My hours have been atrocious, pretty sure the general manager that just got promoted had my hours cut cause I pissed her off. But she's gone now, so it's whatever. New manager started this week, union contract is getting renewed soon. But even above minimum wage, I can't live off the sh!t hours they're giving me. Applied for a really nice job opportunity elsewhere, full time. It fell through before I even got to the interview. So now I'm just mad and out of options.
How would I go about getting trained for another department? What departments would you all recommend? I'm currently Deli, working 2 days a week. I can't ask for more hours because they said our department is "full" and giving me more hours would mean taking them from someone else, and if that happens EVERYONE ends up pissed off. So I've got to figure out something. The only problem is that I need to be able to have access to a bathroom at a moments notice due to some medical stuff. I've gotten better about managing it, but some days aren't up to par.
My hours have been atrocious, pretty sure the general manager that just got promoted had my hours cut cause I pissed her off. But she's gone now, so it's whatever. New manager started this week, union contract is getting renewed soon. But even above minimum wage, I can't live off the sh!t hours they're giving me. Applied for a really nice job opportunity elsewhere, full time. It fell through before I even got to the interview. So now I'm just mad and out of options.
How would I go about getting trained for another department? What departments would you all recommend? I'm currently Deli, working 2 days a week. I can't ask for more hours because they said our department is "full" and giving me more hours would mean taking them from someone else, and if that happens EVERYONE ends up pissed off. So I've got to figure out something. The only problem is that I need to be able to have access to a bathroom at a moments notice due to some medical stuff. I've gotten better about managing it, but some days aren't up to par.
Courtesy Clerk is bare minimal effort but pretty much keeps the carts stocked for the entitled customers and have access to bathrooms (to keep the floors clean and restocked with supplies or customers will be complaining...Reporting anything on the walls)
Did you get your high school diploma or GED? Are you at least 18?
We are at a very exciting inflection point where any literate adult will make more money and have better scheduling at Walmart or McDonald's.
As far as i can tell, we only have a deli for two reasons:
1. Punishment department.
2. To train Walmart's deli.
Apply elsewhere.
You can't really make any less money. By law.
I have never heard of nor witnessed a deli at any of the major retailers that is not a non stop sht show. It's a pathological reality. I'm genuinely perplexed at exactly what is it that happens behind the counters of those departments? There is so much constant tension and animosity and open hatred---amongst all staff in all those places at any given time! Weird, man.
Did you get your high school diploma or GED? Are you at least 18?
We are at a very exciting inflection point where any literate adult will make more money and have better scheduling at Walmart or McDonald's.
As far as i can tell, we only have a deli for two reasons:
1. Punishment department.
2. To train Walmart's deli.
Apply elsewhere.
You can't really make any less money. By law.
By law, yes I can. At Kroger I'm at $13/hr now, but minimum wage in my state is only $9.30. If my husband and I are already hitting a struggle point with him at full time, I can't afford to go somewhere lower.
If your hours are being cut intentionally contact your union rep asap and end it!
My second store manager pulled this shi--t and after a union meeting they ended it asap. They wrote a union grievance for me and filed for a time loss check.
Ask to pick up hours in other departments. Let the manager know you need the hours and your department isn't giving sufficient hours.
You can pick up extra shifts at other stores for hours. Don't let them tell you no. You can pick up extra hours. The only rules that apply are: You can't set your self up for over time. You must have 10 hrs between shifts. You can only do 6 days if you work sunday due to the rule set up. If you don't work sun then that extra shift turns into over time (o.t.). Those are the only rules.
Your other option is pick up a second p.t. job. that's what I had to do. You can not work for a competitor grocer. That's a no-no across all grocery like business. You could risk loosing both jobs if you do this. I think instacart or shipit is okay as they're not really a competitor. I did that when hours were cut. I stopped when I realized how much wear and tear was occuring to my car and how much I was wasting in gas. Not to mention some people can be even nastier in their own homes than compared to in public.
So I spoke with my department lead, she's pretty nice and we've had discussions over my hours in the past. I know she's somewhat limited because of the BS system Kroger uses to schedule. I just explained to her that with rising costs, and the fact that I won't be able to be fulltime for a while because of seniority, all I'm really asking is for at least a third full shift during the week. That's all, but if she can't then I'll need to cross train. She said she'd see what she could do, because now she's got more hours to work with (one of our people got transferred to the in-store Starbucks). She also had me write down my availability on a piece of paper so she could remember it. She claimed that my schedules have been screwy because the upstairs management has been having her write our departments schedule the last few weeks and she can't see anyone's availability on MyTime. So she was only scheduling me for the days she 100% remembered I could work. Not sure how accurate that claim is, but I wasn't about to cause a fuss.
