Computer Training Day

Today I spent 7 hours watching computer job training presentations, and answering a lot of review questions and quizzes designed to prove that I understood and remembered the material thereof.

*Note: I later found out I only got paid for 5 of those hours, so if you think you'll get paid for all the time you spend doing training, think again: the hours are 5 hours static, and that time frame itself only includes the videos, not the time it takes to answer questions)

I got most of the questions right the first time, but occasionally a question came up that was confusing or badly worded, or a picture showed up that was too ambiguous to interpret what it meant. There were also a couple of questions that had typos, thus aggravating the confusion. But I got through the whole thing relatively efficiently.

Most of the questions addressed concerns and important work-related info, such as Safeway procedures, policies, and rules.

Topics covered included sexual harassment (i.e. brushing against someone, or even making sexual comments/innuendo on your Facebook (overkill right?!) is considered to be sexual harassment, and thus grounds for termination); same thing with picture messages, talking about one's sex/love life, etc.

They also talked about more obvious stuff, like no weapons in stores, and no romantic relationships with another employee in the same store (because of the direct/indirect reporting (chain of command) relationship issue), and about the handling of waste (no bleach in the sanitary drains, and batteries have very specific procedures for recycling).

The theft policies were particularly intriguing: Giving out "personal discounts" to anyone, including friends, family, and other employees or customers, is considered "theft" and will be grounds for termination (yeah, they use that phrase a lot!) Misappropriation (misusing/abusing store equipment) is very similar to theft; the example given was using a store steam cleaner to clean one's own house (lol!) Then there's abuse of checks, the employee club card, yadayadayada...

The first half of the computer training was pretty much just a slideshow/video presentation of the new employee handbook, covering the chain of command/reporting system, cleaning methods and policies, and a bunch of rules.

Yeah....Safeway has a lot of rules, policies, and procedures that need to be followed "to the drop of a quarter." It's a pretty strict and controlled environment, but I have to admit I like it better that way. It's easier not to fuck up if all the ways of fucking up are clearly laid out cleanly and explicitly for you, and it's easier to be successful and advance within the company if you know exactly what's expected of you, what will make you shine. Basically, they provide all the information you need to be the perfect Safeway employee.

They even provide a 10-course retail management college program in which they fully reimburse you for your classes, and upon receiving your certificate, you also will receive a $200 bonus-- that's  a whole week's worth of pay! Of course, getting certified in retail management also dramatically increases your chances of getting promoted to a management position, and so I'm going to definitely take this course to ensure I get promoted ASAP.

As I implied above, I'm the type of person who thrives in a controlled environment, where everything is clearly laid out; if a job or activity or even a hobby has a lot of structure and rules, I can be at my best, because my time is managed efficiently, and the rules provide the necessary direction and filtering through which I can channel my energy effectively.

All in all, it took 7 hours to get through the training, including 5 hours of watching video presentations, ~an hour to answer questions, and an hour for break and lunch. I had to re-answer a few questions (half due to badly worded questions, half due to a faulty memory-- I was a bit tired that day!) but once I got through it all, I had learned pretty much everything I needed to know to do my job properly-- and then some!

After successfully completing all the training, and reading over some supplementary PDF documents, I signed and turned in the "Web Training" packet-- a "don't-say-we-didn't-warn (train)-you"-type compilation of contracts to work at Safeway; I signed that I know what sexual harassment, stealing, and misappropriation are, that I'm familiar with my job duties, that I know my rights and what programs are available to me, yadayadayada. I gave it all a quick read just-in-case, but there was really nothing new. Signed it all, received my employee ID and other important information.

I also found out that the Thursday Training day in Mountain view Safeway had been postponed, so my first day of "real" work wouldn't be until the day after-- Friday.