Not Fair

Just a short post today.

The older gentleman who reminds me of my Dad? The one with such a kind heart and the sweetest face?

He lost his wife on the 3rd of October. There is a service this Sunday that I plan on attending. They were married 69 years.

His heart must be breaking.

On October 7th of this year my Mom and Dad would have been married for 70 years.

Boy ! ! ! Where have I BEEN ? ? ! ! !

Well, It has been a rather trying couple of months at the store. I was beginning to feel better about summer being over when they messed it up again.



See, with students away in the summer we are down to the regular customer base. But this year, whether because of the economy or what, we seemed even quieter than normal. SOOOOO...... The answer is that head office cuts hours.

And cuts hours, and cuts hours.

I usually average around 20 or 22 a week, but to be down to 13 ??!!! Why bother?

So it was tense and when we were crowded you'd be working like crazy to cover for the lack of bodies. Causes quite a lot of stress. When you add onto that the fact that some of the younger girls have no idea about responsibility etc, it was not a pleasant few months.


We had one new girl that came 'recommended' from another store. Bull doo doo!!

She was so bad. Didn't like to work, yapped all the time, late to work, early to leave, too long for breaks, no idea of courtesy, too loud, and very inconsiderate. She was pretty though, so she at least has that to fall back on.

Well, two weeks ago was the final straw for me. The hours were just starting to pick up and I was scheduled for a late afternoon, over the supper-time-crowd, shift. We were SO freakin' busy and we had only two cashiers, myself and express. She finally shows up 45 minutes late and is standing around yapping. I snapped at her to get on a register and start working. Turns out she was going on express. So it was no immediate help to me. Luckily the head cashiers were able to come out from doing office work and help.

She gets on express, the head cashiers are working and we get the crowd down. The other girls start to come in and they are all of the same approximate age and go to school with Miss Yappy Pants.

AND so the talking starts. No working, but lots of talking. The rule with express is that you stay on that register! No if and or buts. You are to be there at all times for customers. You can walk away a little bit but you have to be ready to work when the customer shows up. Simple!!

Part way through the evening, she was given a break. She sort of really didn't have one coming because of being so late, but head cashier thought she's give her ten minutes to at least go to the washroom. Doesn't she take 20 minutes and only that short because Head cashier paged her back to the register!!!!

She works for another ten minutes or so, and the next thing I know she is all the way down at number 6 talking to the girl who just got braces. I've got a line up, and the other young cashier is listening to the story. Head cashier comes out and tells Yappy Pants that she has a customer at express. Doesn't YP just ignore her.

I was fit to be tied!! I have been working my butt off, no easy feat in itself, and the other three girls on the registers are doing squat!! For some reason customers are lining up at my register, and even though the lights are on at the other ones they keep coming to me. I keep telling them that the other registers are open, mainly so they don't have as long to wait. They actually look disappointed (confused) when I say the others ARE open. I guess they impression wasn't that they were.

Finally, I go on my break and I was so close to saying that's it, see ya' later.

I came in early the next day, because I was so livid about the way they were treating Head cashier and myself. I talked to the boss and told him I wouldn't work with her ever again.


She's gone.


Good thing, too. I think it has opened the eyes of a couple of the others. About time they realized that this is a JOB! You have to be responsible. Heck even the 'always late girl' has been on time the past two weeks.

That's it for now. Got to get ready to go to work.

More stuff later. And I'll try to not be so delinquent in my posting.

Customer Updates

I haven't talked about a few of our customers lately.

The gentleman that I have said reminds me of my Dad is still coming in, but with the hours that I have had cut I don't see him very often. He is still a wonderful, dear man and I think very highly of him. I care for him greatly. I bought him some cinnamon hearts back around Valentine's as he loves them. I can't find any now. It would make a nice pick me up for him. I ask after his wife and he says "no words today". I'm not sure what is wrong with her. I am guessing Alzheimer's but could be very wrong. I told him that she knows he's there and he said he doesn't know that.

Oh and he's is still buying his two cans of beans every time he's in the store. They go in the food donation.

*****

The Purple Lady has disappeared from my life. One day about 6 or 8 weeks ago she came in to tell me that she was moving up to live with her daughter. Her daughter and the doctor thought that best.

I knew she had been to see her doctor and I knew the next time I saw her that things weren't right, but I could NOT get her to tell me. She wanted to so badly but something just held her back. I told her I was here for her when ever she needed me. I saw her once more in the store after that and then no more. She chose to leave without a good bye. I think that was important for her.

I miss her dearly. Would love to know how to get in touch just to send a little note or card.

*****

Sicko Boy had disappeared. Its like one of those you don't realize you haven't seen someone until you see them somewhere else things.

