Orientation Tomorrow

Date: Jun 25, 2013

Orientation Tomorrow

techelite · Guru

1: As far as I know, your hours will range anywhere from 4-8.5 hours each day depending on what is scheduled.

2: Union "protection" has its benefits, but the union is not perfect. No, you don't have to join, but in some states the union has no obligation to protect you if you don't.

3: We have performance metrics, but at least for your first solid week, you will be slow. No way around it. Don't take it personally. Also, don't be pressured to speed up until you are comfortable with what you are doing. Quality supervisors will not really pressure you about speed until you've been there a month or so.

4: If you are on a regular (non-express) lane, you "should" have a bagger always. However, this is only always true in a perfect world. Baggers are trained to move to the next lane that needs a bagger immediately after finishing an order. If you feel you are being ignored bagger-wise, speak to a supervisor. They will keep an eye out.

5: Most employees are paid weekly on either thursday or friday.

6: Depends on why it is short. If you were not trained properly and it causes a shortage, they bear the burden of retraining you to resolve the issue. That is less problematic. What is mostly an issue are things like theft and failure to follow instructions, leading to till shortages, but as concerned as you seem to be about doing well, these probably won't be an issue.

Best general advice I can give you: come to terms with the fact that you will initially be swamped with things to learn and will feel far behind, but just know that literally hundreds of thousands of other cashiers have gone through the exact same situations and have turned out fine. The feeling of being in over your head has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the sheer amount of knowledge that must be taught to you. If you follow directions and do what you're supposed to, you should have no worries.

SCO · Senior Member

I'm assuming you're a bagger since you're 16. most of these it would be better just to wait and ask someone at your store because it can be different in different regions.

1. part time bagger, new, under 18, you'll probably get 12 to 18 hours per week.

2. you have to join the union if you dont live in a right to work state. just google it. michigan is right to work but because union contract was agreed to before the law, you have to join the union there.

3. dont worry. i'm sure your first day you'll be faster than some people who have worked there a long time. you would think bagging groceries is so easy, which it is in general, but it just takes some getting used to in order to get quick at it. just try your best.

4. at my store they usually have you with another bagger who shows you everything, gives advice, helps you with carts the first day etc. you won't be holding anyone up so dont worry about it

5. where i am we get paid every week on fridays, but could be different in your area idk

6. you wont have a drawer if you're a bagger? but if you do cashier for some reason how about you dont worry about how many TIMES and just worry on making sure your drawer isnt short period.

Stranger · Senior Member

SCO, I inferred that the OP is indeed a cashier. Although annoying that they keep hiring minors as cashiers, my store just recently picked up six minors, first job, to be cashiers. At least here there is a "training wage"

"Training Wage
Indiana employers may pay $4.25 per hour to employees under 20 years of age for the first 90 consecutive calendar
days after the employee is initially employed by the employer. "
http://www.in.gov/dol/files/Indiana2009MinimumWage.pdf

This sort of law encourages this minors to be hired for just about any position.

As for nobody liking the union, it depends on your circumstance. The shorter term employee you plan to be, the less use you have from the union. If you intend to get and maintain full time with Kroger at some point, union membership and representation can be helpful.

Just do not trust all your union research. I cannot prove that Kroger corporate is responsible for this site, I highly suspect this is the case. Click me

There might be one of these for every local for all I know, so just keep in mind that the best people to ask about the Kroger union are the workers at the store. You are likely to find a lot of propaganda for and against the union with a general search.