Guess we'll see what happens. I've been asking around in my store for opinions on departments, to get an idea of where I might be able to cross train. I just can't work in Fuel because that's where my husband is.
My hours have been atrocious, pretty sure the general manager that just got promoted had my hours cut cause I pissed her off. But she's gone now, so it's whatever. New manager started this week, union contract is getting renewed soon. But even above minimum wage, I can't live off the sh!t hours they're giving me. Applied for a really nice job opportunity elsewhere, full time. It fell through before I even got to the interview. So now I'm just mad and out of options.
How would I go about getting trained for another department? What departments would you all recommend? I'm currently Deli, working 2 days a week. I can't ask for more hours because they said our department is "full" and giving me more hours would mean taking them from someone else, and if that happens EVERYONE ends up pissed off. So I've got to figure out something. The only problem is that I need to be able to have access to a bathroom at a moments notice due to some medical stuff. I've gotten better about managing it, but some days aren't up to par.
Hey there, so I want to firstly detail this. Combo Clerk or Combo Associate is an internal term that hasn't an official job title according to HR. In other words, your HR portal will never correctly display what you do. But if this doesn't completely discourage you from moving forward with it as someone who wants to provide your store with a lot of help with rapid growth opportunity in retail itself, then read the story.
How I ended up a Combo Clerk was working at a store with a high turnover rate that frequently suffered from short staffing. The Store Director simply came in looking for volunteers to help fill in other departments, and I raised my hand -- I'd go as far as to say I begged for mercy.. (: . I applied for eCommerace originally but had got stuck at the Deli due to front-end hourly quota running short, so I ended up being lucky as a prime candidate who expressed that they wanted something else upon hire, and scored a combo at the bakery, demonstrated skill in balancing two, then took on produce to help them rotate lettuce, salads, and juice cooler, eventually progressing into dairy and dairy-deli, and maxing out at 5 departments, at one and a half hours apiece per day. I wanted out of Service Deli very badly because of how awful it is to close the department all by yourself and run that oven and fryer till you drop -- which I've had to do. We lost our department lead, and this was right before a new Service Deli Lead hire, so I happened to run across correct timing to 'escape', if you will, from the inferno.
This sounds bad but what usually leads to the training of a Combo Clerk becoming necessary is one of these circumstances:
mismanagement of department quota by store management resulting in departments having to close because there's no one to work them.
scheduling screwups because our system is broken/down/under maintenance (like what's happening to MyTime 404'ing over the ExpressHR to MyInfo scuffle).
Mass quit events. People that just aren't cut out for this s**t quitting, not putting in their two weeks and being the most hated exiled members of retail society because their selfishness and thoughtlessness (usually young people that don't really grasp the impact of their actions, or don't care) screws over the entire store. To be blunt.
We shouldn't happen. So its a lucky strike when you do get a Combo Clerk opportunity. Same as getting Cashier, because you pretty much have to be there working as a Combo when a cashier leaves your store. In a Combo's case, your store has to be struggling, hard, for it to really be justified to train somebody to work several departments at once to corporate.
When you start working another department, they want to see correct time management and the ability to balance two departments before they really start loading you with work and raising your rate, and assigning you more. What's really nice about being a combo is your level has the potential to go up faster, and you usually get to face isles at the end of the day or do something chill like help GM rotate the whoo-hoo/markdown rack, which is easy unless you get assigned catfood .... It makes for a very chill end of your shift and a wind down. Usually.
You are correct that Combos get more hours, because their quota is split between the departments they work. I frequently maxed full-time. But the problem is, you're still a part time employee, and your HR status will always reflect the first department you worked...at least for the first 90 days of it, its very hairy because its not an officially recognized job title with the company. The beauty of suffering through being a Combo is that any supermarket or retail chain that sees it worked long term will hire you instantly as a skilled associate. If you manage to consistently max 40 hours in a 90 day period, you can try apply for Full-Time, and might get it if you press on your union rep hard enough, or you can do what I'm currently executing, and move to a higher-end retail store with the experience, and instill management there with sound confidence.
Edit: Sorry about the edits, this forum has some funky HTML support.
-- Edited by saber7ooth on Saturday 9th of July 2022 04:34:05 PM
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Ralph's | A Kroger Company
I love big cats
Job Title: Combo Clerk (Service Deli, Bakery, General Merchandise, Courtesy, Grocery, eCommerace Pilot Participant)
