I was doing the REQUIRED store sweeps when assigned when the FE supervisor called ME, NOT the other two courtesies on duty to put away 2 OVERFLOWING carts. Many were perishables. So I called them on it. Their response "is there a problem? Shall we take it to management?" We did, and I was sent home for the day. I mean WHAT. THE. HELL?!?!?!?! Was I in the wrong? I was on sweeps!! Half those go backs were spoiled anyways. So it's not like they NEEDED to be out back straight away.
No, I'm not being an ass. It's just that in situations like that, your best option is to do what they say, then dispute it later.
If they get on to you for not finishing your sweep, tell them that the FE supervisor had you work on something else. If he denies it, have them roll it on CCTV.
I was doing the REQUIRED store sweeps when assigned when the FE supervisor called ME, NOT the other two courtesies on duty to put away 2 OVERFLOWING carts. Many were perishables. So I called them on it. Their response "is there a problem? Shall we take it to management?" We did, and I was sent home for the day. I mean WHAT. THE. HELL?!?!?!?! Was I in the wrong? I was on sweeps!! Half those go backs were spoiled anyways. So it's not like they NEEDED to be out back straight away.
This is coming from a courtesy clerk six months in now who has seen what utility clerks have to do.
Unofficially? You were in the right.
I have seen so much emphasis put on store sweeps and other tasks that utility clerks have to do. And, if I recall from both this forum and from what I have heard and been told in the past, a sweep has to go almost the full 30 minutes, if not the full 30 minutes. So if you are called off of it, how in the hell is it supposed to be the 30 minutes? The clock is not a human being. It's like today. Okay, so whomever made out our parking lot schedule had one person by themselves until 3 p.m. Which meant I was the only person on the parking lot for a duty that is known to and generally requires at least two persons. One for our main entrance and the other for the other, smaller entrance on the other side of the store. Both of which face outward into the parking lot. So, I knew that the smaller entrance was low on carts, and that the cart corrals were overflowing.
I worked on that side for about 35 minutes and got it full and had carts outside waiting as back-up, per our normal routine at this store. What do I find when I get to the main entrance? One. ONE GODDAMNED CART. I was going to write a separate post on this but may as well put it here. I don't care or know how much management training Front End Supervisors or store management has taken. One plus one may equal two in mathematics, but if you try to put that into retail and especially make one plus one equal three it doesn't work.
Fortunately I didn't get any flack for it. One of our FES mentioned it to me nicely and told me that when you are in that situation you have to "balance" things out. Yea. I've done that before. Doesn't work. I've worked on the main entrance and ended up with the other side having few carts in place. And in fact that morning, at least two times there were lower number of carts than usual on that side.
So getting back to it. I was in the right. I damn well know it. The store knew it. But management didn't know it or care. Unofficially you were in the right to bring it up with management.
Officially however Kroger doesn't care about its employees and is in it for the store. Kroger doesn't give a crap that you had conflicts. Kroger (in this case, your store management and FES) knew that you were on as utility to do sweeps. No matter how bad the carts had gotten, how much gobacks had piled up, you shouldn't have been called off of your sweep. The sweeps should be above gobacks on the hierarchy. But since your store management and FES decided that it wasn't? That was what you should have done. And since they sent you home they lost both a person that could have done gobacks after a sweep and a completion of a sweep. This is Kroger thinking. It is exactly why I have no emotional investment in my job.
One person to do the tasks or actual job of three, and if you have a problem with it, keep your mouth shut. If the store suffers as a result, well, screw you, you should have been able to get it done.
I should have ignored the smaller entrance and focused on our main entrance. Result? Lower cart numbers on the smaller entrance. You should have ignored the sweep and worked on gobacks. Result? Sweep not completed, you possibly chastized or written up for not completing it. But that is how Kroger works. They know it's wrong. They know it's f-u-c-k-e-d up. But they do it anyway. Welcome to Kroger. By sending you home they lose a sweep, they lose utility for that day (or at least a few hours) and they lose a person that could have done gobacks.
The sensibile thing to do, were I in the FES position, would have been to start work on gobacks myself by sorting them into the small carts and labeling by aisle. We do that common practice here. Then if I think or know you might be able to do it, check with you and find out what is going on. If you are on a sweep, you finish out your sweep, then come find me and do gobacks. But complete Job #1 first before Job #2. Gobacks can be done at any time. If the store is busy or you have a spill or other utility-related items assigned, a sweep can't always been done right then and there.
But that's not the reality Kroger lives in. Heil Kroger!
No, I'm not being an ass. It's just that in situations like that, your best option is to do what they say, then dispute it later.
If they get on to you for not finishing your sweep, tell them that the FE supervisor had you work on something else. If he denies it, have them roll it on CCTV.