I was driving home from work one evening and saw this electric wheelchair with someone in it and a big kid walking beside it. This was within ten blocks of my house. Anyway, I did a double take because at first glance they looked familiar. Then it twigged that it was SB and his Grandma. That was when I realized I hadn't seen them in the store in a long time. Wonder why they had to move?

*****

Mrs. Pinchpenny still comes in and is still as rude as always. She just interrupts when you are dealing with another customer. VERY annoying.

*****

There is one lady I haven't written about because I thought it not nice to. BUT, I think I am sick of hearing how she has been made blind by eye surgery. Its the same story every time. I thought at first how tragic and all, and that I would be very helpful. But then I noticed that she can now read name tags and doesn't need the help with her money anymore etc. SO, I am guessing its the sympathy card we're playing now. She sure can pick out her scratch and sniff lottery tickets okay!!

*****

And one last quick one:

The lady that got so irate with me about me asking for assistance to the "Cigarette" counter?? Well after that incident she avoided me for a while. I think she thought I would be 'mean' again. Anyway, I just acted like it never happened. One of the other cashiers pointed out to me that she will NEVER buy the cigarettes at the same time as her groceries. I hadn't noticed that before, but now when I see her come in, sure enough, she'll wait until after she's been through the cashier and then go to the service area to get the cigarettes. Don't know why but I guess she has her reasons. It always takes longer to do it that way, but ..... hey, whatever gets you by.

Cutting hours leads to . . . . .

There has been this big push on lately to cut hours. Two weeks ago I was affected. Yup, they called me and took my Wednesday 'express line' shift away. Found out later I could have taken another shift from someone else to replace it. I'm NOT clear on whether it had to be the same day or just the same time period.

Now, I'm fairly close to the top seniority wise as I have been working there since April 11, 2007. The only people ahead of me now have worked there forever.

So we have been struggling through this hour-cutting stuff for about a month and a half. Its been brutal at times because you are always short staffed, you can end up with huge line ups which aggravates the customers, you can't get any one to do a price check because they're run off their feet as well, and you oft times are paired with a younger cashier that has no idea of work.

That last one really pisses me off.

TANGENT>>> WHY DO WE STILL HAVE THESE PEOPLE?

And more IMPORTANTLY IF WE ARE HIRING NEW CASHIERS THEN GET RID OF THE STUPID SLOW ONES.
OFF TANGENT.

There I feel better.

*****

Anyway, don't I pick up the paper last Friday and read how our store had record profits. Somehow it really bites that we are busting our butts, worrying about jobs and all that fun stuff but feel 'safe' in the knowledge that the COMPANY has made a profit.

I am enclosing the article below and I have changed certain words in the article to keep up with my 'disguise'. I have used symbols for all store names and changed the city name. I don't think I had to but, what the heck, lets be safe.

ARTICLE FROM PAPER:

*****'s sales up 23 per cent in Q3

Grocer sees move to discount stores

August 07, 2009

Ross Marowits

THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL (Aug 7, 2009)

Grocery store operator ***** Inc. enjoyed record profits in the fiscal third quarter, despite a continuing consumer shift to its discount banners.

The Montreal-based company said yesterday strong sales contributed to a 23 per cent surge in profits.

It earned $112.6 million, or $1.01 per share, for the quarter ended July 4, an increase over year-earlier profits of $91.9 million, or 81 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings per share totalled $1.01, up 25 per cent from figures posted a year ago.

Quarterly sales rose 4 per cent to $3.5 billion from $3.4 billion a year ago. Same-store sales, or sales at locations that have been open for at least a year, rose 4.2 per cent.

The results beat the expectation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who forecast 93 cents in earnings per share.

"Clearly the recession is having an impact on consumer behaviour. Our conventional stores are growing, but we are seeing a shift towards discount," CEO Eric La Fleche said.

In addition to its ***** and ***** Plus banners, the company operates discount stores **** ****** in Ontario and the former **** ***** ******* stores in (my city here).

Competition remains fierce in both Ontario and Quebec, especially among staple products. However, unlike in past quarters, La Fleche said the competition is rational.

In both markets, it achieved higher sales, more customers and larger sales per store visit. And it claimed to have increased its market share in its Quebec base.

In Ontario, its supermarket conversion plan is on schedule with 128 of 159 stores converted to the ***** banner as of July 24, 2009, including all former ****b stores.

***** is in the process of rebranding Ontario stores originally purchased under the ******** banner and converting them to the ***** name.

La Fleche said the company was pleased with its record results, especially since they are compared with the third quarter of 2008 when it returned to positive earnings growth after taking a hit from price wars in Ontario and information technology problems.

The supermarket chain expects that food price inflation, which reduced to 3 per cent in the quarter, will continue to reduce over the coming two quarters. The impact will be felt on imported goods such as produce if the Canadian dollar creeps up towards parity.

