Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 13
1 where you had a couple of days off, but most of the time we
2 were all doing six days on and one day off, six days on and
3 one day off; and we would normally be doing 12 hour
4 shifts. This was in 1990, must have been 1990 and 1991,
5 when it was very, very busy, so we were very short of
6 people.
7
8 So there was me and a chap called Matt Williams, who we
9 used to, probably I would say consistently, do 60 or 70
10 hours a week, because we used to do 12 hour shifts. I used
11 to do four hours on the front. We used to start at 12.00
12 and I used to do four hours on the front and he would do
13 four hours on the back, and then at 4 o'clock we would swap
14 over, you know, or vice versa. We were always shifted
15 together and we were always on 12 closes over this period,
16 you know, because we were ------
17
18 Q. When you say 12 o'clock until close?
19 A. Yes, we were the two people as well who could cook
20 burgers fast in busy periods. They were called -- you were
21 called a "grill king". I was never a grill king, but Matt
22 Williams was a grill king. When the store had just platens
23 where you would snap the meat, where you laid it and then
24 you had to turn it manually yourself, it was quite a
25 complex job and it was very busy, doing them 12 of them in
26 a straight line. So, you know, we were always scheduled
27 those same shifts so they could, you know, we could go on
28 grill if we were needed to.
29
30 MR. MORRIS: Thank you. Clock cards, reading again from the
31 statement: "I was witness and aware that Managers
32 sometimes altered people's clock cards' reports without
33 their knowledge or consent, sometimes to punish them for
34 forgetting to clock out for their 45 minute break by
35 clocking an hour out instead".
36 A. I have seen a couple of Managers doing it, and I know
37 the Store Manager, one of the store Managers was aware that
38 it went on, and it was treated as a discipline thing. You
39 know, if people were clocked out for an hour they would not
40 forget to clock out the day after, but they were never told
41 that they were clocked out for an hour. They might not
42 have had a break. That was the thing, that this was often
43 done at the end of the night on the adjustment audit
44 report, and they, you know, a Manager might leave a note,
45 but it was very rare to leave a note because it was a very
46 busy store.
47
48 You know, people did not go at the end of their shift and
49 check the clock cards report to see if everybody had a
50 break or not. They used to try and get the change over
51 done and get out as quick as they could, and they did not
52 -- people did not check the clock cards and, at the end of
53 the night, people would look at the adjustments because you
54 had to complete the clock card file before you could close
55 down the system. So, you know, if they were feeling
56 particularly vindictive, they could go down and everybody
57 who had not had a break, they would give them an hour off.
58 It seemed to be just a personal thing, what you were
59 feeling like at the time; whether they felt in a punitive
60 mood or whether they felt, you know, quite lenient.
