One of the 28,500 casual workers who signed up to pick out Tesco customers’ online orders this Christmas has lifted the lid on what life is like for these unsung heroes of the season
When we click our way through an online supermarket shop, few of us spare a thought of the person whose job it is to scoot around a busy store and actually place all those items in a trolley for us.
One of the 28,500 casual workers who have been taken on as temporary “Dotcom pickers” to cover the frenzied festive period has lifted the lid of on what it’s like to work at Tesco. “Some supermarkets, Tesco included, also have giant ‘fulfilment centres’ where online orders are assembled with no customers present,” they told The Times. “But me, I’m in the trenches, in a shop that’s open for business.”
The pickers work to a demanding schedule, expected to collect 185 products an hour, or roughly three items a minute. But while the work can be gruelling, the anonymous Tesco worker revealed that it can also provide some genuine laughs.
“I like to entertain myself by conjuring up personas of the customers I’m picking for,” they said.
An an example, the store picker added: “One Saturday not long ago someone had ordered two bottles of vodka, a bottle of whisky, four beers, a loaf of bread and, very wisely, two packets of paracetamol.
“That to me is simply good planning. The award for most hilarious order must go to whoever ordered four bottles of pinot grigio, a cucumber and a bottle of lube.”
The work is not particularly well-paid, with a dozen 6am to 2pm shifts netting the worker around £1,000 a month. But, it is, they say, “a happy, humorous and intense experience.”
The intensity comes from the demanding pick rate, with an electronic device called a “pick stick” constantly monitoring the workers’ progress.
In a store that’s open to the public, that progress can often be impeded by a confused shopper asking where a particular product might be. As far as ordinary members of the public are concerned, anyone in a Tesco uniform should be there to answer their questions.
The anonymous store worker explained: “The only signs that I’m on the clock are the pick stick in my hand and the sweat on my brow. I’m obliged to help customers, but it’s agonising watching the bar on my pick stick slide from blue to red as I show someone to the jars of Chicken Tonight.”
Tesco generally open applications for seasonal workers at the end of September, offering flexible shift patterns with a rate of £12.64 an hour. After filling in an online application form, promising candidates are invited for a short 30-minute interview.
Not all seasonal workers are required to wear a uniform, but Tesco stress that it’s physical work and recommend practical clothing and sturdy walking shoes.
Despite the tough schedule, the work is generally enjoyable and rewarding, the un-named employee says: “It’s an active job and the time flies like no other job I’ve had.”
