I work mostly nights in the meat department and they never schedule me for enough time to make sure the department is as clean as it should be and stocked as well as they want it to be......sometimes i wonder if it's on purpose to make sure that they always have a reason to get people in trouble if they want to. Either i make sure the place sparkles in such a manner that i know everything is clean enough to process or display food in/on, or I half ass my tasks as much as possible to make sure i don't get in trouble for clocking out late. I've had 7 other jobs, have never been fired from any of them, and no one's ever complained about my work, so i'm fairly sure that it's not my fault that everything they want done, or evverything that should be done, doesn't get finished. I'm just wondering if anyone else has these problems because it's been really frustrating to me; it makes work really hard to leave behind me when i go home.
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downpresserman, where are you going to run to?
The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Kroger Co. family of stores
I work some nights in the Meat Department and we run in the mid $80,000 / week range. I'm by myself sometimes like last friday the week before labor day, we ran $13,000 on that day alone with one closer! I did the following:
* Wrap the 3rd cut * 10 minute break before last person leaves * Wait on Customers * Clean Cutting Room * 5S Cooler * Fill Counter * Break down Meat/Seafood counter. *Straighten Counter * Take out trash * Take a 20 minute break * Finish Seafood Dishes * Fill Counter
I didn't get out until 10:30 that day and I was like "screw it, im outta here."
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My Views and Opinions do not reflect that of the Kroger company. I'm an indivdual expressing my 1st amendment right.
I would just do the best you can with the time you have. You are paid by the hour, not by work lists, Key Retailing, or case counts. For example : Today I worked my department by myself. According to the team stocking guide I had a 300 case order to work, condition the department, and put orders on. By the time everything was figured up, I was in the red by 4 hours. I had 8 hours, but really needed 12 hours to complete my duties for the day. When my shift ended, I clocked out and walked out the door. I feel that I gave Kroger an honest days work, But I will not let them abuse me or try and work me to death. We have a union.
There is absolutely no way to get everything they want completed without killing yourself every single day. It's impossible and they want too much. Do what you can and leave when it's over. Stop stressing.
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Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
Here is what I tell my help . I usually have two closers. They are responsible to get it all done.if not then they are held accountable. But there are a few things I look at first. What the daily sales was for the day. Usually have management check it for me before I leave so I can see what they did after I left. Next I look at what was in the back for them to work out , weigh up and do. I then look at it ,when I come in ,to see how much was done vs the sales. Last thing I let them know is that they are to check with the closing manager, one hour before they are to leave. Management then can let them know if they are to leave on time, stay a little longer or what to leave for the next day vs what needs done tonight. Each closer is responsible for certain tasks and if it is no it done, they are late leaving and sales was not there, then they will be questioned about it and when asked why my help was over on time or un able to get the tasks completed, I just tell him to check with his co`s.
Not that management does not want to use the over time but needs to know where it is and why. Our contract is a little different. We can have someone stay a little longer and take it off later to avoid the overtime.
Also If I find a a closer having an issue getting it done , by a certain time, then I will adjust the schedule for that person. But then we are a store that does a lot of business late at night. To have only one closer is suicidal on most nights.
I am usually late getting out because I have no assistant or cutter. I have to get the second cut done and wrapped myself.
Here is what I tell my help . I usually have two closers. They are responsible to get it all done.if not then they are held accountable. But there are a few things I look at first. What the daily sales was for the day. Usually have management check it for me before I leave so I can see what they did after I left. Next I look at what was in the back for them to work out , weigh up and do. I then look at it ,when I come in ,to see how much was done vs the sales. Last thing I let them know is that they are to check with the closing manager, one hour before they are to leave. Management then can let them know if they are to leave on time, stay a little longer or what to leave for the next day vs what needs done tonight. Each closer is responsible for certain tasks and if it is no it done, they are late leaving and sales was not there, then they will be questioned about it and when asked why my help was over on time or un able to get the tasks completed, I just tell him to check with his co`s.
