Things you wish would change at work:

[ShadowTiger]

A general "wishlist" thread. Your work, or work in general. Anyone's workplace.


1) I wish we could put hard metal nubs on the horizontal bars of the front entrance doors. They're pull only, from the outside, and I see soooo many people pushing on it; sometimes pushing twice on it before figuring out that they have to pull. If they saw the fencepost-like nubs on the bar, they'd be more hesitant to put their hands on it to push the door in.

2) I wish we had more price guns and labelmaker pairs. The staff never keep all the prices accurate (Or even on the plastic price-holders on the pegs themselves!!) so people keep coming up with a different price when they reach the register. Then we have to go back and rip the label off of the peg to show the cashier. If only two of the three weren't always missing or being hoarded by some department. I mean, sheesh. Pay $75 for a new printer and scanner now, or pay who knows who much in price differences down the line in the long term.

3) On that note, they need to hire a new guy for "General" purposes who isn't assigned to any department, but is capable of doing a bit of everything, and does maintenance and throwbacks and cart runs for the most part, and particularly does these price ticket campaigns down the aisles. Would be bloody lovely to have.

4) ... but wait, why does the front door only open in one direction now? Why would they change it? It used to open both ways. It's not even an automatic door. I can't tell you how many times I've seen li'l old ladies slamming the front of the shopping cart and breaking the doors. It's happened twice this month alone. Keep saying that until the intrinsic meaning of that filters through to you. Twice this month alone.

5) Why can't we use shopping carts to help with our truck days anymore? Even with one per department, there's still a good lot of them outside for the customers. With four of the staff having an awful back, but being the only person available for the truck during truck days, (A WTF in and of itself...) why not help protect the worker by giving them so simple and basic of a permissible?

6) I wish taking a break was optional. I wish there was a consent form that I could sign to make them stop forcing me to clock out for half an hour that I would've wanted to be working anyway out of my own free will. It's only half an hour. Come on.

7) Give me one period of three hours where I can walk around without a vest and do what I need to do to keep my department in tip top shape. If you've ever walked down my lightbulb aisle, you'll know what I mean. Assuming you don't vomit first. The running of the bulls takes place down that aisle.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I wish we had more payroll.

I wish we weren't stuck in a district with two enormous-volume stores and a bunch of other stores that are tanking on sales, thus robbing us of payroll.

I wish we had a bathroom in the backroom, so I wouldn't have to hoof it all the way to the front to answer nature's call.

I wish they'd replace the floor tiles already. They're dull, scuffed and no longer hold a shine.

I wish management would do something about the many people who are just pulling paychecks and not getting any work done.

I wish jeans were allowed under the dress code. My job is rough on pants.

I wish my co-workers' discussion about the sexual habits of today's teens, as compared to teens when they were younger, in the breakroom the other day didn't place the image of my co-workers doing the Posturepedic Polka in my head.

[DerangedHermit]

1) I wish our company would change the wording of the dollar doubler coupons in our flyer so that it is obvious that it is meant to DOUBLE A DOLLAR COUPON.

"Duuuuuuuuuh, I can just use this coupon without another coupon to double, right?"

2) I wish our company's plastic bags weren't as thin as Ric Flair's forehead.

3) I wish they would actually fix and/or order things when they're supposed to, and not until after we run out.

4) I wish our company's weekly sales weren't so bad. I don't want to shop at Pathmark.

5) I wish our front end manager would retire (and guess what? It might just happen in a few months.)

[SG15Z]

My list would be way too long, but here it goes.

I wish we did one till per cashier instead of one per register so that we can pin point who's causing shortages/overs a lot easier.

I wish we did the above so that the cashiers would watch their money a bit more.

I wish we didn't have doors in the middle causing whatever the temp it is outside to be the temp on the Front End. The two on both sides are fine we don't need a door in the middle.

I wish our cash office was bigger than a closet and could fit more than 2 people comfortably.

I wish our Cash Office had better climate control. It's always freakin hot in there!

I wish we had an extra shift (like a mid shift to overlap the closer and the opener) at Fuel so they could do their own breaks and be able to come in the main store and grab the supplies/products they need to stock their shelves, etc. instead of having to send in order forms and sometimes not getting what they need.

I wish we had more cashiers

I wish we had more baggers

I wish they would give up on Key Retailing (Kroger's version of micromanagement)

I wish we scheduled based on customers count rather than sales.

I wish File Maintenance had enough staff to be able to properly tag stuff and pull expired tags on ad night so I wouldn't have to do so many price checks, and price overrides!!!

I wish our CEO would cut his salary so that stores could afford extra help. From what I hear most stores in the country don't have enough help.

I wish our store wasn't running on a skeleton crew. I mean come on we're making minimum 800,000+ dollars a week yet the departments are lucky to have 2 people working it during prime time.

I wish we didn't have to call surge help as much as we do.

I wish I could close a cashier down for breaks without causing the lines to get 5 carts deep.

