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leenalley · Member

My score (again)

Date: Feb 2, 2013

Yeah you need to hit CLEAR twice to back out of EFT Tender. CLEAR once takes you to "enter account number" which sometimes you need if there's an EBT card that won't swipe and you have to manually key in the card number as an example.

I do this every day and am over 100%. I don't think it's the issue you're having.

Are you checking your ELMS yourself? You can print them with NO SALE 96 SIGN ON. Check your "items per minute" every hour or so. 25+ is the goal.

know your common produce codes, which produce you can just bypass the scale with and key in, get the belt as loaded as you can before an order even if you have to help empty the cart because you have a lazy or no courtesy clerk.

you might be talking too much to the customer or bagger and not realizing your items per minute is slowed down.

Date: Feb 2, 2013

you meant TOTAL then EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer). EBT is the food stamp card.

techelite · Guru

leenalley wrote:
As you know I'm trying to raise my ELMS score. I've been told to 1ST after scaning, hit TOTAL / EBT.
If then pay with cash , put in the amount , then immediately when the cash draw open ,close it. Re-open the cash draw to give back change.
My question is ,, Don't I have to hit CLEAR, CASH TENDER ?
Sometimes I hit CLEAR several times in order to return to the screen where the amount is viewed. Is that LOwering my score ?

Yes, it is lowering your score, because it is making you take several seconds longer to tender other forms of payment. Hitting EFT does NOT pause your ring/tender time. Used to, but not anymore.

Anonymous wrote:
Are you checking your ELMS yourself? You can print them with NO SALE 96 SIGN ON. Check your "items per minute" every hour or so. 25+ is the goal.

Actually, to reach the 95% goal, the "average" cashier must be around 35 items per minute.

management_drone · Senior Member

leenalley wrote:
As you know I'm trying to raise my ELMS score. I've been told to 1ST after scaning, hit TOTAL / EBT.
If then pay with cash , put in the amount , then immediately when the cash draw open ,close it. Re-open the cash draw to give back change.
My question is ,, Don't I have to hit CLEAR, CASH TENDER ?
Sometimes I hit CLEAR several times in order to return to the screen where the amount is viewed. Is that LOwering my score ?

This whole deal is so freaking retarded. Open the cash drawer a second time to count back my change? WTH are they thinking? I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that crap anymore.

You should just keep doing what your doing and screw the numbers game. If I recall, they can't really discipline you for that anyway. It's been a while, so my knowledge of the contracts might be hazy.

Date: Feb 3, 2013

Hitting EFT when they are paying with Cash, check, etc does nothing. And having to clear it back out takes a little bit to do so it's taking longer to Cash tend the oder than it's suppose to. Just hit Total and wait for payment. There's not a whole lot you can do to speed up tneder time as most of the time you'll finish scanning at the same time they finish unloading.

Don't re-open the till to make change. Ever time you open your till outside of an order it shows up on a report they look at every morning and can be seen as suspicious. I stay in the 95%s-100%s and I never do any of these stupid "tricks" to raise my score. Just keep scanning, know your produce codes, don't stop scanning to bag.

And the IPM goal has changed. It's like 34.5 ish on a regular lane and 28 for Express lanes.

Honestly I just wouldn't worry about it if I were you. They can't disipline you for having a low score. Just take care of your customers, that's more important than anything.

Date: Feb 3, 2013

Anonymous wrote:
And the IPM goal has changed. It's like 34.5 ish on a regular lane and 28 for Express lanes.

when is this changing? have these changes happened? I know OSAT is changing to 80% in the summer so maybe this hasn't happened yet?

i'm regularly over 100% but i'm in the low 30s on a regular lane and low 20s at express.

and besides i just don't see how you can get much higher on express.

sure, in theory you can spin the bagging area but in practice you have to fight children, women's purses, men standing too close ... and my store doesn't have enough cashiers or lanes some night so the floor managers will send any customer down express no matter how crazy filled the bascart. it's bad enough when thoughtless customers do it but when a manager does it you want to scream.

if the EFT, cash, check tender keys etc won't stop the clock why bother recording the times to use against cashiers?

techelite · Guru

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
And the IPM goal has changed. It's like 34.5 ish on a regular lane and 28 for Express lanes.
when is this changing? have these changes happened? I know OSAT is changing to 80% in the summer so maybe this hasn't happened yet?
if the EFT, cash, check tender keys etc won't stop the clock why bother recording the times to use against cashiers?

The IPM goals changed a few years ago. They record those times because whether or not you can stop the clock, all cashiers are being scored on equal scales.

Date: Feb 3, 2013

Anonymous wrote:
Check your "items per minute" every hour or so. 25+ is the goal. ... you might be talking too much to the customer or bagger and not realizing your items per minute is slowed down.

OMG! No wonder Kroger employees are so rude. I seldom shopped at Kroger until they managed to undercut the other local choice we had so badly they had to close down the small chain. I have always hated Kroger. Employees and managers are so cold and ... well, I had a room mate 30 years ago that was constantly kept just under hours to avoid benefits. That's when I started hating them. I hate the union, too, btw. I've known a couple of folks who said the union is useless these days.

