I'm at the fuel center these days, so I'm a bit insulated from store shenanigans...
...but if I had to guess, it's just changes for the sake of changes from some corporate fat cat desperately trying something, anything, to justify continued employment and a six figure salary.
Oh, I remember about a year ago the managers at our store starting going on a customer friendliness rampage, and telling all the cashiers and courtesy clerks that they must smile and greet every customer. And they got real annoying with this, with a couple of the ACSMs going "Mr Frontenac! You just let a customer walk by without greeting them!" and crap like that, EVERY 10 minutes. They even had a courtesy clerk or someone from clicklist do GREETER DUTY!! where their only job was to stand by the door and say hi and bye to every customer.
Needless to say, that only lasted a couple weeks. After that, everything went back to normal. The managers stopped caring.
Well, well, well... looks like what everyone said about the Value Us poster being troll is all false huh? He said he was gonna get the ball rolling and he did. I am not the Value Me poster but I have been following his posts and have noticed that what he said is indeed true. If you guys were more friendly, you 'd find us more friendly. And if we're upset at something that happened before we got to Kroger DO NOT get huffy back at us EVEN if we get huffy with you...because what was not your problem, WILL become a MAJOR problem for you.
And if Value Me poster is reading this, Thank you for getting the management to make smiling mandstory.
I have worked for Kroger for four years and let me tell you, it was a lot easier being friendly to customers when my environment was a happy place to work for. Numbers do not lie. We had managers that cared, talked with us, hosted parties, reinforced the team ideologies. The metrics reflected the good treatment, friendly scores ranged from 75-90 in our store. After the new managers took over, most of the senior employees decided to transfer, leave or retire. There were numerous employees that would have retired years ago but were practically forced to recently as they psychologically were tormented by our current environment of "mush! Mush! Mush!" In between the high turnover and the way the current management treat us, a few close coworkers and I debate "which one of us will jump the wall first?" In the first month of the new managerial cycle, the friendly score dropped to 55 and has hardly climbed past 70. The customer count has lowered due to the chaotic remodel and I do not see it retuning to pre-remodel rates. What a sad time to live in.
I'll never understand people's obsession with having overly friendly grocery store employees. Do your job and don't be rude and I'm happy. But people are generally unhappy at work so I don't need to see fake smiles or have someone pretend to be cheerful. In fact honestly when I'm shopping I like to be left alone, I don't want to be greeted a lot.
Yeah, I remember OSAT's used to be in the 70 range, and now you're lucky to see it break 50-55.... they wonder why the company is falling apart when they have broken all of us to this point.
Wrong. on Krogers time-smile all the time. Looks like those wage cuts went out a few weeks ago. our voices are being heard. more associates are earning their pennies. more associates are knowing their store items and weekly sales better. We still have along way to go! But in the end when the dust settles you will VALUE US!! You seem new so some tips.... Know your store in and out, brush your ass and your teeth and smile smile smile! Help customers to the car with their purchase. Remember we contribute to your tiny weekly check! always remember the customer is ALWAYS right! You will VALUE US!!!
Yeah, I remember OSAT's used to be in the 70 range, and now you're lucky to see it break 50-55.... they wonder why the company is falling apart when they have broken all of us to this point.
Yes, I remember when it was fun to go to work and employees took time to "connect" with customers. I'm sure some employees/stores are able to do this, but in the majority, with "being held accountable", "friendly" was the first thing do go.... To say all associates are valued, but then they say they need to work faster, "get it done or else" and be held to an unrealistic checklist that would take 115% of your shift...... Before you could feel like you accomplished something and take pride in knowing you "owned" something. Now, your just running from fire to fire, hoping STR MGMT will notice your busting your ass and not tell you do to more.
Wrong. on Krogers time-smile all the time. Looks like those wage cuts went out a few weeks ago. our voices are being heard. more associates are earning their pennies. more associates are knowing their store items and weekly sales better. We still have along way to go! But in the end when the dust settles you will VALUE US!! You seem new so some tips.... Know your store in and out, brush your ass and your teeth and smile smile smile! Help customers to the car with their purchase. Remember we contribute to your tiny weekly check! always remember the customer is ALWAYS right! You will VALUE US!!!
With the front-end not being staffed properly due to minimal staffing, helping customers to their car with their purchase is difficult.
You can thank Kroger Senior Management for that one.
So, complain to Kroger Senior Management and tell them...
Remember we contribute to your tiny weekly check! always remember the customer is ALWAYS right! You will VALUE US!!!
Friendly on the FE isn't anything new, it basic customer conversation and just being a decent person. But.........the company thinks a SUPER friendly FE associate will correct all the bad feelings of the of the Out of Stocks, lack of Associates in the Aisles, long times and Associates that don't have a clue !!
Ive been beaten down emotionally too much by the garbage this job has tossed at me. If they want me to smile they need to fix the emotional trauma damage the customers have caused. I call it retail ptsd. you cant force someone to smile if they cant.
Aww crap. I spoke too soon. This saying hello to customers crap has come to our store too. They're bugging all the cashiers to be extra friendly.
But... I'm confident, it will all die down in a couple weeks, if not less.
I was wrong... I was dead wrong. It is NOT dying down. It is getting harder and it is kicking people in the ass with steel toed boots. Mystery shoppers and threats of being fired are all aplenty.
It's part of the stupid "60 day challenge"... friendly score improvements are a MUST... -_-
I would think in-stock store improvements would be a must... 'cause this might just be a wild theory on my part, but I suspect customers come into Kroger to BUY things not socialize with the employees.
"Oh? You're out of four of the five things I stopped in for today? That's ok! Just seeing that friendly smile on your face has brightened my day and made my trip here a HIGHLY SATISFIED one!!"
looks like what everyone said about the Value Us poster being troll is all false huh? He said he was gonna get the ball rolling and he did. I am not the Value Me poster but I have been following his posts and have noticed that what he said is indeed true. If you guys were more friendly, you 'd find us more friendly. And if we're upset at something that happened before we got to Kroger DO NOT get huffy back at us EVEN if we get huffy with you...because what was not your problem, WILL become a MAJOR problem for you.
