Grocery!

[bean]

I've been wanting to at least get a feel for our grocery dept for awhile, and I've made sure the grocery manager knew.

Well, a few days ago he told me he has an opening coming up, and he strongly hinted that he wants me to apply. The same day, I found out grocery had a guy on vacation, so they're borrowing people from my department (deli). I asked to be one of the people borrowed, my boss agreed, so next weekend I work 1 day in grocery.

I told the grocery manager today that I would be with him next weekend, he actually seemed excited (his response? "Hell yes!"). My current boss has also been pushing me to get back in college and told me I would have a better chance of moving up in the company with a degree. I've worked every section of the deli so far, and after 1-2 days in that section I'm kicking ass. I've had two assistant store managers come up to me and tell me I was doing either "awesome" or "kickass" so far when I get moved around.

This "borrowed" time will let me at least show the grocery manager how I can bust my ass. and will most certainly help me earn an interview for the upcoming spot. Our grocery dept is pretty small (around 20 people including overnight stockers, my current dept is over 60 strong), and it's hard to even get an interview with grocery.

Wish me luck guys - I know I'll be a lot happier doing grocery. I still love my job, even though we were 4 short today (out of 15 on the shift) and we wound up having store management helping us out bigtime (two assistant store managers helping in the dept today, though both of them are awesome).

[Spiffy McMoron]

Good luck on getting the interview/promotion!

What sort of degrees would help you move up in the company? I assume some sort of business degree, but I'm not sure.

[Der Cute]

Go Bean Go!

Sounds like you've found a DAMN GOOD job. A place that cares about their people, and makes sure you're enjoying work (as much as possible) while working.

Go for it bud. We're rooting for you.

Cutenoob

[bean]

LOTS of good stuff today!

Well, I finally got my first real review today. Where I work, YOU have to request them, managers can't do them until you request one, and you have to rate yourself (1-5) in about 30 different things and give comments, followed by your manager rating you. I'd been putting it off because I had a series of serious attendance problems in the spring - first I got sick, then my apartment burned down, then a friend died and the funeral was 2 days after she died, then I showed up 3 1/2 hours late twice (another guy in my dept has the same first name and we kept reading each other's schedules). I wanted to give some time for that bad memory to fade. If you strictly follow company policy, I should have been fired over that, but I don't have a writeup or even a documented warning on my record.

Normally you can get your first review after 3 months, then 6, then 12, then every year. I skipped 3 and 6, I've been there 10 months. I mostly gave myself 3's on everything except attendance - I gave myself a 2 there. My boss mostly gave me 4's, a couple of 5's, but gave me a 2 on the attendance bit as well (but told me he's been real impressed with how it's been since spring - I've called in sick once, and haven't been late at all, since that original bad streak). The entire review has up to 100 points - I gave myself mid 70s, my manager gave me nearly 90.

I got a $1/hour raise, with 2 weeks retro pay on top of that - my boss said it was the highest raise he was allowed to give without a promotion. I can request my 12 month review around new years, so I could potentially get another raise then. My boss had nothing but positive things to say, especially with my customer service (all 5's). Also, during Thanksgiving and Christmas, the entire store will be bleeding overtime (but my current department will be bleeding more than any other). However, if I can transfer to grocery, I'll have a lot more room to grow, even if it means losing out on massive OT during the holidays. Unless you've been to culinary school and/or have several years experience in a commercial kitchen, there's really no room to grow in my current department.

Store wide, we have some of the lowest turnover (not counting frontend) in the entire company.

Also, since I was working in the kitchen tonight - we finished everything almost an hour early, so I was pretty much free to wander around the store until close. I wound up bullshitting with one of the assistant department managers, and we talked about moving up in the company. He strongly encouraged me to be willing to move between stores, even though some stores pay less (my store is one of the highest paying in the company, due to us always being in the top 10 worldwide for sales). He pointed out that while I may initially take a paycut moving to a slower store, I'll get the skills I need to move back to a busy store.. as a department manager (or even an assistant department manager). He's an asst dept manager and makes $17/hour before bonuses. Not the greatest money, but quite a bit more than my $11/hour, and managers get a bit more in terms of bonuses.

Overall, I'm REALLY happy right now. Though I laugh out loud when I hear our younger (16-25) employees bitching about how much working there sucks - it's a fortune 500 company, ranked #5 on Fortune's "2007 Top 100 Companies To Work For" list (in fact we've been in the top 10 for a long time), with better pay and benefits than 99% of the retailers in the world. The store manager makes over 100k a year and he's in his mid-late 30s (I'm 29), nuff said. One of the assistant store managers is in her mid 20s and makes about 70k, though she also has a masters degree.

Oh yeah, degree for store management? Business degree helps a lot, but it's not required.

[sms001]

LOTS of good stuff today!

Congrats and good luck!

with better pay and benefits than 99% of the retailers in the world. The store manager makes over 100k a year

What I like about them is that they have an executive pay level that is directly tied to the pay of the grunts on the front line. I think it is really hard to ever make sacrifices for a company (reduced hours, benefits, whatever it may be) when the top dogs are raking in 14 gazillion a year.

[bean]

Agreed. In fact, the CEO reduced his pay to $1/year this year, donating the remainder of his salary to charity and freeing up more for employees. As he put it, he's got more money than he needs to live the rest of his life.

Too bad more businesses don't think like this.

[XCashier]

Though I laugh out loud when I hear our younger (16-25) employees bitching about how much working there sucks

Hell, if they don't like the job, I'LL take it! Sounds like a great place to work!

Congratulations, Bean, looks like your hard work is being properly rewarded!

[Spiffy McMoron]

Though I laugh out loud when I hear our younger (16-25) employees bitching about how much working there sucks - it's a fortune 500 company, ranked #5 on Fortune's "2007 Top 100 Companies To Work For" list (in fact we've been in the top 10 for a long time), with better pay and benefits than 99% of the retailers in the world.

Proof positive that people will bitch about pretty much anything.

[TNT]

Though I laugh out loud when I hear our younger (16-25) employees bitching about how much working there sucks - it's a fortune 500 company, ranked #5 on Fortune's "2007 Top 100 Companies To Work For" list (in fact we've been in the top 10 for a long time), with better pay and benefits than 99% of the retailers in the world.

I used to work for a mail-order pharmacy. Our pharmacy techs weren't particularly well paid, but I'd always laugh when they said the could make just as much working at McDonald's.

Well... maybe, at least as far as hourly pay went. But the benefits were considerably better at the pharmacy... and... hefty stock options! Try to explain those to the kids. "See, if the stock reaches a certain price, it's like a $5,000 bonus." Some got the concept, but most didn't. It was, "I'd rather make 50 cents more an hour..."

Anyhow, it seems like you've got a nifty place to work.