So the zone mgr. visited our store and decided to join in the huddle. We had already been standing there for over 20 minutes listening to the co-mgr. rant on about OSAT, Key retailing, overtime, low sales, cao problems, etc. Now the Zone mgr. and the meat dept. mgr get into a long discussion about their right to own firearms and how the "man" will have to "pry my gun from my cold, dead fingers", and on , and on.....for another 15 minutes.
Then the Zone mgr.. started his tour of the store. When he got to my dept. (produce) he asked if I would have the green rack full by deadline in a little less than 1 hour. I looked around the dept., and told I didn't think so. MISTAKE! Never, I repeat, never tell a manger the truth. You must intuitively know what the manager wants to hear and parrot it back to them. Say something like "Oh yes your worshipful zone manager sir (ma'am) the green rack will be full & fresh before the deadline, I promise, please don't beat me". Never mind that I was all by myself in the dept. all morning; never mind that I wasted a half hour of huddle time and listening to his 2nd Amendment ranting.
Anyway, after asking me at least 3 times what the problem was, I decided to end the conversation by saying that I didn't know what the problems was or how to fix it, and then I just shut up and stared at him. He finally just walked away. Two days later the Zone mgr. sends in his lackey/toady the produce market mgr. He arrives right at the 10 AM deadline for full & fresh. He told me the condition of the green rack was unacceptable...too many holes. I pointed out that almost all the holes were the result of new produce dept. mgr. having failed to order properly (as a point of interest...my new dept. mgr. came from the overnight stocking crew, having no supervisory or ordering or perishable experience at all....and everyone else in the store the manager having asked to take the job refusing). Too bad he hadn't visited the day before when I had the green rack done an hour early.
Next day the store mgr. came into the dept. at about 8:30 AM and complimented me on how good the green rack looked...she seemed surprised. I told her my job goes a lot faster when all the other dept. staff do their jobs the way they are supposed to, in spite of what athe zone mgr. has told her in his e-mail rocket that I assume she had received. Later that day I was called to her ofdfice & advised that she was making a staffing change in the produce dept. & I would be re-assigned as a bagger. I had to chuckle about it & said that obviously I was being punished for having failed to lie to the zone mgr. and worse, telling him the truth. She admitted that was the case. She admitted that she had no input in the changes...she was ordered to do it...in spite of having complimented me just that same morning about the green rack. I pointed out that I was going to be a pretty expensive bagger, and wasn't that going to really screw up her labor budget for the front end. She reluctantly admitted so. All through this conversation she was obviously very nervous and kept telling me khow badly she felt about it all. I finally reached across the desk, patted her on the hand and told her not to be nervous, calm down and everything would be OK.
I've been a bagger now for about 3 weeks. The produce dept. is now on the 2nd person to replace me...the 1st one lasting 2 weeks. Like every job, being a bagger has its good & bad aspects. But I've noticed that the pinched nerve in my neck is getting better and the tingling & numbness in my fingers has almost disappeared. Haven't had a backache for weeks. And I could care less when or if the truck arrives. I'm still at top pay scale and I have the most seniority of any of the baggers. On the negative side, the head front end supervisor and her assistant are like little nazis, but I'm not intimidated by them...they know it really pisses them off. So, all in all, I consider my punishment to be promotion....same pay, easier work. Sooner or later they'll ask me to come back to produce....their OSAT is in the toilet, beginning with when the new mgr. took over and getting worse in the 3 weeks since I've left....none of the staff knows anything about produce....the most senior employee is about 8 months....but I think I'll just stick with being a bagger. Management dug the hole they find themselves in now, I think I'll just let them pull the dirt in on top of themselves.
I'm serious; baggers get a single raise of 5 cents. No one else gets it. Both of you should apologize and bow before my feet.
Nah, I'm good. You're either not serious, or dead wrong. If it were the case that baggers get a raise after 6 months and nobody else does, there would be nobody working in any other position/dept more than about 6 months and 1 week. After that this is roughly what would happen:
"what do you mean, i'm working in a semi-skilled department and i got no raise after 6 months, but a ()&%@!@$#&*% bagger gets one after 6 months? F@%& this, i quit!"
at which point they would hire someone else and the 6-month-and-1-week cycle would begin again.
Everyone gets paid the same. Bagging's just an easier job. So you're probably just seeing seasoned employees that have gotten wise. Naturally, they get paid more because of seniority.
I'm glad you like your new position but can the zone manager really even do that? I mean, I guess they can do anything they want but couldn't you have fought it with the union if you had wanted to?
And I thought we've been through this before, that baggers that are courtesy clerks do not get raises. At least not on the same scale as department employees. So there's no way baggers are making more than someone in another department.
Yes, I probably could have fought my forced transfer to bagger, and won. But I was toldthat it would be a temporary situation, and I looked at it as a kind of vacation. Now I'm glad it happened. I'm not a young man (over 60) and I didn't realize how all the heavy lifting was beating up my body. Low back pain, ankle, knee & hip pain, pinched nerve...every day. Now, almost all of that is gone. As for pay, I was at the top of scale after working at Kroger, in produce, for just over 3 years. According to the union rep, our next raise will go into effect on 2/24 and I will get 35 cents/hour....putting me at $11.85/hour. Not bad for a bagger at a country store in the foothills of the Arkansas Ozarks! This entire situation was nothing more than a power play by an egotistical, arrogant & over-bearing zone mgr., forced on my store mgr. against her wishes, in order to put me in my place. But, this is door that swings both ways. He got what he wanted, but I actually came out the winner. Too bad, so sad zone mgr.
For some time here in the Local 700, full time baggers were getting grocery clerk pay. In the past 1-2years the employees were given the decision to be a grocery clerk and keep your current pay or continue as a bagger and have you pay cut 3-4 dollars an hour.
