NOT an April Fool's Day joke ! ! ! ! !

What, they don't think we'd know anything?

Well, not only have they decided that we can't use our old order dividers, but they actually took them away from us ! ! ! !

So they are forcing us to use these stupid things with the open bottoms. We've tried. They are useless. Sure they're pretty or what ever and I can honestly say I have had two (2) people comment on them. Most people are annoyed because they are too light, hard to stand up, even harder to slide back along the little lip we had, and they nestle. Which means that when you slide them along and then flip one down onto the belt to stop the evil eye that makes the belt move, they all fall down. That means they move along the belt with the groceries, they get caught on items much easier, and they are harder to see then the other ones. They blend in with the groceries. What could they have been thinking to make one that looks like a package of spaghetti? And how about one that looks like a honking great butchers knife. I've had more people think it was a real knife than have commented on the 'prettiness' of the other ones.

Oh yeah, when they DO get caught on groceries, they can only slide so far because some brilliant scientist put a stop at the cashier end to stop the divider sliding out the end and stabbing the cashier in the ribs. Problem is, that when it can't move anymore the pressure now goes to the other end where what ever kind of grocery is hung up. If its bread you may get a ripped open bag.

Also the belt obviously has to have a little space on both sides so that it can move freely along the track. Well guess what? The new dividers, having an open bottom on them, fit perfectly into that space. They get stuck and are not that easier to dislodge, especially if the belt has carried them along a little bit.

Well, we had all figured out our own ways to deal with this latest dumb idea when someone comes along and starts screwing in all these upside down 'T's for these things to slide on. The principle is that the bottom portion of the T will allow them to just sit on top and not have a problem with us trying to get them into the previous track which was shaped like an upside down 'U'. But, you know what? I think you should have done a little measuring first! We have these little cases, about a 10" x 10" square, that hang right about the divider trough. They hold lottery tickets. There wasn't much clearance before but you could still get the dividers in because they were either square shaped or triangle shaped, all closed sides.

There is not enough room to place these open bottomed ones they way we used to. Sort of as a task you could perform with out having to look at what you were doing. NOW, you have to physically stop what you're doing and look at it so that you can line it up. Not much of an effort you say?? No, its not. What it is, is friggin' annoying. You get into a flow running orders through and having to actually stop to place these stupid things is a royal pain in the sit upon.  Its akin to having to stop when you want to blink your eyes and then telling your lids to go down and up. We do that so automatically, what would it be like if you had to stop and consciously do that every so many seconds?

This is really a trivial thing to be writing about but it is just another one of the tiny little things that shouldn't be an issue for your job. We like to get things done. They are always after us to be faster and to watch that things aren't stolen. But now you want us to take those few seconds with darn near every order to line up a stupid advertisement? That happens at the same time I am checking the bottom of the buggy, or thanking a customer, or packing their groceries, or answering a question, or greeting the next customer.

I just wish I worked somewhere that the employees were thought enough of to be asked their opinions on what would make the job easier.  I think it would have given us the respect we deserve as we are the ones doing the actual job. WE know what our issues are with putting an order through.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my job.

And guess what??? It still doesn't stop those dividers from falling off the other side of the track and getting stuck behind the gum racks.

So there ! ! ! !