ALDI reviews

Theres never enough time to complete tasks and no room for any curve balls. Work scehdule is unbelievable, one week it's 6am starts and the next it's evening starts and this rotates weekly. Work life balance is destroyed, it's bad enough the place is under staff, you're expected to do the work of two. You're having to come into work sleep deprieved aswell, this takes it's toll. Expect wrinkles fast if that's not off putting then also a lower life expectency. Management is full of bitter aggressers, bit like the guards in Shawshank. Feel as if the title gives them license to do and say whatever to those without. And that there are superior to those below them and it's stems from the top. But this is odd as it's a job that requires little to no education to enter, hard to understand where the superiority comes from even Area managers simply need a undergrade degree of any discipline to enter. Perhaps it's the lack of knowledge that creates this higher status mentality within management steming from the top. Area managers are younglings straight out of Uni with no life experience, this is again to get the most out of them working 60-100 hours weekly, as they don't know any better and have no other commitments at that age. Bit like the stock trading sector in London however the ones Aldi employ tend to be entitled narcissists with type A personalities, that only require a degree in any profession to enter the position and it's as they tend blame their "training" for any and all errors and mistreatment of stuff and their own personalities. So they tend to struggle to relate to staff members of any age and also behave in sicklical ways. Much like children, they will engage in wars with individuals whether it be store assistants or managers. This stems from the belief that I have this title so you must see as this way and act this way, my behaviour may resemble that of a 12 year old and I may seem 300 miles away from what an area manager should be but you must act as if I am warden and address me as such. The worst of it is nothing can be disputed, their word is law these kids are not watched but left alone with thier magnifying glass. It's deeply demoralizing for the people working around them, recieving constant feedback on trivial matters, passive aggressive tactics and no oppurtunity to explain yourself as anything like that is viewed as back chat and the penality is cold shoulders and a loss in the oppertunity to progress in the company. To top it off there is no way to change this as these kids are the way makers and get away with acting like Jeff Bezos from his early days at Amazon and are more obtuse than the Warden out of Shawshank, the staff have no option but to take it on the chin like a man(because thats how men should be) and quickly lose their mental state for an extra pound over other retailers. There are no possible ways to speak to someone to solve this problem even the area managers themselves can't be reasoned with, you are classed as nothing but low income earning trash by a Sports Science graduate recovering from his 21st. Look for something else unless you are don't want to deal with all that, not an isolated incident happening in many of these stores. Have worked with company for 4 years been in 9 stores in 4 regions, it's same everywhere. But if you wanna feel anxious at work everyday maybe it's for you, I was gonna call this WORST RETAIL JOB OUT THERE but I think "Real life Shawshank redemption" is more fitting, creates a more fitting portrayal of Aldi life.

Where do I begin? Eventually the negatives outweighed the positives working here. I was constantly losing hours getting cut all the time, even though I was hired as part time. There was one week specifically where my hours were cut down to 15 and I had to waste a sick day just to hit 25 for the week. When I confronted management on this, I was told there was never a guarantee for 40 hours as a "full time" employee, as "full time" according to the Aldi handbook is actually an average of 25 hours or more per week in order to maintain full time status. My store had three new district managers during the time that I was working at this location. Also if you intend to quit, they don't let you finish out the final two weeks of a two weeks notice, you're just done and walked out. I knew this, so I waited until I had a new job secured before turning in my keys and walking out the door. I honestly haven't missed all the drama from having to do my shift managers jobs for cashier pay. I was often told how I was doing such a great job, but then right afterwards was heavily criticized for silly things that prevented them from choosing me as a shift manager. Instead, two newer people than me, who weren't even performing tasks to standard, were promoted instead. The drama felt like high school with the favorites and secrets and gossip behind people's backs. But the biggest thing, you'll never have a life outside of this job. Hours were never consistent and even though I and others didn't live close, a lot of us were scheduled for close/open shifts, working until 9-10pm and then having to come back in at 6am the next day. If a shift manager made the store manager mad, they would get less shift manager shifts and would have to work as a cashier more throughout the week. And speaking of favorites, I've seen people get fired over the stupidest things before, and then let others get away with heavily marking down product to buy for herself without letting it be available to the customer to buy. There is no consistency in fairness in how management treated those below them. They may have a lot of policies that are supposed to make sure everyone is treated fairly, but they failed many times to keep those policies. Time and Time again I saw and experienced people and myself doing extra work because a manager wasn't in a good mood or didn't like how someone did something, or didn't think they did a task right or fast enough, so extra work was given to certain people on purpose. One night towards the end of my nearly two years with the company, even though I had never seen anyone have to do this before, I had to get on my hands and knees and scrub the cooler's grates/catchers at the bottoms of the doors for two hours without any help. Ended up staying over an hour after my scheduled shift to complete this, too. I ended up doing a ton of things I didn't even sign up for, and would often get reprimanded for not being good enough and was even yelled at for talking on the radio incorrectly (because I didn't say someone's name twice before talking on it). I tolerated the people I worked with despite how they treated me and others, but eventually had to find a better job.