While working in produce is the front end aloud to call me up front to bag? I signed up to be a produce clerk not be called up for the worst job in the whole store. Literally hate ****ing bagging, hate it. I am just wondering if it is some how against union rules in any way. Also wondering if i can file a grievance if the head managers are working in store, i was told there actually not aloud to be working a job others are hired for?? Please let me know? Thanks
Based on your grammar, maybe you should be a bagger.
lol.
I like bagging but have no clue what I am doing. I just bag how I want items bagged for myself. I have only had to bag twice in the last 5 years tho.
Change your attitude original poster. Try your best to enjoy the task and do the best job you can with a smile.
Don't go picking fights with the managers. Choose your battles wisely. Old timers would know whether or not a grievance should be filed. Store managers are permitted to do certain tasks per the union contract. You need to check that. On ours, they are not allowed to do orders daily. They occasionally do order certain needed products and do go thru store to change BOHs. Our managers are allowed to condition aisles and fill endcaps I think. I had one comanager that would keep the 24 packs full. I think he mostly helped a clerk push pallets tho.
they can ask you to come up front and bag if you aren't assisting a customer. just stop whatever you are doing and slowly walk to the front. die a little inside and move on.
just ignore them from time to time and if asked tell them you were assisting a customer.
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Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
Usually the only way this would be against "the rules" is if they're discriminating against you. Is someone at the front-end only calling on you even when your busy? It's possible to make a case if someone is stopping you from completing your tasks.
At our store no one gives a shyte if your working produce, floral, or utility clerk. If they want you to bag, then a bagging you shall go. This is ONLY if its INSANELY busy. I'm utility and normally do cleaning and whatnot. Occasionally I'll be up front bagging. Why? Because they asked me to and it is insanely craZy.
I'm utility and normally do cleaning and whatnot. Occasionally I'll be up front bagging. Why? Because they asked me to and it is insanely craZy.
Technically, utility is still a bagger. If you look at the front end classification sheets, they read something like "bagger- courtesy clerk" and "bagger- utility clerk." Basically, utility people are the first ones the front end are suppose to call when they're in dire need of help.
At the store I'm at, produce, along with grocery, is far more likely called to check or help bring in carts than bag. I personally wish that the front end was given enough hours so that we wouldn't have to call other departments to the front, but the unfortunate reality is, we aren't, just like the other departments aren't given enough hours. The whole situation is made worse when the front end calls for help and the other departments either don't come or respond too slowly, thus leading us to have to explain to the co-managers/store manager why the Que-Vision is below what is considered acceptable, and then thus leading to the co-managers/store manager marching off in the direction of the non-responding departments to have a word or two with the employees/department head. Management states front end takes top priority over everything else, so regardless of whether you or anyone else agrees with that position or not, the reality is management, at least where I work, expects surge help to respond the moment called, unless of course said surge help is with a customer.
I have seen my department manager with 43 years bag groceries and push the cart out of the store for the customer. Everytime I see that, I tell him I am going to keep him for another 40 years!
Without the rest of us putting something out to buy you wouldn't get paid either.
Let's see... what is more important, the customer buying stuff NOW or stuff that'll sitting around waiting for some other customer to pick up for purchase?
The last impression a customer gets is the front end. If they're bagging their own groceries because you think putting out more bananas is more important than customer service then what do you think that customer is going to do with their hard earned dollars? Come back or go to a competitor?
There's nothing more disruptive than a slow response from other depts. There's no sense of urgency. Customers are not going to wait for you. They'll just skip it, we'll just tell the cashier to key ring at a 50% loss to your dept or management will say, "How does free sound to you?"
Who do you think cleans up spills in your dept? The front end. Who puts stuff back grocery conditioners find? The front end even though most the items are grocery and you know better than some new hire 15 year old where this stuff goes.
The only depts we're not supposed to pull from are the service counters. But even that happens if that's what's available.
Without the rest of us putting something out to buy you wouldn't get paid either.
Let's see... what is more important, the customer buying stuff NOW or stuff that'll sitting around waiting for some other customer to pick up for purchase?
The last impression a customer gets is the front end. If they're bagging their own groceries because you think putting out more bananas is more important than customer service then what do you think that customer is going to do with their hard earned dollars? Come back or go to a competitor?
There's nothing more disruptive than a slow response from other depts. There's no sense of urgency. Customers are not going to wait for you. They'll just skip it, we'll just tell the cashier to key ring at a 50% loss to your dept or management will say, "How does free sound to you?"
