It irritates me that things close earlier, or don't open at all on Sunday. But then I got irritated last night that I couldn't find a plumbing snake at 1 a.m., which was when I needed it. Still do for that matter. Hope I can find one today.

I assume that stores are open partly when their owners find it convenient to do business and also partly to meet demand. I don't know that it's a matter of singling out the Christian day of worship.

I like that (oops theres that like word again) the shops open sundays, although when I worked in retail years ago they didn't and I do remeber hoping that they never would. Nowdays there doesnt seem to be the religious slant on it as there was (Ive seen a vicar in tescos shopping on a sunday).

I think as long as the "shop staff" want to work then why not

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by Diandra
I assume that stores are open partly when their owners find it convenient to do business and also partly to meet demand. I don't know that it's a matter of singling out the Christian day of worship.

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Here in the UK trading laws only allow shops to open for a maximum of 6 hours on a Sunday, this is either 10-4 or 11-5. Some shops are exempted, I'm not sure of the criteria but it tends to be off-licences which are presume are regulated by alcohol trading restrictions and the corner shops.

Sunday trading restrictions do annoy me. There are only two days in the week when I have a chance of getting to any shop other than a supermarket, and on one of them the shops close early If shops are going to open then they should open all day. As it is we have a halfway house. If you work in a shop you will probably have to work some Sundays anyway, so you've already lost any real 'keeping Sunday special'. The restricted hours are a mere nod to the Christian values lobby.

My feeling is that this will probably change though. After all, it's less than 15 years since every shop was closed on a Sunday (barring paper shops in the morning). It's only about 10 years since you've been able to get a drink at 4 on a Sunday afternoon.

Saying all that, I'm still not sure if I think extended Sunday trading is a good idea. I'm very suspicious of the extent to which consumerism is coming to dominate our society and the longer shops are open for the more we develop the expectation that it's our God-given right to be able to buy whatever we want whenever we want it. Maybe we should just learn to think ahead and realise that we are short of milk, rather than having to leap into the car at 10pm to drive to the 24-hour Sainsburys?

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by White Hart
the longer shops are open for the more we develop the expectation that it's our God-given right to be able to buy whatever we want whenever we want it.

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It's not?

Well ... a capitalism-given right anyway.

Well, not everyone in the UK is a Christian, and how many people nowdays stay in on a Sunday and read the bible?

I think it's very handy having shops open on a Sunday, as you can nip down for something if you need it.

And if people are giving up their free time on a Sunday - why not?

It's prolly the fact that people would like a day off maybe? Or even a little elss time working? I know I prolly couldn't be really bothered working Sundays. (Long live the term 'CBA')

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by Ethan
It's prolly the fact that people would like a day off maybe? Or even a little elss time working?

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Then again there are a stack load of people that are in need of jobs and would welcome the chance to earn some money

I don't particularly like the thought of working Subdays but as long as people want to work to get extra money I have no beef with that.

And, in these days of 24 lifestyles, and people working all sorts of hours, then you need certain shops to be avaliable to people around the clock.

Do people get extra money - or indeed the choice - to work Sundays, or is it pretty much part of the terms and conditions of retailing jobs nowadays that they work weekends and get days off during the week in lieu?

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by Vix
Do people get extra money - or indeed the choice - to work Sundays, or is it pretty much part of the terms and conditions of retailing jobs nowadays that they work weekends and get days off during the week in lieu?

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Thats a good point Vix, when I worked in retail and admittedly it was a long time ago, it was written into our contract then, that if required to do so we would be expected to work Sundays , bank hoildays and Christmas day. Saying that if I ever worked a bank Hoilday I would get time and half and a day off in lieu, also I did on occasion work a sunday (for stock taking) and got the same deal. However I'm not sure that works the same now .
I know a lot of the big retail firms etc do tend to use their Saturday staff to work Sundays but I'm sure there are a lot of people that now just find they are expected to work Sundays wether they want to or not.

i think this makes sundays more boring than they are not being able to go shoppnig so they should be open, all day.

I like Sunday shopping. Nice and quiet. As Whistler said, lifestyles have changed and it's a 24/7 world. Retailers choice I suppose. Supply and demand.

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by Vix
Do people get extra money - or indeed the choice - to work Sundays, or is it pretty much part of the terms and conditions of retailing jobs nowadays that they work weekends and get days off during the week in lieu?

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No we don't Vix, I work in retail (I only work weekends due to being at uni in the week) but I nor any of the other staff are given a choice. I work every sunday and get no extra money for it-it is a contracted day for retail so you get nothing extra for working it. If management work it (we have a dedicated sunday manager, so I am talking 'week time' management) then they get half a day off in the week as we are only open the 6 hours.

For me working sundays is convenient & I quite enjoy it, but some people really hate it but are made to do it with the stipulation 'do it or loose your job'. It is annoying though how customers expect us to open longer & more hours. They are trying to bring in 24 hour shopping in our city centre-I am not working selling clothes at 3am in the morning But I did have a customer ask me if we would be opening for a couple of hours on christmas day 'as the corner shops do'-myself & my friend on the till with me just laughed & politely said 'no, we would like a life'!

Me works every Sunday(not in retail though), get paid 25% more than for other days. Doesn't make a lot of difference to me to be honest, I work 5 days a week, doesn't really matter which ones they are.

Well, I work most of Sunday for no extra money so yes I would vote for keeping Sunday's special!

I used to work on a customer service desk in a supermarket and we had to do Sunday's too - yes it was fewer hours, but it was also very quiet so they got shared out between the staff. If we students wanted to put our names down for more we could, easing the burden on people who didn't want to work on Sundays. All in all it worked out fine.

When I worked my museum job, Sunday was one of our busiest days! We had more people working Sundays than in the week, but again it was no more than the normal hourly rate.

I don't see why we should all have the same day of the week as a rest day.

In fact, it's not even practical anymore. You wanna use the web on a Sunday? Who do you think is making sure the telecoms lines are working so you can do that? Or the electricity? Those stores you're gonna want to buy from during the week, they still need alarm systems and security guards to protect them on a Sunday. That means people working them.

There is nothing special about Sunday. It's just another day. Historically, we have tried to keep it separate because of the dominant religion in this country. But the last survey I saw suggested 54% of Brits have no firm religious belief. Then factor in the Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Seventh Day Adventists, or any other variety of Theism that has no special value for Sunday. We already have a maximum working week directive on the statute books. What we need is guarantees to our rights and ceilings to what our employers can demand. We don't need antiquated laws about Sunday trading.

I worked Sundays in BHS in a major shopping centre, and Sunday's weren't quiet, especially not between 2 and 4. This was an out of town shopping centre, though, so people made the effort to drive out, rather than centre of town which might be quieter on Sunday, I've no idea. The fact that all the other shops around us were also open Sundays probably had an effect too.

Most retail staff will end up having to work at least some Sundays, and for no extra money. However, this means that they will have another day off - the Working Time Directive means that *everyone* is entitled to at least one 24-hour rest period in every 7 days.

And if it's a pub not a shop you could be looking at a 12-hour day - and even the 'Keep Sunday Speciallers' don't seem to want to go without their pint