Christmas Retro

Must give these a go during the week.

I actually worked part time in my local Superquinn that very Christmas. When I finished up in college for the Christmas we'd go in and work full time in the shop, was great to have an extra few quid, and the week before christmas we did a night shift (came in as the store closed & worked through the night to restock) & got double pay for it which was fab-u-lous for a student!

Although the shop didn't re-open until the 29th, we'd have been back in on the 28th for a half day or so re-stocking everything.

I used to love working there part time as I went through my first college course, it was a great place to work back in the day. And the money was a godsend for a student in those days.

It was far less stressful that's for sure. Once something was packed that was that, no having to repack it. Also, no customers asking for stuff on the opposite side of the store.

The best bit at the time was being able to wear your own casual clothes & not the uniform, which back then was grey slacks, white shirt & superquinn tie.

It was jeans, t-shirts & trainers all the way... we could play whatever music we liked over the PA system too which generated all kinds of debates 😀

but yeah, good craic in general, messed with your body clock though when not used to shift work like that, I used to be all over the place with my sleep patterns at christmas the years I worked there.

Is it not 69?

Mainly because they use 1/2 penny.

Thanks, myself and mother Popcorn was having a debate about it.

My apologies.

I used to work in a Super Value when I was in uni back in the early 90s. Like you, I absolutely LOVED the run in to Christmas. I used to work at least 12hr shifts from 7am to 7pm in the deli and stocking the shelves. Sometimes we stayed back until 9pm restocking and then back in the next morning, even at 6am when the fresh stock was delivered from Musgraves.

Like you, we played our own music over the PA and basically had a laugh. If I remember correctly the shop closed at 6pm on Christmas Eve and then we hit the pub for a crafty pint or two before heading home.

Even back in 1994 (I think) it opened on the 26th but only from 12-4 that year because we made an absolute killing with the Cuisine de France bread "freshly" baked from frozen in the ovens. That's all people wanted, along with some milk and, of course, some booze from the off-licence.

A few years again after that, we would open at 10 and stay open until 6 but that was still a rarity even back then. It did gradually get busier with each passing year but none of us minded a jot. We were all aged 16-20 and it was easy money with one of the assistant managers supervising for the day.

Good times