I wish training a cashier didn't mean just throw a cashier on the checkstand and just have a somewhat experienced cashier hover them and help them. How about training properly then throw them on the checkstand.


There's probably more but I can't think of them at the moment.

[jedimaster91]

I wish we could tell school-aged kids to GTFO during school hours.

I wish we could block certain websites on certain computers (i.e. block MySpace and Facebook on designated Word Processing and Job Search Computers)

I wish a few of my coirkers would learn enough about computers to answer simple questions instead of making me do it.

I wish the speakers on the computers were disabled or only audible through headphones.

I wish I could kick males who hit on me in the nuts without fear of repercussion.

I wish the director would work the floor for a month to see what we go through.

I wish they would fix the freaking elevators instead of continually shopping around for the cheapest contract.

[bainsidhe]

This is just me being a sourpuss and hoping the economy improves soon, but...

-I wish everyone was back to working a 40-hour week instead of having slow sales and doing the shared work program (reduced hours)

-I wish management wasn't considering doing another furlough

-I want my measley little 401k match back. It wasn't much but it was something.

-I want salary workers to get back their 10% reduction in pay (hourly got reduced hours, salary got reduced pay but had to work the same schedule)

-And I really really want the economy to start improving soon so people aren't so worried about weekly sales and what the new year will bring.

[sarasquirrel]

i wish i could

-kick the hundred of kids out who run up and down the aisles, causing a ruckus, making a mess, and that block the whole front checkout. if only 1 of you is buying something the 10 rest of you dont need to be standing with him

- get higher than 2% for my annual raise. (used to be 5%...but they had to uhh"cut back"??_)

- just clean the damned store. its sooo dusty its disgusting!

-have more help at night, or just have someone whos working that actually works.....

- clean the stockroom. ive never ever seen such a messy backroom. trays everywhere, what they hold is a mystery

-totally re-arrange the cosmetics area. no one in my store really maintains that area anymore, and since i used to in my old store, why not me? the area is so cluttered and behind on markdowns and product withdrawals it drives me nuts

-have a manager that doesnt bail as soon as you get in

[RestaurantDude]

I wish...

I wish...

• We could kick people out at the end of the night. When you've paid the check and finished your drinks, it's time to GTFO!

• My boss wasn't such a demanding prick

• We had someone around to help sort out check errors at the end of the night, so we can all go home at a reasonable hour.

• People would tip more!

• The wine vault didn't smell like old musty cheese

• The Boss would give us back our staff meals for employees working the night shift.

[Summerfly413]

We need a complete store renovation so it looks like it's 2009 and not 1992.

EVERY employee should be drug tested, not just the full timers.

New registers, screens so the customers can see the prices.

Price accuracy/sign accuracy so there's no confusion as to how much something is and it will ring up(yeah right)

Communication so everyone is on the same page.

[KitterCat]

Every employee has to pull their own weight. Don’t make 4/5 people do the work of everyone else.

Fire people who don’t work or show up. I hate to say it but right now during this economic slump is the time to hire. For every opening there are at least 100 applications, there’s got to be some competent people in that group who want to work. Find them and get ride of the lazy ones.

Hire assistant supervisors who no how to do their jobs and have spines. I’m tired of AS’s who wont work at all, who don’t order enough basic product (we cook chicken, we’re big on chicken- guess what we keep running out of), who ask me what their job is.

Put more than 2 people in the store during graveyard shift. Having one working register and one working deli doesn’t work very well. You cant deal with customers and do all the cleaning at the same time.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I wish management would let all the floor/autopull/stock/planogram people know what the standards are regarding filling on the salesfloor.

Or, failing that, I wish they would allow me to take these people around the salesfloor and show them the dos and do-not-dos that apply to the stuff on the shelves.

I would address issues such as the following:

• You have two 18-gallon Sterilite totes that don't fit on the shelf. What do you do with them? Hint, you don't toss them inside the 30-gallon Sterilite totes on the shelf and walk away, leaving me to discover your fuckery when I'm stocking stuff off the truck.
• Items may not hang over the shelf edges AT ALL, unless the item is so big it'll hang over if it's the only one on the shelf. When corporate walks off the salesfloor during a visit, they stand at the edge of the front endstand and peer around it down the aisle. Everything has to be flush with the shelf edge.
• You cannot lay a boxed item sideways on top of two items right-side up. If you're going to stock like this, the sideways item has to go on the bottom with the right-side up items on top. Otherwise, a customer pulling off the sideways item can bring down one of the right-side up items along with it. Sharp corners on boxes+people wearing flip-flops and sandals to the store can=painful foot injuries.
• When filling storage totes/boxes, items on the top two shelves cannot be stocked with the lids on top of the totes/boxes. A short (or fun-sized if you wish) customer, in reaching up to grab the stack of boxes, can end up raining plastic lids on their face and get cut up, or get a bad eye injury if the lids fall just right.
• Items on hooks have to be straight on the hook. If items are fishtailing all over on the hook, it is overfilled.
• Risers are not for you to hide ones and twos of items you don't want to backstock.