Irene Nattel of RBC Capital Markets said ***** benefited in the quarter from food inflation, increased sales volume as consumers buy less expensive, but higher margin private label products and improved productivity.

*****'s board increased its quarterly dividend by 10 per cent to 13.75 per cent.

I can't fix the WHOLE world

So, I've been quiet lately.

Well, there's a reason for that. Its been sort of . . . . . . . interesting, lately.

Had one day last week where there was an accident on the local highway that backed up traffic TERRIBLY. We had most of it coming past us because the highway was closed for such a long time. We actually had a lot of people that just pulled in the parking lot and figured they'd get the shopping done instead of just sitting still. Made for a very busy afternoon. A lot of people were asking US for updates and if we knew what was happening.

* * * * *

Then we have a couple of cashier issues. Now I am trying not to get involved in this crap but when it affects MY performance I'm going to say something.

1st: The cashier that used to be on customer service. I wrote about her when they first chose her to do the job. At that time I thought it was a wrong choice and then, later, said that I was mistaken when she turned out to be very good at it. I was pleasantly surprised at what a responsible young lady she turned into. Well, since hours have been cut and she doesn't get to do that any more she has gotten very, very bad. I am not sure if there is something else happening in her life that is causing the change but she does not give a DAMN about this job anymore. She comes in late, is very tired, was texting at the register ( a big NO-NO), sits on the bag holders, lies across the belt, disappears at times, flaunts the rules. Something drastic has changed in her life to cause this. She is behaving so out of character.

2nd: We have a new cashier who is a teenager as well. She is trying to do her job but is trying TOO hard. She doesn't go anywhere without running, she is too apologetic, too helpful to customers, almost to the point of being pushy. Its hard to describe. She had a loaf of bread the other day that wouldn't scan because the label was slightly askew. So she then tried to punch in the numbers on the label. In the meantime she has opened this customers loaf of bread up to get to the label, she is trying so hard but you can see the customer trying hard not to just grab it right out of her hands. I finally told her to just punch in the value of the bread and hit the bakery key. So then she starts to apologize to the customer and did she want another loaf of bread "I didn't touch this one" and on and on. I told her to just listen to the customer when she said no and to move on because she was taking up a lot of the customer's time.

Then she has a bag of eight limes and punches in the code for them and puts them in the customer's bag. Except that limes are each not per pound. So she didn't charge for 7 of them. I told her about that which got me thinking of earlier in the shift when she had asked about mangoes, another per item price not per pound. And I began to wonder how many items have gone through her without being charged correctly. This kind of thing should not be an issue if the cashier keeps an eye on what comes up on the register. You HAVE to do that. Its how you learn prices for the odd time something comes through that does not scan and you can't get a grocery clerk to price it for you.

The running thing is just a bad idea, because running in a store or any work place implies that there is a reason to run and therefore people can get panicked. Running should only be done for emergencies.

* * * * *

We had a floor walker for a whole weekend. He actually caught somebody stealing and then we didn't have him any more. A few days ago Head Grocery Clerk noticed a buggy sitting with a fair number of items in it. He asked Head Cashier if she knew what it was about and told her that that was the second buggy he had found. Well not an hour later doesn't he just HAPPEN to walk past the exit and catch someone heading towards the door. The couple quickly covered by saying "did you leave your wallet in the car again?" And left the buggy to go get the "wallet". Of course they drove away. The buggy had almost $250.00 worth of meat in it.

They must have been testing the waters with the first two buggies. When they thought it was safe they tried and luckily our guy was there. Except that he feels very bad because if he hadn't just happened to have been there we would have been robbed. Again!!

* * * * *

Maybe its just me, but I don't see how cutting the hours of cashiers and others is saving money when it means you have less eyes in the store watching for these things. The BIG Boss likes to see everyone 'busy' and not standing around, but I'll tell you when I'm "just standing around" I am looking at customers and watching how they act. You get to know your regulars and when there are strangers you watch them more. You can be looking down different aisles. I find that the 'older' cashiers are more aware of people and how they act. The kids are too busy just getting them through and out, then they go back to their cell phones or magazines, or eating, yes STILL eating, at the register. They are not looking at what is happening around them.

* * * * *

Its a shame we don't hire more mature people. Maybe they'd actually do the job and do it well.

Interesting who reads the blog? ? ? ? ! ! !

So last night I check my email and there is a message from someone who has worked in payroll for over 20 years and is not sure how she found my blog but likes to catch up when she's checking her other favourite blogs.

Doesn't she write me a nice note, with direct quotes and all, about the way working before and after a holiday works. I'm not going to write the particulars here as too many of the young people I work with will take advantage of the information. Suffice it to say that I was slightly mistaken.

