The lead position in my department has come open and my store manager has a habit of bending the protocol a bit and handing out positions in house instead of posting them area/zone(?) wide like they're supposed to. This means that, even though I'm not full time right now, since I'm one of the two PT people in the department that actually does their job in an efficient and "above-and-beyond" sort of manner, that I'd more than likely get the lead clerk's position before wind of it spread too far into the local Kroger community.

I'm pretty sure everyone kind of expects me to just go for this position but... I've been grateful for the past year that I'm not in the lead clerk's shoes. Not only does the other FT person do absolutely nothing but sit around for their 40 hours but, two of the other three people in the department only do things when left detailed notes and given constant reminders. Aside from this, cooperation from other leads and department heads in the store is pretty much zero and, unfortunately, their cooperation is required for my department to be as successful as possible.

I blame absolutely none of the current failings of my department on the lead that's leaving for another life opportunity. I've been with Kroger long enough to realize when someone doesn't know how or just doesn't bother to do their job and this person breaks themselves weekly trying to get/keep things working and is given nothing but stress and down talk for being unable to get the handful of other departments to coordinate properly with ours. The other FT person also won't be leaving the department so, I know that I wouldn't have anyone competent to lean on if I took the position the way the current lead has had me there for support.

A guaranteed 40 hr/wk would be great but, as far as I know, the raise is $0.50 or less and the stress levels would skyrocket without me having any real control over keeping them down by excelling at my job. Obviously, the medical coverage is something to think about but, I also don't plan to work at Kroger the rest of my life. A major downside to working a FT job is that I'm still trying to finish college. I transferred a year ago from a position of authority at another store where I felt like my life was starting to be controlled by Kroger and I fear that taking this position would just put me right back there.

I've discussed this with my loved ones and a couple of other coworkers and have come to the conclusion that I'm just going to keep motoring on PT but, I feel uneasy with my decision. I suppose it's b/c, if it was the other FT spot opening up, I'd take it in a heartbeat. However, the lead position for this department gets absolutely no support, a ridiculous amount of blame to shoulder, and I really don't think an extra $75-100 a week is worth it - Right now, anyway. I guess I wish I could predict the future.