And just forget the gimmicks and 10 participating items and trying to figure all that out... just give the best price and be done. Treat your employees well and there won't be a need for a Union. IT STINKS FROM THE TOP! KROGER is publicly traded and that will lead to mistreatment of employees EVERY SINGLE TIME. i worked at corporations at a higher level and I know they live and breathe quarterly numbers or it's there behind on the line. So pressure to cut and force numbers is always there. MANAGEMENT is no better off -- they are just tortured a different way.

This makes me MAD. I'm writing a letter to the company -- not to complain about the employees but about these standards that actually prevent them from being nice and helpful.

This forum has been an eyeopener. I'm going to do everything in my power not to shop at Kroger. (Problem is, I hate wal-mart, too.)

hmmph · Newbie

k

-- Edited by hmmph on Sunday 3rd of February 2013 11:43:50 PM

Date: Feb 4, 2013

Yep. Yesterday I actually saw a Kroger employee yell across the crowded U-Scan area at a customer 30 feet away. She was nasty and yelled out to him "don't be rude".

When I told her that she was being rude by yelling at a customer- any customer- she said that was fine, she accepted that she was rude.

Really? Kroger allows their employees to be rude to multiple customers?

I tried to tell the manager but he said he was in the middle of a "crisis" and couldn't deal with my concerns. Really? I am a nurse and routinely deal with people dying or at risk of dying. If he didn't need me to give CPR or call 911, then IMO, it was not a "crisis". And even if a person is saving someone from dying (as they would in an actual crisis), that is still no excuse for being rude to bystanders.

I guess I will start shopping somewhere that it is not acceptable for employees to actually literally yell at the customers. I've never seen a Walmart employee yell at a customer and still keep his job. After reading this crap about Kroger employees, I will not feel at all bad about buying from Walmart now. Geeze, in this economy I still have to put up with unskilled uneducated cashiers yelling at me after I work all day taking care of my patients. No thank you.

You people (meaning Kroger employees) need to get your priorities in order and realize that there are lots of people who would like to have your jobs and would be a lot nicer doing them.

techelite · Guru

Really? If a manager was trying to coordinate the saving of a person's life, your complaint (about something that was in reality a completely minor issue which you blew way out of proportion) should take precedence over that situation?

Uh, no. Definitely not.

Sounds to me that you are the one who needs to work through your massive self-importance issues and get your priorities straight. Not us.

Feel free to shop at a competitor, and let one of us hear it on the way out the door. Because I'll let you in on a little secret. After causing the type of scene someone like you is almost guaranteed to do, and swearing to never shop at our store again, we will wave goodbye and laugh as you walk out the door.

Because we know you'll almost certainly be back next week.

And if not, you're the kind of customer we beg god to be rid of anyways.

Date: Feb 4, 2013

Uh, no, you didn't understand my comment AT ALL.

He said that he was in the middle of a "crisis" which involved some paperwork on his part. There was no one dying. No one in need of emergency services in any way whatsoever.

See, in my line of work, a crisis is when someone is actually and literally dying or at risk of dying. That is a "crisis" and yes, hospital employees are still expected to be polite in such situations.

However, the Kroger manager was looking through paperwork. That was his definitiion of a "crisis". Customer Service is in no way a priority ever with Kroger, apparently. Paperwork crises are much more important than actual people- to Kroger management anyway.

Date: Feb 4, 2013

By the way, Techlite... do you think that it is EVER acceptable for an employee to acknowledge that they are being rude to customers and to do nothing whatsoever to apologize for her behavior? Do you think it's ever acceptable for a manager to blow off that concern.

Plus, the original customer was one of the very few African Americans in this store and he was obviously being treated abnormally rudely by the Uscan cashier prior to him getting fed up with it and doing something that made this woman yell out across the crowded store. With so few AA's in that store, I can't help but think that the cashier's and manager's behavior both have to do with racism.

If that's the kind of behavior that is acceptable from Kroger employees, then that is simply pathetic.

The only reason that I may ever step foot in a Kroger again is because this was in a store that is not my regular store which is right around the corner from my house. I do indeed shop there every week and seldom go to the rude store which is closer to my work. The employees at my regular store are really good, always polite. There are many people of color who work at that store even though its in a pretty white affluent suburb. The only way that I will shop at Kroger again is if I am able to talk to the manager at that store and have him/her have a district manager tell me that the behavior at the rude store is not acceptable.

But then again, for some Kroger employee to get on this forum and try to tell me off is not exactly endearing Kroger to me. I am sure I will get further virtually attacked here by Kroger employees for being offended at being treated rudely by other Kroger employees IRL.

SayWhat · Guru

Anonymous wrote:
Uh, no, you didn't understand my comment AT ALL.
He said that he was in the middle of a "crisis" which involved some paperwork on his part. There was no one dying. No one in need of emergency services in any way whatsoever.
See, in my line of work, a crisis is when someone is actually and literally dying or at risk of dying. That is a "crisis" and yes, hospital employees are still expected to be polite in such situations.
However, the Kroger manager was looking through paperwork. That was his definitiion of a "crisis". Customer Service is in no way a priority ever with Kroger, apparently. Paperwork crises are much more important than actual people- to Kroger management anyway.

