I work as a cashier in the Nashville division. For the most part I don't have too many problems as the front end is probably the only real organized department in the entire store and things go well as long as upper management doesn't mess around with things as they often do. We are like dead last compared to the other stores in our division and our store manager is a bit of a "yes man" and is "full of it".
The store went through a hiring frenzy and they hired this "girl" around 25-28 or so who was a nice person and because she worked at a gas station they (the GM) decided to train her to be a floor supervisor. She was later after about two weeks fired because her background check came up bad (for drugs from what I found).
We are constantly short handed up front, never enough baggers and also never enough cashiers. People from other departments are called to fill in up front but rarely ever show as someone told them to old come up front if upper management pages them and some still don't show at that. They shouldn't be trying to pull people out of the back in the first place in my opinion it creates a no win situation because if you go up front you lose and if you don't go up front you also lose.
There is now a contest with OSAT where they want us to point out the survey and that is fine but its another contest for like a 10 dollar kroger gift card (yipee) I may be cynical but I don't need a contest for me to do what I am supposed to be doing.
If it was raining soup outside my GM would be out there with a fork. He is a nice guy on a personal level but from how he "runs" things there is no wonder why we are like dead last in our division.
Hmm at King Soops they get 50 fuel points for taking the survey and believe it or not PEOPLE LOVE IT! Especially older people fawn over the sound of "50 free fuel points". I guess if you think about it they would have needed to spend $50 to get that many fuel points otherwise
At all of the Krogers in my town you get 50 free fuel points every week you take the survey as well. So I tell customers that, and mention the fact they can get up to 150 free points in a month.
I just don't tell *every single* customer this, nor is it expected of us. Most people just want to get their food, pay and leave, but if the customer is really impressed with me or the store in general or goes "This is my favorite Kroger" then I encourage them to do the survey.
IAs for not needing a prize to "Do what you're suppose to do", well good for you. But human nature is, that in low paying jobs management is more likely to see high performers if some incentive is offered.
One time the Front End and Pharmacy had to persuade customers to donate to a charity. One of the pharmacy techs raised 56 dollars (which was the most in the store) and was rewarded with two 10 dollar gift cards of their choice.
The very next month, there was another charity/contest thing involving Pharmacy and Front End. I raised 290 dollars (I don't even take that home in a week) which was 40% of what the entire store raised.
You know what I got rewarded with? Stale Little Cesaer's.
So next time another charity comes up, and management keeps begging us to ask customers to donate, I'll remind them of that.
So, they always call the other departments up to bag and cashier. FOR HOURS. I recall one time a produce guy was spitting mad since he had been on a register for 4 hours.
This leads to a hilarious Catch-22.
If they come up to bag/cashier, their departments get trashed and they get written up for poor job performance.
If they don't come up, they get written up for poor job performance... for not coming up. Gotta spread the misery, right?
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We've also been pushing pies really hard. I don't know why. For meeting one goal, we'd get to throw a pie in a manager's face. Except, it's the only manager whose face I don't want to throw a pie into. For meeting another goal, we'd get to throw a pie in the store manager's face. The famously vicious, vindictive, and cruel store manager. The store manager who holds insane grudges and gets off on verbal abuse and derailing the dreams of those he dislikes. I wouldn't throw a pie in his face for $100.
We had pies on all the registers. The presence of the pies on the registers completely baffles customers. Some are merely puzzled, while others become absolutely furious since they are convinced they were charged for them.
They also put pies on top of the carousel on the express lanes. That's where customer's items are supposed to go. I was putting packs of water and soda on top of those pies all day long. Those pie boxes are pretty tough!
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The surveys are no good. I was told that unless we get straight "Highly satisfied"s, it hurts us. I don't really tell anyone about it.
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I never bother the customers about whatever charity nonsense we have this week or for them to sign up for a 123 card. There is no benefit to me, and it completely trashes my CCG's. Besides, it only reduces Kroger's tax burden, and they can go to hell. There used to be incentives for signing people up for 123 cards. The problem is that the customer had to go to the service desk. So, the service desk would print a fuel points inquiry or something and snipe the signup from that receipt instead. Looking at the scoresheet, some cashiers might have had ...several, if any. Most had none. The desk people? The desk people also had several...hundred. That ended that promotion.
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Once upon a time, gift cards were given to those with the highest CCG's. So, the cashiers most concerned with that would just throw or completely smash the customer's items down the belt. If unbagged groceries built up, they would just shove and smash them until they made room for more. On large orders, some usually fell on the floor. It was pretty funny to watch since the courtesy clerks hated them and avoided bagging for them. So, they'd really have to shove and smash to make room. As always, most customers are oblivious. Some would really get pissed when they saw their fragile items get smashed, though. I just laughed and laughed with the courtesy clerks.
I'm just as baffled by the "pie" thing as your customers.
"Meet this goal, and you get a chance to waste food! Isn't that so cool?"
I've met and exceeded my CCGs for months and have never had to sacrifice my customer's groceries. You can really quickly scan eggs, cake, chips, bread and put it to the side, and continue. Takes less than a second.
The reason I heard for gift cards aren't given for rewards for that anymore is because the old/lifer cashiers whined that "it's not fair and age discrimination" even though they're not even 55, and I'm no kid myself. Knowing what kind of lifers we have on my Front End, this I can believe.
We never had to promote the 1-2-3 cards to customers in my District, but there's always this opening for a Kroger worker posted. The title involves going from Kroger to Kroger in my district, and bugging customers to sign up for the card at your own established post.
The compensation is your regular Kroger hourly wages PLUS 9 dollars for every application.
But you're not compensated for gas/transportation and you're expected to drive to several states and dozens of stores a day.
So we're selling jars of peanut butter to donate to "Feeding America".
I don"t know if there's any incentive or not, but I'm doing it anyway.
The jars of peanut butter are the cheap 1.39 Kroger brand.
I have nothing against people who say "No." By why follow that "No" with some sanctimonious bullsh** screed as if any of us demanded you explain yourself?
"Muh tax payurrs dollurrs aw-reddy feed Murica!"
"No, let President Trump do that. He had plenty of money you know."
"I have donated to charities for 35 years! Every month I gave 50 dollars! I am retired and I deserve to enjoy it!"
"As US Vetrin, Murica should be keeping ME fed! I'm the reason you have FREEDUM!"
Seriously, it's a yes or no question. No need to get defensive or shame us from asking you. Whenever a cashier asks me if I want to donate, and I don't want to that day, I say "NO THANK YOU" and move on.
You don't even have to add on the "Thank You" a "NO" would suffice, then we'll say "Okay/No Problem".
SEE! Quick and painless for everybody.
We're just doing our job! We don't give a f##k about your ethics, politics, philosophy etc.
