Just because I wear a yellow vest and don't get to operate a damned cash register doesn't mean I deserve to be treated like an idiot. If you're a bagger--sorry, courtesy clerk--are you also looked down upon/mistreated?
If your contract is anything like mine, baggers get promoted based on seniority. Someone lower than you on the seniority list can't get promoted before you.
Wait, wasn't there a SixSigma guy that was temporarily in drug/gm or grocery last year?
Anyways it's pretty silly how great a divide there is on the front end. Service desk looks down on linemen (normal cashiers), who look down on baggers, who look down on utility clerks. The only other department where I can see this stupidity happening is the deli but on a much smaller scale. I think what's very dumb is that some people treat baggers like slaves. Front end sup's will call them up to some sh*t task, yell at them for doing it differently than KR, and then take credit for the result if a manager stumbles by on his way out. In reality I think bagger is the most thankless job in the whole damn store. Not FES, not service desk, not deli. Those people all get holiday pay, overtime pay, and seniority. But a bagger gets minimum wage and a dime raise every year or so. I've done a lot of jobs in the store, and I can tell you with a straight face that the grocery department is the very easiest I've done, and bagging CAN be the hardest depending on how many dumb teenagers call in with a hangover.
I'll never understand why front end is like that, and I work with them from time to time.
I'm normally a grocery clerk. It may vary from store to store, but here we're basically equals (except for authority of course). We're laid back and no one's meddling or bossing the other around. All the grocery manager does is tell us what needs to be done and nothing else outside of it.
Now the deli... I've personally referred to it as PMS land since all but one person there are female. You'd hear screaming matches, arguments, etc.
Front end clerks fit the Postal Service's unofficial motto. Whether it's raining, snow, freezing rain, sleet, 100°F+ weather, or a lot filled with stupid drivers, they always have to venture out and get carts or help customers out.
A bagger at my store, pretty cool guy, with no previous write ups, suspensions etc, was ALWAYS looked down upon. Recently, it was "STRONGLY" suggested that he seek 'better' employment elsewhere due to his personality. Basically he flat out told FE that he does NOT have to take garbage dealt to him. Our second assistant heard him(guy was a jerk) and made the suggestion politely.) my friend said no thanks, and he was then suggested to "remember his position"
Deli is definitely PMS land, there's one particular person in my store who can have a bit of a temper, and if she gets into it with someone else over there, I can hear it all the way down at my end (deli and bakery are connected but it's still at least 30 feet away). It's too hard NOT to eavesdrop when that happens.
I mean we have some disagreements in the bakery but nothing like that.
I'm not a courtesy clerk (I'm a cashier), but I have seen that some of my coworkers do treat them like crap. But whenever they help me bag orders, I make it a point to say "thank you" to them and to treat them well. Hey, that's why the vast majority of the courtesy clerks like me: I'm nice to them and I appreciate what they do to help make my job a little bit easier.
What I don't understand is why courtesy clerks are given the short end of the stick on basically everything. At my store, without the courtesy clerks, literally NOTHING front-end related would get done. Ever. They bag groceries. They get carts. They clean. They find things for customers. They do things for the service desk. They do things for cashiers. Hell, they even do things for other DEPARTMENTS.
What do cashiers do? They scan things, clean their registers and occasionally bag, and yet they get raises by default while courtesy clerks don't. Fortunately, I was trained as a cashier as well, so I get raises. Otherwise I doubt I'd be able to put up with this job at minimum wage.
I dunno what you are all talking about... I mean, yeah as the lowest guy/girl on the toem pole I end up doing a lot of things people dont normally want to do. (clean the bathrooms, sweep, etc.) but I consider that as all part of my job.... I don't feel mistreated by my coworkers at all, in fact the cashiers seem pretty damn thankful when I help them bag a large, "double paper" order...! ha ha ha. Maybe I just got lucky with the people I work with.
In my store, baggers (courtesy clerks) are the **** underneath anyone else's shoes. My CSC treats us all like we're dirt. I'm part time, but have been working 35-40 hours a week since I started. My store is understaffed severely. We have 2 baggers that can work morning shifts and we are stretched so thin (I am one of the two) that we can hardly get the basic tasks done in our shifts. (Stocking bags, trash, recycling, bathrooms and carts) Most of the time, we have one bagger in the front end and the other on carts. I am worked so heavily and treated like ****. I'm on the last leg of my two weeks (new job) and I can barely finish it out with enthusiasm. When I got hired, I was excited to have a job. I started off as a minor, to which I was constantly yelled at about breaks because they didn't like me having to take 2 15's and a lunch. I cannot wait to get away from this company because the way they treat their employees is just god awful. So yes, baggers ARE looked down upon, but ask yourself this: how the hell would the front end function without us?
They can't. If the f/e so much as has to do one carryout, clean up, etc they have a MAJOR bitch fit. I seen it at another store and my store on occasion. You courtesy clerks ARE the backbone of the store. In fact they would crap a kitten if the baggers went in 'strike'
-- Edited by mega-kitteh on Friday 7th of February 2014 12:47:49 PM
Quite honestly, the stores could do without baggers. All Kroger really has to do is add on responsibilities of the front end department to existing employees. The problem with this though is a lot of the cashiers probably don't wanna do more than check. For this very reason, I don't see the bagger position going anywhere.
Quite honestly, the stores could do without baggers. All Kroger really has to do is add on responsibilities of the front end department to existing employees. The problem with this though is a lot of the cashiers probably don't wanna do more than check. For this very reason, I don't see the bagger position going anywhere.
1. You contradicted yourself.
2. Cashiers can be made to clean bathrooms for NOTB.
3. Kroger would be more than stupid to pay someone on the clerk scale (topping out in the teens of dollars) to do the easiest damn job in the store. Walmart and Target may not have baggers, but they do have lower level staff like cart pushers and custodians.
Quite honestly, the stores could do without baggers. All Kroger really has to do is add on responsibilities of the front end department to existing employees. The problem with this though is a lot of the cashiers probably don't wanna do more than check. For this very reason, I don't see the bagger position going anywhere.
1. You contradicted yourself.
2. Cashiers can be made to clean bathrooms for NOTB.
3. Kroger would be more than stupid to pay someone on the clerk scale (topping out in the teens of dollars) to do the easiest damn job in the store. Walmart and Target may not have baggers, but they do have lower level staff like cart pushers and custodians.
I don't see how I contradicted myself. Same people with more responsibilities. If anything, you contradicted yourself. Kroger has the ability to just have utility clerks, or be like other stores like you said with janitors and cart pushers.
I'm not saying whether I have strong opinions one way or the other, I'm just saying possibilities.
It's not that cashiers don't wanna bag along with scanning items, it's that the company itself wants to be known as that store where you can be out of the line and through the door very, very quickly.
I'm sure MANY of you have waited through lines at walmart. The wait times are horrendous, and watching some 50+ old lady bag your items one by one and taking her time is something that makes me cringe very often.
