Today is the long-awaited (due to being postponed a couple weeks!) orientation training for Safeway. Or, as they like to call it, the "Service and Safety Class". The district manager was unfortunately indisposed for the class (being away on 'corporate business'), so the district store manager is hosting the course in their stead, and (in her own words!) "winging it!" As you can probably tell from her choice of words, the district store manager is very laid-back for a manager, and is admittedly the least conservative Safeway store manager in the whole district. So overall, the class has been very easygoing, and smooth-sailing.
The first 20 minutes or so were dedicated to going through the "secret shopper" checklist, a 10 point system for evaluation of Safeway employee's quality of service. I asked the manager if I could have a copy of the checklist (for reference purposes), but she denied my request (for confidentiality reasons), and jokingly accused me of being a spy! I wonder if my work here at DoSE qualifies me as such? ;-)
The 10 point checklist is based upon the 10 key attributes of Safeway "World Class Customer Service"'; these "top secret" attributes are the following:
1. General Shopping Experience (appearance, cleanliness, aesthetics).
2. Professional Interactions / Image
3. Verbally Greet in a Friendly Manner (smile!)
4. Anticipate a Need Voluntarily
5. Offer to Escort / Take Item
6. Friendly Parting Comment:
a. Thank customer by name
b. Tell them to have a great day
7. Special Request Handled / Problem Presented and Resolved
8. Checkout Success
9. Order Packed With Care
10. Social Selling (in-store sales).
The Safeway Service class (the first half of orientation) covered each of these categories in detail, enphasizing the importance of "World Class Customer Service". In fact, the first question the manager asked at the beginning of the class was "What is the one thing that Safeway is known for that gives us an edge over the competition?" She was very approving that not only was I quick to answer, but I gave exactly the right answer to the question, answering correctly and in full.
After the manager covered each of the customer services areas (the ones on the checklist) in-depth, we watched a bunch of short videos-- they covered the same exact material I had watched as part of the computer training a few weeks ago, so-- nothing worthy of note.
The single most interesting point that she made in the class, was in regards to the empowerment of Safeway Employees as representatives of World Class Customer Service:
"You are empowered to use up to $500 (assets) to satisfy a customer"
Now if that's not dedication to world class customer service, I don't know what is!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Doing Closing
3rd week at Safeway now, and I'm doing closing :-) Most people hate closing, because it means a lot of extra work and stress, and you're responsible for the completion of a lot more tasks. If someone else screws up, it just means more work for the people who do closing-- if the people closing screw up-- they get in trouble with management, who will see all your mistakes and things you neglected to do, when they do morning inspections. So basically, if you don't do closing perfectly, your boss(es) will definitely know, and you'll get called into the office if you slack off too much.
But for me, who is a perfectionist to begin with, I see this as an opportunity to demonstrate my strong work-ethic, and to get more much-needed experience doing go-backs. Perhaps after a couple of weeks doing closing, I will have nearly the entire store down-- that would be good.
The biggest problem I had with doing closing today (other than the go-backs-- which sadly I am still having way too much trouble with, although I'm fast improving!) was with sweeps, which I had to do twice as fast (the whole store in 15 minutes) in order to have time for all the other closing duties stacked onto the regular stuff. I had to work really fast, and tried my best (but somewhat failing) not to cut corners to get everything done. All the other courtesy clerks cut corners, but not me. I need to stay ahead of the pack if I want to be successful here.
Closing duties consist of turning off the power to the secondary entrance (to optimize traffic) at 9pm, taking out all the trash and recycle, both in and out of the store, replace all the garbage bags, refill all the plastic bags for the checkstands, pick up all the trash around the checkstands, wipe down the barcode scanners and food belts with windex, put away all the carts, and....of course go-backs. There are also other closing duties that need to be done from time to time, but these are the ones you do every day (if you're closing).
First day of closing, I did everything right, except I didn't know I was supposed to refill the checker's bags, and I still had a lot of go-backs leftover when I had to check out. I'll do better with closing tomorrow, hopefully.
But for me, who is a perfectionist to begin with, I see this as an opportunity to demonstrate my strong work-ethic, and to get more much-needed experience doing go-backs. Perhaps after a couple of weeks doing closing, I will have nearly the entire store down-- that would be good.
The biggest problem I had with doing closing today (other than the go-backs-- which sadly I am still having way too much trouble with, although I'm fast improving!) was with sweeps, which I had to do twice as fast (the whole store in 15 minutes) in order to have time for all the other closing duties stacked onto the regular stuff. I had to work really fast, and tried my best (but somewhat failing) not to cut corners to get everything done. All the other courtesy clerks cut corners, but not me. I need to stay ahead of the pack if I want to be successful here.
Closing duties consist of turning off the power to the secondary entrance (to optimize traffic) at 9pm, taking out all the trash and recycle, both in and out of the store, replace all the garbage bags, refill all the plastic bags for the checkstands, pick up all the trash around the checkstands, wipe down the barcode scanners and food belts with windex, put away all the carts, and....of course go-backs. There are also other closing duties that need to be done from time to time, but these are the ones you do every day (if you're closing).
