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On my fourth week of being a soda merchandiser. Got a text this morning that a localish chain grocery (Houchens, and all the differently named but still Houchens-owned stores) has decided that vendors are not allowed to have headphones or cellphones. At all. Nevermind that I don't work for them and making me leave my phone in my car is stupid, we also use our work phones to get info about the store, deliveries, and to take pictures of our sections. Houchens is by far the worst ran small chain I've ever dealt with in 20~ years of retail work.
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May 4, 2023 12:59
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 14:31 |
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The Lord Bude posted:I’m curious, how is it that your response to that is ‘gently caress you I don’t work for you?’. And why isn’t your employer putting their foot down? If you’re using your phone for work functions they should be saying ‘you guys don’t get to decide whether our staff have phones or not; if you don’t like it enjoy not having soda to sell’.  They're probably just used to saying "Sure thing Houchens we'll do this." Then going back to the way it was after a few weeks because Houchens is poorly run and won't notice. I'm certainly not leaving either of my phones in my car so we'll see if anyone even cares.
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May 4, 2023 15:24
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  This different chain has also decided that there will be NO skids on the floor after 11am.
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May 4, 2023 19:22
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Coasterphreak posted:I mean, I get the no headphones thing, it’s a potential safety issue. But no phones? That’s just loving stupid. Gotta make sure even the people that don't work there are miserable
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May 4, 2023 19:47
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Finally made it to my only Houchens today and immediately walked by an employee with ear buds in, to highlight how serious they are about their proclamations.
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May 4, 2023 22:16
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Same store is currently running a combustion engine powered floor buffer around the aisles, at 5:30. Everything smells like fumes and the sound drowns out everything.
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May 4, 2023 23:29
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The Lord Bude posted:Please tell me it’s 5:30 am in your timezone and not PM with the store full of customers because if it’s the latter then I’m afraid that place is irredeemably hosed. Lol no it was 5:30 pm and it went on for over an hour, at a store that closes at 9pm. Another chain today just told me that starting Monday all vendors must clock in on the kiosk. Alright, sure, Target does that, it's fine. He also told me the company will charge the person $100 every time they don't do it, which is a big loving laugh. I assume they mean charge the company but when I asked that, he wasn't sure. Admiral Joeslop fucked around with this message at 19:25 on May 6, 2023 |
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May 6, 2023 14:20
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Midjack posted:Why do they give a poo poo? Is it ensuring you got there on schedule? cephalopods posted:probably trying to keep track of the plainclothes randos walking around in The Back It's this. I'm assuming it stemmed from the recent corporate visit, they're the same ones that came down from on high and demanded the "No Pallets on the floor after 11 am" rule be enforced at all times when the stores here have ignored it for years. We're a few hours from their headquarters but they still got a real big market share and a big ego to go with it.
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May 6, 2023 22:46
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PurpleXVI posted:Yeah, I'm done with them from today onwards where they revealed that they expected me to show up for more unpaid training sessions with maybe an employment contract in the future and oh, my "training" session for today happened to be helping them design something for their showroom. Something that, suspiciously, they would perhaps be doing themselves if I didn't do it for them. Biggest and reddest flag in the world right there, good job on getting out.
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May 11, 2023 21:01
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May 12, 2023 21:45
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Alkydere posted:I gotta say working at Amazon was oddly theraputic after my old job in the kitchen. Yes there's so much bullshit but it's bullshit I'm oddly tolerant of. The kitchen was "You're here until the job is done so you need to do X, Y, Z, Zeta, Pineapple, etc. The manager is going to try to call you in on at least one of your days off, likely both and make you work 60-70 hour weeks" Amazon is "Okay you're here for 10 hours of hard work, but then you go home. We don't want you here early, we don't want you here late, we want you on a fixed schedule you can plan around. Also we want you to stay in your lane: your job is X and maybe some Y, let someone else worry about everything else and you focus on your role." It's the same way going from a route sales job to merchandising. Similar job set but I'm not doing the ordering or having to talk to managers about getting extra space, or dealing with product shortages. I show up and put the the product we have on the shelf and make it look nice. And it's hourly instead of commission only.
