at your peril - Cashier Meijer Employee Review

Worked at store 173, looks good, but very negative work culture First I should say… I’ve been a loyal Meijer shopper for over 20 years. So the idea of working for Meijers, when I realized I needed a second job that was a simple ‘line’ job, was attractive. I’ve always been excited about Meijers being a Michigan based store, and proud of their moving into organics. I’d always had the impression that Meijers treated both its customers and employees well in the overall compared to other grocery stores. As a result, I would never have considered shopping at that shiney, newer Walmart down the street. So I started my job as a ‘cashier’ with some enthusiasm for working for Meijers, and a positive attitude. I knew cashiering would be demanding work in certain ways, and not at all what I was used to as in my work I consult/counsel and do assessments where one is sitting….not standing all day…..but I figured after a brief training, I learn quickly, that I’d be keeping up with the best of them…and I like a challenge. My desire was to do a great job, be personable and welcoming with customers (I know what its like to check out with someone who’s not) ; do good customer service and learn the system quickly to get those customers thru the line and home as quickly as possible. From waiting in line I know the things that make a difference, and what some of the customers needs and hopes are… So, I was supposed to interview with the person who was to be my supervisor, but after waiting and waiting… and being told she’d be there soon, after about 45 minutes, I ended up being interviewed by someone else instead.. When I interviewed things were very positive…. I was told that Meijers would respect my availability and not require me to work at times I couldn’t; and that the hours I was available (afternoons and evenings) were ideal as most of the long time workers preferred days and that this was what they needed – I was told I’d get a locker, and shirts and was given a brief orientation. I had the impression, or I wouldn’t have taken the job, that after some provisional period, I’d have health benefits. But…. After starting I was puzzled as I asked my supervisor about this and she said – ‘not until after your first year’. This concerned me, it was currently open enrollment, so I asked at the office. No one seemed to know…I asked 5 people and got 5 different answers. I was eventually told it was 90 days, which seemed sensible. But it was puzzling, how could they not know and be able to answer this kind of question immediately? They were bringing all kinds of new people in…. isn’t this basic stuff if you’re considerate of the incoming candidate’s needs and questions? Had I listened simply to my supervisor or “team leader” – I’d have left. It was becoming cold, so I asked my supervisor about appropriate sweater/jackets and was told that I’d be supplied with one…. Yet nothing for days and days, and freezing….so I purchased a sweater after consulting with a staff person at another Meijers – only to be told when I wore it that it was “wrong” and I needed to buy a Meijers fleece jacket. I also tried to get a locker as I’d been told these were available. I cannot tell you how much of my break time was spent asking after a locker to no avail. Every supervisor told me that they’d get right back to me with that before the end of the day. They were all blowing smoke, never heard another thing from any of them. Finally I chased the right person down and was told that whoever had had her job ahead of her had left a drawer full of mislabeled keys and so she had no idea what keys matched what lockers.. and so, not possible for now. So all of that time I’d wasted on breaks trying to chase this down… well. What fun. Typical here. For them? Not a problem. So to take a break, you have to punch out at your register.. then scurry all the way across the store and then the parking lot out to your car in your 15 minutes – and then back in….. you can’t take anything into the store with you without a locker, except for your coat or sweater…. I was informed when I asked that you can’t even have a water bottle at your station without a doctor’s slip. So, there you are… you scurry across the store and out to the parking lot to your car, and then back all the way to your station to punch in again… so your break is reduced by 5 minutes easily. Or if you have some money in your pocket, I suppose you can pay for a coffee from the machine and have it in the break room…or you can buy an apple and spend your break standing in a line… or, out to your car for the apple you stashed… The catch on the scheduling is that you must be in on Fridays to check your schedule which is what you’ll have for the next two weeks. If they schedule you for whatever they want with no respect for your availability whatsoever, and you don’t catch it then, you’re stuck with it. This happened each week, then to get it changed is a real process – you might not know what your “approved” schedule is for days, but no matter – you’re supposed to show up on it regardless. Also when you put in a “schedule request” as I did on the computer, you’d best figure out first how to make a copy (this is not easy to do) And keep a copy as a week later I was still not able to re-access the “availability” I put into the system as it was “locked” and I was told it would be that way until “approved”. Apparently it was never approved, as it continued to be locked…..so I wasn’t able to say…. “here’s what I put in for my availability” and here’s the schedule you have me….I was told it had matched what I’d said was my availability…. Again, my bad…. I take pride in my work, but here they make it very hard. Only work here if you have nowhere else to go, or are upper echelon, for the line worker, newbie it is a miserable place to be. They are short staffed all over and its obvious to anyone but them why: They treat everyone below them like dirt. Absolutely inexcusable the way people are treated here. Managers are negative (disdainful) and critical even while you're brand new and in training and they know you have no idea yet (because they haven’t trained you a whit.....) I've worked in many settings and this was outstanding in being dysfunctional and petty, by far the worst. It really feels like either they are sadistic or they are