People need to understand safety is not something you say after you fart. Guess who pays for the general liability and workman's comp claims filed against the store in case of accidents? Now guess what that means for your hours, raises or benefits.

And then while I'm at it, I'd take these same people into the backroom and show them how to scan items into locations, and how to delete them when you take the last of an item out of a location, because those aren't being done as often as they should be and I think training is an issue there. And if it keeps happening, then I can just attribute it to laziness.

I wish these things would be emphasized more because they reflect badly on us as a stock team, even though we aren't the ones causing the problems.

[KellyHabersham]

For the church office job:

- I wish that we would get the Internet access/computers situation straightened out. I know I've complained about this before on here, so I'll just say that when my computer does get connected to the Internet, and it freezes up so I have to manually restart it, the connection is lost. (meanwhile, the other computer in my office area loses Internet connection as well, even though it wasn't touched)

- I wish that people would stop using the church office number for contact info without filling me in on the situation. Because I have no way of knowing if the person calling for "Peter Criss" really needs to get in touch with them, or if it's just a telemarketer.

- I wish that there was more flexibility regarding my hours, as in the event that I couldn't come in for any reason, I don't have the opportunity of making up the missed time.


For the Library job:

- I wish that whomever orders toys and such for the children's area would not choose magnets or puzzles with many small pieces.....both are a pain in the ass to have to repeatedly clean up.

- I wish that we had been given authorization to expand the building during the recent remodel, as there are many areas where there really isn't enough room to do things.

[RestaurantDude]

Fire people who don’t work or show up. I hate to say it but right now during this economic slump is the time to hire. For every opening there are at least 100 applications, there’s got to be some competent people in that group who want to work. Find them and get ride of the lazy ones.

YES! This is a big one. We had a guy who used to only show up when he felt like it. He got the job, then promptly started only working about half to a third of his assigned shifts. Never got fired. He quit a couple of months ago. Gave his two weeks notice one day, then never came back to work his last two weeks.

[Retail Associate]

· I wish they'd get rid of the union. I don't make enough money to be giving it away to the worthless UFCW.

· I wish they'd schedule enough cashiers so us floor workers wouldn't have to go run a lane every shift.

· I wish coupons would actually scan so we didn't have to hand-enter the damn things.

· I wish we still had baggers.

· I wish they'd schedule enough cart pushers so we floor associates wouldn't have to go out and gather carts.

· I wish second shifters still came in at 2:30 so I wouldn't have to cover 7 depts alone for 1½ to 2 hours a day.

· I wish they'd let me take my vacation. I've earned it, I deserve it. Just let me take my damn vacation already!

· I wish they'd get rid of jewelry. Several stores in our chain have, why can't we? All we ever sell is watch batteries, anyway.

· I wish I worked the same schedule every day. Working second or mid-shift one day then first shift the next, sucks.

· I wish management would stand up to EW's and SC's. I'm so sick of 'the customer is always right' and 'say yes to the guest.'

· I wish our store closed at night and I worked 3rd shift. If it wasn't for the SC's, my job would almost be tolerable.

· I wish I didn't have to carry 3 damn phones. They never stop ringing.

· I wish my prima donna co-workers would do their job and take care of returns so I wouldn't have to come in to 4 or 5 carts sitting by the fitting room every day.

· I wish the two teenagers I work with in the evenings would actually stay in the dept and do some work once in a while.

· I wish my manager would quit hiring teenagers.

· I wish I made enough money to live like a human being.

· I wish management would make up it's mind about attire. Last year we could no longer wear sweaters, had to buy an expensive fleece jacket with the store logo on it. (It was half a day's pay.) This year, we can wear sweaters again.

· I wish SC's would stop ripping open the underwear and sock packages.

· I wish SC's would at least look for an item before asking where it is.

· I wish they had a fitting room attendant so we wouldn't be constantly running back & forth to let people in.

· I wish that fitting room attendant also handled the phones.

· I wish you could call in when you're sick without getting a 'talking to.'

And my biggest wish of all...

· I wish I could retire!

[anyanka2]

-I wish my manager would actually hire people who can do their jobs without any extra accommodations.

-Related to that, we don't need to hire any more people who are handicapped to get tax breaks. One actually tries to do her job and the other two, I wouldn't miss them at all.

-I wish that the part timers would quit having their hours cut so that the full timers can keep their health insurance. If the hours aren't there to schedule everyone, make the full timers make some sacrifices.

-I wish that everyone would do what they are supposed to do according to their job description.

-I wish some of my co-irkers would learn how to multitask and quit whining when they get called to run a register. It's your job to help a customer.

-I wish that one co-irker would quit complaining on how she never has enough time to do HBC/GM stock and run a register. Learn some time management skills, increase your availability, or ask to have less responsibility.

-I wish that TPTB would have some cash office people who would stand up to customers (SC, EW, and potential shoplifters). We wouldn't have to put so much stuff at the service counter if we set some limits for customers.