First day of closing, I did everything right, except I didn't know I was supposed to refill the checker's bags, and I still had a lot of go-backs leftover when I had to check out. I'll do better with closing tomorrow, hopefully.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Going To Make A Map!
It's the last day of work this week, and I've got the whole system down-- well, almost the whole system-- the hardest part of the job is still go-backs, naturally. And helping customers is just as hard for the same reason: I still don't know where so many things are! To make matters worse, most of the customers here are fairly intelligent and knowledgeable of Safeway stores, so they almost always ask about the stuff that can't be answered by common sense or even a basic knowledge of the store-- the stuff that really is hard to find, like tofu, wheat germ, and mint leaves.
From the very beginning, I had been planning on creating a blueprint of the entire store, so that I could memorize everything about the store in a week or two, and be done with it. Yesterday I spent hours painstakingly surveying the entire store, literally down the the millimeter (scaled to the millimeter, mind you!) I used my footsteps to measure the store (an ancient, but very effective measurement scheme known as "paces"), and scaled each footstep down to a millimeter using a ruler. I then charted out a map of the main store area using North, South, East, West, NE, NW, SE, and SW measurements. I didn't have a geometry compass, so I manually traced right-angles to compensate. It's a very accurate map, and all things considered, a damn good one!
The whole map, when it's done, will be color and number-coded, the isles labels (i.e. isle 1A and 1B), and have a Legend at the bottom to interpret the whole thing. It's going to be a massive project, and will include the parking lot, the back areas (break room, various freezers/storage/loading areas, etc.), and will tell me absolutely everything there is to know about the store, down to the exact shelf location of every size of every brand of every type of food, product, etc.
The map will also tell me the locations of everything in the produce department, coded by PLU#; this will help me to learn the PLUs for every produce item, which I will need to know to become a food clerk or manager.
I'm completely in the rhythm of things now, and everyone, from management to my peers, really likes me. Hopefully I can maintain the full support and favor of everyone here, so I can quickly move up in the company-- I'm really looking forward to that!
Now that I've completed a draft of the map of Safeway, I'm going to (once I get a scanner, or ask my dad to use his!) scan it to jpg., and once I complete the whole thing, bundle the whole set of images as a pdf for you for your viewing pleasure here.
From the very beginning, I had been planning on creating a blueprint of the entire store, so that I could memorize everything about the store in a week or two, and be done with it. Yesterday I spent hours painstakingly surveying the entire store, literally down the the millimeter (scaled to the millimeter, mind you!) I used my footsteps to measure the store (an ancient, but very effective measurement scheme known as "paces"), and scaled each footstep down to a millimeter using a ruler. I then charted out a map of the main store area using North, South, East, West, NE, NW, SE, and SW measurements. I didn't have a geometry compass, so I manually traced right-angles to compensate. It's a very accurate map, and all things considered, a damn good one!
The whole map, when it's done, will be color and number-coded, the isles labels (i.e. isle 1A and 1B), and have a Legend at the bottom to interpret the whole thing. It's going to be a massive project, and will include the parking lot, the back areas (break room, various freezers/storage/loading areas, etc.), and will tell me absolutely everything there is to know about the store, down to the exact shelf location of every size of every brand of every type of food, product, etc.
The map will also tell me the locations of everything in the produce department, coded by PLU#; this will help me to learn the PLUs for every produce item, which I will need to know to become a food clerk or manager.
I'm completely in the rhythm of things now, and everyone, from management to my peers, really likes me. Hopefully I can maintain the full support and favor of everyone here, so I can quickly move up in the company-- I'm really looking forward to that!
Now that I've completed a draft of the map of Safeway, I'm going to (once I get a scanner, or ask my dad to use his!) scan it to jpg., and once I complete the whole thing, bundle the whole set of images as a pdf for you for your viewing pleasure here.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Almost Payday!
Today's the last day of work until Saturday, but more importantly, it's the last of work until I get my first paycheck in 3 years! I get paid tomorrow (Thursday), and I'm very much looking forward to it!!!
Honestly, although my duties and the incessant traffic at Safeway keep me occupied, I spend every spare moment anticipating tomorrow morning, when I can finally collect that check. It's been a surprisingly fast couple of weeks, and it feels like I could have done so much more, but nevertheless I am overall very satisfied with the job I've done thus far.
I've gotten the whole work schedule down now, memorized just about everyone's names, and can bag, push carts, and clean the whole store (well, the parts of the store I'm permitted to) with ease. Particularly with cleaning-- a little while ago I had some difficulty sweeping the whole store in an hour-- now I can do so in 15 minutes if necessary, or in 30 minutes with ease.
I can also now handle transitions between different tasks with grace and composure, with even the most sporadic of transitions being done smoothly.
