IN a number of different ways, shop staff often get the bad end of the deal.

How many of us in our daily working lives face the prospect of violence or the threat of it?

That certainly applies to employees in certain areas of the retail sector as the events of the past couple of weeks have shown. Four cowardly raids on commercial premises, including three convenience stores, have highlighted the vulnerability of those in the front line.

Like burglaries, such robberies leave victims traumatised. And in both types of crime, the punishment is invariably not enough.