WARNING: LONG RANT I can't stand working here anymore. Im a bagger at one of the biggest krogers in my area, Ive been bagging there for 8 months now. It was my first job, I got it when I was 14. I absolutley HATEclocking in. Seriously, my store is crazy. At my store, a customer is ALWAYS, regardless of time or day, unloading their groceries into your line. There are many days where you clock in, do nothing but literally non stop bag groceries until your break, and then non stop bag groceries until you clock out. I'm not exaggerating when I say non stop, I really mean that there is literally NEVER a second that you are not putting groceries into a bag or putting them in a cart. Like you cant even take a breather or relax for a second. It's not even like we are understaffed, some days we're overstaffed and we have 2 people bagging groceries on a lane. Then, if you dont have to bag groceries, you get thrown into doing the thousands of go-backs we have piling up. Also, its not like we just never do them, we actually do them pretty fast, its our extremely indecisive customers that cause us to literally have jobs to deal with go-backs and go-backs only. I'd say we on an average Saturday/Sunday have about 7-8 full big carts of go-backs, and I WISH they were always filled with big items like paper towels or soda, but no that would be to easy and make our lives easier. Instead, we have about 1000 small items packed into one cart. No lets say theres people working on go-backs and the lanes are covered. Well, time to change every trashcan in the store! And lets just pretend, that we have that done, and this is assuming the parking lot isnt overflowing with **** tons of tiny carts (which are an entirely different rant, even though its probably the best part of my day bringing them in and not being hassled, those ****ers dont turn), then you get to either clean the bathrooms, do a store sweep, or do special task. Now besides the Bagging/Go-Backs, it doesn't sound that bad. Nope, maybe not when I started, but not now. Now a days in my store everything has some meaningless work to go with it, say you want to do a store sweep. Well you have to clock in for the store sweep, then sign the sweep log and write the time and date, then do an at least 20 minute long sweep, then clock out for the sweep, then write the time you came back, then hunt down a manager to sign it for you. All that, just to push a big red broom around the store for 20 mins. Now lets say you wanna be a good little bag boy, so you clean the bathrooms. Well, now you have to clock in to do that (You know, click sweep then scroll down to bathroom), then write the time and date on the bathroom cleaning log, then clean the bathroom, then get every single bathroom cleaning log from all the bathrooms you cleaned and record the time you finished, then hunt down a manager to sign it, then finally check off that the bathroom was cleaned by so and so time that day (I think its like 8:00am, 10:00am, and noon). Why cant my boss just tell me what to do, and then let me do it, or GOD FORBID just let me do my job without a manager down my throat or some log that needs to be filled. Most of the time, I have to ASK to go out into the parking lot to take in the carts, and do you know why I have to ask? Because the managers wont send anyone until there are literally no carts left and a customer complains. So obviously a 15 year old making $7.25/hour cares more about our store, seriously how hard is it to look outside when the ENTIRE front part of the store is a WINDOW and your desks are RIGHT in front of it! I honestly think that I, a 15 year old bag boy, could be a front end supervisor and get more done than most of them. The hardest part of their job is accounting, but I'm in algebra, if anything I would be more practiced at that kind of stuff (Which probably sounds ****y but I'm pretty sure it can't be that hard, I mean the computer training I did was completely retard proof). And why the hell does everything in the back have a label? For christs sake, one of the doors says "door"! Kroger has taught me one thing though, the quality or quantity of your work doesn't get you anything except for more work. I cant wait to quit, and Im DREADING my 7:30am shift tommorow. Am I just complaining about nothing, or is every kroger like that? Because if every kroger is like that, I honestly DO NOT KNOW how we are still in business, probably just because of gas and WIC (Dont even get me started on WIC, most of the people who use it abuse it). I wish I quit a month or two ago, all the summer jobs are being filled up so im probably stuck in this hell hole for the entire summer. Sorry for the rant but I've been bottling it up for a while.
They should promote you. Does your store not have "utility clerks"? Basically the janitors of the store. They do the store sweeps, bathroom cleaning, recycle center or bottle room if your state does bottle deposits, other completely random cleaning tasks micromanagers might think of Ect ect. They are called to bag and get carts when no one else is avilable. (ha) And dont get me started on everything in the backroom having a label. It's called key retailing. If you want more information ask your manager... I'm sure they will be delighted to tell you more!
my store isn't huge so it's not like that. despite that, we end up short staffed. we're told the paper logs will eventually go away and we'll do everything by clocking in and out.
