Today was my first day of actual work (as supposed to the computer training, which was pretty boring and consisted mostly of watching long politically-correct presentations about World Class customer service, safety, yadayadayada. Finally, I can actually do my job; I'm both excited and anxious, as I am basically being thrown to the sharks, and expected to learn to swim, survive, and help other people do the same.
As I'm working a store where I know almost nothing about where everything is, I have either two options when a customer asks where to find "X" item: wander aimlessly and hope against hope I will find the item they're looking for in less than a minute, or pray that there is another courtesy clerk / department manager in the area that can help them find it.
Often, unfortunately, I have been unlucky enough to not be able to do either, and I am left to regretfully tell the customer I wish I could help them, but that I'm new at this store, and have no idea where anything is. It's quite embarrassing, and gives me all the more incentive to learn where everything is in this store ASAP, and by any means store policy will allow.
As such, I have formulated a plan to develop a map of where everything (and I mean everything!) in the store is, and goes-- a blueprint of sorts.
My plans for the blueprint go like this:
1. Number code by isle (1A[#1], 1B[#1])
2. Produce locations coded by PLU# (also known as PAUL: "Produce Accuracy Using Label")
3. Include Legend that accounts for every food, product, and item, at the bottom.
4.Add all vital information regarding the back areas, parking lot, offices, etc.
5. Study, Study, Study!
6. Submit map idea to management.
Other than my difficulties with go-backs (putting items back where they belong) and customer assistance looking for items, today was pretty perfect overall. I did make some mistakes-- mostly in regards to properly logging sweep hours:
I had logged sweeps only once for my sweep hour, but apparently you're supposed to log it twice-- once for each half-hour. As it turns out, this is mostly for auditing purposes-- by making sure that everyone logs their sweeps twice per hour, it can help guarantee no hours are missed-- which is what the auditing team checks for.
Update: The information I was given regarding sweep audits is not only wrong, but it's a breach of Safeway contract and sweep policy. This information was given to me by the 2nd Assistant Manager and fellow courtesy clerks, who believe that doing it that way is more efficient, but the store manager, district manager, and health and safety specialists disagree, and for good reason! I'll explain these reasons in a later post, so stay tuned!
I was actually pretty nervous my first day, and although I smiled a great deal, it was a very nervous, strained smile. While bagging the groceries I messed up a little bit, but nevertheless, the day has passed by very smoothly, and amazingly quickly.
My fellow courtesy clerks are fairly supportive of me, but it's the food clerks (colloquially, they're called "Checkers") that are helping me out the most, particularly with finding things, and backing groceries.
They are also incessantly reminding me of important things like "BOB" (Bottom Of Basket), which refers to items that customers (either accidentally or intentionally) put on the bottom of the cart; there is a high possibility that these items might pass through unpurchased ("free"), if both the Checker and I don't work together to make sure that the items on the bottom of the cart of properly accounted for.
As was first introduced in the Tuesday computer training videos, SHRINK, the codename for inventory which leaves the store unpurchased, refers to items that were purchased in bulk by Safeway for sale, but were never sold due to spoilage, breakage, theft, etc. SHRINK takes away considerably from company profits, and is considered one of Safeway's biggest damage control/liability concerns.
Working at Safeway is pretty easy to get used to if you pay attention-- for the most part, everything's pretty automated, and time flows extraordinarily fast. The whole day of work today felt like 15 minutes (no hyperbole!), in fact. The two most difficult things to do (other than go-backs, of course!) were to remember to go on break and lunch. Remember go-backs is going to be a real b*tch though-- that's going to be an ongoing process for sure ;-(
I'm starting to get into the rhythm of things now-- a few more days and I'll have nearly my entire job mastered. Towards the end of the day, I'm no longer feeling nervous, and I can now socialize with customers with ease while still performing my job with a professional grace. Safeway is looking to be a very fulfilling and relatively relaxing job. I think I will love my job more and more as my days here go on ;-)
Friday, May 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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.
*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.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Situation: (schedule-wise!)
I went to find out my schedule for next week today; here's what I found out:
* Schedules are not finalized until after 4pm (I found this out from the 2nd Assistant Manager on duty).
* When I came back after 4, I found out the schedules were finalized but wouldn't be posted for another hour (at 5).
* I talked to the Assistant Manager (1st), to get my schedule, and was called into the admin office to discuss the details. He gave me my schedule on a post-it note, and told me about how the courtesy clerk schedule worked:
* The schedule for Safeway courtesy clerks is divided into sweeping (cleaning), carts, and "default" (regular duties such as bagging groceries, helping customers, assisting with getting groceries into the car, and "go-backs" (putting a stray item back where it belongs), represented on the schedule as "S", "C", and "D", respectively. My hours are broken down as these letters dictate.