The past week has been thoroughly productive ;-)
Honestly, although my duties and the incessant traffic at Safeway keep me occupied, I spend every spare moment anticipating tomorrow morning, when I can finally collect that check. It's been a surprisingly fast couple of weeks, and it feels like I could have done so much more, but nevertheless I am overall very satisfied with the job I've done thus far.
I've gotten the whole work schedule down now, memorized just about everyone's names, and can bag, push carts, and clean the whole store (well, the parts of the store I'm permitted to) with ease. Particularly with cleaning-- a little while ago I had some difficulty sweeping the whole store in an hour-- now I can do so in 15 minutes if necessary, or in 30 minutes with ease.
I can also now handle transitions between different tasks with grace and composure, with even the most sporadic of transitions being done smoothly.
The past week has been thoroughly productive ;-)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Time Flies
The days are passing by very quickly now, and it seems like everyone around me knows me by name. It feels good to be so needed by people. I've also been working hard to make sure I know as many of my coworkers by name as possible, and within the next few weeks, I will make it a goal to know all of them.
Everyone's been very supportive in helping me to do my job well, and seem to genuinely care about my well-being. I'm proud to work for a Safeway team that's so socially integrated and positive. The people here really know what teamwork really is; I've never been good at teamwork in the past, but if there's one place that I'll be sure to excel at teamwork, it's Safeway.
I met the other Assistant Manager today, and he's a pretty nice guy too; he's also motivated, organized, and knowledgeable to boot. I'm proud to have the opportunity to work with him.
The days are passing by like nothing, now that I've gotten completely into the rhythm of things. I can honestly say that since I've started working at Safeway, I've loved every minute of it!
Everyone's been very supportive in helping me to do my job well, and seem to genuinely care about my well-being. I'm proud to work for a Safeway team that's so socially integrated and positive. The people here really know what teamwork really is; I've never been good at teamwork in the past, but if there's one place that I'll be sure to excel at teamwork, it's Safeway.
I met the other Assistant Manager today, and he's a pretty nice guy too; he's also motivated, organized, and knowledgeable to boot. I'm proud to have the opportunity to work with him.
The days are passing by like nothing, now that I've gotten completely into the rhythm of things. I can honestly say that since I've started working at Safeway, I've loved every minute of it!
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Confident
I can now smile genuinely, and am confident and graceful in the performance of my duties. There are occasional mishaps, such as when pushing the carts down inclines (or worse, over speedbumps!), or when a customer wants groceries bagged in their own over-sized or lopsided reusable bags...but I'll get used to it all very soon.
My biggest struggle at this point is (you guessed it!) not knowing where the go-backs go, and by unfortunate extension, being able to help customers to find things with the grace they deserve, as part of Safeway's World Class Customer Service™ experience. I know it's only my second week here, so I can't expect to be perfect, but I hope to be as close to as perfect as humanly possible. I'm grateful for this job, and want to make the most of it, and show everyone I work with how much that I deserve it.
I met my store manager today, and she's a very nice person, just as I heard from my friend who used to work with her. I hope I can do whatever I can to please her-- she is after all my ticket to promotion.
My biggest struggle at this point is (you guessed it!) not knowing where the go-backs go, and by unfortunate extension, being able to help customers to find things with the grace they deserve, as part of Safeway's World Class Customer Service™ experience. I know it's only my second week here, so I can't expect to be perfect, but I hope to be as close to as perfect as humanly possible. I'm grateful for this job, and want to make the most of it, and show everyone I work with how much that I deserve it.
I met my store manager today, and she's a very nice person, just as I heard from my friend who used to work with her. I hope I can do whatever I can to please her-- she is after all my ticket to promotion.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Getting Into the Rhythm of Things.
Things are really starting to settle in now-- I've got the basic job functions down now, and I can start applying all the things I learned yesterday-- especially all the mistakes I made-- to make today even more productive and smooth-sailing. I've already received several compliments from coworkers of all levels, on the quality of my work, which I feel is a good sign-- after all, the more people @ Safeway like me, the more I'll be able to get the support I need to get promoted, and I want to get promoted as soon as possible.
The main thing I needed to work on (other than those damn go-backs!!!) today is BOB (Bottom of Basket), which is still quite easy to forget-- I'll need to instill a habit for it; especially when transitioning between break/lunch and work, I tend to forget about the finer details like that.
That's why I hate taking breaks: they kill my rhythm, make me forget stuff, and throw off my professional equilibrium. I sometimes wish I could skip breaks altogether.
But all in all, it's been a really good day :-)
The main thing I needed to work on (other than those damn go-backs!!!) today is BOB (Bottom of Basket), which is still quite easy to forget-- I'll need to instill a habit for it; especially when transitioning between break/lunch and work, I tend to forget about the finer details like that.
That's why I hate taking breaks: they kill my rhythm, make me forget stuff, and throw off my professional equilibrium. I sometimes wish I could skip breaks altogether.
But all in all, it's been a really good day :-)
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