Just try to do what you can do. And if your store is like any other kroger I've ever seen all over the US. DO NOT draw attention to yourself. Neither good nor bad. Stay below the radar and your fine.
The second you draw any good attention, the comanagers start in on you, and co workers start with managers pet. Then if you get any negative attention like standing up for yourself, then you become the "problem".
So if you want to work for Kroger longer than a few months, do whatever, if you want to stay a while, please follow that advice. I am going on 4 years, but only because the job market in my area sucks huge, and I'm still going to college.
Don't always go up front when they call for help. In my store a lot of times when they call for help it's a false alarm. So figure out when the call is real and when they are crying wolf.
So "Customer First" has no meaning to you. When you are called, you were needed. If you take forever to get up front, of course it's going to look like a false alarm. You're just late to the party.
I've seen first handed what Kroger actually thinks of the "Customer First".
Seen a woman with about $150 worth of groceries go to the front to check out (11:15pm) and find nothing but a U-Scan was open. When she asked the fat ba$stard standing there looking at her, she asked if there was someone to check her out. Obviously the lady didn't want to check and bag her own groceries since spending about $150. So the fat 30 year employee lump tells her " no mam, this is all we have and its the way management wants it"
So the lady starts her long chore of checking out her own groceries and bagging them on this little pedestal at the U-Scan. All the while this fat a$$ lump standing and leaning on a podium and watching her. Never assists her. And this POS is making around $13-$14 a hour for 46 hours aweek with 6 weeks vacation a year. Sucking on that big'ol Kroger tit.
This is Zone 1. Lumps aren't expected to work I guess. If they would only bare down on the "Lumps" half as much as they do the grocery crews, half of them would quit. What the hell is a U-Scan good for if your gonna pay some fat ass to sit in a bank chair,shop and shuffle around for 8 hours a night or around $600-$700 weekly. Is the U-Scan supposed to save money. Piss's me off everytime the sorry a$$ management wants 5 men to do the work of 9 and don't ask sh#t from these worthless fatas's. So much for customer 1st.
This is a training issue, this is not a managment or "lack of customer first" issue. This is in your Key Retailing toolkit. There should be a check lane with a till in it near the Self Checkout for that fat cashier to use when a large order comes up to the front. If he is not doing that and forcing that customer to scan and bag her own groceries, then he needs to be retrained. Also, there are functions on the SCO itself where that cashier can ring the order at the robot, bypassing the "please place the item in the bag" requirements that normal SCO operation demands. He can use the robot as a "scan and bag" checklane, as if you were at Meijer or Walmart.
Dairy is a physically demanding department, much like frozen, produce or dry grocery. Trucks come in almost every day, and depending on how good the dairy manager is at ordering will determine how much the job sucks, if your dairy manager orders too much stock it will not all fit on the shelf and take up space in the cramped cooler, this can be very frustrating.
If the milk truck or the meat/produce/dairy truck comes in during your shift you are expected to help unload it all, and then you'll be spending most of the day putting up stock. You're also expected to 'condition' every day (front face and organize your department)
I worked in dairy for 3 or 4 months before being moved to frozen and then overnight grocery, out of these 3 departments dairy seemed by far the easiest to me.
My tips for dairy: Keep the milk and eggs full at all times, these are the first items that customers will complain about not getting (and then a manager will be up your ass) Try to keep the cooler organized and move out the empty crates and trash whenever you can, this makes it a lot easier to move around. Watch for things that are a couple days away from expiration and tell someone, they should get marked down at reduced price.
Oh and kroger sucks, fat lumps and LOL Uscan just like the rest of you all, in a lot of ways kroger really does suck but I speak from experience when I say there are worse jobs and worse companies to work for out there
If you work late, give yourself a good hour or two to condition or "rack" the department really good, depending on how big it is. As you get better at this, you'll get speedier. I also find this a good time to watch for markdowns/outdates. Biscuits and yogurts are notorious for these things. Watch your milk-and don't forget-this is holiday time! Creamers, butter, holiday cookies, eggnog, and the like...
you hit the nail on the head I work in produce and have busted my ass since day one and since day one my coworkers have treated me with disrespect and constantly talking about me behind my back. The comanagers liked me but who cares if my coworkers make me miserable. I got injured this week at work and now all of a sudden these same mangers, who have always been so nice to me and tell me what a good job I do, are treating me like I am a horrible dishonest employee and making my life miserable. All because I reported an injury I sustained while working, I didnt even file a claim I just let them know I was injured in case the injury became more serious and required surgery or more medical attention then a week or two off work. I am at a loss as to how to handle this. I dont want to file a claim or contact my union but I feel like they are backing me into a wall, that if I am not proactive and establish this as a work related injury that they can hold my taking time off against me. You have been there awhile can you offer any advice. I hate my job but with the current job market this is the only job I could find for right now even with a bachelors degree. I need this job but dont know how long I can take the crap they are throwing at me in what I think is an attempt to get me to quit.