* * * * *

I worked on Sunday (after being off for two days due to illness) and had the pleasure of working next to a young lady that was texting on her cell phone most of the time. Even while a customer was at her register! Now, granted, she did take the time to ring them through but as soon as it was time for them to put their pin number in on the keypad she was back to the phone. HOW freaking RUDE ! !

If I had been the customer I would have complained so fast. She was also sort of leaning over to keep the phone out of the way, but in doing so she couldn't be seen by customers. Her light was on and customers would look, not see anybody and then come to me. Fine, except that if we didn't need the extra body I would have preferred to be at home because I was still pretty freaking sick.

I'm not even pleased going in today, but hey I feel a sense of responsibility.

(SARCASM ALERT) And maybe, just maybe, I'll have the pleasure of working with one or two of the three or four girls that think that having a light on is good enough to say that they are 'working'. Nine times out of ten they are not at the register but are wandering around putting baskets back or doing go-backs (items that customers changed their minds on). Okay, it does NOT take that long to do that sort of stuff. It seems that AS SOON as they don't have a customer at the till they wander. There are things they could be doing at their own station that keeps them available for customers. Hey how about cleaning the belt once in a while or tidying up a little.


And by the way, what was with the FOUR 10 minute bathroom breaks when we weren't texting?? I can't get around very well, but I can sure make it to the washroom and back in three minutes. AND I'M OLD!
I don't even have to go THAT often!!!

Sick ! ! ! ? ? ? I'll say ! !

So this has been a tough year health wise and last week my hubby was sick. I had been sort of sick for about two weeks already but nothing too bad. (She said tongue in cheek).

So then he gets sick and wow it was wicked. Really bad cough, sore itchy eyes, congestion, barely able to swallow. Yuck all 'round.

I thought he just had a worse version of what I had. But, NAY NAY.

I started to get a sore throat on Canada Day evening (Wednesday). I thought it was just because I had been stuck under a tent during the rain with a smoker and the fumes really irritated me. But no. I woke up Thursday morning SO SICK. I hadn't slept most of the night, my throat was okay but I could feel the congestion coming on. And TIRED ? ? ! !

I decided to go to work, because:
a) I needed the money to save for a trip.
b) I'm stupid.
c) I would lose the holiday pay by not working the regularly scheduled days before and after a holiday. (lose 2 days pay instead of 1)
d) I'm stupid.
e) I wasn't sure they could get someone on such short notice.
and
e) I'm stupid.

I made it in and how I made it through the 4 hours I don't know. I guess I went into auto pilot. I sure hope I didn't make any mistakes. And my customers noticed I wasn't my usual 'cheery' self.

I went home that night and crashed. I was SO worn out. Of course I couldn't sleep, because I was either coughing, trying to breathe, coughing, sweating, coughing, freezing, coughing or rubbing my eyes. Holy CRAP, were they itchy. I would have poked them out if I thought it would help. (And I knew how to put them back correctly.)

Friday morning, I waited until just after noon hour to see if I was going to feel better. I didn't so I finally called work and asked if they could get someone to cover for me. Head cashier said I sounded awful and that she would get someone. I said if you can't I'll come in but really hoped they would.

Saturday morning, I got up and was a lot worse. The congestion in my chest was making it feel like there was a fifty pound weight on my lungs. It shouldn't be WORK to breathe.

I called earlier this time to give them plenty of time to call around and this time it was like I wasn't believed. I felt like I was calling in with a fake excuse and that I was really planning on having Saturday off to go and party. I know it is just perception on my part, BUT it really made me feel that way.

Kind of ticked me off, because I have never called in when I was not sick. Never! !

In the past I have tried to trade Sundays away or plain given them away because I don't want to be working them any more. I am now booking them off.

I am still a firm believer in having the teenagers and students work the crap hours. I had to when I was their age and I'm sure anyone else with maturity at the store will agree. I think that as a RESPONSIBLE ADULT I have earned the right to have my weekends and evenings free. I gave them all up as a teenager and I want them back now. I also don't think that I 'have' to work my fair share of evening hours. That, again, is what the students are for. With the way hours have been cut, there are sure enough of them needing those ones that I don't want to work. I want to get those day time five hours shifts that the girls JUNIOR to me are getting.

I also want to state that I empathize very strongly with the full timers that HAVE to work some weekends and evenings each week. But sorry to say that comes with the full time job. There are enough part timers to fill in the little shifts that I'm talking about. And again, this is nothing against the scheduling because I understand the strong/weak cashier thing, but then lets hire a few people of my age that are responsible workers.

Anyway, its Sunday, early afternoon, and I am to be at work in less than three hours. I don't want to go because I still feel lousy but, I also need the money for my trip. I am planning on having my hand sanitizer, using the hand towels provided (with sanitizer) and trying not to cough. I don't want to make anyone else sick with this.

And that's all for today.