I used to care. I work with people that used to care. Now? I and others really don't nearly as much because, as you said, it's the employees that sometimes care more about the store than management/corporate, which are far more concerned with minimizing expenses while maximizing profits. Thus, we find it hard to care as much as they say we should since we aren't appreciated or rewarded and are concerns/ideas aren't considered despite being outright praised sometimes.
Despite the terrible pay and stress associated with not having enough help to actually serve the customers, some days are fun, enjoyable days (because of my co-workers and some customers) while others leave me filling out applications for elsewhere - not that it does me any good due to the state of the economy/the new business mentality to get by with less people by pushing the existing employees to do twice or three times the work.
I used to care. I work with people that used to care. Now? I and others really don't nearly as much because, as you said, it's the employees that sometimes care more about the store than management/corporate, which are far more concerned with minimizing expenses while maximizing profits. Thus, we find it hard to care as much as they say we should since we aren't appreciated or rewarded and are concerns/ideas aren't considered despite being outright praised sometimes.
Despite the terrible pay and stress associated with not having enough help to actually serve the customers, some days are fun, enjoyable days (because of my co-workers and some customers) while others leave me filling out applications for elsewhere - not that it does me any good due to the state of the economy/the new business mentality to get by with less people by pushing the existing employees to do twice or three times the work.
God, I know! The only people in the store that get away with doing a single job are the cashiers! Every time I work Grocery, Dairy, Bagger, DSD, or GM I'm piled on with work that is expected to get done while doing 6 or 7 other things that also need to get done. It's a huge clusterf**k. I really enjoyed working the first year but the second year I stopped caring as much and gained an attitude of "screw it, it gets done if it gets done" and it's gotten easier. I use to be the one everyone went to to get things done and got all the work dumped on me because of it. I had a department head actually tell me "We're giving you the work because everyone else is lazy" When I told him it was unfair I knew it was over because he didn't have a response. I stopped caring.
It's the only way to get by in this place. Without killing yourself that is.
__________________
Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
customer service douchebags, cashiers who care way too much about their ring tender and will start the next order when im backed up to the brim, managers who see me as a bagger not a human, customers who 1. dont want me to ask how they prefer their groceries bagged 2. get mad when i cant read their mind, 7.50 a hour, the managers favorites that can wear victorias secret yoga pants or jeans and get away with it while i cant even have my shirt untucked for a minute when it got messsed up from carts
I'm pretty cynical after working at the post office but so far it seems like Kroger management cares more about the customer having a good experience and they know that means that the employees have to be somewhat happy. Post office supervisors didn't give a ***t about customers OR employees.
I used to care. I work with people that used to care. Now? I and others really don't nearly as much because, as you said, it's the employees that sometimes care more about the store than management/corporate, which are far more concerned with minimizing expenses while maximizing profits. Thus, we find it hard to care as much as they say we should since we aren't appreciated or rewarded and are concerns/ideas aren't considered despite being outright praised sometimes.
Despite the terrible pay and stress associated with not having enough help to actually serve the customers, some days are fun, enjoyable days (because of my co-workers and some customers) while others leave me filling out applications for elsewhere - not that it does me any good due to the state of the economy/the new business mentality to get by with less people by pushing the existing employees to do twice or three times the work.
God, I know! The only people in the store that get away with doing a single job are the cashiers! Every time I work Grocery, Dairy, Bagger, DSD, or GM I'm piled on with work that is expected to get done while doing 6 or 7 other things that also need to get done. It's a huge clusterf**k. I really enjoyed working the first year but the second year I stopped caring as much and gained an attitude of "screw it, it gets done if it gets done" and it's gotten easier. I use to be the one everyone went to to get things done and got all the work dumped on me because of it. I had a department head actually tell me "We're giving you the work because everyone else is lazy" When I told him it was unfair I knew it was over because he didn't have a response. I stopped caring.