Who do you think cleans up spills in your dept? The front end. Who puts stuff back grocery conditioners find? The front end even though most the items are grocery and you know better than some new hire 15 year old where this stuff goes.
The only depts we're not supposed to pull from are the service counters. But even that happens if that's what's available.
Let's see. If there's nobody there to stock said bananas or any other product, if it doesn't get put out, or it goes bad if it's not worked daily (you think they're going to buy something bad??...don't think so), YOU have nothing to check, if there's nothing for you to check there's no point in anyone being there. All the customer service in the world means didley squat if they can't get the very things they came there to get in the first place. Do you honestly think they'd rather have somebody bag their groceries for them, or be able to get the products they came there to get? If they can't get what they need because it's always out of stock, they will surely go to the competition, & far quicker than over something as silly as bagging groceries.
Most stores, the first impression they get is from produce. DO YOU think they're going to bother with most of the rest of the store if nothing they came to get is stocked??......Of course not.
Maybe things are different in your store, but in our's, every dept is responsible for it's own cleanups, & we are also responsible for reclaiming all the shrink because the front end is supposedly far too busy. We also receive no help from the front end when things slow down & most of them are just standing around, & we're behind from having to help them out multiple times. Then management/corporate want to know why we're behind? Yeah right, whatever.
Without the rest of us putting something out to buy you wouldn't get paid either.
Let's see... what is more important, the customer buying stuff NOW or stuff that'll sitting around waiting for some other customer to pick up for purchase?
The last impression a customer gets is the front end. If they're bagging their own groceries because you think putting out more bananas is more important than customer service then what do you think that customer is going to do with their hard earned dollars? Come back or go to a competitor?
There's nothing more disruptive than a slow response from other depts. There's no sense of urgency. Customers are not going to wait for you. They'll just skip it, we'll just tell the cashier to key ring at a 50% loss to your dept or management will say, "How does free sound to you?"
Who do you think cleans up spills in your dept? The front end. Who puts stuff back grocery conditioners find? The front end even though most the items are grocery and you know better than some new hire 15 year old where this stuff goes.
The only depts we're not supposed to pull from are the service counters. But even that happens if that's what's available.
Let's see. If there's nobody there to stock said bananas or any other product, if it doesn't get put out, or it goes bad if it's not worked daily (you think they're going to buy something bad??...don't think so), YOU have nothing to check, if there's nothing for you to check there's no point in anyone being there. All the customer service in the world means didley squat if they can't get the very things they came there to get in the first place. Do you honestly think they'd rather have somebody bag their groceries for them, or be able to get the products they came there to get? If they can't get what they need because it's always out of stock, they will surely go to the competition, & far quicker than over something as silly as bagging groceries.
Most stores, the first impression they get is from produce. DO YOU think they're going to bother with most of the rest of the store if nothing they came to get is stocked??......Of course not.
Maybe things are different in your store, but in our's, every dept is responsible for it's own cleanups, & we are also responsible for reclaiming all the shrink because the front end is supposedly far too busy. We also receive no help from the front end when things slow down & most of them are just standing around, & we're behind from having to help them out multiple times. Then management/corporate want to know why we're behind? Yeah right, whatever.
Produce always have more people than grocery/dairy/frozen put together. Especially in the evenings. Quit yer b!tchin' and go up when called. When I worked grocery I got called up all the time because I went up there, and I didn't dink around. It's whatever, you do what you have to do and go on. It should be about 15 minutes of your time and you can go back to your fruits and veggies. Front end doesn't make the store, neither does produce. Do a little teamwork.
You aren't supposed to be pulling away from the service departments AT ALL. If it was that much of an emergency, the managers would hop on register.
Believe me, if I'm the only one in the bakery and I'm working on what I need to get done, or dealing with a customer, then that's whats going to get done. I'm not going to go running to the front end when you aren't even supposed to call me.
Without the rest of us putting something out to buy you wouldn't get paid either.
Let's see... what is more important, the customer buying stuff NOW or stuff that'll sitting around waiting for some other customer to pick up for purchase?
The last impression a customer gets is the front end. If they're bagging their own groceries because you think putting out more bananas is more important than customer service then what do you think that customer is going to do with their hard earned dollars? Come back or go to a competitor?
There's nothing more disruptive than a slow response from other depts. There's no sense of urgency. Customers are not going to wait for you. They'll just skip it, we'll just tell the cashier to key ring at a 50% loss to your dept or management will say, "How does free sound to you?"
