Wish me luck

[bean]

Most of you probably remember my post awhile back about getting hired on at Whole Foods. Some of you know about their new hire policy - after 4 to 8 weeks, the entire department has to vote on you. It's a paper ballot - you have to get 2/3 of the vote to keep your job.

My vote will be in the next store meeting, on Thursday. I'm understandably nervous, and jokingly told one of the department managers "Well I guess Thursday is when everyone votes me off!". She laughed and said I didn't have anything to worry about, same with a few other coworkers. I don't think I've stepped on too many toes - there's always a few people who you'll never get along with that well, but now at least I can do most of the things in my department except for receiving, no idea how to run the dishwasher either. From what I've been told, even the people who don't know you will vote "yes" - I have yet to talk to much of the cooks in the main kitchen, everyone on the floor in my department knows me though.

I've also never been late or missed a day, stayed late when they were slammed, and usually try to find something to do if it's actually slow (rare except for the day when we opened 4 hours late)

I did find out the hard way that only 1 burner on our kitchen (gas) grill has a pilot light the other day (the middle burner). I tried turning on the front burner.. waited... "hmm... I smell gas but it didn't light, I think I'll turn it back *FWOOOOOOOOOM* OH SHIT!" Apparently everybody has lost their eyebrows to it at least once now - I was the only one in the kitchen that day (opening shift comes in at 6am except for pizza, we come in at 5), later that day they told me you have to turn on the middle burner first, THEN light the others. (we grill our veggie toppings every day, hence why I was using the grill)

So wish me luck.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

That sounds like a shitty policy. You can be fired just because enough people decided they didn't like you personally, not because of deficient performance at work.

I know I would've been shit-canned from my current job had we had a similar policy. I didn't get along too well with some of the people in the backroom when I was first hired.

Good luck though. It doesn't sound as if you've given your coworkers any reason to vote you off the island.

[bean]

To be honest, I like the policy a lot - I just wish it was more like a 51/49 vote or something. The employees decide the fate of the company, which I'm all for - if you can get hired on permanently. At least, it's better than 1 or 2 people deciding the fate of the department.

I'm still as nervous as a 14 year old in Amsterdam's red light district though.

[Becks]

Best of luck!!!!!!!!!!!

[Witch of Endor]

That's horrible. I can see that going wrong like the time we had to grade each other's poster projects in health class in highschool. Definitely too much room for cliques to kick off people they just don't like, regardless of how well they work. People who vote 'no' should at least have to offer some justification, and it should be investigated before firing happens.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I had a friend who worked for a Whole Foods once---I thought it was a very interesting policy. The one she worked at, at least, didnt' really have problems with 'cliques' or people voting 'politically', mainly because the store very actively promoted a team environment. Everyone was expected to help each other out and look out for one another, and if people didn't get along, they were still expected to be civil with one another.

My friend told me that before any votes they were given a pep talk---reminding them that they had to vote honestly, on whether you thought they made a good employee and team player. She also said that people only tended to be voted out of the store when they were such idjits or slackers that EVERYBODY hated them, because everybody else had to pick up their slack. Otherwise it was pretty chill. As long as you showed up and did your job and were not difficult to get along with, you were a shoe-in.

So anyway, I hope this helps you to relax. I'm sure you'll be fine!

[PuckishOne]

I'm still as nervous as a 14 year old in Amsterdam's red light district though.

But you haven't lost your sense of humor, which is the main thing. Good luck, Bean!!

[Rahmota]

Well good luck and hope it works out. The whole vote thin sounds like if it is done right and in a good environment where everybody has to be equal and honorable could be pretty good. Like you said better than trying to please just one manager who may or may not down check you just because you didnt meet their idea of what they wanted.

Oh well like I said good luck and heres hoping you dont get the black mark.

[Rapscallion]

Seventy-five percent at my place. Good luck!

I took a few days off around the time of my vote. If I was going to foul it up, I would do it when I wasn't there.

Rapscallion

[ISellCars]

They need to have that policy when it comes to management. Give them a 1-2 month trial period, then a secret ballot for all the employees on whether they think he/she can do the job correctly or not.

[yahurd]

sounds like ya wont need it

[tollbaby]

damn, I wish they'd had a policy like that in my last job. ONE person didn't like me. Unfortunately, that one person was my direct supervisor and had the power to influence my boss's decisions (she told him all kinds of crap about me that wasn't true, took credit for anything I did right, etc.). When it got out that I was being fired, just about everybody I've ever had contact with in that building came by to tell me they wished I was staying because I'd always done my job well and was always extremely helpful.

(I once had a woman who didn't even work for the same section of the company come over and ask me some really weird questions.... I managed to find the answers for her, and even ended up translating a letter for her on the fly. The next day, she came by to give me a little gift basket! nice lady!)

[bean]

I got a chance to look over the ballot - it has a series of 10 or 15 questions related to job performance (yes/no questions), with room for comments on each answer. The last question is whether you get voted on to the team or not.

I still don't know what the result of the vote is - I'll probably find out when I go back in for my shift in an hour. I tried not to look while people voted, but the person sitting directly in front of me checked yes on everything, so that's a good sign.

[Spiffy McMoron]

I'm still as nervous as a 14 year old in Amsterdam's red light district though.

That's a very different kind of nerves that the kid has!

From what I've heard you talk about the process, and about how hard you work in the company, I can't this whole situation as being a problem for you. But that having been said good luck anyways!

[bean]

So I'm looking for a new job










... not. They voted me on. One of the managers went over some of the comments with me - the only thing people griped about is my work area tends to be a bit messy. It's a lot cleaner than when one of my coworkers is working, but it's something I've been trying to work on anyway. I'm used to making pizza in a large pizza shop with multiple tables for everything, and the customers not being able to see inside the oven - not a single counter. I should be scraping the oven out after every 2-3 pizzas here (not used to maintaining a stone hearth, used to a conveyor oven).

I'm told I should be able to sign up for vision and dental in the next few days - I need vision badly, my glasses got broken my 2nd week at work and I haven't been able to afford new ones. Believe I can sign up for medical at 400 worked hours if I pay for half of it, then once I hit 800 hours medical is free. Need the dental pretty bad too I should be around 275-300 hours now.