'Supervisor' tales

[Dreamstalker]

These are some collected tales of S, who somehow got a promotion to day supervisor despite only being on our team for less than three months (IIRC she was promoted in late January, but was only hired in December).

The majority of my coworkers will come to me rather than her with questions/etc because I know my shit and will work my butt off to help if they need it. S prefers to 'delegate' and screw off in the warehouse when not helping customers.

It's rare for her not to practically take me by the hand when I tell her that I'm going into the warehouse to see if we have more of X...that does NOT need two people and I'm offended by the implication that I need to be kept on task (J applauds me for having initiative and keeping track of the details). If we are out of X in back but I see Y and decide to grab it, she'll say "Wait, are you sure we need that? Let's check the shelf."...sure, you go do that. In some cases I've been able to ninja-shelve Y before she gets back from the warehouse check--that resulted in her not finding any because I already pulled it--otherwise I just leave it on the floor for her because she took on that task the minute she went to check.

We don't have very many perishable products but there are a few; everything is supposed to be first in first out and most of them have clear dates. She'll stock new product in front...since I figured this out I've been able to rotate it properly, but it still wastes time and annoys J when we suddenly find product expiring in two days that would have sold if stocked properly but is unlikely to sell within the remaining window. Everyone knows that since I'm spearheading rotation, I'm the only one who should be touching those products--I have a chart with pull dates and a good enough grasp of their sales figures. N can't help but think that S may be trying to make me look bad...come to think of it, that would fit with her general attitude of "let's go with Dreamstalker to look for product"). The dates that are in D/M/Y format get fun...on the 3rd I pulled a case worth of cookies that expired on the 9th, someone--most likely S going by reports--took them from the clearly marked bin in the warehouse and reshelved them after the expiration date had passed. J can only assume that she read the date 9/3/17 as September 3rd, which makes no logical sense for the product.

When we started getting shipments of chocolate bunnies and I realized customers were dropping them and just plopping them back on the display, I made it my job every morning to go around the displays and retrieve the bodies/clean up the display and make room for more. S decides the other day that she had this wonderful idea for me to stock the chocolate bunnies and pull the damaged ones before opening! (who did you think was doing it before, the easter bunny?)

A few of my pet projects (as assigned by J) have been sabotaged and two CWs are pretty sure it was her. She sees an idea she likes and proceeds to take credit for it. Or try to...J has started naming names for good ideas/practices in the weekly briefing email, so everyone knows who came up with this, who is supposed to be spearheading that, etc (and while he doesn't name names for the screwups like the great cookie caper, everyone knows that someone did something).

[Shyla]

Clean up the bodies? Funny. Anyway, she got promoted because she was already acting like a manager: hiding from customers and making tasks harder than they need to be. How annoying.

[eltf177]

And this newbie was promoted why?

[Lace Neil Singer]

And this newbie was promoted why?

Probably for this reason: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert_principle

[Dreamstalker]

Nobody can figure out if she has previous retail experience; she wasn't on the opening team. She's outgoing and pleasant with customers, but seems to have a general condescending attitude toward those of us who actually can work independently. She does have 3 kids...coupling that with what she's done to a few of us (handholding in the warehouse, etc), it seems she views this job as an extension of parenting. I'll just have to do what I did when I was 12....prove (yet again) that I can do what I do without much help. I can deal with her, but it gets irritating at times.

It's a good thing the company doesn't do commissions, as she's been known to poach customers I'd been helping when I leave briefly to relay a customer question to J...occasionally, she'll confuse the customer so J has to intervene anyway. I've heard her talking people out of buying stuff that I recommended (and she knows I did).

More funny: J has tasked me with finding/keeping up on general info on Boston Marathon road closures--our store is roughly a block from the finish line so we're thinking that after 7AM (or earlier; I heard that they'll be closing the street to vehicle traffic at dawn, and I know not what security will be like) it's going to be impossible to get near the store if you're not already down there. It goes right through my town, and last year they closed off streets in a two-block radius.

S thinks that she'll be able to drive in that day as usual. Er, NO...but please do try (how can you live anywhere near the metro area and NOT know what a mess this event is?)

She wasn't in today, and two of us midshifters pushed a shitload of backstock out of the warehouse (J can see the walls!). I can only imagine what wouldn't be accomplished had she been around.

ETA: When I was talking with J yesterday about the road closures, he mentioned that "a member of our leadership team thinks she'll be able to drive in that day." Wait...S has some sort of managerial authority (or will)?!

[Daskinor]

God, I have some bozos at my place of employment who think they can get into work during our cities marathon. Then have the nerve to complain when they can't.

Its even more ridiculous when our company is a major sponsor, and is sending out constant emails about the event. Looking for volunteers and giving things like the day before off(with pay) to people who compete.

Its not like they don't know its going to happen.

[Dreamstalker]

We all want S to try and drive in, and when she either calls or texts J because she can't...to be official and not result in points against attendance, any callouts must be verbal and no later than three hours prior to your shift (so no hitting the road at 6AM for a 7AM shift and then finding out you can't get anywhere near the building).

For something like this where you have plenty of advance notice, it's everyone's responsibility to know how they're going to get to work (I'm helping J out as he and most of the management team haven't lived in the area long enough to have witnessed the chaos).

