I was wondering if there was a specific way to get carts, I only ask because management seems to have an issue with my way .
courtesy clerk in texas: worked at kroger for 7-8months
They called me in to ride about how I was bringing in carts. For some reason, if they see you holding only one cart, they assume that's all you do.
How I collect carts; first I get the big amounts out of the corrals(we have about 12 of those),
then I pick up the strays that people leave lying around when they're too lazy to get to a corral,
and I even go up to customers that seem to have finished with their cart and ask if I can take it for them.
This actually brings in a lot of carts fairly quickly.
They happened to see me from the cameras collecting some strays that were close to the doors, one at a time.
I was also talking to the lady we had outside doing samples of ribs, seeing if she needed anything like more foil or plates trash taken, etc.
I don't know why but they seemed to see this as a huge issue and told me they were giving me a verbal warning and I should have learned how to collect carts by now.
(my first day: cleared the lot without being asked; 30 minutes after getting in trouble: brought in 96 carts in less than 15 min.)
what do these people want from me :( ?!
I did post this previously on another thread, but I am really looking for ways to avoid this kind of problem, at least until I've stuck out a year and have made a descent resume addition.
If you do it exactly how they tell you to do it (unless it's against the rules), then you can't get in trouble. If they try to get you in trouble anyway, contact your union representative.
It's one of those things that varies from store to store, so what you're told here might not apply at the store you're at. Where I work, every morning, the person that opens self-scan has to make the cart duty schedule for the day. Each courtesy clerk is assigned a thirty minute shift outside. When outside, front end procedure/STAR Safety guidelines state that no more than six carts will be brought in at a time. A cart strap is to be used. Head to the back corrals and remove carts from those corrals first and work your way forward. That's about it.
My advice? Start on one side of the lot and work your way across. That's the easiest way to not miss a corral. As long as there are carts inside for customers, there shouldn't be a problem, unless you have arrogant and heartless management/front end supervisors that have no respect for you. I know management/supervisors at my store only pay attention to the carts if the number of carts on the inside is getting low/is empty.
Sounds like to me that you might be at one of those stores where no matter how hard you work, you are never shown appreciation for your work. I'd hate having to work at a place like that and likely wouldn't stay for long. Management at stores like that doesn't deserve hard-working employees but rather instead employees that give them nothing but big headaches.
It depends on your store. At my store we need the self-checkout person to monitor the carts in store. That doesn't always happen and then we run out of carts and panic to grab them. Also, when I'm scheduled as floor supervisor I find I don't always have someone to send for carts because we're under scheduled, someone isn't on time, a no show or some other nonsense.
No matter how you do it they will say it is wrong. And they probably watch from the office upstairs (if your store has them) I went upstairs one day and the manager said hey (name) we are learning how to get carts. There was like 3 managers watching and they were all laughing at the courtesy clerk bringing in carts.
Yea, I was just thinking there should be a PhD requiring hundreds of study hours, multiple thousands of tuition dollars and at LEAST an eight year sabbatical before one even considers taking on THIS SERIOUS as cart pushing. It's not for everyone, you know.