It's the only way to get by in this place. Without killing yourself that is
Yeah Ive always said i do all the work for half the pay and half the hours. When I work a four hour shift its normal for me too give three breaks. Fuel, Cashier, Uscan. And I am a dairy clerk. No one else wants too do jack crap in that store so they make me do it all. Then tell me my department looks like sh*t. Plus we have a manager who makes excuses too why he cannot do anything.. I never knew a manager could not clean a spill run a registar or collect carts becuase its not in your job title. All you can do is sit on your a$$ and boss me around because your a blue badge. Because the way I look at it... If you got hands a brain and feet you should be using them and not be making excuses too why you cannot do it. If everyone helped one another out and worked as a TEAM it would make everything smother. But the front end is priority and everyone else can shove it as far as management is conserned at my store. They tend too forget that the customers come for products that are stocked by employees who don't have time too play cashier.
The things I don't like about working at Kroger are Key Retailing and ELMS. I understand that they are trying to adopt a "Customer First" approach, but they are doing it all wrong.
ELMS forces you to rush the customer's order (and the customer) to make 95%. Not every customer is the same. Not everyone is in a hurry. Some of them just want a nice friendly cashier who is able to chat with them for a minute.
When "blue-lining", sometimes it's hard for the customer to tell whether you are in a checklane or not. Sometimes they just walk off before you are able to tell them.
I do think that Queuing is a great idea, although it need not be electronically monitored. Just an alert supervisor "blue-lining" and directing customers to the fastest lanes.
We get great pay and benefits, but they could be better with the amount of union dues that are taken out of our paycheck each week.
The things that I do like about Kroger are the atmosphere, the people, and the customers. The people make the store, in my opinion. :)
Overall, I think that Kroger is a good place to work and would be a great place to work if they just toned down the electronic management.
I guess I'm one of the rare ones, but I really enjoy my job. Granted, I'm only a cashier, but I really like most of the people I work with. The pay isn't that great (I make $7.45/hour), but I'm sure it'll get better.
As far as the hours go, I get plenty of hours. There are some weeks I start out at 16 hours, but I usually end up with 30-32 hours for the week because there is always somebody that calls out sick and I'm happy to cover their shift if I can. I think of it as extra money, so I have never refused extra hours.
I've been training for Floor Supervisor, and if one of them can't work, I cover for them too. Same goes with Guest Care and Self Checkout. I'm also supposed to start training for morning accounting soon.
I guess this means they have some faith in me, and my managers think I'm a great worker. I plan to make this a career eventually. Maybe I got lucky and my store is one of the few good ones.
I'm thankful to have a job, and I give it everything I've got when I go to work.
__________________
My posts on this site are mine and don't necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Kroger Co. family of stores.
I guess I'm one of the rare ones, but I really enjoy my job. Granted, I'm only a cashier, but I really like most of the people I work with. The pay isn't that great (I make $7.45/hour), but I'm sure it'll get better.
I guess I'm one of the rare ones, but I really enjoy my job. Granted, I'm only a cashier, but I really like most of the people I work with. The pay isn't that great (I make $7.45/hour), but I'm sure it'll get better.
As far as the hours go, I get plenty of hours. There are some weeks I start out at 16 hours, but I usually end up with 30-32 hours for the week because there is always somebody that calls out sick and I'm happy to cover their shift if I can. I think of it as extra money, so I have never refused extra hours.
I've been training for Floor Supervisor, and if one of them can't work, I cover for them too. Same goes with Guest Care and Self Checkout. I'm also supposed to start training for morning accounting soon.
I guess this means they have some faith in me, and my managers think I'm a great worker. I plan to make this a career eventually. Maybe I got lucky and my store is one of the few good ones.
I'm thankful to have a job, and I give it everything I've got when I go to work.
I'm glad for you. There's something wrong with every job and complaining is a way to blow off steam. But it's nice to hear from someone who is having a good experience. Sometimes it's not the job that's the problem, though, but the way we handle it. Sounds like you have a positive attitude.
I've only been here 8 months now, so my opinion will probably change the longer I work here. But for right now, I like my job.
That's pretty good. I'm feeling negative after one week. But maybe that's because I'm new? (I hope!)
I know how you feel. I felt that way when I started, too. My training wasn't great and I learned as I went along. But as you get more experience, you will get faster and more comfortable. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and try to learn everything else (Self Checkout, Supervisor, Guest Care, etc). This will make you more valuable and they will give you more hours and call you in more when needed.
__________________
My posts on this site are mine and don't necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Kroger Co. family of stores.
I've only been here 8 months now, so my opinion will probably change the longer I work here. But for right now, I like my job.