A crises doesn't only occur in the medical profession. Unless that manager took time to sit down and tell you all about the crisis he was dealing with you are in no place to judge. You have no idea what could have been going on. There are usually 3-4 managers in the store, maybe you should have gotten another one. Or gone to customer service, or called the number on the bottom of your receipt. Lordy, you are the one who is being rude and rather snooty.

Just for the record, it's the nurses who make the most mistakes when calling in, faxing, or e-scribing a prescription which can kill someone if the pharmacist doesn't do their job and fix your mistake.

SayWhat · Guru

Anonymous wrote:
By the way, Techlite... do you think that it is EVER acceptable for an employee to acknowledge that they are being rude to customers and to do nothing whatsoever to apologize for her behavior? Do you think it's ever acceptable for a manager to blow off that concern.
Plus, the original customer was one of the very few African Americans in this store and he was obviously being treated abnormally rudely by the Uscan cashier prior to him getting fed up with it and doing something that made this woman yell out across the crowded store. With so few AA's in that store, I can't help but think that the cashier's and manager's behavior both have to do with racism.
If that's the kind of behavior that is acceptable from Kroger employees, then that is simply pathetic.
The only reason that I may ever step foot in a Kroger again is because this was in a store that is not my regular store which is right around the corner from my house. I do indeed shop there every week and seldom go to the rude store which is closer to my work. The employees at my regular store are really good, always polite. There are many people of color who work at that store even though its in a pretty white affluent suburb. The only way that I will shop at Kroger again is if I am able to talk to the manager at that store and have him/her have a district manager tell me that the behavior at the rude store is not acceptable.
But then again, for some Kroger employee to get on this forum and try to tell me off is not exactly endearing Kroger to me. I am sure I will get further virtually attacked here by Kroger employees for being offended at being treated rudely by other Kroger employees IRL.

AA's? Really? Where I come from, that's a form of racism itself.

techelite · Guru

^^Exactly. To assume that the employee was being racist toward the customer, and base an entire experience and exaggerated story upon that (most likely wildly inaccurate) assumption, is just a single example of the naivete which is prevalent in every sentence typed by this poster. The manager originally mentioned was taking care of a higher priority situation than what this idiot had to contribute and they were not happy because their aforementioned self-importance issues led them to steadfastly assume they were of higher importance than any other issue which could arise. They don't have to explain what they're working on that is more important, or why it is so. I also do think that based upon the details of this story, something was going on between the third-party customer and the employee who was "rude" and the person who posted here just blindly assumed they knew everything they needed to know to judge the entire situation and poked their nose into it. In which case, they became the rude one and deserved any rude treatment they received.

Also, this is an unofficial KROGER EMPLOYEE forum. Coming here and posting derogatory remarks about employees is LITERALLY directly inviting hatred and negativity. Good job there.

Date: Feb 4, 2013

Well, I have total respect for pharmacists, and Kroger does seem to have good knowledgeable pharmacists who stay there for a long time (or at least the ones at my regular Kroger's do). I can't say that about some of the chain drug stores. HOWEVER, this is still no excuse to allow cashiers to literally yell at customers.

As for "AA's", I thought that was an acceptable shortening of African-Americans. I have used it often and seen it often used on other forums when discussing racial issues and have never had anyone comment on it that it was in any way offensive, although the "African American" vs "Black" nomiclature is still controversial, neither of phrase is meant to be offensive.

The fact is that I spoke to two employees, one manager and one cashier, who were both totally okay with the fact that I was offended at the behavior exhibited towards the customer. Since it happened yesterday, I have not yet called the customer service number to voice my displeasure. Nothing gets handled on weekends, in case you aren't aware. After speaking to two employees who both were unapologetically rude, in fact they were proud of being rude, I decided I wasn't going to get anywhere with anyone in that store- and I walked out. Yes, I had a cart full of groceries, which I had spent a lot of time picking out, bagged and was getting ready to pay when I was so offended at the actions of this cashier that I walked out of the store with the groceries all in bags and sitting on the u-scan. I walked out without my milk and without my frozen foods and without the wings from the hot display at the deli. I walked out because I will not spend my money in any store which proudly treats their customers so poorly. I ordered a pizza instead and will stop elsewhere on my way home tomorrow to get a gallon of much-needed milk.

Now, if I have time during the normal working hours that the Kroger corporate customer service is open, I may call them.

And yes, you're right....that is exactly what I want since I am a nurse and having such a "vital" job that.... I WANT to shop places where uneducated rude cashiers literally yell at customers when I am trying to buy groceries... because it makes me happy and makes less stressed and makes me a better nurse who is less likely to accidentally kill someone when I go into work at 6AM the next day.

(By the way, in case you are wondering, this last sentence is sarcasm. Why would anyone with a high-stress job choose to shop somewhere that allows employees to be rude to customers? That's not a pleasant experience. If I could figure out a way to get the nice pizza-delivery kid to do my grocery shopping for me I'd do it. There are other grocers in the neighborhood, a bunch of Marsh locations, Meijers, a SuperTarget, Trader Joe's with great employees, plus Walmart. Why should I continue being so loyal to Kroger as I have been for the last 3-5 years? I'm over it.)

