The Woolworths Thread (44 Viewers)

[townie]

i did heaps of unpaid overtime this week as well, pulling double duty as head cashier and CSM, argh, was awful.

 

[DM Mike]

ouch, are you at a store where your No2 can run things up front and you can spend time doing Cash and the CSM paperwork at least?

 

[rose2]

hi guys..
Strange story today at work..one of my co worker came to me and said fuck i think i've served smokes to underage.i was like wtf??she said he was my last customer and i was in hurry to go home.so i didn't bother to ask for I.D.now what if he would be a underage mystery shopper?as he had staff discount card as well..
In this way she was very worried as we are having mystery shoppers in our store these days.just out of curiosity what u guys think about it??is she in trouble(she is not sure even he was underage or not,just he looks like)..any response is appreciated..

Sorry about such a baseless topic...lol..

 

[townie]

ouch, are you at a store where your No2 can run things up front and you can spend time doing Cash and the CSM paperwork at least?

lol, i wish, is no 2IC service, only plus is that because of phoenix, our systems operator could do p/ups, change, EFT balancing and print exceptions, so i just needed to do Office Balancing, Payroll and Sales/Wage planning

 

[yoddle]

I had the most annoying customers today.

A woman who spent ten minutes on the phone saying how she was overcharged for her cherry ripes, when the whole time she was looking at last week's catalogue. And you'd think that once we've established that she's looking at the wrong thing she'd just go 'my bad' and hang up, but shes like "oh, but it came in the paper on monday"..."are you sure?", i had move the mouthpiece away to call an express alert
Some other people who came around the same time with a letter from woolworths saying that they can have some dog food refunded, which would have been fine if they didn't get in my face when I was trying to to a carpet cleaner hiring and rattle on about how "it's so terrible, we've got no idea what we're going to feed our dogs, i suppose we'll just have to find some new brands, oh god etc etc". LIKE I FUCKING CARE.
And another lady who was like "don't squash my bread" about seven times, while her sulky teens literally threw the items on the the register. Then she wouldn't move her handbag out of the bag-packing area, so I was trying delicately to fit her bread in a bag when she screams "DON'T SQUASH MY BREAD!!!!!!" so the whole shop can hear. The next customer was like "don't squash my bread either" and I nearly bitchslapped him.

Gah. It was sooo busy too. But i think i'm in love with the SM because anytime he hears it getting busy he comes up and calls service 20s, its great.

edit: also, this dodgy couple with a pram came in, and the Groc Mang told me to make sure I checked their bags, and because the operator didn't i had to, and then he got angry and was like "just cos I look like a fucking criminal doesn't mean I am one" etc, and I felt really bad, because as soon as they walked into Chickenfeed they got security called as well.

 

[Craven]

yesterday this bogan pushed the self-serve attendant out of the way when she tried to tell her she couldn't leave through there... then she came back about 5 minutes later with her husband i guess in an attempt to further accost the attendant but luckily our store manager was nearby an prevented and ugly scene... lol.

and today, i love getting complaining customers "there aren't enough staff!!" when ALL the checkouts are manned... lol, what do you want me to do?

 

[jgibson0011]

I had the most annoying customers today.

LOL Guess I'm not the only one who had a rough day...

Got in at 6am to do open on self serve but had to help cash office girl recount after there was $60 missing - which we later found half and hour later. We were really rushing to get things done my 7am - floats, change orders and everything else. Had heaps of newspapers: 1 full roll cage and a 1 full trolley.
3 of 6 SCOs not working and the trolley pushers didn't show up. About half a dozen Service 40's and replacements and about a million phone calls.

The worst thing was realising that I'd accidentally mixed up the $5 and $50 containers in one of the self serve machines. AARRGH! Thank god the customer was honest and brought it to our attention.

Ah well...at least I got to finish at 11:30

I hope I survive my next shift in Self Serve on Thursday!!

 

[Black Heart]

Just curious about who decides what people go on what registers eg. if they are on big registers or express.
I asked a supervisor a while ago who actually did it and she said "well tonight I did it". Does that mean that sometimes it's pre-done before another supervisor comes and takes over?

 

[babikakez]

Just curious about who decides what people go on what registers eg. if they are on big registers or express.
I asked a supervisor a while ago who actually did it and she said "well tonight I did it". Does that mean that sometimes it's pre-done before another supervisor comes and takes over?

It depends. On important days such as xmas/easter register allocation is done about a week in advance. On regular days we will allocate registers at open til about 12pm, then reassess through the afternoon. On late night trades, this will be done before the night supervisor comes in quite often.

In saying that though, I quite often move people around. Just coz its easier to have certain people on mains v express.

 

[Otacon2009]

I've noticed that during the morning session of trade, arriving staff go on even numbered registers and the afternoon crew (Who typically do 4-8) get posted on odd numbers. Not always the same, but 90% of the time it's the case.

 

[townie]

we just kind of decide on the spot, since we only ever really use 3 registers. but i try to follow the basic principle that better operators should be on express during the morning, and on full service during the afternoon, just because thats when the items per basket level shifts from being low to high

 

[Black Heart]

Hmm. Because when I start at 4.30pm (and that's when the night supervisor starts) I'll go down and like check the books and whatever, then the previous supervisor then reads the register number off the roster sheet. So I'm guessing that they did it - like what babikakez said "On late night trades, this will be done before the night supervisor comes in quite often"

I kinda had a hunch that, that was what they did. But thanks for clearing it up.