That's pretty good. I'm feeling negative after one week. But maybe that's because I'm new? (I hope!)
I know how you feel. I felt that way when I started, too. My training wasn't great and I learned as I went along. But as you get more experience, you will get faster and more comfortable. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and try to learn everything else (Self Checkout, Supervisor, Guest Care, etc). This will make you more valuable and they will give you more hours and call you in more when needed.
I'm feeling fractionally better as I finish up my first full week. The feedback I get from other employees like you has been a lifeline. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
$7.25/hr for bagging, cleaning, collecting carts, and any other dumb work the manager can think of is great pay? Baggers get the crap end of the stick
Because everyone starts off as a bagger. If you just pay every kid you hire off the street $9/hr then you're going to lose money and they will not care about working hard to move up to something else. If it's been more than about 9 months and you're still a bagger (not by choice) then your pissy attitude is probaby reflected in your work.
I like it most of the time. There are times where I want to pull my hair out at the incompetence and lack of regard from others but the job itself I enjoy. Keep in mind, I work in a small store(~100 total employees). Personally, I've never experienced a situation where a hard working individual with a good attitude goes unnoticed.
Then again, I've never worked on the front end, nor have any desire to. It's just not my type of thing. I derive my satisfaction from managing inventories, forecasting sales, and teaching others.
I hate Kroger!!! I'd be safe to guess that 99 % of the employees in our store feel the same way! I have 21 years with the company and its worse now than it's ever been! We are treated like crap, timed on every task we do and are doing the jobs that it used to have 3 people do. I make a whopping 12.20 an hour after all of those years. Yup I hate it and can't wait to retire.
-- Edited by cupcake maker on Sunday 19th of October 2014 01:11:25 PM
I made $7.75 as a cashier even though I have 16 years of customer service experience. Apparently that doesn't count for ****--or maybe others with less experience were getting paid even less than I was.
When I interviewed I was asked if I wanted full or part-time. They didn't tell me that part-time was 35 hours a week. It was way more than I wanted. But that's not the main reason I quit. I wasn't really trained, just put on the register with a few short instructions about how to sign in, etc. Every time something new came up, like how to do WIC or correct scanning mistakes, I had to call a supervisor, and a lot of times it took one a while to get to me. My customers got upset because I didn't know how to do stuff and I took so long. One customer told me that I was the slowest clerk he had ever had. When I told him I was new, he said, "Well, it sure shows." Granted, he was an *******, but my point is, I was set up for situations like that by not being trained properly.
The pressure to be fast was intense. I was told after my first day that I had to work on my speed.
I should have had a supervisor/trainer by my side for a few hours at first, until I'd been shown everything I needed to know. I felt so unprepared that I got flustered and started obsessing about how bad a job I was doing. I quit after a month and when I quit, even though I gave plenty of notice, the hiring manager told me that I would never be able to work at a Kroger again. It's probably just as well, but it made me feel like I did something horribly wrong.
Even though I had a bad experience, I don't think Kroger is a terrible employer. They're not doing anything much different than most employers are doing: try to get as much work out of as few people at the lowest pay possible--oh, and don't give benefits for anything less than 40 hours a week (even if it's 39). I did enjoy the people I worked with (you tend to bond with others when you're all in a crap situation). And I liked working with the public (usually).
But there's definitely room for improvement and I don't see that coming any time soon in this economic climate.
I made $7.75 as a cashier even though I have 16 years of customer service experience. Apparently that doesn't count for ****--or maybe others with less experience were getting paid even less than I was.
When I interviewed I was asked if I wanted full or part-time. They didn't tell me that part-time was 35 hours a week. It was way more than I wanted. But that's not the main reason I quit. I wasn't really trained, just put on the register with a few short instructions about how to sign in, etc. Every time something new came up, like how to do WIC or correct scanning mistakes, I had to call a supervisor, and a lot of times it took one a while to get to me. My customers got upset because I didn't know how to do stuff and I took so long. One customer told me that I was the slowest clerk he had ever had. When I told him I was new, he said, "Well, it sure shows." Granted, he was an *******, but my point is, I was set up for situations like that by not being trained properly.
The pressure to be fast was intense. I was told after my first day that I had to work on my speed.