actively trying to “lose” you as a new employee. As I walked thru the store I’d see supervisors, managers, ‘Team Leaders’ – in the past in new jobs people have been generally conscious of a new person and said hi, smiled, introduced themselves. Here? Not a bit. Several Team Leaders or Supervisors would be standing chatting and I’d walk by… they’d look at me blankly… as would most other employees until I started saying “Hi , how are you?” with a big smile. But really – it was all on me to make it happen. So much for the Meijers positive presence described in orientation. Co workers looked generally tired and vacant, and Supervisors were too busy chatting with each other about personal business to be bothered with extending any basic civilities to a lowly newbie. When I really was desperate to get a locker I went into the office and waited for a good 5 minutes on my break while 2 supervisors chatted in the office about their personal business. It was obvious I was waiting to talk to someone…. Interesting as in any job I’ve had your expectation of yourself is generally to do your job and help out colleagues and coworkers and chat later. I think they were surprised I continued to wait. There was no smile and ‘be with you in a minute’, just ignored until they were done. The ordinary co-worker is wonderful, tho a bit burned out... but the managers or Team Leaders are simply nasty. They have a process for positive commendations, but they sure don't use it much. I never saw the gal (or any of the others I was oriented with) again, - the one who’d recommended to ‘take a picture of your schedule’ so you can show what it was on such and such a date. She was very sharp, she left before me. So daily while you are learning your new job they criticize when you don't know how to do something - even tho you may have told them you had no experience in this and they said they'd train you....They don't train you, they throw you in, and then when you're stuck or in a jam with customers looking on they correct you. As soon as I was starting to get the hang of it so I could relax a bit and not be on constant ‘alert”, I was sent out to work in a completely unfamiliar setting with an entirely different system… out to work at night at the gas station. This was the first indication I had that they could do this. You apply to be a grocery cashier, and you think that’s what you’re going to be doing…. Au contraire, they can send you anywhere, whenever, apparently. So, here’s the situation, you have a brand new cashier who’s just starting to get the hang of it, and out in the gas station an employee is having a diabetic crisis. They need some help out there as they only have one functioning cashier and its busy – so what do you do? Do you send out an experienced cashier to assist? No you send out the newbie who’s just starting to not feel stressed out of her mind at the grocery line….. and who knows NOTHING about the entirely different system out in the gas station. (all kinds of lotto games, cigarettes etc) What do you accomplish here? Well you completely stress out your new employee again who of course can’t help a bit… she has to be trained by the already stressed employee… which is worse than having no help at all really – and so instead of helping them, you’ve thrown them a brick while they are treading water, and you’ve sent your new employee the message that you’re trying to get rid of her… why else would anyone send you out to the gas station under these conditions work until 11 pm at night? It was shared with me that several of the nearby stores had been robbed by gunpoint at night… exactly also why as a 62 year old woman, I would never apply for a “gas station attendant” position, nor accept a position where this is what my assignment was. Who would you rob? The gas station with the 2 men working? Or the one with several older women? Anyhow, I left this situation wondering if I could simply be reassigned here at any time. When I asked about this and showed concern about it, my “Team leader” did suggest to me later that they’d send me wherever they wanted and try me out here and there… I work professionally part time, at work I love, but needed to work somewhere for some additional income and benefits. And I need to do that, but I don’t see any reason to work somewhere where people are treated reasonably, set up for success and treated with respect. It’s a win/win situation then, and if employees ‘lose’ everyone does. Employees should be treated with the same respect and attitude that customers are. One last example… after being snarled at once for ‘not letting anyone know my hours were up and working beyond them’ and being snarled at for suggesting my time was up and I was supposed to be off…(and then being made to work over) I was in a bit of a pickle. I HAD to leave as I had another job, a customer had come up with a frozen turkey that needed returning in a timely manner, I had an issue with a checkout and needed help with it, and I wanted to turn out my light as I hadn’t had a break and it was past my time to leave. The morning had gone fairly well actually as my “Team Leader” wasn’t there and the other folks who took over were very kind, helpful, very quickly available, efficient and personable. But now my “Team Leader” was on and things were chaotic. I’d buzzed her over and over and the line was busy. So I finally turned out my light – the overall store manager was walking by and I waved and said to him that I was in a pickle as I hadn’t gotten a needed break, and now it was beyond my time to leave, and yet I still couldn’t reach my Team leader…. (next I would have mentioned that I also had a customer needing something and a turkey needing return) but I thought they should know first the most serious thing, that they needed to be prepared to replace me stat…. while doing the other items. He completely snarled at me in front of the customer – “What are you doing! You should NEVER discuss these things in front of a customer!” Well, of course, and I wouldn’t have had I felt I had any other choice…. Meanwhile what could be more appalling to a customer than to see a Manager snarl at a fatigued looking employee for informing him that they’d not had their break and were supposed to have been relieved of their shift some time ago? That’s enough. You get the picture. Hire on at your own peril.