I have been working for 1 month in the GM department. The department has been short-handed for quite some time and in fact the manager started the week before I did...he had not been working in a grocery store in the past but is a very nice man and seems to be a leader kind of guy. So the department was kind of a mess and the manager has not really been doing this long so although he tried to train me, there was a lot that did not get conveyed to me and I totally understand but have been frustrated trying to find answers to questions. Co-workers have not really been very helpful but I figured they may really not know either but they are not very friendly. I don't really see other co-workers as everyones schedule kind of starts at the end of anothers so I would see them for a very short period and I tried to be friendly.
So the main problem was that the loads just weren't getting done since there have been people calling in sick and myself and another new hire just weren't as fast as we needed to be. The new hire quit suddenly but I have been getting faster and finally was getting the backroom cleaned up and felt pretty good. I was working in the back room getting things marked down due to a reset and a coworker came in and said "what are we doing?" I replied, well we are supposed to do all the backstock carts. She said "yeah I did this one yesterday and it took me 5 hours because of all the **** on there that was not supposed to be" and proceeded to tell me me I wasn't putting stuff on the right carts and what was this doing on this cart and that cart and basically just attacking me. I was shocked. I told her (and this is true) I had noticed there was stuff on every cart from every aisle so I did not know they were even going by what the signs said on the backstock carts. I also told her I wasn't the only one and I was just trying to clean up the floor where backstock was dumped daily but other people werent going by the signs.
This girl is probably 30 years younger than me. I have never been spoken to in that way. I tried to tell her I was sorry and that I would not do it anymore and would pay attention to the carts and get them in order but she said she did not want to speak to me and to get away from her. She will not speak to me and I think she has her friends thinking I am an idiot. She herself has only been there maybe 3 months.
Today I am dreading going in. I had started to feel like I was getting the hang of things but now I don't even want to go, I am in tears. I am a person that always is willing to work hard and will try my hardest to get things done and do them right. I am not an idiot. Why am I letting this young girl get to me?
Do not let her get under your skin. Ignore her BS. Keep trying to learn how you are. That is how we all learn. There has never been any time for proper training. Usually, 15% of the knowledge gets lost when teaching each new round of employees. Some will never get it and others will glean information from the better employees.
It shouldn't take 5 hours to run a backstock Uboat. She must have been doing something wrong. (lol, I have never ran GM backstock so I don't really know). She sounds like a negative employee and not a good example for new people. I had someone like that when I started. I couldn't even blink right for her. Well, Now, I am a department manager and she is just a lead even tho she has 5 more years than me.
The products being on the wrong carts is beyond your control. There are atleast 50 other people in the store that might have placed the items there. Sometimes we all accidentally put product on the wrong carts. It happens especially if you are new. Other times, people from other departments just drop GM products anywhere. Our front end people set single items on our backstock uboats because they don't like doing go backs. They might as well throw it on the ground and run over it with the power jack. If it is not in a case, it will get damaged and the store takes a loss.
When the backstock gets out of control, products get put on wrong carts in every department. Not just GM. The best way to get backstock under control is to keep chipping away at it like you are and to scan residual backstock after each truck. It's a never ending process to get every one on the same page to do the work similarly.
-- Edited by Anonymouse1 on Thursday 2nd of June 2016 02:04:02 PM
Do your job as best you can. Don't do it for her or for Krogers--do it for your customers and yourself. If your store is anything like mine, you are helping thousands of people a week feed themselves, their children, and their pets. Your job is actually important; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Most of what you do right will go unnoticed--and that's exactly how it should be. People don't get up in the morning to shop for groceries; they shop to live their lives. Make the chore as transparent and as painless as you can.
With that mindset firmly in place:
Be formal and polite.
Do not apologize.
Do not explain--it will come out as an excuse.
If she attacks again, nod, smile, say "I'll keep that in mind", and turn away. As needed, snort just loud enough for her to maybe hear you. Absolutely refuse to engage.
