Day 150 - 07 Jul 95 - Page 30
1 incredibly bad message to the customers in terms of us as a
2 business to be presented with in terms of appearance a
3 dirty uniform, an unshaven individual or whatever those
4 sort of poor appearance characteristics are.
5
6 They are not going to be impressed by the restaurant, and
7 certainly the work colleagues are not going to be impressed
8 by me having double standards, or my managers having double
9 standards, in terms of who they allow or do not allow to
10 work on the shift.
11
12 Q. Can I ask you about double shifts, back-to-back shifts?
13 A. Right.
14
15 Q. Do you understand?
16 A. Yes.
17
18 Q. What do you understand by that?
19 A. Basically, someone working through day shift and then
20 continuing to work on to the night shift.
21
22 Q. Is that a practice which is, in your experience, ever
23 compulsory?
24 A. It is never compulsory.
25
26 Q. What is your opinion of people working double shifts -- is
27 it a good thing or a bad thing?
28 A. Generally, people who would ask me about that, as a
29 Restaurant Manager, tended to be some of the students would
30 ask.
31
32 Q. They would actually ask, would they?
33 A. They would ask, absolutely. They would say: "I need
34 to pay off an overdraft or have a loan to pay. I need the
35 money. I would like to work a double shift. I would like
36 to work as many hours as possible". My reply to them is
37 (and always has been) that is fine as an idea but, in
38 practice, it never works out because probably midway
39 through that second shift they become too tired, and then
40 it is not only inefficient but it is too sloppy in terms of
41 service and presentation again, and the necessity should
42 not be there because I have my scheduling right.
43
44 Q. I have asked you about the scheduling of hours. I have
45 asked you about the question of whether people are forced
46 to do hours they have not signed up to doing. I have asked
47 about punishments, supposed punishments, for not
48 complying. I have asked you about the pretext of poor
49 appearance. I have asked you about double shifts. All the
50 things you have said, do they apply to your knowledge to
51 the situation at Colchester back in the mid-1980s?
52 A. They did not.
53
54 Q. Again, I have to ask it, how do you know that what you are
55 saying is true?
56 A. I was in that restaurant for two or three days a week
57 working in the restaurant, not sat upstairs in the office;
58 I would know if those sorts of practices had taken place.
59
60 Q. Can we now go on to all night closers?