I should have had a supervisor/trainer by my side for a few hours at first, until I'd been shown everything I needed to know. I felt so unprepared that I got flustered and started obsessing about how bad a job I was doing. I quit after a month and when I quit, even though I gave plenty of notice, the hiring manager told me that I would never be able to work at a Kroger again. It's probably just as well, but it made me feel like I did something horribly wrong.
Even though I had a bad experience, I don't think Kroger is a terrible employer. They're not doing anything much different than most employers are doing: try to get as much work out of as few people at the lowest pay possible--oh, and don't give benefits for anything less than 40 hours a week (even if it's 39). I did enjoy the people I worked with (you tend to bond with others when you're all in a crap situation). And I liked working with the public (usually).
But there's definitely room for improvement and I don't see that coming any time soon in this economic climate.
A few things are fundamentally wrong with this...
1. No way in hell would Kroger offer any cashier full time at the start.
2. Part time is rarely more than 28 hours. 35 may as well be full time.
3. At my store the pressure to be fast is CLEARLY nonexistent. Friendliness is now more important.
4. An HR manager at Kroger cannot blacklist you for acting professionally as you did about quitting. You could grieve that.
In my division 35 hours would get you status 3, which while doesn't give you full time, gives you better hours and qualifies you for insurance. I have insurance at 28 hours a week and its only $6 a week so they're wrong on the benefits.
And if you only worked there for a month how the hell did you "give ample time" for quitting, you told them you're quitting after 2 weeks? Well then no sh** of course they don't want to rehire you.
And yeah there's no way she was offered full time at the start. That story doesn't add up.
I made $7.75 as a cashier even though I have 16 years of customer service experience. Apparently that doesn't count for ****--or maybe others with less experience were getting paid even less than I was.
When I interviewed I was asked if I wanted full or part-time. They didn't tell me that part-time was 35 hours a week. It was way more than I wanted. But that's not the main reason I quit. I wasn't really trained, just put on the register with a few short instructions about how to sign in, etc. Every time something new came up, like how to do WIC or correct scanning mistakes, I had to call a supervisor, and a lot of times it took one a while to get to me. My customers got upset because I didn't know how to do stuff and I took so long. One customer told me that I was the slowest clerk he had ever had. When I told him I was new, he said, "Well, it sure shows." Granted, he was an *******, but my point is, I was set up for situations like that by not being trained properly.
The pressure to be fast was intense. I was told after my first day that I had to work on my speed.
I should have had a supervisor/trainer by my side for a few hours at first, until I'd been shown everything I needed to know. I felt so unprepared that I got flustered and started obsessing about how bad a job I was doing. I quit after a month and when I quit, even though I gave plenty of notice, the hiring manager told me that I would never be able to work at a Kroger again. It's probably just as well, but it made me feel like I did something horribly wrong.
Even though I had a bad experience, I don't think Kroger is a terrible employer. They're not doing anything much different than most employers are doing: try to get as much work out of as few people at the lowest pay possible--oh, and don't give benefits for anything less than 40 hours a week (even if it's 39). I did enjoy the people I worked with (you tend to bond with others when you're all in a crap situation). And I liked working with the public (usually).
But there's definitely room for improvement and I don't see that coming any time soon in this economic climate.
A few things are fundamentally wrong with this...
1. No way in hell would Kroger offer any cashier full time at the start.
2. Part time is rarely more than 28 hours. 35 may as well be full time.
3. At my store the pressure to be fast is CLEARLY nonexistent. Friendliness is now more important.
4. An HR manager at Kroger cannot blacklist you for acting professionally as you did about quitting. You could grieve that.
5.You LIKE working with the public???
I didn't say I was offered full-time. She just asked me which I wanted and then told me that all they hire is part-time. Fair enough. But she didn't tell me that part-time could be over 30 hours a week (and was, for me, every week I worked). I wanted to tell them that I didn't want that many hours, but I was afraid they'd let me go if I didn't keep up. As it turned out, I quit anyway.
I was definitely pressured to be fast. They even kept stats on how fast you were.
I understand that the hiring manager was peeved with me. Maybe I should have discussed my concerns with her before I quit. But what was I going to say, "I'm having trouble keeping up?"
The whole experience shook me up because it made me feel like I just couldn't cut it. I worked for 16 years at the post office, 12 of them as a window clerk at a busy station, so I thought I was prepared for pressure and tough customers. But as bad as the post office was, at least we were thoroughly trained. Maybe it was just the store I was working at, but I thought they really dropped the ball on the training.
