For me i think dairy and frozen. Dairy is stressful because you have to keep the cooler organized, and stock yogurt and tiny items. Frozen has to keep up the freezer, and its really demanding unloading frozen pallets. Grocery has enough people to pick up any slack. Plus you dont have to work as fast. Deli is probably tough too
Which dept is the "hardest" is pretty much guaranteed to vary by store. In my store, it's deli (though only cuz the deli mgr is a nazi) closely followed by FE.
Yup, it really depends on how the dept. head is, and how many hours/people the store manager "blesses" you with. In our store, nutrition seems the most miserable (lack of hours/people), followed by grocery (we've been hit by a wave of call-outs and walk-outs, and the dept head is ehhh), and the front end (b*tchy manager). The happiest and most productive departments are frozen (the two people who work there are very good as a team, and their attitude is amazing. Plus they get a decent amount of hours, and do consistently well on OOSs), and dairy (lot of work, but again good team).
For my store, it's definitely deli and to some degree, front end. Basically everyone wants to kill everyone in deli. Which is bound to happen one day seeing as it's essentially a weapon arsenal with all the knives, slicers, and fryers around.
In terms of hours here, frozen probably requires the most physical work + having to deal with the freezer, but if you don't mind working, it's enjoyable so I wouldn't call it the worst. I'd think Deli would take the cake in being the worst. Front end, closing cashiers definitely have it the easiest. The last 3 hours of their shift is seriously just standing around and talking with eachother, since there are so few customers during that time.
I think one of the easiest would be fuel center, they get to sit inside during some of their shift. Hardest, I'd say any of the service counter departments (deli, bakery, meat)
Frozen Food and FE are a tie I think.. The guy I work with, went through several other guys before I came long and stuck with it for the long term. Both of those departments, high turn out rate. Frozen Foods is very physical and unfortunately, there's only going to be two of you and one of you will always be pressed for time, depending on the store and the idiot running the store. It is NOT a department for people who are intolerant of cold weather. Winter is year long for us.
Everyone talks about how cold it is working in the freezer. You don't spend that much time in the freezer except when you're moving stuff around. The rest of the time you're out on the sales floor stocking.
Everyone talks about how cold it is working in the freezer. You don't spend that much time in the freezer except when you're moving stuff around. The rest of the time you're out on the sales floor stocking.
It's not that bad. The only times I'm in there is getting pallets, and putting the backstock away at the end of my shift. I try to do most of that during defrost anyway. As long as you stay organized, there's no need to spend a long time in there.
Natures Market is pretty difficult i've found out. Ordering, stocking, markdowns, replenishment, endcaps, backstock. Everything except for tags thankfully. I get to do it all myself.
Gm looks easy and fun, but the amount of lifting, stretching, climbing, crawling, and putting together things takes a huge toll physically. In my division I know of 2 dept heads with knee replacements and 1 dept head with no tendon on her right arm
Gm looks easy and fun, but the amount of lifting, stretching, climbing, crawling, and putting together things takes a huge toll physically. In my division I know of 2 dept heads with knee replacements and 1 dept head with no tendon on her right arm
When I worked meat, I looked around, it was certaintly that. Two people, between 4-10, Serve customers, fill and maintain the aisle that covers the entire back of the store (this was a huge krogers), break down 4-5 skids, markdowns, clean the back, and close. Believe me, customers do NOT let up. AT ALL. One person absolutely has no time to leave to help so I got from 4 (when the truck gets here) to about 7 to fill the aisle, markdowns and break down the skids and then 7-8 they need to clean the back (usually takes more, morning people NEVER clean up after themselves). Than 8-10 is half and half it's peaceful so that last hour i can KINDA sharpen the edges in the aisle and the last hour close, but damn, they don't let up. Deli has 6 people i see talk in a circle ALL THE TIME,