Richer Sounds founder hands over control of hi-fi and TV firm to staff

[cybershot]

Another vote for Richer sounds having always excelled in customer service. At least at my local branch. Returned a tv after a day. Nothing wrong with it and wanted to change it for a different model. I was being a knob. No problem. Ok I was spending a little extra but probably money they would lose having to sell the other unit as refurbed or some shit because I’d opened the box and made a mess of the packaging.

Not to mention being really helpful on the audio side of things. Some of the staff have been there for years. Nice to see they will get a tidy windfall. By god it’s about time there was some good news for staffers in the retail industry.

Also worth noting they will price match. So it’s always worth going to a branch for something they have in stock that you’ve seen cheaper elsewhere. Get to take it home yourself and not risk the courier smashing it up.

 

[8ball]

Having read in the past about the struggles in this country to get the working day down to 8 hours, I did a little Google and I notice this advancement was actually a triumph of American capitalism quite some time later.

 

[planetgeli]

Having read in the past about the struggles in this country to get the working day down to 8 hours, I did a little Google and I notice this advancement was actually a triumph of American capitalism quite some time later.

Yeah, they haven’t quite built up to anything over two weeks mandatory annual leave yet I believe.

 

[editor]

Really? This stuff is 'pie-in-sky'? It shows how far we have come when you see the above as that. All the above has once existed and been attacked and eroded over the years. A longer break, more of them paid for is pie in the sky!


But hey ho, the boss is such a great guy, eh?

You're so busy getting puffed up and in a righteous froth you're forgetting who you're talking to. I'm anything but a fan of bosses. I want workers to get decent wages, decent holidays and a fat share of the profits.

 

[8ball]

Yeah, they haven’t quite built up to anything over two weeks mandatory annual leave yet I believe.

I’m not sure what their maternity leave setup is either. I think they just get some sound-proofed wadding for one of their desk drawers.

 

[editor]

Ediot thinks that conditions that did indeed exist recently but have been attacked and gotten worse did not exist and could not be part of a viable reality.

Give me a bonus though, good boss. Couple of hundred quid at Xmas.

"Ediot." No, really?

 

[editor]

What I said above in your mind can not be part of a viable reality? Really? Are you that insulated? That ignorant?

Is that how you run your business? If not why not?

I'm talking about the world as it is right now. The shitty capitalist boss-rewarding, money-squeezing, worker exploiting, zero hours enforcing world we live in.

I want it to change but saying that just "complaining" is going to make much of a difference is indeed pie in the sky.

 

[editor]

Having read in the past about the struggles in this country to get the working day down to 8 hours, I did a little Google and I notice this advancement was actually a triumph of American capitalism quite some time later.

In America, short hours is seen as a sign of weakness. And here now too, sadly.

Unless you're the boss, of course.

 

[editor]

Getting there is the tricky bit tbf.

And there's the rub. I was hoping for some insights into how that laudable aim may be practically achieved but got called a 'dick' and an 'ediot' for my troubles.

 

[8ball]

In America, short hours is seen as a sign of weakness. And here now too, sadly.

Unless you're the boss, of course.

Well, the bosses do go on about their 70 hour weeks etc. but I’ve noticed that travel time and wining-and-dining time tends to get counted in that.

 

[8ball]

And there's the rub. I was hoping for some insights into how that laudable aim may be practically achieved but got called a 'dick' and an 'ediot' for my troubles.

The second one was more original tbf. Onwards and upwards...

 

[editor]

The second one was more original tbf. Onwards and upwards...

No, it's well old around these parts.

*vintage 2004 at least

 

[editor]

Well, the bosses do go on about their 70 hour weeks etc. but I’ve noticed that travel time and wining-and-dining time tends to get counted in that.

Taking clients for slap up meals in posh restaurants at the company's expense = hard work at the coalface of capitalism.

 

[8ball]

Taking clients for slap up meals in posh restaurants at the company's expense = hard work at the coalface of capitalism.

Not specifically clients in my particular industry (very strict corruption rules), but certainly in others, and yeah, they do consider it that way.

 

[cupid_stunt]

The second one was more original tbf.

A quick search brings up 4 pages of results, dating back to 2005, not original, nor clever.

 

[8ball]

A quick search brings up 4 pages of results, dating back to 2005, not original, nor clever.

I apologise for my lack of rigour in insult-appraisal.

 

[seventh bullet]

Is that how you run your business? If not why not?

I'm talking about the world as it is right now. The shitty capitalist boss-rewarding, money-squeezing, worker exploiting, zero hours enforcing world we live in.

I want it to change but saying that just "complaining" is going to make much of a difference is indeed pie in the sky.

How dare a retail worker tell a hippy how it is. Thanks for telling me about the 'real world' though. I didn't just say complain did I, and your response was to see conditions that have existed and been eroded over the years as not viable, boss talk if ever there was. Other than that it was shut up prole and enjoy your bonus, if you even get one.

 

[seventh bullet]

'Is that how you run your business?'

lol

 

[editor]

How dare a retail worker tell a hippy how it is.

I AM A RETAIL WORKER. I use ancient personal insults. Because I AM A RETAIL WORKER.

 

[editor]

'Is that how you run your business?'

lol

I thought an experienced RETAIL WORKER like you may have branched out and put all your vast knowledge into practical use and started up a company that rights all the wrongs in the workplace. You know led by example, rather than just insulting people on a bulletin board.

 

[seventh bullet]

This is satire, right?

 

[editor]

This is satire, right?

I thought an experienced RETAIL WORKER like you had all the answers, no?

 

[seventh bullet]

Never said that and you know it. Keep shifting though.

 

[klang]

If fairer pay and working conditions are too much of an outrageous demand I wouldn't know what else to ask for.

 

[editor]

If fairer pay and working conditions are too much of an outrageous demand I wouldn't know what else to ask for.

Who is disagreeing with that statement here? Who are you talking to?

 

[Sasaferrato]

yes, i saw and like this.

i looked up my local richer sounds branch for a TV I was looking for the other day and was struck by how long some of the staff had been at the same branch (they have a page on the staff). Some people there 8 years plus which feels like a long time in retail.

hopefully they are booking some nice holidays etc. shortly.

Mrs Sas was with Mothercare for 19 years, and probably still would be if the shop hadn't been shut.

 

[Idaho]

In this thread, a better version of how the world is, is being contrasted with a fantasy version of how the world could be if all the bad bits were magically removed.

Typical p&p nonsense from people who no one takes seriously (except themselves).

 

[billy_bob]

In this thread, a better version of how the world is, is being contrasted with a fantasy version of how the world could be if all the bad bits were magically removed.

No kidding. The politics of people who, even if you completely agree with them about what an ideal world would look like, will tear you to pieces as a capitalist lackey if you dare to be pragmatic enough to welcome some moderately positive development that takes place in the interim before socialist utopia is established.

 

[Rosemary Jest]

I like Richer Sounds, I bought a hifi from there in 1998 and the amp is still going strong and is used daily hooked up to my telly.

The CD player and original speakers still work too and will get used when I move.

Good move by the boss here. More can be done, but surely this is a step in the right direction? All too rare, cases like this.

 

[seventh bullet]

There hasn't been talk of an ideal world, though. Continuing erosion of conditions in one of the largest and lowest paid sectors is not fantasy. That talk about what are really modest improvements in the grand scheme of things is also seen as utterly unthinkable (which not only existed as conditions previously with that workforce under further attack without adequate responses from weakened organised labour) says more about the person saying the above than others who are being made out to be far left caricatures.