The whole experience shook me up because it made me feel like I just couldn't cut it. I worked for 16 years at the post office, 12 of them as a window clerk at a busy station, so I thought I was prepared for pressure and tough customers. But as bad as the post office was, at least we were thoroughly trained. Maybe it was just the store I was working at, but I thought they really dropped the ball on the training.
Kroger has a poor company-wide problem on training. I was basically given videos to watch on a computer screen. The courtesy clerk who trained me as a courtesy clerk was helpful. But I had to learn on my own where everything was at in the store, such as damaged areas for grocery, dairy, etc. Shortly after starting I asked to watch videos on bagging again and was told that I should have already learned it through the video. That I was learning hands-on. The first night I had to clear the parking lot at "closing" (we are 24/7) I went out on a Sunday night at 10 p.m. I finished around 11:30 p.m. As I gradually went into weeks, months of working there, I still had to learn which shelves were grocery, which area was expanded kitchen, which was dairy, drug/GM, etc.
All of that on my own. Although my job does not include it, I have never been shown how to work the bailer. It seems pretty self-explanatory though. I also don't know how to use the intercom system through our phones and I've been there eight months. I at least know how to use one register phone to call another register.
Kroger is very poor on making sure its new hires get proper training. Some of the areas should go up to a week of training. Kroger prefers it to be days, if not hours, all in the name of saving time and labor. Company hates it going longer because the longer a person is trained the more hours they have to get which means less money Kroger makes, since it has to give it to employees through paychecks.
It doesn't help that the management is not always the best. My Front End Manager is a total bi-tc-h. She is a stubborn, know-it-all, "I-know-more-than-you-so-I-can-always-find-something-wrong-with-what-you-are-doing" person. I wouldn't say she has a type A or type B personality. More like type Z because she would say the other 25 letters in the alphabet don't matter.
So unless you get a good manager that tries to take the time to show you where grocery damages go, or how two-liters should always be double-bagged if you put two of them in one bag (MY Front End Manager would just put them in one bag and if the bag breaks claim it as something else). The little things like that. I remember being frustrated about three or four months ago because a new courtesy clerk didn't know where dairy damages went and I ended up having to take something to there. Well if that person had been told that during training or at least shown it in person...
You are not alone. You will never be alone. this is a soul-less corporation that puts profit as the bottom line. It's like living in ABC's television series Shark Tank 24/7. Sometimes it's like you fell into a wormhole and landed in a Dilbert comic strip. It's all about getting the most dollars possible with providing the least amount of labor for the most amount of work. Your Front End will never have enough courtesy clerks. Your deli staff will be pressured to work the register nearby despite having their usual tasks. Your floral, your dairy, even your produce and deli will be called up to bag because a computer, not a human being, made the week's schedule for Front End. The cashiers will be pressured to speed up due to ELMS and the courtesy clerks will be pressured to bag faster due to Que Vision. Your Front End floor supervisors will be pressured to open up registers to avoid "dips." Your stockers will be told to go faster despite having pallet after pallet in line to go onto the shelf.
And much of this takes place due to the fact that Kroger does not put enough effort or energy or time into proper training. They make videos. Those are the company's holy grails. If you watch the video you are expected to be the robot from the Short Circuit movie or the alien from Star Trek and absorb the information instantly. It's like The Matrix. You watch the video so the information should be in your head and you should be able to do the job perfectly almost immediately or the first time.
And all in the name of cascading pressures from micromanagement, attempts to save money on the bottom line and the fact that the company as a whole has such a dramatic turn-over rate due to things like this, low pay, few incentives and poorly-dolled out management.
Don't fret. You aren't alone and you never will be alone as long as you work at Kroger.
The whole experience shook me up because it made me feel like I just couldn't cut it. I worked for 16 years at the post office, 12 of them as a window clerk at a busy station, so I thought I was prepared for pressure and tough customers. But as bad as the post office was, at least we were thoroughly trained. Maybe it was just the store I was working at, but I thought they really dropped the ball on the training.
