ABOUT TRAINING: Training is given in two forms: general store/customer service training, and specific department training. The problem with this model is that depending on your department assignment, you may or may not get the entire customer service training. For example, one of the sections of the customer service training handbook is an activity in which the HR person and the new hire tour the store, and the new hire is to make note of where commonly-asked-for grocery items can be found (ketchup, toilet paper, bread, milk, trash bags, et cetera). However, when I was trained, I was advised by the HR person that, "If a customer asks you where to find something, take them to it. If they can't find it, ask someone else to help them." I left this training up to myself; on my days off or in the time before/after one of my shifts, I'd browse the aisles of the store and make mental notes of where to find common items, where to find obscure items, how to remember which aisle number contains which type of item, et cetera.
Schedule manipulation: On paper, I work 38 hours per week, but on the time clock, I log 45-55 hours per week. I have no problem with working 40+ hour, but the reason they write me in as "38 hours/week" is so they can avoid giving me benefits. Even more frustrating is that my extra 6-17 hours per week do not come about by extra-long shifts (i.e., being scheduled to leave at 3pm but asked/demanded to stay until 6pm), but that my manager calls me on my days off and asks me to come in, giving the excuse that, "I'm not scheduled until 9:00 this morning, so I need someone to go in and get things started at 8:00." Or, the manager will call me two hours before my shift begins and say, "I scheduled (so-and-so) to leave at 2pm and I didn't schedule you until 4pm, so there's no one in the department for two hours. Can you please come in at 2pm and cover that time?" This is 100% poor management; if the manager writes the schedule, then the manager should notice when there are gaps in the schedule.
ABOUT WEIRD POLICIES: According to ServSafe regulations, a foodservice employee MAY keep a beverage at his or her workstation as long as 1) the beverage is in a lidded container, and 2) the beverage is stored on a surface that is NOT used for food preparation. However, at Hy-vee, a foodservice employee MAY NOT have ANY beverage at his or her workstation, period. In addition, the employee MAY NOT go over to the dining area (which is 5-10 yards away) and get a small cup of water from the soda fountain; rather, the employee MUST go across the store and upstairs to the breakroom and drink a cupful of water obtained from the water jug or sink. I find this to be unnecessary and unhealthy. If you want a happy, hardworking employee, then the employee should at least be allowed regular hydration. Foodservice employees in particular require plenty of water; the constant physical exertion coupled with close proximity to high-heat sources (ovens, cooktops, etc) leaves the employee more vulnerable to dehydration and, quite simply, VERY thirsty.
Related is the issue about mealtime breaks. In the department in which I work, I am almost always working a shift by myself, because the workload can be managed by one person. However, this means that when I am to take my required break, there is no one to cover my workstation; other managers are either unavailable to cover or refuse to cover for me (as they "don't know the system"--which is a bogus excuse). Normally, I would compensate for this by using proximity to my advantage; the store's dining room area is next to my workspace, so I can sit at a table at the front of the dining room and watch my service window to see if customers approach. However, as other reviews have noted, Hy-Vee management believes that if customers see employees doing customer-like activities such as eating or sitting, then the customers will be appalled and offended and digusted and will never want to shop at Hy-Vee again. So, according to management, I am to take my break upstairs, in the break room, out of sight of my workstation, and with a two-minute across-the-store walk-sprint to make in case I am paged during my break. Usually I just skip my break; I'd rather do without it but know that my work got done and that customers got served, rather than take it and get paged every two minutes.
