I've been noticing in my main local store that they're calling managers for "Fast Alerts". What the hell is that? Might be a Central Div or Zone 10 thing (if the zones are still the same as when I left). I suspect it's for queueing, but who knows.
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My views don't reflect those of anyone, not even me. I may not have even made this statement. It's all lies, all of it!
A lot of cases in the store have a temperature sensor, when one gets too cold or too hot, it sends out an automated alert (usually to the front desk) which has to be checked, fixed if needed, and acknowledged online, or it keeps on pestering you on and on about it.
Fast alerts are fun. I have had to check atleast 1000 of them overnight in the last year. 3 of them were a real issue. One was an area I do not have access to and the store lost $500. One was a freezer door wide open and the other was a meat display case wide open after an outside cleaning crew left. The others are always the same coolers with a slight temp misreading.
A computer calls from a central location to alert of temps that are questionable. The first phone to get called is the managers' portable extension 2161, then 2162, then 2163, then the front desk, then uscan, then finally, the overhead page "...on 101". If it gets to the point that is needs to page 101, the district coordinator and store manager get an email. I had the district grocery coordinator call me at 7 am before telling me to check the fast alert system! :(. I do not hear the other phones unless I am carrying the portable 2161 phone with me while working.
At my store, they call all those extensions before a page is made. The store you were in might have it set up to page the manager first.
The calls are constant when the bakery or deli are in an out of the freezer to get their stuff.
It is a good concept that still needs some tweeking.
Fast alerts are fun. I have had to check atleast 1000 of them overnight in the last year. 3 of them were a real issue. One was an area I do not have access to and the store lost $500. One was a freezer door wide open and the other was a meat display case wide open after an outside cleaning crew left. The others are always the same coolers with a slight temp misreading.
A computer calls from a central location to alert of temps that are questionable. The first phone to get called is the managers' portable extension 2161, then 2162, then 2163, then the front desk, then uscan, then finally, the overhead page "...on 101". If it gets to the point that is needs to page 101, the district coordinator and store manager get an email. I had the district grocery coordinator call me at 7 am before telling me to check the fast alert system! :(. I do not hear the other phones unless I am carrying the portable 2161 phone with me while working.
At my store, they call all those extensions before a page is made. The store you were in might have it set up to page the manager first.
The calls are constant when the bakery or deli are in an out of the freezer to get their stuff.
It is a good concept that still needs some tweeking.
Kroger's entire business plan needs tweaking. I've written it before, and I'll write it again. The company has cut so many corners its business model is in the shape of a dodecahedron.
I've gotten a hand full of calls in frozen, but none of them have ever been legitimate. They were always some sort of sensor fail or something. Then again, our freezers on the floor are so messed up, always caked with ice and snow and no way to permanently fix them. Apparently they were some sort of "experimental" freezers when the store was opened 12 years ago.
Our store had one last night and apparently someone didnt catch onto it and we had to throw out most of our frozen section because it had already thawed out. Things are going great at my store.
It is a good concept that still needs some tweeking.
So basically everything else Kroger has ever done. Great in concept, terrible in practice.
Thanks for the info folks!
Hmmmmm.... well, thanks for all the info. At my store, working in produce very early in the mornings, I often hear the phone ringing over at our customer service desk for sometimes as many as 20 to 40 rings before being answered (or it redirects to another number?), and I am told this has to do with the Fast Alert system. (I wouldn't know what to do or say if I picked up the phone anyway). It usually rings at about 2 to 4 AM. Why does this happen mostly in the middle of the night??
Also, very often (I would say 60-70% of the nights I am in the store between 3 and 6:00 AM) I hear a weird computer-woman's voice say something like "BATCH COORDINATOR, PLEASE CHECK THE APPLICATION" over the intercom, at least once, sometimes 2 or 3 times............. I guess "she" is actually saying "FAST COORDINATOR" but for some reason her computerese English voice pronunciation of that word just doesn't sound quite right to my ears. I think someone in the overnight grocery crew (lead or supervisor) does "whatever they are supposed to do".
It is a good concept that still needs some tweeking.
So basically everything else Kroger has ever done. Great in concept, terrible in practice.
Thanks for the info folks!
Hmmmmm.... well, thanks for all the info. At my store, working in produce very early in the mornings, I often hear the phone ringing over at our customer service desk for sometimes as many as 20 to 40 rings before being answered (or it redirects to another number?), and I am told this has to do with the Fast Alert system. (I wouldn't know what to do or say if I picked up the phone anyway). It usually rings at about 2 to 4 AM. Why does this happen mostly in the middle of the night??
Also, very often (I would say 60-70% of the nights I am in the store between 3 and 6:00 AM) I hear a weird computer-woman's voice say something like "BATCH COORDINATOR, PLEASE CHECK THE APPLICATION" over the intercom, at least once, sometimes 2 or 3 times............. I guess "she" is actually saying "FAST COORDINATOR" but for some reason her computerese English voice pronunciation of that word just doesn't sound quite right to my ears. I think someone in the overnight grocery crew (lead or supervisor) does "whatever they are supposed to do".
That is the fast alert system calling. I hear "Batch" coordinator too...
Ask a store manager to show you how to get to the map. Most people have access to the map at my store but very few people ever log in to see it. Store managers and Night manager mostly.