Date: Feb 4, 2013

well, if it were an official employee forum, you all would be fired for badmouthing the hand that signs your checks. you act as though you know the first thing about loyalty, but you don't.

If Kroger knew who you people really were, they would/should be allowed to dismiss you all with cause- meaning no unemployment. If you want to kvetch about your employer then you should do it in private, not on a public forum. It's the same as posting all your complaints on facebook.

If you people want to keep your jobs by keeping Kroger a viable company, then maybe at some point you people should figure out that it is actually the customers who pay the bills and who pay your salaries.

But you don't get it, and that is why you will always be struggling to make anything over the minimum wage. Funny how I don't see any of you whiners and complainers trying to figure out how to make the customers' experience at your stores better or how to get more people to shop at Kroger.

The people on this forum really do show their contempt for customers, and it shows in your stores.

Date: Feb 4, 2013

And no, I did not witness any rude behavior from the customer. What I witnessed was the U-scan cashier refusing to come over to the U-scan terminal to card the customer who was obviously over 50 yo, and who she admitted to have carding numerous times in the past, and who was only purchasing 2 small bottles of beer... and I witnessed the U-Scan cashier yelling out across the crowded store to this customer "Don't be rude!" in a nasty manner.

I have bought alcohol many times at the U-Scan terminals, and the cashier has always come over to my terminal to card me, and even then they only glance at my ID. They don't make go over to the Cashier stand, and then make me hold it up for minutes at a time while the hateful cashier memorizes SSN, DL# and home address like this woman did with this man (one of the few black men who shop at this store).

If your management rule is to praise employees publicly and admonish employees privately then why is it EVER acceptable for any employee to admonish customers (CUSTOMERS!!!!) Publicly? Hint: It's not.

IMO, this cashier should be stocking shelves or working in the freezer room, not rubbing elbows with the paying customers. And their management needs some remedial customer training, because this store's employees are much much much ruder than anyone at any of the other 4 Krogers in the area. (Most Kroger employees are pleasant- I actually frequent 3 other Kroger locations- which is why it's so shocking that multiple employees in this store were so over-the-top rude to multiple customers. Just one little "I'm sorry you feel that way" or "I'm sorry if it came across that way" would have really helped to diffuse their situation. But the employees and manager were both like, "Yep, we're rude. We accept that you think that and we don't care". )

Date: Feb 4, 2013

Sometimes you get ID you don't expect. At my store I get out of state ids on a daily basis and out of country ids at least a few times a week. It takes time to try to figure out where the DOB and expiration dates are. Also, sometimes you need them to come to the station because the portable has gone to hell and sometimes there's too much going on and then the station freezes.
I think you're obsessed with race. He was a customer. End of story.

techelite · Guru

Also, there is the fact that some states, like mine, require that we get valid ID from every customer for every purchase of alcohol. Not the 1st one. Not til we remember their DOB. Not only for large amounts of alcohol. Every customer, every purchase. We get no leeway. It makes things even more difficult when we cannot know the location of the DOB and expiration date on every states' IDs, not to mention the various gov IDs. Quite often, we actually have to spend a significant amount of time simply confirming that we can accept the ID we are handed.

Also, the number to complain to corporate IS available on the weekend. Has been for about 2 years now.

If we want to come to a common place to complain about our crappy employer, or figure out ways to help each other or improve productivity (which is what we actually do most here), we are well within our constitutional rights. These are nowhere near fireable offenses, as we are neither divulging corporate secrets, nor inviting the public to listen to our problems. This is nothing like FB. This may not be a secure forum, but it isn't exactly advertised around, which makes it relatively private.

If you have a problem with what is being said here, maybe you should not be here.

Oh wait, we figured that out earlier. The whole KROGER EMPLOYEE FORUM thing.

Date: Feb 4, 2013

Oh, bull.. the cashier stated that she cards this guy frequently and each time he didn't want to hold his id up to her for a long period of time. If she cards him frequently enough to know him and dislike him, then why does she need to see his ID for an extended period of time? Other cashiers don't for other people.

As far as "being obsessed with race", I am white, but I know this town. I have (white) friends who were bigwigs in local Republican party politics and even they said they would never send their kids to this town's school system, because racism and intollerance was so prevalant there. There is a long history of racism in this town and it's not going to change overnight, just because Blacks can afford to buy property.

and she was using "the portable" for other customers. And if you have to bring a customer over to your station because the portable has gone to hell, then you should be a lot nicer to them and apologize for their inconvenience. Hey, maybe you could even smile (something this woman didn't do at all).

And there is still NO excuse for yelling at a customer across a store in front of other customers.

I find it interesting that everyone is making excuses for this obviously subpar cashier. I would think that anyone who truly took pride in their job would agree that this kind of behavior was unacceptable and that the vast majority of Kroger employees were better, nicer, friendlier than this woman and her manager were.

Date: Feb 4, 2013

techelite wrote:
Also, there is the fact that some states, like mine, require that we get valid ID from every customer for every purchase of alcohol. Not the 1st one. Not til we remember their DOB. Not only for large amounts of alcohol. Every customer, every purchase. We get no leeway. It makes things even more difficult when we cannot know the location of the DOB and expiration date on every states' IDs, not to mention the various gov IDs. Quite often, we actually have to spend a significant amount of time simply confirming that we can accept the ID we are handed.

