I work the Front End as a cashier. Ive worked for Kroger since Oct of 2016, but the job is just becoming more than I can bear. Half the equipment doesnt work, yesterday at my register, the register stopped scanning normally leaving me to have to scan everything with the handheld scanner which really led to my hand and arm cramping up and leaving my ring tender horrible. Half the time the handheld scanners dont work either and I cannot lift huge packs of water, soda and beer, it is very difficult for me and very tiring, so I depend on those handhelds. The change machines are also pretty much all broken too. Its really frustrating and hard to work. They stick me on Express all the time which is a lot worse for me too and I hate Express.
I dont think I have that many options job wise right now to leave Kroger, but its becoming apperent this job is just not right for me. No matter what I try, something just seems to always go wrong or I cant get it right.
Ive thought about the idea of maybe transfering departments but I also dont know if I can do that since I dont know the demands of other departments.
So Im asking for some advice. Is there a department suitable for someone who isnt the most physically capable person(only details Im willing to give for privacy is that Im short stature and really cannot lift heavy things like cases of water and 24 pack soda, beer, etc) Is there a person I can talk to about this, or do I just need to try finding a different job that I dont have to do this. Im just so worried I wont find another, cause Kroger was the only one that offered a job to me in over 5 years, so I need to stay until I find something else.
Please be serious, I want serious advice, not trolling or sarcastic/condescending responses please.
You could ask to be trained for File Maintenance, which is a part of the front end. While you would still have to cashier at times, you would also be spending plenty of time walking the store to hang tags, signs, etc...
If you're in a Marketplace store, apparel might be an option, although I'm not 100% sure what is all involved with working in that sub-department (pretty sure it falls under Drug/GM). Still, clothes, shoes, etc... versus packs of water, soda and stuff like that. Toys might be an option too, if your store has that department.
Produce, deli, bakery, grocery, Drug/GM probably aren't options since there's a lot of lifting involved, like boxes with product in them. I don't recommend ClickList either, which is what I do, because the totes can get darn heavy at times.
If you have a co-manager that you get along with real well, ask to speak to him/her and explain your situation. A good co-manager will work with you to explore what options are best for you.
You could ask to be trained for File Maintenance, which is a part of the front end. While you would still have to cashier at times, you would also be spending plenty of time walking the store to hang tags, signs, etc...
If you're in a Marketplace store, apparel might be an option, although I'm not 100% sure what is all involved with working in that sub-department (pretty sure it falls under Drug/GM). Still, clothes, shoes, etc... versus packs of water, soda and stuff like that. Toys might be an option too, if your store has that department.
Produce, deli, bakery, grocery, Drug/GM probably aren't options since there's a lot of lifting involved, like boxes with product in them. I don't recommend ClickList either, which is what I do, because the totes can get darn heavy at times.
If you have a co-manager that you get along with real well, ask to speak to him/her and explain your situation. A good co-manager will work with you to explore what options are best for you.
While there is lifting involved in produce, deli, bakery, and grocery, that doesn't mean that you will have to do any of it. There's plenty of people who work in those departments who don't do any lifting at all.
You could ask to be trained for File Maintenance, which is a part of the front end. While you would still have to cashier at times, you would also be spending plenty of time walking the store to hang tags, signs, etc...
If you're in a Marketplace store, apparel might be an option, although I'm not 100% sure what is all involved with working in that sub-department (pretty sure it falls under Drug/GM). Still, clothes, shoes, etc... versus packs of water, soda and stuff like that. Toys might be an option too, if your store has that department.
Produce, deli, bakery, grocery, Drug/GM probably aren't options since there's a lot of lifting involved, like boxes with product in them. I don't recommend ClickList either, which is what I do, because the totes can get darn heavy at times.
If you have a co-manager that you get along with real well, ask to speak to him/her and explain your situation. A good co-manager will work with you to explore what options are best for you.
While there is lifting involved in produce, deli, bakery, and grocery, that doesn't mean that you will have to do any of it. There's plenty of people who work in those departments who don't do any lifting at all.
I don't think you can work in grocery and never have to worry about lifting something that is as heavy or heavier than a twenty-four pack of water. Grocery is very likely the most physically taxing job at Kroger.
Produce... eh, maybe if a person can get away with strictly doing cut fruit, but more and more stuff is coming in pre-packaged nowadays, so there's less to cut now. Other than that, I don't see how you get away with not having to lift boxes... be it off the pallets, off the shelves, off the u-boat carts, etc...
Deli and bakery still involves lifting if you have to break down the truck/get stuff out of the cooler/freezer, but compared to grocery/produce, yeah, there's less lifting involved. Still, you can't always just "hope" that there will be someone else there/not busy that can do the lifting instead of you, so that's why I wouldn't recommend bakery or deli as a first or even second option.
You could ask to be trained for File Maintenance, which is a part of the front end. While you would still have to cashier at times, you would also be spending plenty of time walking the store to hang tags, signs, etc...
