I am currently a Utility Clerk who is trying to "teach" depts not to be lazy and clean THEIR messes. I do this by not cleaning up their messes in their dept (behind counter) so they have no choice but to clean it themselves. This includes if they are woeking the floor and a spill happens by their hand. i have decided that they can clean it up if they make it. I have enough to clean from our messy "children" (customers) that make messed on the floor. Needless to say I'm not well liked by depts.
will my tactic work on teaching depts to clean up after themselves or am I setting my self up for a write up.
I have enough to do without cleaning up after dept messes as well
It depends on how big the mess is and where it exactly it is. A minor spill right near their department? Their responsibility. A major accident such as glass shattering or spaghetti jar completely busting and spilling everywhere? You should most likely look into it since 1.) It's not INSIDE their department (behind the counter), 2.) They probably don't have experience or enough training to clean a major spill, and 3.) It is your job to clean up customer accidents.
When other departments such as Deli, Meat, Produce, etc. have to clean up major accidents, it takes time away from their jobs. They don't get hours for cleaning up accidents, utility clerks and front end do. Minor accidents however, service departments should clean it. If it gets so bad that they can't even clean up a spilled Starbucks coffee and they page you while you're doing something more important, you should talk to your store manager about it. Your store manager should remind them that they are fully capable of cleaning up minor messes instead of wasting your time.
I agree depts need to clean up after themselves if the mess they make I in their dept. HOWEVER... Technically, they are above a UC and a Courtesy clerk, and management will almost ALWAYS side with them over you. It sucks but it's true. You're not teaching the depts anything but to loathe you more. Just do the best you can and what you feel you should do.
As a Utility Clerk, I never have this problem that my store but I have a huge problem with departments not picking up their **** at receiving and leaving it in the utility areas. Why is there thawing chicken left there? We have so much corrosive and deadly substances and you decide it is a good idea to let it thaw there. Also, why does our store get multiple shipments of fuel center **** when we are 10 miles away from the nearest Kroger fuel center? Why are we getting another Kroger's shipment? They closed down months ago yet we still get their crap at our store and I have become perfectly fine with throwing it out.
But aside from all of my complaining, this is way better than getting full shifts as a cashier. Should have become a UC straight away. All the wine spills and broken glass in the world can't be worse than constantly explaining to customers that just because the Kroger label is on a MANUFACTURER coupon for Kellogg's does not mean Kroger owns ****ing Kellogg's. They don't own coke, they don't own Pepsi, they just sell their ****ing ****. You don't get to use one brand's coupon on an entirely different brand. I swear these customers are either ****ing with me or are brain-dead stupid.
I am currently a Utility Clerk who is trying to "teach" depts not to be lazy and clean THEIR messes. I do this by not cleaning up their messes in their dept (behind counter) so they have no choice but to clean it themselves. This includes if they are woeking the floor and a spill happens by their hand. i have decided that they can clean it up if they make it. I have enough to clean from our messy "children" (customers) that make messed on the floor. Needless to say I'm not well liked by depts.
will my tactic work on teaching depts to clean up after themselves or am I setting my self up for a write up.
I have enough to do without cleaning up after dept messes as well
I can't speak for any other dept.s but I know at my store we are definitely doing more than our fair share of cleaning our area. Heck I even helped meat dept. clean up a customer's beer spill in front of their area til they got someone out to mop it up. But I got up the glass and put down the caution signs and so forth. So I do agree that other dept.s should be able to clean up spills and so forth in their area. Especially if it's right across from you. And with some areas being so right next to each other or back to back, it is advisable all hands are on deck. Especially if it's of their own creation.
Most stores only have one utility clerk scheduled at a given time, with the exception being in Marketplaces and high volume Signature stores that average a million dollars per week. One utility clerk for the entire inside AND outside of the store. That's a heck of a lot of ground for ONE person to cover, in addition to getting called to the front end for things like bagging. Departments should be cleaning up after themselves, it's really that simple. It's a different story if, say, a customer drops something in glass on the sales floor, say near the deli service counter for example, then yes, then utility should be called. If, however, that same customer spills a little liquid or something, then just get a paper towel and clean it up rather than pull utility for something so minor.
This doesn't just pertain to utility, but in general, I'm so tired of seeing employees pass off work/responsibility to someone else because they don't want to do it. This is why I left my old store and transferred to a new one. I got tired of lazy, arrogant co-workers that thought they could do whatever they wanted while a select few others were expected to pick up the slack. Fortunately, my new store is so much better, and you know what? People take care of their departments. I don't do utility, but I see employees cleaning their works areas themselves and you know why? Because that's part of the job.
To the OP, I would go to someone in management that you have a positive relationship with and calmly, as well as politely, explain how your work is being neglected because other people aren't doing their jobs. Be specific and outline how you don't have time to fulfill your responsibilities because others are neglecting theirs. It may help, or it may not, but at least if management ever tries to get on you for not completing a certain task, you can mention the name of the co-manager that you spoke to and explain that you've been trying to bring this problem to management's attention.