Also, the number to complain to corporate IS available on the weekend. Has been for about 2 years now.

If we want to come to a common place to complain about our crappy employer, or figure out ways to help each other or improve productivity (which is what we actually do most here), we are well within our constitutional rights. These are nowhere near fireable offenses, as we are neither divulging corporate secrets, nor inviting the public to listen to our problems. This is nothing like FB. This may not be a secure forum, but it isn't exactly advertised around, which makes it relatively private.

She actually used the excuse that the "lights were too bright" and she could not see the ID. If she can't see the ID, then maybe she shouldn't be checking them, or should be doubly nice about inconviencing people.

..................

If you have inside information about the customer service number being open on weekends, maybe you need to inform the www.kroger.com. This is from their website today:

Your satisfaction is our top priority. We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.

Please select from the criteria below to contact the appropriate customer service team.

Customer Service Center hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to midnight EST

...............

I didn't have to look very hard for this forum. I just googled "Is Kroger Unionized" (as only a Union shop would be forced to allow employees to be this rude) and this was the second site on the list that popped up. That makes this site just as public as daily koz or wikianswers. If this forum was supposed to be in any way private, then you need to have google take out the results from its search engine (or at least hide the results back on page 7 somewhere).

techelite · Guru

Oh this wouldn't be the first time the website has showcased old information for extended periods of time. Almost all the stores have something listed wrong in their information on the site. I remember specifically reading the memos when the call center went from 5 days a week to 7. And as I said before this forum may not be secure but it is private enough for us to say what we'd like here without any fear of repercussions. Anyone who is not an employee should be able to figure out this is not for them. And good luck having google remove our page from their listings. Not gonna happen.

nocturnia · Guru

techelite wrote:
Oh this wouldn't be the first time the website has showcased old information for extended periods of time. Almost all the stores have something listed wrong in their information on the site. I remember specifically reading the memos when the call center went from 5 days a week to 7. And as I said before this forum may not be secure but it is private enough for us to say what we'd like here without any fear of repercussions. Anyone who is not an employee should be able to figure out this is not for them. And good luck having google remove our page from their listings. Not gonna happen.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA........Fkin right!

4hourrush · Guru

So according to you Anonymous, the lady shouldn't be a cashier checking IDs if she can't read the info on it without taking "too long of a look at it"?

Isn't that discrimination in itself?
Oh wait, all you talk about is race, other forms of discrimination don't exist to you, I forgot.

store815 · Guru

Don't rush. When you try to be fast your ring tender will be low. Being fast will come.

Date: Feb 5, 2013

She shouldn't be checking ID's because she's a complete and total rude b**ch about it. If you have to inconvenience someone, you say please and thank you and smile. Something that no one at this particular store seem to understand.

BTW, I went to Walmart today and spent over $130 there. They were very nice, said thank you and everything....... Think about it, and if someone like me spends upwards of $150 a week on groceries, then do the math and figure out how much we spend in a year at groceries..... We spend more each year on groceries than most people spend on their car TOTAL (not per year).

Now, why would anyone buy that big of a purchase from someone who is rude and insulting to them. Can you imagine buying a car from a salesman who literally yelled at you and was rude to you?

I don't get why this woman has a job.

Date: Feb 5, 2013

Anonymous wrote:
Well, I have total respect for pharmacists, and Kroger does seem to have good knowledgeable pharmacists who stay there for a long time (or at least the ones at my regular Kroger's do). I can't say that about some of the chain drug stores. HOWEVER, this is still no excuse to allow cashiers to literally yell at customers.
As for "AA's", I thought that was an acceptable shortening of African-Americans. I have used it often and seen it often used on other forums when discussing racial issues and have never had anyone comment on it that it was in any way offensive, although the "African American" vs "Black" nomiclature is still controversial, neither of phrase is meant to be offensive.
The fact is that I spoke to two employees, one manager and one cashier, who were both totally okay with the fact that I was offended at the behavior exhibited towards the customer. Since it happened yesterday, I have not yet called the customer service number to voice my displeasure. Nothing gets handled on weekends, in case you aren't aware. After speaking to two employees who both were unapologetically rude, in fact they were proud of being rude, I decided I wasn't going to get anywhere with anyone in that store- and I walked out. Yes, I had a cart full of groceries, which I had spent a lot of time picking out, bagged and was getting ready to pay when I was so offended at the actions of this cashier that I walked out of the store with the groceries all in bags and sitting on the u-scan. I walked out without my milk and without my frozen foods and without the wings from the hot display at the deli. I walked out because I will not spend my money in any store which proudly treats their customers so poorly. I ordered a pizza instead and will stop elsewhere on my way home tomorrow to get a gallon of much-needed milk.
Now, if I have time during the normal working hours that the Kroger corporate customer service is open, I may call them.
And yes, you're right....that is exactly what I want since I am a nurse and having such a "vital" job that.... I WANT to shop places where uneducated rude cashiers literally yell at customers when I am trying to buy groceries... because it makes me happy and makes less stressed and makes me a better nurse who is less likely to accidentally kill someone when I go into work at 6AM the next day.
(By the way, in case you are wondering, this last sentence is sarcasm. Why would anyone with a high-stress job choose to shop somewhere that allows employees to be rude to customers? That's not a pleasant experience. If I could figure out a way to get the nice pizza-delivery kid to do my grocery shopping for me I'd do it. There are other grocers in the neighborhood, a bunch of Marsh locations, Meijers, a SuperTarget, Trader Joe's with great employees, plus Walmart. Why should I continue being so loyal to Kroger as I have been for the last 3-5 years? I'm over it.)