If you're in a Marketplace store, apparel might be an option, although I'm not 100% sure what is all involved with working in that sub-department (pretty sure it falls under Drug/GM). Still, clothes, shoes, etc... versus packs of water, soda and stuff like that. Toys might be an option too, if your store has that department.
Produce, deli, bakery, grocery, Drug/GM probably aren't options since there's a lot of lifting involved, like boxes with product in them. I don't recommend ClickList either, which is what I do, because the totes can get darn heavy at times.
If you have a co-manager that you get along with real well, ask to speak to him/her and explain your situation. A good co-manager will work with you to explore what options are best for you.
I could try File Maintanence. I do want to try speaking to a store manager about my situation. Thanks for the advice. I do not want to have to leave Kroger since I have a job here, but I still will keep my eye out and search for other oppurtunities that are better.
Yes I know a lot of departments work is rather difficult and there is lifting involved, which is the main thing that has stopped me from finding a different department in general because I dont know if I can do that. I just feel trapped and stuck in this situation, which I knew was gonna happen, but there wasnt really anything I could do :/
You could ask to be trained for File Maintenance, which is a part of the front end. While you would still have to cashier at times, you would also be spending plenty of time walking the store to hang tags, signs, etc...
If you're in a Marketplace store, apparel might be an option, although I'm not 100% sure what is all involved with working in that sub-department (pretty sure it falls under Drug/GM). Still, clothes, shoes, etc... versus packs of water, soda and stuff like that. Toys might be an option too, if your store has that department.
Produce, deli, bakery, grocery, Drug/GM probably aren't options since there's a lot of lifting involved, like boxes with product in them. I don't recommend ClickList either, which is what I do, because the totes can get darn heavy at times.
If you have a co-manager that you get along with real well, ask to speak to him/her and explain your situation. A good co-manager will work with you to explore what options are best for you.
While there is lifting involved in produce, deli, bakery, and grocery, that doesn't mean that you will have to do any of it. There's plenty of people who work in those departments who don't do any lifting at all.
I don't think you can work in grocery and never have to worry about lifting something that is as heavy or heavier than a twenty-four pack of water. Grocery is very likely the most physically taxing job at Kroger.
Produce... eh, maybe if a person can get away with strictly doing cut fruit, but more and more stuff is coming in pre-packaged nowadays, so there's less to cut now. Other than that, I don't see how you get away with not having to lift boxes... be it off the pallets, off the shelves, off the u-boat carts, etc...
Deli and bakery still involves lifting if you have to break down the truck/get stuff out of the cooler/freezer, but compared to grocery/produce, yeah, there's less lifting involved. Still, you can't always just "hope" that there will be someone else there/not busy that can do the lifting instead of you, so that's why I wouldn't recommend bakery or deli as a first or even second option.
Definitely a lot of lifting for bakery. Even if you weren't on truck, as they want you to get the baking done pretty quickly at times and that requires us to take out more than one load of dough at a time, to work with. Same with doing the dough slack out for the bread and what not the next day. That is some major heavy lifting. And even filling the floor at times you have to be really good at scooting boxes off of top shelves and pray to the Lord, nothing falls on top of you or knocks you off the step ladder.
Deli isn't too bad on the lifting. Mainly all in the meats and cheeses unless you are re-arranging the cooler as their truck person.
I would not recommend deli. Chicken boxes are nearly 50 pounds. The backstock cart can get pretty heavy. Less heavy lifting than something like produce, but its kind of expected that everyone do a little bit. At least at my store. If your store has a chef case that might be something you could do. They may be able to use you for chef case/service counter/ subs. But I know in our deli if you cant rotate chicken or work the trucks, you arent going to last long.
I truly hope you are able to find a solution. You should definitely speak with someone you can trust in management about your options.
I would not recommend deli. Chicken boxes are nearly 50 pounds. The backstock cart can get pretty heavy. Less heavy lifting than something like produce, but its kind of expected that everyone do a little bit. At least at my store. If your store has a chef case that might be something you could do. They may be able to use you for chef case/service counter/ subs. But I know in our deli if you cant rotate chicken or work the trucks, you arent going to last long.
I truly hope you are able to find a solution. You should definitely speak with someone you can trust in management about your options.
Most of the women in our deli won't pick up the chicken boxes. They let the men do it. Just because part of working in deli or bakery involves heavy lifting doesn't mean that everyone has to do it. One person may not like working on the counter but they have no problem with lifting heavy boxes or putting away orders. For another person the reverse might be true. Sure you might have to lift something like a case of pizzas occasionally but it's not a continuous thing. If you work in bakery, the heaviest thing you have to lift is a case of bread dough and you wouldn't even have to do that unless you do the bread breakout. Baking cookies and pies is pretty easy. Yes, you have to lift boxes of frozen cookie dough, but they're small and they only weigh a few pounds.