You might try asking her for advice now and again--that's a good softener.
Remember above all else that this is at least as much her problem as yours.
Don't cry. Walk it off. Buckle down. Stick it out. Do your best. These are all cliches because they work.
I know how you feel; this is my first job in retail as well, and I am learning lessons at sixty I should have learned at sixteen. I hate, hate, hate being stupid, and here I was, as stupid as I've ever been five nights a week. My first two weeks were as painful to me as anything I've ever done, emotionally as well as physically.
My story has been, "I asked God for a job, and he humbled me with one that puts me on my knees for half the night."
And somehow, that has gotten me through.
By my first anniversary, at the end of the summer, I might actually know what I'm doing.
-- Edited by The Conditioner on Thursday 2nd of June 2016 02:31:02 PM
__________________
"If I only had a brain..."
...but I'd settle for a nerve or two.
Sounds like she is blaming you for not doing her job. If she has been there 3 months she maybe coming up on the end of probation and is worried that she wont make it. Coworkers have no real authority over you and should not be talking to you like that. Don't worry about it.
Your post (unlike many here) made sense the whole way thru. Im guessing that you are either retired or maybe an older person re-entering the workforce. Kroger medical benefits wont kick in for a year and they aren't very good. You also wont make more than minimum wage unless you get promoted to manager. If you're looking for a "keep busy" job I guess kroger will do, but they're better jobs for that.
If you are thinking pension, I would advise you to forget it. Unless you can work until you're 75 or 80 you likely won't hit full numbers. The partial pensions end up being a few hundred a month. We do have some older folks trying that and doing this work in your mid 60s is tough. Looking down the butt end of another 5 or 6 years for $300 or $400 a month.
Good luck to you and don't worry about your coworkers.
Tell the Kneegrow(and we all know that beatch is black) that you will pull a ****ing blade of her azz if she ever talks to you again like that. Now she will get in your face, this is where you pull out the blade and cut that bitch. This is where she will still try to fight you. This is where you pull out your preferred concealed weapon and put it to her head and tell the bitch to NEVER EVER talk to you or even look at you again.
Hmm.. I have been at Krogers a MONTH today. I had a similar problem the other day. I am in Nutrition so my products comes on totes with GM things. The women thats in GM do not like anyone to touch the pallets with the totes until they do because of the cigarettes that come on it. People(employees) steal the cigarettes all the time. Monday, our totes came in, so I didn't touch them yet waiting on GM to get theirs first. I left work with them never getting theirs totes off the pallet. I was off Tuesday. I returned Wednesday with the totes untouched PLUS a new pallet with more totes from a new truck. I refused to continue to wait for them to get their things off. I decided to get my totes off. One of the GM women walked up to me and said..." You not suppose to touch those totes until we get our stuff off that pallet". I responded, " You mean this same pallet that has been sitting here since Monday. I can't get my work done until you get your stuff." She explained about the cigarettes being stolen before.. blah blah. I explained to her once again I was waiting since Monday to get my totes. She had no choice but to break down the pallet so I can get my work done. My point is, speak up so you won't get disrespected or walked all over. At least you're doing your job. I noticed there are alot of rude employees at Krogers because they are stuck in their ways and ppl are not really telling them how it is. I refuse to keep quiet and then feel some type of way about myself. DO YOU!
I have been working for 1 month in the GM department. The department has been short-handed for quite some time and in fact the manager started the week before I did...he had not been working in a grocery store in the past but is a very nice man and seems to be a leader kind of guy. So the department was kind of a mess and the manager has not really been doing this long so although he tried to train me, there was a lot that did not get conveyed to me and I totally understand but have been frustrated trying to find answers to questions. Co-workers have not really been very helpful but I figured they may really not know either but they are not very friendly. I don't really see other co-workers as everyones schedule kind of starts at the end of anothers so I would see them for a very short period and I tried to be friendly.
