This is an invite to Theresa May to come and visit the town of Consett in County Durham in order to see for herself all these extra people her and her Tory Cronies claim are in record employment, I was in KFC yesterday and there were plenty of staff preparing the orders but as for the tills and out of four tills only one was open on a busy Saturday in the run up to Christmas.

Lidl and Aldi are both the same with not all tills in use, so if as Theresa and her Cronies claim there are record people in employment then where are they?. Maybe Theresa could come and stand and wait for a meal at KFC here in Consett with just one till open and explain to everyone else waiting about the record employment so that we can then all punch her in the face.

Just a thought but you could ask KFC, Lidl and Aldi why they have a certain number of tills open or not.

Can just see Tessie queuing up in Consett for a Zinger Burger with a chicken popcorn side, in her £1,000 kecks.

I'm not sure this is the most scientific method of analysing employment.

Hmmmm. Travel 20 minutes down the road to the Metrocentre.......

Probably not, but if the Dior, Lancome and YSL counters in a city centre branch of Boots yesterday are any indication, we clearly have a shortage of workers.

It comes to something when I have gift cards burning a hole in my pocket and an urge to treat myself to some hugely expensive slap, and can't because there aren't any staff!

It's almost as if there was a once a year period happening where people go mad in the shops.

I think you should sort out your anger management issues first.

Thank God for that

Lidl only ever seem to have 3 or 4 employees around at any one time

On the way to the supermarket I was oppressed by the oompah jollity of a brass band and there was a queue for the checkout because it was really busy and it's all brexit's fault and I want a personal explanation from the PM or I'm going to thcweam and thcweam and thcweam



[ actual true story - well, apart from the stamping of feet bit ]

You miss the point.
The reason Aldi, Lidl etc have low prices, is because they keep staff numbers to a minimum. which reduces overheads.
Would you rather wait a few minutes to save a few quid or be seen quicker but pay more?

Those chains usually run with a skeleton staff

Checkouts aren't all meant to be in use at the same time, certainly not in most retail outlets anyway. They tend to have more than they use to cope with faults, maintenance and shift changeovers.

Have retailers actually stated anywhere that they are having trouble recruiting staff?

Bad example, Lidl and Aldi, their store staff operate a quite different system to our supermarkets. They're more efficiently organised and generally pay better.