds a bit poo.
but you appeared to state you didnt want to work new years eve and had made plans allready to go out?
MrG, he actually said Boxing Day, not NYE.
Firstly, MRG i stated i had made plans to go out boxing day night, not any of the others as to be fair i was told of these in due course and i normally work saturday nights, so therefore i have to work them.
Obviously i dont want to work NYE or CE as id prefer to go out, but the job has its highs and its lows and this just happens to be one of the lows. What i do mean though, is that i would like paying slightly more than i normally get, as most people would get doubletime for working them, especially on the night time.
Anyway, i spoke to my boss over the phone yesterday and i said look, i have made plans for boxing day night, i was only told i was working it on sunday night, and its not a night (monday night) i normally work. He then agreed and said he would try and "sort something out". I never mentioned the wages as i thought i would try and get one thing done first before trying to push my luck and get more
However he kept asking me to leave the agency, and i told him i would, but once boxing day has been sorted out for me. Therefore i have just over a week to decide whether to leave them or not. :chin:
I think this sort of situation turns in roundabouts and you have to take it with a pinch of salt, if youre not happy obviously you could just drop him in it and walk out...he cant do nowt about that ... but you cant do owt if he sacks you.
Negotiation in a friendly manner is prob the only solution, otherwise without a proper contract neither employee/employer is in a position to take any matters further.
From experience, youre prob best of sticking with the agency, and asking THEM for more work and better wages.. cuz that's what their job is! lol
Hope this helps!