Ditto. You can even use your manager's lack of safety care as blackmail in the future. Apparently that's unethical though. @_@
Yeah, just do what you're told. You can't get in trouble for doing what you're told. If they skip a sweep because you were told to do go-backs, well, that's not your fault.
Try talking to your manager again. Offer a choice, you could ask which do you, want me to do.... Store sweeps or go backs during sweep hour. Let management make that call. That way you cannot be on trouble for following the decision management makes.
You could always try recording the "session" you have, but this is risky. Get caught and you get busted. However if you have proof, and they try and fire you, you could always come back with the proof saying this is what was said. A VERY risky move though. If you go this route don't get caught.
I was written up yesterday for a mass of small details, such as choosing one action over another. I kept pushing the terrible subject onto those who would listen on just how STUPID, they were. "So you will learn to set the example", they said during 'the talk'. How Ridiculous.
My friends? "Do what you are told." I didn't want to hear that. My family? "Do what you are told." Are you kidding? Is this the only way? I am still waiting to hear that there is a way to be in the right versus higher ups.
Other then to leave completely? Which is hard to do if it is paying bills - what can you do other then to give in? Sucks.
I was written up yesterday for a mass of small details, such as choosing one action over another. I kept pushing the terrible subject onto those who would listen on just how STUPID, they were. "So you will learn to set the example", they said during 'the talk'. How Ridiculous.
My friends? "Do what you are told." I didn't want to hear that. My family? "Do what you are told." Are you kidding? Is this the only way? I am still waiting to hear that there is a way to be in the right versus higher ups.
Other then to leave completely? Which is hard to do if it is paying bills - what can you do other then to give in? Sucks.
Here's something that a lot of people young and old tend to forget:
You work in the terms of your employer.
No matter if your line of employment is a union or not, you work at the pleasure of those above you. You don't get to decide what you want to do, neither do you get to "put your foot down" without any negative consequences levied against you. Your family and friends are different cases. They may value your relationship and standing with them, but your employer will not care if they broke your heart by asking you to do one task over another.
You want the money that you're being paid with? Then, deal with it and do what you're told. That doesn't mean that you automatically lose any right to complain or raise concerns. You can do that AFTER you do the task that you're assigned to.
There's been plenty of times when I've been told to do something else completely different than stocking. And there has also been plenty of times when I've been asked to stock when I should be running a register. Yet, I've never been in ANY trouble for doing something apart from my "standard" task. I'm asked about what I'm doing, and I just say that so and so asked me to do this. Eventually, they'll realize that they need to stop from bugging you and do what you should be doing, and as a result someone higher up will intervene.
-- Edited by NutritionWhore on Saturday 16th of August 2014 01:00:30 PM
Just do what you're told. Their job to do the thinking for you about what's a priority right then.
It's not your job to make their lives hell and question them or yell at them across the front end as I've had happen when I've told a few to do something clearly their job like go on the damn lot during their assigned hour and not be worrying about what other people are doing.
Sweeps are important but it varies by store. The seven we're supposed to get in this division is freaking overkill for a store my size but they go nuts if we miss them. It kills me how we'll have some people who don't get it and don't clock dependably. Some will even argue if we remind them to clock back in. We don't need your drama, just do as you're told.
I have similar thoughts but still I do as I'm told when management decides there's some BS thing that is their priority right then when I'm doing something that's necessary and important. Today it was abandoning the desk and opening a register only to see my angry customers find the desk empty and storm off because I was trapped on a lane. It was wrong but I did what I was told even though in the past I've been told never to do it.
And, if I recall from both this forum and from what I have heard and been told in the past, a sweep has to go almost the full 30 minutes, if not the full 30 minutes.
So if you are called off of it, how in the hell is it supposed to be the 30 minutes? The clock is not a human being.
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To "count" they cannot be less than 30 minutes on the time clock. It might take more time or less time to physically walk the store and sweep but it must be at least thirty minutes on the time clock. If you get pulled off a sweep to bag or some other task don't clock off the sweep before heading to help out.
Can we all agree that a store sweep has become exaggerated in most stores? These horror stories of people suing a store for millions of dollars because Johnny the bagger didn't finish his sweep are becoming a little reminiscent of the Tea Party's propaganda. If a customer sues Kroger for slipping on a banana peel, that doesn't mean you're going to jail just because you started the sweep. IF they win the case, then you'll just have a new wave of safety posters hung in the break room for an approximate 8 weeks before everything returns to normal. Yea Kroger will lose a lot of money, and your store manager might have a reduced bonus, but this doesn't spell out a life sentence in Rikers Island for you. Just do WHATEVER THE HELL your supervisor tells you. If you have to scrape **** off the bathroom floor, just do it. You are getting paid for being a courtesy clerk, not for being an investment analyst. After the standard 9 and a half months roll by, your supervisor will *have* to "promote" you to checker where you still get to be a slave, minus the **** cleaning.