Also, do you reckon that the supervisor assigns people that they like to express?

Also, a supervisor told me that they had to mix it up as all the same people kept getting put on express.

 

[Otacon2009]

Our Head HR staff member (not the area manager, the one below) informed front end that at least one express lane must be open from open to close. But when she leaves for the day, the supervisors get the staff off there. Also, is there a rule where a big register must remain open at all times? Nightcliff Woolies seems to have no one on the registers after 11pm (they close at midnight) except for smokes and self serves. I asked them once when I was working there and they said that it was a staffing issue.

 

[langlece]

I hate working during the exam period... I've had 3 weeks off but other people are still going, so trying to replace sickies over the weekend was horrible! I had to do Friday night without a backup SVR, with 3 brand new staff and down 3 staff... not cool! I had to go from 5-10:30 without a break

Also, is there a rule where a big register must remain open at all times? Nightcliff Woolies seems to have no one on the registers after 11pm (they close at midnight) except for smokes and self serves. I asked them once when I was working there and they said that it was a staffing issue.

I normally close off the last register at around 11, or when it's quiet enough, and just leave self serve open. If we see someone with a trolley or looking for a register, I'll get the staff member back on. It's just a waste of time to leave one register open permanently with the staff member standing there doing absolutely nothing.
Then at 23:40 the overnight girl goes on break, so it's just me and one self serve person. Then if a trolley comes, we either put it through self serve ourselves, or I do self serve and the other person jumps back on.

Overnights, there is only one staff member to do Self Serve, Smokeshop, Registers and Stock. She does pretty much the same thing, but isn't really needed on a register, so very rarely actually serves.



Anyone here done the Qantas Club offer? I want to, but only if I'm in the first 2000 and dont' have to pay the joining fee. Do you think they would have had 2000 full time/part time staff apply since October 26?

 

[babikakez]

Hmm. Because when I start at 4.30pm (and that's when the night supervisor starts) I'll go down and like check the books and whatever, then the previous supervisor then reads the register number off the roster sheet. So I'm guessing that they did it - like what babikakez said "On late night trades, this will be done before the night supervisor comes in quite often"

I kinda had a hunch that, that was what they did. But thanks for clearing it up.

Also, do you reckon that the supervisor assigns people that they like to express?

Also, a supervisor told me that they had to mix it up as all the same people kept getting put on express.

Its not so much people I like on express, more like people I don't like on mains. Now that sounds quite horrible, but I have my reasons.

Because we have the staggered "next please" lanes, I keep all supervisors on express. Always. Although this new "one supervisor only" shit is making that plan useless.
If you're smokeshop trained, and its a bulkly busy day, I might also put you on express. So that the smokeshop operator and yourself can rotate between express and smokeshop. But I will only do this if your cash handling is good.
Thirdly, the people on express must be good with their cash. Because we are more likely to share an express lane than a main. So yeah.

But quite honestly, thats just my plan for opens. If I come in and someone who is a regular operator and not so good with cash is on express, I'm not gonna chuck them out. Its about meeting staffing needs at the time.

PS - I never got express as an operator because I always had a high scan rate. And if we have to put operators from express to mains, I'm the first to be sent out. It sucks.

 

[babikakez]

I've noticed that during the morning session of trade, arriving staff go on even numbered registers and the afternoon crew (Who typically do 4-8) get posted on odd numbers. Not always the same, but 90% of the time it's the case.

Haha, when I open, I allocate my mains in this way:

9,7,3,5,6,8,2,10, 4, 11,1.


4,10,11 and 1 all have various issues with them, so they go last. Quite often 4 and 1 aren't brought down at all.

So yeah, I guess you could say it works in a pattern. But on thurs night I had 2,3,4,5,6, 10,11 open. 10 and 11 served very few people, except those that would normally go to express or the one's I directed down.

 

[townie]

yay, the person i was counting on to do a whole lot of shits next week has apparantly just gone back to india without actually telling anybody, just by finding somebody for his next shift. GREAT!

 

[babikakez]

Our SM made a change, that at all times, 1 be open. 1 is down the end, facing a wall, all you can hardly hear the bell or anyone yelling from up there, so it is very painful when you are on that register. . That is where we send the naughty people . They know they've annoyed the supervisor when they are on 1

Our reg 1 is the same, but its usually stuffed with stock trolleys, roll cages etc so we dont need to use it. Our rule is that 2 or 3 AND 10 or 11 should be open at all times. Its rare that this happens.

We also send annoying people to register one. It used to be a bit of a novelty before our current CSM, because it would only come down on xmas, easter etc. Now its always down on Saturdays .
Only been on it twice though in three years. How special am I?

 

[babikakez]

oh really? tell me more.

haha, but yesterday there was a townie lookalike in the perishables sections. its sad when thats the first thing i thought of. poor random guy.

 

[yoddle]

I allocate my registers by making them even, so all the operators are facing toward the service desk (me). So they can see how hot I am and also they can use eye and hand language to communicate things. It also just looks better when they are facing the one way.

I usually put people I like in express, good looking people and people who are fast/not annoying.
Because I'm one of the younger supervisors there is rarely other supervisors on that I can allocate, but when I do they always go on express. It's just commonsense. I also try and put people who are usually made to go on a main from 9-6 each day on express too, cos I feel sorry for them.