Who do you think cleans up spills in your dept? The front end. Who puts stuff back grocery conditioners find? The front end even though most the items are grocery and you know better than some new hire 15 year old where this stuff goes.
The only depts we're not supposed to pull from are the service counters. But even that happens if that's what's available.
Let's see. If there's nobody there to stock said bananas or any other product, if it doesn't get put out, or it goes bad if it's not worked daily (you think they're going to buy something bad??...don't think so), YOU have nothing to check, if there's nothing for you to check there's no point in anyone being there. All the customer service in the world means didley squat if they can't get the very things they came there to get in the first place. Do you honestly think they'd rather have somebody bag their groceries for them, or be able to get the products they came there to get? If they can't get what they need because it's always out of stock, they will surely go to the competition, & far quicker than over something as silly as bagging groceries.
Most stores, the first impression they get is from produce. DO YOU think they're going to bother with most of the rest of the store if nothing they came to get is stocked??......Of course not.
Maybe things are different in your store, but in our's, every dept is responsible for it's own cleanups, & we are also responsible for reclaiming all the shrink because the front end is supposedly far too busy. We also receive no help from the front end when things slow down & most of them are just standing around, & we're behind from having to help them out multiple times. Then management/corporate want to know why we're behind? Yeah right, whatever.
Produce always have more people than grocery/dairy/frozen put together. Especially in the evenings. Quit yer b!tchin' and go up when called. When I worked grocery I got called up all the time because I went up there, and I didn't dink around. It's whatever, you do what you have to do and go on. It should be about 15 minutes of your time and you can go back to your fruits and veggies. Front end doesn't make the store, neither does produce. Do a little teamwork.
One person in the evening hardly qualifies as "more people" & yes they have more people overall, but those departments aren't exactly anywhere near as perishable product-wise, & our department hardly has more people than those departments combined.
As far as the complaints about not going up instantly when called, most of us do try to come up in a reasonable amount of time. We do however have customers to wait on as well, not to mention we also have to spend a great deal of time in our storage cooler, & it is next to impossible to hear the PA over the fans in there, especially if they only call once. If it were only 15 minutes, I'd have no beef with it, but 15 minutes, multiple times adds up, then they want to start jumping our ass because stuff doesn't get done? Call us up? Fine, GREAT but damnit don't start raising Hell if the department isn't in just tip top shape the next morning. I also have no problem with "teamwork", but it should be a two way street, & it hardly qualifies as "bitchin" when it isn't.
Lastly, I never said produce "makes the store". I took issue with the person who said the front end pretty much did. Overall, it takes all the departments.
This is really just another example of Kroger lying to its customers when the company claims to put the customer first. How can you put the customer first when you cut back hours on the front end to a bare minimum and customers are kept waiting in line or have to bag their own groceries? How can you put the customer first when you then pull produce away from stocking fresh fruit and vegetables for customers to buy to come to the front to check or bag or go out to get carts? How can you put the customer first when you pull grocery away from stocking shelves with sale items and other products people want in order to help on the front? Every department suffers from the slashing and chopping of hours and the customers suffer along with the employees. Also, speaking as someone that works on the front end, I fully agree it's unfair that produce, grocery and drug/gm and sometimes floral gets called and called again and again to help us out on the front and yet the front end can't be called upon to return the favor and help the other departments meet their goals/catch up to where they need to be. It's a screwed up arrangement that is the product of corporate greed that takes a big toll on the employees. It's why so many employees are unhappy. It's why so many employees quit frequently. We're all easily replaceable though, so corporate doesn't care. What corporate doesn't realize though is in order for Kroger to rise above all of its competition and achieve more of a market share, you need to invest in your employees, and in turn, your employees will invest in the company and its customers. That's not going to happen though.
That's another thing. Isn't floral a service department? They call floral up a lot in my store and sure enough within 5 minutes, you keep hearing "Floral department, you have a call on line 101" several times, while no one's there to answer the phone since they're up playing cashier. And you don't see anyone from front end running to help them, lol.
At our store, on our call sheet, we have people of who to call for checking and or bag service. For example; 'Chester bag service on check stand 5 please.' If "Chester" doesn't answer we say 'Chester bag service on 5 ease, 2nd call ( 3rd call, 4th call, 5th call etc) then if they still don't answer we call management and say '(whoever is manager) bag service on 5 please Chester is not responding.
That way THEY have to answer to management on why they did not answer when called
original poster. Try your best to enjoy the task and do the best job you can with a smile.