Then go shop somewhere else. Customers say all the time that they are never coming back because of some stupid reason. I had a customer try to report me because I yawned. i wasn't serving her or anyone. I was cleaning my register at the end of a 8 1/2 hour shift on the night before the superbowl. i yawned because i was tired from standing in one spot and listening to people yell and scream that we were out of chicken wings and the meat people (who gve up trying to fight the crowds of people at the chicken counter after a fight broke out and police were called) told them to try another store. And she said she would never return after she saw me yawn and my supervisor asked her "so?". well, she was back here today. just like every other customer who ever said they wern't coming back.

unless you saw the whole "incident" then you have absolutely NO ROOM to judge. Who cares if you think your job is more important than a cashiers? How do you know the customer didn;t come inside and say something rude to the cashier to start with? Did you follow the cashier and customer around the whole time? You just saw one little part of a whole inccident and assume the cashier is at fault. I have shopped at Kroger since mine came to town 7 years ago and only been working for about a year. I have NEVER witnessed a cashier start an arguement with a customer. They may have finished it, but they sure as hell didn't start it.

Date: Feb 5, 2013

Anonymous wrote:
Oh, bull.. the cashier stated that she cards this guy frequently and each time he didn't want to hold his id up to her for a long period of time. If she cards him frequently enough to know him and dislike him, then why does she need to see his ID for an extended period of time? Other cashiers don't for other people.
As far as "being obsessed with race", I am white, but I know this town. I have (white) friends who were bigwigs in local Republican party politics and even they said they would never send their kids to this town's school system, because racism and intollerance was so prevalant there. There is a long history of racism in this town and it's not going to change overnight, just because Blacks can afford to buy property.
and she was using "the portable" for other customers. And if you have to bring a customer over to your station because the portable has gone to hell, then you should be a lot nicer to them and apologize for their inconvenience. Hey, maybe you could even smile (something this woman didn't do at all).
And there is still NO excuse for yelling at a customer across a store in front of other customers.
I find it interesting that everyone is making excuses for this obviously subpar cashier. I would think that anyone who truly took pride in their job would agree that this kind of behavior was unacceptable and that the vast majority of Kroger employees were better, nicer, friendlier than this woman and her manager were.

My store asks for the birthday AND DL# on the uscan and the portable wont work to input it. It has to be typed in at the terminal. Or maybe something was off about his ID? How about you work the UScan for a day? Let's see your smiling face and super positive attitude after spending 8 1/2 hours being yelled at by customers in 6+ registers, none of which seem to be able to follow simple instructions (USCAN: "Put the item on the scale." *customer puts item in cart instead "Why does it keep saying that? Why won't it scan anything?" and then they sit there and scream for the attendant across the area while shes busy helping someone else and she doesn't immediatly drop everything and run over and fix it). Then deal with it within 2 or 3 days of the Super Bowl. Or a holiday. When everyone wants beer and you have to type in everyones birthday and DL#s and call security on the kids who were "sent in by their parents, so they dont have IDs"
As for th whole racist thing, it's my experiance that blacks usually start up the race card first. Not trying to offend anyone, that's just how it is around here.
You saw THE END of an incident. He may have started something before you got there. Or maybe when she handed the ID back, he said something that offened her.
Maybe her manager didn't care because the paperwork he was looking for was related to the incident. Maybe she reported suspicious activity by the customer to him. My supervisors have to fill out papers for my FE manager when we report something.
Or, maybe some incident happened at another store that she would have to check his ID. There was a string of fake checks being used by a couple of black customers and we HAD to check the ID of every black person and were not to take a check from them if they didn't have one. It wasn't a racist thing; we still checked whites, and every other nationality too. We were just trying to prevent a couple people from taking another $600 from us.

Quit trying to justify your complaint. You obviously don't understand understand how her job works. This is an employee forum, for EMPLOYEES.

Date: Feb 5, 2013

Yes, I have room to judge because THE CASHIER WAS THE ONE WHO MADE IT INTO A SCENE, by yelling at the customer who was at the other side of the checkout area.

With that said, when I complained, she should have apologized to me instead of agreeing that she was being rude. Yes, I told her she was rude and that I was offended and she said "OK, I'll take that".

And yes, I have shopped at Kroger every week for the last 5 years. I have had many interactions with all levels of Kroger employees, and this is the first time that I have witnessed anything so offensive from any of them.

Yes, I thought this store's employees were a bit ruder than the other stores. It was very difficult getting information from the kid at the deli counter about the hot wings he had in his case. It was like pulling teeth to get him to explain which flavors they were, which ones were sold by the pound vs. which ones were sold by the piece. The deli guys/gals at the other Kroger stores I go to seem to have fun with their jobs and joke and tease with me when I go there. And they, and the other Kroger employees that I have seen at other stores regularly for years are the reason that I am not going to say that I will never shop at Kroger again.

