New 'position', new bullshit

[Dreamstalker]

So that pricing position was finally dropped in my lap (a full two months after the person who should have trained me left...par for the course in this place). I don't mind one overnight a week; it's a bit of a raise (originally I was told that it would be a 'real' raise, not just that one shift) and it's kinda fun being in the store with no idiots.

The problem comes with the daytime component. Before, there were three people setting tags. Now it's just me (the head pricing/computer guy, P, has other stuff on his plate). Not realistic. I can get the weeklies (important ones) done overnight, but the green tags still have to be done...there was a reason we had three people doing it on a single overnight. It's not ideal placing tags with SCs milling about.

It's not rocket surgery to place new tags for the most part (just have to read to make sure it's in the right spot), but there's a tug-o-war between P and ASM. ASM wants me on the front end, P also needs help but is too overworked to train me effectively right now. If I had gotten the basics when I was supposed to, I could work alongside him and get training while actually helping out. Yesterday morning, ASM put me on register to deal with a line and then was all "you're supposed to be working with P, who put you on a register?" Er, you did? ASM likes trying to fob things off on the peons when they blow up in his face.

I've also lost my Sunday shifts--well, I have it back this week, so we'll see. The store has hired too many new bodies so that may be part of it, but there are only pretty much four of us who can handle SCO effectively (and fewer who are comfortable with the new system). Part of me thinks that ASM is trying to retaliate for 'losing me'; he knows that I need a minimum 25 hours a week to make my share of the rent. Then again with the hiring rush I'm not sure; that could lead to more dead wood so eventually more hours for those of us who know what we're doing.

ASM has told me 'you make me look good'...but he makes cashiers look bad with poor decisions/overrides. Yesterday when I was on register the check printer jammed...come to find out there was a check from the day before (when I wasn't even working so I could not have known about it) jammed in the feed. Somehow it was on me for letting a line build <.<

[Teysa]

In my experience, the hardest part about doing pricing was learning where everything was. Even if you've worked at the store forever, you probably don't know the exact location of every single product. The good news is, you'll quickly learn. The bad news is, once you do have everything memorized, they'll do a complete remodel of the store and move everything around.

[Dreamstalker]

I know where a lot of stuff is, but the way the tags are 'organized' isn't necessarily the most efficient way of doing it. Most are organized by aisle side and then shelf (top shelf from back of store to front, second shelf from front of store to back, etc) which seems horribly inefficient when I'm trying to stay out of the night crew's way and vice versa. The logic used to sort the tags is lost on me; all I know is that if I were allowed to sort them I could probably get more done.

[wolfie]

Definitely inefficient. How would I sort them? First by row (either back of store to front, or front of store to back), then by shelf within a "bay" (if your store is like most, the shelves are 4 foot modules), and finally by "bay". Why would I do it this way? Simple - a 4-foot wide "bay" is pretty much sized so the worker setting tags doesn't need to run back and forth. Worker can set all tags within reach, then go sideways to the next module/"bay" and do that one. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Of course, the exalted mismanagers don't consider human factors. The orders come fluttering down from a window in the ivory tower (have you noticed brown stains on the directives? I'd say it's highly probable, considering where they get their data), and any inefficiencies that result from a lack of thinking are blamed on lazy peons.

[Dreamstalker]

That's how I do it. The night crew also works in sections, so it's pretty easy to stay out of each other's way...but again, that makes sense

My ideal tag box would go like this: generally organized by aisle (bay and shelf within that). Weekly tags are bundled separately from extended-sale and discontinued tags (the weekly and discontinued tags are both red, which adds to the confusion--the latter are good for at least three months and so aren't the immediate priority).

So each side of each aisle would have three bundles, with the weeklies being on top. That would require additional advance setup by someone else who knows what they're doing, the problem is that the only one who does a) is too busy generally and b) might not share my logic.