What was meant as a high school job became a golden handcuff career
Pros
The majority of the employees are in the same boat and exhibited a great sense of comradarie. Some of my best friends are from Safeway. The compensation was certainly adequate, and the benefits were outstanding (assuming one was on the "old" contract grandfathered in from 10 years ago).
Cons
As the years rolled on, the atmosphere became more oppressive daily. Upper management (District mangers and upwards, as well as various deparment MDOs) was increasingly filled by condescending, self important, narcisistic individuals who have spent all of their time on their business degree rather than working with actual people in the stores. The amount of unnecessary paperwork that would clog up ones workday became intolerable, coupled with the fact that hours were constantly being cut to continue to feed the bottom line, making it nearly impossible to fill the department. Department mangers had to choose which task they could complete, as doing both was not possible and they were usually by themselves for most of the day. Fill out the paperwork, or fill the department to actually achieve sales. If they filled out the paperwork, management would want to know why the department wasn't filled, and if they filled the department first, then management would want to know why the paperwork wasn't complete. It is a vicious circle that is designed for failure. The company offers one way to suceed and one hundred ways to fail. The number of audits had spiraled out of control in the last year I worked for them as well.