But when people, like this cashier and this manager, deeply offend me and then openly state that they don't care that I am offended, then something is wrong. And it is also wrong that you and other Kroger employees on this forum continually try to excuse the inexcusable.

Date: Feb 5, 2013

My store asks for the birthday AND DL# on the uscan and the portable wont work to input it. It has to be typed in at the terminal. Or maybe something was off about his ID? How about you work the UScan for a day? Let's see your smiling face and super positive attitude after spending 8 1/2 hours being yelled at by customers in 6+ registers, none of which seem to be able to follow simple instructions (USCAN: "Put the item on the scale." *customer puts item in cart instead "Why does it keep saying that? Why won't it scan anything?" and then they sit there and scream for the attendant across the area while shes busy helping someone else and she doesn't immediatly drop everything and run over and fix it). Then deal with it within 2 or 3 days of the Super Bowl. Or a holiday. When everyone wants beer and you have to type in everyones birthday and DL#s and call security on the kids who were "sent in by their parents, so they dont have IDs"
As for th whole racist thing, it's my experiance that blacks usually start up the race card first. Not trying to offend anyone, that's just how it is around here.
You saw THE END of an incident. He may have started something before you got there. Or maybe when she handed the ID back, he said something that offened her.
Maybe her manager didn't care because the paperwork he was looking for was related to the incident. Maybe she reported suspicious activity by the customer to him. My supervisors have to fill out papers for my FE manager when we report something.
Or, maybe some incident happened at another store that she would have to check his ID. There was a string of fake checks being used by a couple of black customers and we HAD to check the ID of every black person and were not to take a check from them if they didn't have one. It wasn't a racist thing; we still checked whites, and every other nationality too. We were just trying to prevent a couple people from taking another $600 from us

1. All the other cashiers I've seen seem to manage to smile and be polite when they are working 6 U-scans. More excuses.

2. Do you really not see how racist your comment is here?

3. The Cashier was the one who turned whatever happened into a "Scene" and demanded that I pay attention to it. She is the one at fault. Stop trying to make excuses.

5. Do you really not see how racist your company is? Really? This comment just confirms it.

techelite · Guru

Anonymous wrote:
1. All the other cashiers I've seen seem to manage to smile and be polite when they are working 6 U-scans. More excuses.
2. Do you really not see how racist your comment is here?
3. The Cashier was the one who turned whatever happened into a "Scene" and demanded that I pay attention to it. She is the one at fault. Stop trying to make excuses.
5. Do you really not see how racist your company is? Really? This comment just confirms it.

2- Good job with the wholesale misinterpretation of those comments. I'm happy that you live in an area where race is not much of an issue, but here in the real world, that is sadly quite often exactly what happens.

3- Just because you didn't see a "scene" until the cashier said something, doesn't mean other events had not already occurred. In support of this is the fact that the cashier felt justified in her attitude, which was probably not without reason. Or maybe her dog died that morning. Or maybe her ex took her kid, but she simply couldn't afford to miss work because 1 more late rent check and she is out on the street. You don't know what was going on. You may think you do, but I can count on 1 hand how many customers have complained about something and ACTUALLY known what was going on, though they all assume they do. Also, just because we strive to provide good customer service does not at all give customers a right to walk all over the employees.

5- It isn't racism, it's just ordinary business practices. You identify a thief by any information you have, and in some cases, basic features (like skin color) are all you have to go on. And don't even try to tell me "i work in a business and that's not how WE do things" implying that every company is like yours. You don't work in retail. You know nothing of the things that go on behind the scenes. Nothing. If there is a couple going around cashing bad checks, the first bits of indentifying info given out to local stores would be age, height, weight, and SKIN COLOR. It isn't racism. It's just common sense business.

Date: Feb 5, 2013

and because the guy is black, you are now continueing to compare him to some black guy somewhere in another city who at some point wrote a bad check.

You are racist, techlite, and you're so stupid that you don't realize that the more you try to deny it the more racist you show yourself to be.

Date: Feb 5, 2013

I really don't see how race ties into any of it.

I don't like Kroger, and I will call it on every problem I see. In fact, I do so quite frequently, as that is what this forum is for.

I wish I could call it racist, but that is one of the few problems I don't see.

A customer may or may not have done something rude. Potentially extremely rude. You actually have no idea. The cashier yells out across the (possibly very noisy) self checkout not to be rude.

The potentially rude customer was African American.

Therefore, the cashier as well as the manager are both racist.

confuse

It's unfortunate the cashier admitted rudeness instead of apologizing. That's a bit sloppy, and she probably shouldn't have said that.

But, that right there goes right to the heart of one of Kroger's deepest problems, as this thread was originally about.

Kroger just loves to measure employee performance. And not just cashiers, if you were wondering. Sure, they talk a great game about giving good customer service, but it turns out that it's actually very difficult to measure, itemize, score, and rank store level customer service, let alone that of individual employees.

Conversely, it's very easy to automatically measure tender time, items per minute, customers per hour, and so on and so forth.

Because it's so easy to measure, it is what carries rewards and penalties rather than customer service. Customer service only has to be good enough to avoid regular write-ups, which isn't very good at all.