Kroger has a poor company-wide problem on training. I was basically given videos to watch on a computer screen. The courtesy clerk who trained me as a courtesy clerk was helpful. But I had to learn on my own where everything was at in the store, such as damaged areas for grocery, dairy, etc. Shortly after starting I asked to watch videos on bagging again and was told that I should have already learned it through the video. That I was learning hands-on. The first night I had to clear the parking lot at "closing" (we are 24/7) I went out on a Sunday night at 10 p.m. I finished around 11:30 p.m. As I gradually went into weeks, months of working there, I still had to learn which shelves were grocery, which area was expanded kitchen, which was dairy, drug/GM, etc.
All of that on my own. Although my job does not include it, I have never been shown how to work the bailer. It seems pretty self-explanatory though. I also don't know how to use the intercom system through our phones and I've been there eight months. I at least know how to use one register phone to call another register.
Kroger is very poor on making sure its new hires get proper training. Some of the areas should go up to a week of training. Kroger prefers it to be days, if not hours, all in the name of saving time and labor. Company hates it going longer because the longer a person is trained the more hours they have to get which means less money Kroger makes, since it has to give it to employees through paychecks.
It doesn't help that the management is not always the best. My Front End Manager is a total bi-tc-h. She is a stubborn, know-it-all, "I-know-more-than-you-so-I-can-always-find-something-wrong-with-what-you-are-doing" person. I wouldn't say she has a type A or type B personality. More like type Z because she would say the other 25 letters in the alphabet don't matter.
So unless you get a good manager that tries to take the time to show you where grocery damages go, or how two-liters should always be double-bagged if you put two of them in one bag (MY Front End Manager would just put them in one bag and if the bag breaks claim it as something else). The little things like that. I remember being frustrated about three or four months ago because a new courtesy clerk didn't know where dairy damages went and I ended up having to take something to there. Well if that person had been told that during training or at least shown it in person...
You are not alone. You will never be alone. this is a soul-less corporation that puts profit as the bottom line. It's like living in ABC's television series Shark Tank 24/7. Sometimes it's like you fell into a wormhole and landed in a Dilbert comic strip. It's all about getting the most dollars possible with providing the least amount of labor for the most amount of work. Your Front End will never have enough courtesy clerks. Your deli staff will be pressured to work the register nearby despite having their usual tasks. Your floral, your dairy, even your produce and deli will be called up to bag because a computer, not a human being, made the week's schedule for Front End. The cashiers will be pressured to speed up due to ELMS and the courtesy clerks will be pressured to bag faster due to Que Vision. Your Front End floor supervisors will be pressured to open up registers to avoid "dips." Your stockers will be told to go faster despite having pallet after pallet in line to go onto the shelf.
And much of this takes place due to the fact that Kroger does not put enough effort or energy or time into proper training. They make videos. Those are the company's holy grails. If you watch the video you are expected to be the robot from the Short Circuit movie or the alien from Star Trek and absorb the information instantly. It's like The Matrix. You watch the video so the information should be in your head and you should be able to do the job perfectly almost immediately or the first time.
And all in the name of cascading pressures from micromanagement, attempts to save money on the bottom line and the fact that the company as a whole has such a dramatic turn-over rate due to things like this, low pay, few incentives and poorly-dolled out management.
Don't fret. You aren't alone and you never will be alone as long as you work at Kroger.
Yes training is just a word for this company, if your lucky you will get a person that will actually show you what to do for your position. Majority of the time you thrown onto the floor.....and the majority walk out/leave afterwards!
Only if u like to work non stop for crappy pay and poor staffing. KROGER COULD FIX THIS IF THEY CHOSE TO!! But they obviously would rather spend a lot of money on recruiting and training new staff than pay their employees a fair wage in order to keep them.
We have this one Utility clerk who'se great st his job. He literally IGNORES ALL calls up front to bag and for lot duty. Our store is pretty clean. You'd think ec3yone would be happy right? Wrong!! I guess ignoring calls up front is a deadly blaphmesous sin in Kroger eyes. The words Thank you? What is this 'Thank you' you speak of, and what does it mean?
I have to say, for being a 15 year old, you have excellent spelling and grammar skills. Kudos! Some of your complaint is a bit silly. Welcome to a lot of jobs. Unless you're on break or lunch, you'll be nonstop working. Your breaks and lunch are the times you get to take a breather. Lie and say you have to run to the bathroom if you just need a minute to relax. The pay does stink for employees your age normally. They're getting ready to start having a minimum $10 starting pay, although that might just be in my area. I'm not sure.