I would not recommend deli. Chicken boxes are nearly 50 pounds. The backstock cart can get pretty heavy. Less heavy lifting than something like produce, but its kind of expected that everyone do a little bit. At least at my store. If your store has a chef case that might be something you could do. They may be able to use you for chef case/service counter/ subs. But I know in our deli if you cant rotate chicken or work the trucks, you arent going to last long.
I truly hope you are able to find a solution. You should definitely speak with someone you can trust in management about your options.
Most of the women in our deli won't pick up the chicken boxes. They let the men do it. Just because part of working in deli or bakery involves heavy lifting doesn't mean that everyone has to do it. One person may not like working on the counter but they have no problem with lifting heavy boxes or putting away orders. For another person the reverse might be true. Sure you might have to lift something like a case of pizzas occasionally but it's not a continuous thing. If you work in bakery, the heaviest thing you have to lift is a case of bread dough and you wouldn't even have to do that unless you do the bread breakout. Baking cookies and pies is pretty easy. Yes, you have to lift boxes of frozen cookie dough, but they're small and they only weigh a few pounds.
I can only speak from my experience. We do not have deli clerks that ONLY do service case. If you do service case you work trucks and backstock. We also had 1 guy in the whole department up until a week ago so I am not sure who would have been moving the chicken boxes if the ladies didnt, lol.
Anyway, I did say that if they have a position where you can just do the service counter type things...it would be a possibility.
Point of the matter is... depending on your Department Head/Assistant Department Head, you may or may not be expected to do some of the "heavy lifting" (in both a figurative and literal sense) in a department like, say, deli. Every store is different because you have department heads that can be understanding/uncaring or anywhere in between. I still say File Maintenance is the better bet for a person that has trouble with lifting heavy items.
Point of the matter is... depending on your Department Head/Assistant Department Head, you may or may not be expected to do some of the "heavy lifting" (in both a figurative and literal sense) in a department like, say, deli. Every store is different because you have department heads that can be understanding/uncaring or anywhere in between. I still say File Maintenance is the better bet for a person that has trouble with lifting heavy items.
Well then the thing to do is to ask the department heads if it's possible to work in those departments and not do any heavy lifting. No sense in discounting them without inquiring about them first.
No one has really answered your post from this angle........so here goes. I will assume you are (at least slightly) exaggerating when you write "half the equipment doesn't work" but I can't help but wonder what the other cashiers think about this situation at your front end dept? Has your dept supervisor(s) talked to the store manager and asked to have the faulty items repaired (or at least, looked at by a Kroger "maintenance" person?) How do your co-workers deal with all this?
No one has really answered your post from this angle........so here goes. I will assume you are (at least slightly) exaggerating when you write "half the equipment doesn't work" but I can't help but wonder what the other cashiers think about this situation at your front end dept? Has your dept supervisor(s) talked to the store manager and asked to have the faulty items repaired (or at least, looked at by a Kroger "maintenance" person?) How do your co-workers deal with all this?
Well its like the hand scanners do not work half the time and none of the change dispensers are working. Today I saw they replaced all the printers at the registers but nothing else so its really kinda weird, and also apperently a lot of the lights on the registers were burned out the other day when I was in, and there was my previously mentioned issue where the register scanner stopped working but the hand scanner was. All this just makes me doing my work frustrating. I have talked to supervisors about the problems but I dont know what is being done about it.
Does your store already have one or two Full Timers who do UScan exclusively?
If the answer to both are "No" tell your FEM that you are interested in doing it most of the time.
Most cashiers (myself included) absolutely hate it, so you should have no trouble getting hours there.
Its not physically demanding at all, but the customers are even bigger asshats than usuaal so you really need to be patient.
I have not done UScan. A FES suggested it to me about 5 times over the year and one even said they'd talk to the Front End Manager about it once but then nothing ever happened. so I might just ask her if I can be trained on it. It seems like it could be easier but I dont actually know, so thats one option I guess. Thanks.
It seems like it could be easier but I dont actually know, so thats one option I guess.
It's either incredibly easy or incredibly difficult and annoying, depending on how your mind works. I've been doing it for 6 months now. At its worst, you're babysitting six inexperienced cashiers and making sure they're scanning and pushing all the right buttons and not throwing their food in your face cause the machine doesn't like them. Also, must have strong multitasking skills, cause when it's busy and all six customers want something from you at the same time, you'll have to deal with that. Not just the customers but the machines themselves will have their own quirks and issues, as they will often glitch and malfunction, and you'll have to sorta be a problem solver (if you like computers, that's a bonus).
At its best, you just stand there and everything takes care of itself (usually).
If your having that many issues with the FE equipment, your Front End Manger/Assistants are not paying enough attention to stuff or just don't care. Scanner scales normally don't have too many issues unless liquid/sugar/dirt get spilled over them. Also, I have never had an issues with register lights all going out at the same time, the only reason that would happen would be power surges If all else fails, 1-800-952-8889, POS......