Not that management does not want to use the over time but needs to know where it is and why. Our contract is a little different. We can have someone stay a little longer and take it off later to avoid the overtime.
Also If I find a a closer having an issue getting it done , by a certain time, then I will adjust the schedule for that person. But then we are a store that does a lot of business late at night. To have only one closer is suicidal on most nights.
I am usually late getting out because I have no assistant or cutter. I have to get the second cut done and wrapped myself.
Grumpy, there is a few flaws in that plan of yours however. I've always told my Manager I will do it to the best of my ability, if something isn't done its because I ran out of time. This is the honest to god truth that i'm working my hardest to get everything done. It might not seem like its alot of work at times, but there are certain situations that can slow a person down at night. The most time consuming thing i've found is the Service Counter at night. It could be doing a custom order, answering questions, steaming, etc. I've had multiple people ask for 2 - 3 lb of snow crab steamed at once. This can eat up at least 40 minutes of your time if you're having to wash the dishes as you go along in order to steam for the other customers.
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My Views and Opinions do not reflect that of the Kroger company. I'm an indivdual expressing my 1st amendment right.
Here is what I tell my help . I usually have two closers. They are responsible to get it all done.if not then they are held accountable. But there are a few things I look at first. What the daily sales was for the day. Usually have management check it for me before I leave so I can see what they did after I left. Next I look at what was in the back for them to work out , weigh up and do. I then look at it ,when I come in ,to see how much was done vs the sales. Last thing I let them know is that they are to check with the closing manager, one hour before they are to leave. Management then can let them know if they are to leave on time, stay a little longer or what to leave for the next day vs what needs done tonight. Each closer is responsible for certain tasks and if it is no it done, they are late leaving and sales was not there, then they will be questioned about it and when asked why my help was over on time or un able to get the tasks completed, I just tell him to check with his co`s.
Not that management does not want to use the over time but needs to know where it is and why. Our contract is a little different. We can have someone stay a little longer and take it off later to avoid the overtime.
Also If I find a a closer having an issue getting it done , by a certain time, then I will adjust the schedule for that person. But then we are a store that does a lot of business late at night. To have only one closer is suicidal on most nights.
I am usually late getting out because I have no assistant or cutter. I have to get the second cut done and wrapped myself.
Grumpy, there is a few flaws in that plan of yours however. I've always told my Manager I will do it to the best of my ability, if something isn't done its because I ran out of time. This is the honest to god truth that i'm working my hardest to get everything done. It might not seem like its alot of work at times, but there are certain situations that can slow a person down at night. The most time consuming thing i've found is the Service Counter at night. It could be doing a custom order, answering questions, steaming, etc. I've had multiple people ask for 2 - 3 lb of snow crab steamed at once. This can eat up at least 40 minutes of your time if you're having to wash the dishes as you go along in order to steam for the other customers.
There is always flaws in every plan. Have only written up someone , on this plan a few times over 7 years. I have worked many yearsclosing myself and do work a closing shift once every two weeks and several mid shifts too. If there seems to be a problem with one particular closer, then I do pop in from time to time, to see how they are doing and conditions of the store. If I only have one closer then I do not expect too much. have two closers then I do expect more out of them. I do not worry to much in that I do not worry about a click or two. But when I start finding they are an hour or two, just to close up service cases then there is a problem. Still follow the advice of one older store director. That is make sure I have spent pleanty of time seeking answers, coaching, training and one final day of working with them before any write-up is done.
If I have only one closer in a dept. and I know they're gonna be over their heads, I cut some slack. Plus, my people know to contact mgment for help----and to document if no help comes, to cover their asses.
One thing I've found helpful is to assign specific tasks to specific names (if I have more than one closer in a dept.). That way there's no games of 2-4 peeps going "Oh, well I ain't gonna do that. No body told me to." Introduce that accountability, there are very seldom any problems~
Sometimes you have to do what you can with what you got...I always go to bed thinking, "Hey! At least I did an honest day's work for an honest day's pay". At least, you can look yourself in the mirror every day.