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May 19, 2023 02:11
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Soonmot posted:I mean I've been at my store for almost 15 years and our staff has been halved. Before any managers, our petco had a dedicated cashier, a dedicated aquatics person, one person working the front half of the store and one in the back, for open, mid, and close. Dog trainer (me) was not factored into this at all, so between classes I was an extra hand. Plus our managers and product reps. Now we have twice as much work because of having to fill online orders and pack them for shipping, BOPUS orders, or the loving shitheads who want us to carry their bullshit out to their cars, but half as much staff. For me personally, I could make as much as I do a week by scheduling 4 private lessons a week, but needing to actually hustle those clients up, not having health insurance, or an hourly wage during slow times means I'm stuck as a pet store dog trainer. I'm just relieved as hell that I'll be dying in like seven years. Fifteen years ago or so when I started at Walgreens we had 3-4 managers throughout the day, with a couple cashiers, 1-2 people in photo with overlap, and the same in cosmetics. By the time I left eight years later there was one cashier, one photo, one cosmetics, and one manager, on a good day. The store manager got mad at me one day for not finishing my management tasks because I was covering both photo and cosmetics while the photo person was covering the cashier's lunch, while I also had to help the pharmacy and use the second register when a line formed.
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May 19, 2023 11:24
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Shugojin posted:ah good ol retail labor accounting, where Local city in Kentucky that I used to deliver to had a Walgreens, then a Rite Aid a couple blocks down, then another Rite Aid a few blocks down from that. Then Walgreens bought out Rite Aid and all three of them are now Walgreens, all within a mile of each other.
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May 20, 2023 13:12
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Walmart employee decided to try and manhandle some sodas from behind the skid I was working instead of just asking and knocked a bunch of my 12 packs over, breaking four of them. Didn't even say anything, just looked at me and walked away with their stuff.
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May 26, 2023 14:26
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Much as I would love to never have to set foot in a Walmart again, I don't think my company would be very happy about me being kicked out of one.
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May 26, 2023 16:28
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Eric the Mauve posted:Okay yeah good point. There are some lines you shouldn't cross and some words you shouldn't say. I like to think the stare I gave him conveyed several emotions.
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May 26, 2023 19:32
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Walmart manager moved all the vendor skids from their spot to the receiving aisle, and put them sideways so no one could get them out without moving everything. He also slammed my pallet into something  Walmart managers are some of the worst people I've ever met.
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Jun 1, 2023 20:21
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Got to a Walmart today, put up the truck, then go take a look at the back stock to see how I'm going to fit the leftovers. This is after I've already started trying to fix it. Walmart receivers have to count the bins every day or so. They ask us nicely to make sure the same product is lined up to the back so they don't have to dig. Very little is actually lined up and the super chill receiver looks like he's as close to blowing a gasket as he can get. Tell him I agree that it's poorly done and should not be that way and tell him I'm fixing it, so we don't lose our loving back stock bin. Text the lead and she says it was probably the younger guy on the team and the sales rep for the store, which doesn't surprise me. Nice people but he's 19 and she's very spacy. Anyway I fixed it.  
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Jun 9, 2023 23:09
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PurpleXVI posted:So when the big sorter broke, they used the small sorter instead, and broke that as well? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hyttagGsz0
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Jun 21, 2023 18:44
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 Sales rep accidentally ordered eleven cases instead of one..
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Jun 23, 2023 12:17
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Someone stole or somehow lost the key to the plastic baler at this Walmart. That was Friday and they still have to go get the key from the cardboard baler to use on the plastic one. Taking bets on whether it ever gets replaced.
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Jun 26, 2023 12:59
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Probably every store manager level on down to the lowest key holder thinks shrink is the biggest problem for a retail store, because the people above them are adamant that it is. Every store I go to the back room of or worked at has signs everywhere about how shrink will kill the company if not kept under control.
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Jun 26, 2023 15:17
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The farm and home store I worked at in the mid 2000s had a policy of cutting a $500 check to any employee who apprehended a shoplifter, and $1000 if it was an employee. It's amazing we never got sued or an employee got stabbed.
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Jun 27, 2023 00:07
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Rainbow Knight posted:
It's a lot funnier to imagine someone drove their old fryer around so they could dump it than someone at your store being really lazy.
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Jun 28, 2023 23:26
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 Pepsi driver gonna have a bad day tomorrow. Or more likely refuse to pick them up and make the merchandiser do it.
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Jun 29, 2023 18:43
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Jun 30, 2023 13:51
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 Someone hosed up and a box of Sunkist syrup ended up at a grocery store that doesn't have fountain drinks.