* There is also an "L" for lunch, but at the Safeway I work at, I'm supposed to ignore that and find out my lunch based on the time given at the beginning of the schedule posted.
Now that I've got that out of the way, I have a few days of until Tuesday, where I do Computer training, and begin my official first day of work (the first day I get paid for).
* Schedules are not finalized until after 4pm (I found this out from the 2nd Assistant Manager on duty).
* When I came back after 4, I found out the schedules were finalized but wouldn't be posted for another hour (at 5).
* I talked to the Assistant Manager (1st), to get my schedule, and was called into the admin office to discuss the details. He gave me my schedule on a post-it note, and told me about how the courtesy clerk schedule worked:
* The schedule for Safeway courtesy clerks is divided into sweeping (cleaning), carts, and "default" (regular duties such as bagging groceries, helping customers, assisting with getting groceries into the car, and "go-backs" (putting a stray item back where it belongs), represented on the schedule as "S", "C", and "D", respectively. My hours are broken down as these letters dictate.
* There is also an "L" for lunch, but at the Safeway I work at, I'm supposed to ignore that and find out my lunch based on the time given at the beginning of the schedule posted.
Now that I've got that out of the way, I have a few days of until Tuesday, where I do Computer training, and begin my official first day of work (the first day I get paid for).
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Filling Out Paperwork
Wednesday, the 18th of May is Paperwork Day! Of course, there's nothing particularly exciting about paperwork, just so you know here's what I did:
* I filled out W2's, contracts, legal forms, and various Safeway union, charity, and affiliate program forms.
* I received info on the upcoming dates, including the Computer training session on the 24th, and orientation / hands-on training at the district Safeway, on the 26th.
* I was instructed to find out from my Safeway Store (the store I did my interview and paperwork at was not the same as the store I was assigned to) what my hours were for next week.
* I confirmed that I was given all the necessary materials and information, and was given the Safeway rules / new employee packet, which is basically a Safeway S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedure) for all employees.
* Later than day, I found out from my friend (who used to work at this particular Safeway) some of the people I'd be working with, including the name of the store manager and assistant manager.
* I filled out W2's, contracts, legal forms, and various Safeway union, charity, and affiliate program forms.
* I received info on the upcoming dates, including the Computer training session on the 24th, and orientation / hands-on training at the district Safeway, on the 26th.
* I was instructed to find out from my Safeway Store (the store I did my interview and paperwork at was not the same as the store I was assigned to) what my hours were for next week.
* I confirmed that I was given all the necessary materials and information, and was given the Safeway rules / new employee packet, which is basically a Safeway S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedure) for all employees.
* Later than day, I found out from my friend (who used to work at this particular Safeway) some of the people I'd be working with, including the name of the store manager and assistant manager.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
You're Hired!
Yesterday I received a phone call from a Safeway HR Coordinator, asking me to call to schedule an interview if I'm still interested in getting a job at Safeway. As I received the voice mail after 5pm (which was after the hours she asked to call back between), I called her back the next morning, and scheduled an interview in the afternoon. I'm nervous, but tell myself that I will definitely get the job, and prepare to show great enthusiasm and dedication to working at Safeway. I would love to work at Safeway, but even if I didn't, I needed to get a job somewhere no matter what, or I would never be able to move on with my life. This job at Safeway was an absolute necessity!
Details regarding the interview:
* I dressed in slacks, a white shirt, tie, and dress coat.
* The interview consisted mostly of me answering questions about customer service and conflict resolution; I answered the questions with thorough and comprehensive but carefully-worded responses.
* The most important question they asked was "If your previous employers used three words to describe you, what would they be?"
My response: "dedicated, punctual, and a quick learner"
* To ensure I got the job, I emphasized my flexibility of hours, enthusiasm for working at Safeway, and how I would do anything to get the job, and to demonstrate that I deserved it.
* I listed my Job Corps work experience as a vocational internship.
Details regarding the interview:
* I dressed in slacks, a white shirt, tie, and dress coat.
* The interview consisted mostly of me answering questions about customer service and conflict resolution; I answered the questions with thorough and comprehensive but carefully-worded responses.
* The most important question they asked was "If your previous employers used three words to describe you, what would they be?"
My response: "dedicated, punctual, and a quick learner"
* To ensure I got the job, I emphasized my flexibility of hours, enthusiasm for working at Safeway, and how I would do anything to get the job, and to demonstrate that I deserved it.
* I listed my Job Corps work experience as a vocational internship.
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