Jedd, good for you and stick to your guns.
Don't they have a branch of Game or similar near you? If you want to get into retail why not try to combine it with your love of gaming? Just a thought.
thanks, actually it really kicked off when i got into the BTCV offices and spoke to the placement officers who threatened to throw me off the course. When i got there he said that i would have to do that job and that i faced two options.
1. i continued to work at Matalan doing the same job while in the meantime they would try to get me another work placement (i made a note of the word try, as in "we have nothing for you at the moment, carry on with Matalan)
2. say no and we'll have to look elsewhere, you may even be dismissed from the course and have your benefits stopped.
the bloke said i was being unreasonable with my requests since he said that Matalan are a great company to work for and they offer me numerous benefits. he also said that the feedback from the interview had been that i was 'too quiet' and i needed to work on becoming more 'vocal' to which i answered with "but how am i going to do that from being put in a small corner of a warehouse and not speaking to customers which would be a essential part of that learning process." that was where he said that i had to look at it from their point of view, they're trying to find me work and i'm being unreasonable with them. i countered with saying that i'm on a retail course with BTCV and not a warehouse course with BTCV. when he said that i was being unreasonable, thats where i nearly lost my temper.
anyway he told me about the options and i said "no, your not offering me with the training i need and require." if i had thought about it i should have said "and if anything your being unreasonable with me by putting me in work placements that are outside of my interests." odd how you can never think of the right thing to say at the time.
Regardless he told me to go and speak to my advisor (its always advisors, officers and coaches with this lot. never anyone to speak to directly). so i did, i eventually managed to track him down (i asked the bloke where my advisor was and he answered "i'm too busy, you go find him" real helpful) i explained the situation to him, opening with a joke saying "sorry, i'm about to make your day a bit more difficult." told him about the phone call, the officer and the placement with matalan itself. he listened to it all, told me he would go to speak to Matalan and hear their side of the story. So he did so, came back and told me that "they said that while you may be doing 95% retail shopfloor work, they can't guarantee that you won't be doing warehouse work for the entire duration." so he's said that he's going to try and get me into a placement with either a store in the town center or a Tesco's nearby.
this has not exactly been a conductive day but if anything i'm kind of surprised at me sticking up for myself to such a extent. when the officer was talking, i briefly considered going back to Matalan, but then when the guy said i was being unreasonable. that went right out the window. as far as i was concerned they could do whatever they wanted but at the end of the day, if they're not providing the service i need. i can just report them to the powers that be at the job center (although i doubt that would get me anywhere).
MWF: GAME is on my list and i frequently send them spec letters along as to HMV, Gamestation, WH Smiths and Waterstones. along with checking their websites for vacancies along with visits to their stores.
My thanks to everyone for the words of support and hopefully at some point i'll be able to stop clogging up this thread with my rants and so on. But its great to have the support of those on this forum, as well as the support of those who aren't on this thread (you know who you are, you especially deserve a lot of the praise). thanks all and with a bit of luck i'll be able to report some good news soon. even if i have to include a picture of a dacia to prove it.