[Dreamstalker]

And again. Breaks are 'scheduled' in the sense that the earliest to arrive goes first and tells the next person the minute they get back on the floor (if J doesn't decide to stagger/overlap breaks). S came in at 7AM, I came in at 8. At 1:20, I ask J when I can go and he says that S was on break, so I could go when S gets back on the floor.

Finally at 2 (I've been there since 8AM and typically go on break around 1-1:15) I figure 'fuck this, I had a coffee and fast-food breakfast burrito at 7AM I am going now before I collapse or bite someone'. Just for shits and grins I poke my head in the warehouse to tell J that I'm going...and S is there sitting on the ladder--which has a big NO SITTING sign on it--shooting the shit with B (warehouse dude) and watching some Youtube video that from what I can gather is juuust this side of worksafe (if not NSFW entirely). Given the timing of everything she must have come back at 1:30-1:45 and not bothered to actually, you know, tell me...which is kinda important to ensure there's adequate floor coverage.

When I get back from break J is asked why I took lunch so late and I tell him what happened...leaving out my suspicions, just that S never told me she was back and I only found out by seeing her in the warehouse when I was looking for him.

I've noticed on truck days that S will take over the unloading herself (including staging product in the wrong section of the store, unpacking 'extra' cases meaning one of us just has to throw it in backstock again*), leaving very little for the rest of us to actually do before opening.

* I found two open cases of the same chocolate bar in backstock today, each half-full. And of course the shelf space for that exact item had been overstuffed so product was at risk of falling and breaking....I was able to combine both backstocked half-cases into one and fix the shelf situation, but if this practice is why our damage rate has tripled...

[Kit-Ginevra]

And this newbie was promoted why?

Because her horizontal abilities lead to vertical benefits?

[Dreamstalker]

K was wondering that as well, but the question is: who? (both of the immediate department managers are married). I think N is the only one of us hourlies who really talks to her besides the socially acceptable "hi" anymore.

There's a theory among some of us that many in other departments still have jobs only because they were/are screwing someone higher up the food chain. H was the cheese department AM when mom was working there, and H is very insecure and can't handle capable women who know more than she does (she eventually drove mom to quit, lied to HR about her performance, and we suspect pocketed mom's store-opening bonus). About a month after mom quit, the manager of that department left suddenly (thus leaving H to ascend to manager role)...and it came to light through the grapevine that H had been sleeping with that manager all along.

ETA: And more S crazy! Last week she called OUT but showed up late anyway...sorry honey, you call out don't even show up (why were you even allowed to clock in?). J was annoyed as he had fielded the initial callout. She tried to blame the break 'miscommunication' the other day on the main timeclock being down...while it was down, that doesn't have anything to do with anything. She's bent or broken a couple policies, and yesterday I nearly got squashed in the warehouse by a tote full of candy that should not be on the top rack (K confirmed that S was the one who put it up there...that thing has to weigh seventy pounds how the hell did she manage it on a ladder?). A was furious as he has said repeatedly to everyone that heavy totes are not to be stored above the second rack due to the ladder being wonky...if his guys and the rest of us can follow that rule, what makes S so special?

[eltf177]

Wait until someone gets hurt and THEN watch the fireworks.

Little late by then but...

[Dreamstalker]

I'm starting to document everything S does (if we have proof it was her) that could possibly result in injuries...I now wonder if the reason she spends so much time in the warehouse is because the camera back there isn't working and J isn't back there that often.

In the meantime I've made myself indispensable in another area that S has fucked up on before (product rotation) and that may finally become my job...meaning that I can come down on S if she isn't observing the FIFO rule or at least checking dates every couple shipments/weeks.

[Dreamstalker]

And more...

S has been writing stupid shit (some invoking other CWs, and could be considered harassment such as "J loves her [yes, in the third person]") on cases in the warehouse. This not only fucks up existing systems (she scribbles over case labels, as well as completely destroying attempts at organizing shelves--latest was a very heavy case balanced on two lighter ones hanging over the edge of an upper rack shelf, luckily I saw that when I walked in and was able to get it down safely) but is completely unprofessional. I asked J about this today, and showed him a few photos I'd taken of said missives that were now gone from the warehouse. He's well aware of this--as well as other incidents that I'm not privy to but I think I know what they are--and was planning to talk with her about it but didn't want to sound like he was singling her out...just say you don't let anyone else do what she's been doing on the grounds that it's unprofessional. While his manager is more lenient because he's having trouble hiring good workers, on that same note he shouldn't tolerate a 'supervisor' who gets away with what she does as that can tarnish the whole store.

[Kittish]

Hate to say this, but being married doesn't preclude having sex with someone not one's spouse.

[RealUnimportant]

He's well aware of this--as well as other incidents that I'm not privy to but I think I know what they are--and was planning to talk with her about it but didn't want to sound like he was singling her out...just say you don't let anyone else do what she's been doing on the grounds that it's unprofessional.

I respectfully disagree. If she's known to be the one doing this, the only one doing this, then telling everyone off just creates a lot of bad feeling among everyone else while diluting any feeling of remorse she might have because it implies she's not alone. There's nothing wrong with singling someone out if they are the sole culprit.