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Jul 1, 2023 23:26
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My "favorite" power move was when someone calls you to the office and asks you to have a seat then stays standing so they can look down at you to emphasize that they have the power and prestige here. It's only happened to me twice but it really burns my rear end looking back now. One of them was a district manager who fancied himself a real Strong Man type, with a southern accent that a lot of people would consider fake or a caricature. Last time I looked him up he had been busted down to a store manager so that did make me feel a little better.
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Jul 13, 2023 20:51
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   Louisville warehouse sent this skid along like nothing was wrong with it. Obviously the store refused it so now it's just sitting at our warehouse and all the stuff on top will be empty at the store.
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Jul 21, 2023 15:57
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Corporate: "Stop sending 12 packs back for credit unless a can is busted. Tape them up no matter what and if they were leaked on, set them aside to dry." Also corporate: "Here's your skid, rear end in a top hat." 
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Jul 27, 2023 16:58
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Admiral Joeslop posted:Corporate: "Stop sending 12 packs back for credit unless a can is busted. Tape them up no matter what and if they were leaked on, set them aside to dry." Corporate is now also sending plastic totes (that take up space in our limited back stock bin) with a handful of empty twelve pack boxes that we're supposed to transfer cans to if a box is too messed up. Four of the sixteen or so in the box are for Sundrop and Diet Sundrop, a brand that hardly anyone sells and that Walmart here definitely does not.
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Jul 28, 2023 14:30
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Leal posted:Low key one of the things I miss and what I think was the biggest perk at working fast food was the free soda. Because that poo poo is so drat expensive right now. Its like 16 bucks for a 24 pack Most of my brands around here are $8 for a twelve pack and people complain to me all the time. All I can do is agree with them and tell them corporations are greedy, I just put the stuff out.
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Jul 29, 2023 23:08
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Years ago some dipshit fake redneck and his fake redneck friends brought in their dogs. His dog poo poo on the floor right in the main aisle. I told him he needed to clean it up, I'd get him the stuff. Come back and of course he's gone but his buddy is around and points out he went up front. I confront him at the register and when he says he's not cleaning it up, I ban him from the store and stop his purchase. That kind of power is the only thing I miss from being a manager. In current news, a manager at this Walmart said that under no circumstances can we leave empty soda trays in the back, they must all be taken out. It's Saturday at noon so there's no receiver, no one in the back (there's hardly ever anyone in the back here, it's weird), and the one person I found to page a manager had to find someone else to page because they can't. Anyway that was ten minutes ago and I'm still waiting.
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Aug 12, 2023 18:11
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It took thirty minutes and a trip to customer service before I found the receiver, who was thirty minutes late leaving, to let me out. Doubt a manager would've ever showed up. Definitely gonna mention it to the manager who told me in the first place, because doing things that have no meaning is the story of my life.
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Aug 12, 2023 19:52
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I love Christmas music, even when I had to listen to it during retail work. Except the depressing one where the kid is buying shoes for his cancer riddled mother.
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Aug 18, 2023 11:19
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Eric the Mauve posted:Reported Fucken do it then. At my first stop today, a Walmart. Entire back room smells like rotten eggs. Turns out it's a gas leak and we were told to drop everything and GTFO. Soon as everyone got outside, a couple employees lit up cigarettes right by the entrance.
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Aug 18, 2023 13:01
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Admiral Joeslop posted:It took thirty minutes and a trip to customer service before I found the receiver, who was thirty minutes late leaving, to let me out. Doubt a manager would've ever showed up. Definitely gonna mention it to the manager who told me in the first place, because doing things that have no meaning is the story of my life. Saw the manager today, told him it took thirty minutes for someone to let me out. His response was "Just go to the service desk and tell them" and after I told him that I did, he just repeated that and said they'd take care of me. Completely expected.
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Aug 18, 2023 15:47
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PurpleXVI posted:My response to anything like that is just to leave. If they insist on wasting my time, they can go to hell. They have my time as long as they pay for it, not a second longer. That will just result in me getting in trouble or Walmart refusing orders which is even worse if it's my "fault." At least I'm getting paid to sit around.
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Aug 18, 2023 16:31
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The gas leak from earlier was actually just the four batteries from the scissor lift going real bad. Good thing they kept it maintained!
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Aug 18, 2023 18:14
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 14:31 |
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I just really loved Christmas as a kid because I would spend a week at my grandparents where I could play video games all day or ride my bike around town, and they would play Christmas cassettes in the basement and have lights on the bar (which was carpeted on the front  .)My cool aunt would be in town for most of that week, and half the town would stop by on Christmas Eve. Anyway that's why I like Christmas music 
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Aug 18, 2023 21:26
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