I'd rather give good customer service than struggle against the stopwatch, but that's not how they want it. For a while there, I even gave that a try. And do you know what that got me? Grief from my manager about low scores.

As you've noted, things are rotten from the top down.

SayWhat · Guru

Anonymous wrote:
Oh, bull.. the cashier stated that she cards this guy frequently and each time he didn't want to hold his id up to her for a long period of time. If she cards him frequently enough to know him and dislike him, then why does she need to see his ID for an extended period of time? Other cashiers don't for other people.
As far as "being obsessed with race", I am white, but I know this town. I have (white) friends who were bigwigs in local Republican party politics and even they said they would never send their kids to this town's school system, because racism and intollerance was so prevalant there. There is a long history of racism in this town and it's not going to change overnight, just because Blacks can afford to buy property.
and she was using "the portable" for other customers. And if you have to bring a customer over to your station because the portable has gone to hell, then you should be a lot nicer to them and apologize for their inconvenience. Hey, maybe you could even smile (something this woman didn't do at all).
And there is still NO excuse for yelling at a customer across a store in front of other customers.
I find it interesting that everyone is making excuses for this obviously subpar cashier. I would think that anyone who truly took pride in their job would agree that this kind of behavior was unacceptable and that the vast majority of Kroger employees were better, nicer, friendlier than this woman and her manager were.

Then it's quite obvious that this woman is the problem. Not the store itself. You are absolutely right, she sounds like a subpar employee. Come visit my store sometime. It is always clean, everyone is friendly, and our cashiers are quick and friendly. Everyone will help. Our OSAT scores and customer comments speak for themselves. It's the PEOPLE within the store that make the store. Unfortunately, the one you go to just has some bad seeds. I would never make an excuse for a cashier (or anyone) who was not doing their job to the best of their ability. Quite frankly, over 75% of the people working retail should NOT be working retail. They don't have the customer skills, patience or the demeanor for it. Unfortunately, a lot of those ones are on the front lines because those are the places that will hire them. It sucks, but that's how it is.

I love my job. I love the people I work with, and I intend to advance in this company. I don't believe that every single person has bad mouthed this company. Every company has it's low points and it's high points. At the end of the day, sometimes it's easier to see the sh*t in the litter box.

techelite · Guru

Anonymous wrote:
and because the guy is black, you are now continueing to compare him to some black guy somewhere in another city who at some point wrote a bad check.
You are racist, techlite, and you're so stupid that you don't realize that the more you try to deny it the more racist you show yourself to be.

You know, something doesn't have to be politically correct to say in order for it to be something that is more than satisfactory. I said that what often happens is never racist, though it may appear to you to be. Which doesn't matter. If your opinion actually mattered, the employee would have consulted you on what was an appropriate action for the situation. But she didn't. Hmm, I wonder why...

And there you go again, willfully misinterpreting what I said. In this case the person happened to be black, but this situation could have easily been someone of any race, ethnicity, gender, size, shape, etc and it would have played out exactly the same... EXCEPT for your reaction to things. As so often happens, race isn't a part of the issue til someone like you has to go and start accusing people of being racist.

Date: Feb 5, 2013

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, I have room to judge because THE CASHIER WAS THE ONE WHO MADE IT INTO A SCENE, by yelling at the customer who was at the other side of the checkout area.
With that said, when I complained, she should have apologized to me instead of agreeing that she was being rude. Yes, I told her she was rude and that I was offended and she said "OK, I'll take that".
And yes, I have shopped at Kroger every week for the last 5 years. I have had many interactions with all levels of Kroger employees, and this is the first time that I have witnessed anything so offensive from any of them.
Yes, I thought this store's employees were a bit ruder than the other stores. It was very difficult getting information from the kid at the deli counter about the hot wings he had in his case. It was like pulling teeth to get him to explain which flavors they were, which ones were sold by the pound vs. which ones were sold by the piece. The deli guys/gals at the other Kroger stores I go to seem to have fun with their jobs and joke and tease with me when I go there. And they, and the other Kroger employees that I have seen at other stores regularly for years are the reason that I am not going to say that I will never shop at Kroger again.
But when people, like this cashier and this manager, deeply offend me and then openly state that they don't care that I am offended, then something is wrong. And it is also wrong that you and other Kroger employees on this forum continually try to excuse the inexcusable.

You CANNOT say you have never done anything that didn't offend anyone and you thought was no big deal. Or you didn't care because of some reason or another, like a recently deceased family member or you are currently in a battle with an ex to keep her kids. You don't know her life. You have no room to judge her. Nor did you HAVE to pay attention. You have the ability to tune other people out.

Kroger doesn't judge employee performance by their customer service skills. They judge them based on how fast they are at the register. They don't care about whether an employee is disrespectful or the nicest person in the world. The fastest cashier is the one who will be promoted.That's how retail works.

If you don't like it, shop somewhere else. Nobody is forcing you to shop there.

4hourrush · Guru

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As for th whole racist thing, it's my experiance that blacks usually start up the race card first. Not trying to offend anyone, that's just how it is around here.

I have to disagree. It's usually people like the raging commenter bringing up the race card. White people bring up racial discrimination more than black people, imo.