I used to work with a guy who would stress out about stuff like this...Not finishing everything up on time...Manager told him to go home. "The work will still be here tomorrow"...I try to incorporate that same thinking into what I do everyday. You can only do so much, and sometimes you have managers who hate overtime, so what do you do?
For instance, our manager now refers to those extra 5-10-15 minutes of overtime as "nickel-and-diming the company"...If that's what the manager wants, I do my job, and clock out...simple!
Sometimes you have to do what you can with what you got...I always go to bed thinking, "Hey! At least I did an honest day's work for an honest day's pay". At least, you can look yourself in the mirror every day.
I used to work with a guy who would stress out about stuff like this...Not finishing everything up on time...Manager told him to go home. "The work will still be here tomorrow"...I try to incorporate that same thinking into what I do everyday. You can only do so much, and sometimes you have managers who hate overtime, so what do you do?
For instance, our manager now refers to those extra 5-10-15 minutes of overtime as "nickel-and-diming the company"...If that's what the manager wants, I do my job, and clock out...simple!
Except they are "nickle-and-diming" us all the time.
clock in early? clock says you were right on time!
come to work? here have something to eat and drink!
dont have a kroger card? pay full price!
Do an honest days work? give the government half of your honest days pay.
in a union? PAY YOUR DUES!
just started in the union? have an initation fee for longer and more than you would have paid dues for!
want new shoes? come up stairs we will order you some from the comany!
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Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
If I'm runing short on time, which is almost every day, I decide what's most important to me and forget the rest.
These are the things I have to do:
Bake the bread and make the donuts.
Scan out the outdates.
Do a breakout for the next day.
These are the things they want me to do in addition to those other things:
Bring up and put away the frozen food order.
Bring up the chicken order and put it away if the guy who normally does it is off.
Bake any pies, cookies, croissants, etc. that need to be baked.
It takes 4 1/2 hours working continuously to do the donuts, scan the outdates, and pan all the bread out. It takes a minimum of 1 1/2 hours to do a breakout. That leaves 1 1/2 hours to get everything else done. I always take my first 15 minute break and I try to take my last. Of that 1 1/2 hours, a good 30 minutes or more is spent taking care of the bread (moving it in and out of the proofer and oven, putting finishing touches on it, etc). That one spare hour is usually spent bringing up the frozen order. So unless someone else does the pies and cookies, they simply don't get done.
One of the closing things that bothers me the most is mopping the floor. We never used to mop every night but i think we got in trouble because it's now a "must" to get it done every night. When we don't even have a squeegee of our own and I have to borrow it from deli (who wants to mop at the same time) it's hard to get everything done at night sometimes.
well ya 2 closers is ideal every night for a meat dept but some stores it just not feasible for the volume. Labor issues come into play also i've seen this several times over my 15 years here. Each division has their elms hours set on a different scale so it makes it tougher for some and not to mention on a store by store basis depending on their service case size and volume. Trust me I've walked into a mess because it was busy as sin and cause people messed around, pulling the sales and figuring out the issues needs to be addressed on a daily basis when a bad close happens but that will all be taken care of when WWMS rolls around cause closers will have plenty of help in meat soon. I"ve worked in all kind of stores busy,slow, first of the month and ritzy areas. They are all different but if the manager isn't prepared for business then it's on me, including having the right people at the right time and the product ready
My store runs $90,000 / week with 1 person closing meat/seafood counters and all on at least 3 nights a week. How can that be justified?
only speaking for myself on this one, but there should be two people closing.
What I would do and tru doing at my store is this. One person closing the service cases. they help with all the stupid stuff and wieghables. fronting the frosen and seafood. keeping cases full ( service cases, grind , specails and seafood areas.
The other closer, finishes any cutting , all wrapping, finale markdowns, cleaning market, working some frozen bunkersand doors, cleaning market, having counters ( meat,chicken, pork ) filled fillinf holes on lunchmeat and conditioning.
meat closer has to help with the service cases but does not close them. Service case closer does not clean the market or wrap.
$90,000 a week and only one closer does not do a department any good.
