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Should I just suck it up and work as a Combo/Deli, continue to wait, transfer to a bigger/better store or find a new job entirely?
You should have gotten the hint. It was fine to say you wanted to do Dairy or Produce first, but when they all suggested you do Deli, then it means you don't have a choice, they just pretended to be nice.
To be honest, it sounds like you screwed up your job. You can try to fix your reputation by doing whatever they ask of you. Or you can try to get a new job, so that you can get a fresh start. Your choice.
1. As an employee, you are 'supposed' to work whatever departments they ask you to work.
2. From your 'story', it does not appear your store is union. If it is, you should have been taking all this up with the shop steward. Your store is not union?
3. Everything about all this 'meshugas' is dependent on what your career goals are.
3a. If your goal is to make the grocery business your career, then remember that in order to become a Front End Manager and then a Store Director, it is necessary to rotate through all the departments. With that in mind, you hardly have the option of declining being asked to work in any of the store's departments.
3b. If your career goal(s) are outside the store, then focus more on your medium/long term goals and spend less time fighting the system as to which job you work at that store. Are you going to school or have some other activity in which you are engaged in order to be qualified for a job per your career goal(s)? If so, you are wasting energy on your day-to-day job when you ought to be spending that energy working the other legs of your career progress.
4. As an hourly, non-exempt worker, you are in the position of being expendable so stop rocking the boat and showing your hand. If for some reason, all this is going to cause you to want to quit and take another job, you need to hold your cards closer to your chest while you work on your job replacement plan. Otherwise, you may find yourself being given the boot before you have prepared for and found your next job. So stop broadcasting your angst and play along while you work your Plan B.
5. I left out a 'strategy' conversation where you would say 'this' and 'that' to your various managers and it would all come out in your favor. First, I would need to know a lot more about the dynamics of the people involved and second, you are too junior in the organization to expect to be able to orchestrate the situation in your favor. At best, I can only say that if possible, you could somehow leverage your Employee of the Month recognition but that is probably a pipe dream since as we all know all too well, employers are sweet on you one day and cold the next.
Without knowing more than is reasonable for this kind of forum exchange, I can only say that it all boils down to keeping your job, making the most with the cards you are being dealt and either focus on your in-store career goals or as I said, if your true career goals are external to the store, then put your energy where it will do you the most good and put on a happy face and work your Plan B/Career Goal Plan.
Simply said, you need them more than they need you.
Paul..........
...
The grocery store I worked at had so much turnover that they would call me up everyday begging me to come in. And if I did decide to come in they would offer me loads of overtime to cover all the call offs, no shows, and walk outs.
Sure low paid jobs like fast food operate on a revolving door of employees. However you still need a couple of "key" employees to keep things going as the door spins.
The grocery store I worked at had so much turnover that they would call me up everyday begging me to come in. And if I did decide to come in they would offer me loads of overtime to cover all the call offs, no shows, and walk outs.
Mod cut.
One of the smartest things someone can do is make themselves indispensable...
Paul........
...
Last edited by PJSaturn; 08-16-2016 at 03:14 PM..
Reason: Off-topic.
They offered me two positions which I turned down.
They asked me what department I wanted to work, I told them, and they told me that I was to commence training in 2 weeks and then basically nothing ever happened, they hired some new guy, and they give no straight answer on what is going on.
I only asked them what happened twice, 4 weeks after I was told I would start training and a second time a month and a half later (two weeks ago).
They send me into departments to do work which I was not trained in. I do not complain, I just do it.
Like s1alker I am their go to guy, because I am always there to fill in for others, always on time, always willing to help out other departments, or stay a little longer, come in a little earlier, sacrifice an off day to work, always do the misc. jobs assigned thoroughly, work through illness, and I never complain. They call me almost every off day that I have.
I am always straight with them, is it really too much to give me a straight answer, since they asked me what I wanted to do and agreed to train me on it.
If they had just said "Well, i'll keep it in mind that you want to work produce/dairy, but right now there are no openings. If there are, you'll be the first to be considered!" I would not have a problem with that, and be more than willing to wait.
They offered me two positions which I turned down.
They asked me what department I wanted to work, I told them, and they told me that I was to commence training in 2 weeks and then basically nothing ever happened, they hired some new guy, and they give no straight answer on what is going on.
Like s1alker I am their go to guy,
I am always straight with them, is it really too much to give me a straight answer....
If they had just said ".......... I would not have a problem with that, and be more than willing to wait.
Peter,
You are asking for fairness and now you have seen a little business reality- that not every time in business/life will everyone be 'fair'.
Capricious decision-making shows up all the time, even at the executive level.
So, us not having been there and can't know everything about what happened except as you describe it, we are back to the beginning by answering your question -"Should I just suck it up"- as, 'yes', 'you should just suck it up'.
Asked and answered, as they say on TV.
I'll stick to what I said earlier- that although this is obviously a frustrating situation, there is only so much you have the power to do which is why I suggest you stick with watching out for #1 and let this go, keep doing what you have been doing and again, continue to work on your career path progression either in the store or external to it.
They may or may not be keeping what you said/they said in the back of their minds; it would not surprise me if 'they' have dropped the matter in favor of putting their energy into other aspects of the store business.
So, as I suggested, lay low, keep being the 'go-to' guy and next time they ask if you want to do this or that, just say 'sure'/pick one and hope they don't do a change-up on you again and go with the flow unless it contradicts your short/medium/long term interests.
And if down the road, they offer a couple of choices and again pull the rug out from under you, just know your managers have this capacity and now you are forewarned.
Leaving now for another store in the same chain may have your managers passing on something negative about you to the next front end manager/store director- don't think it can't happen. Leaving for a position in another chain might work and if you choose to do so, BE SURE to get references in advance by at least one or two supervisor types. It is best if they will give you something in writing. I suggest you indicate you have some kind of outside interest where they are asking for character references so it doesn't appear you are preparing to resign.
Were I in your shoes and was not inclined to quit, I'd simply lay low, remain co-operative and let this all die down and disappear.
Sometime down the road, if you choose your timing wisely, it may be possible to ask, in an off-the-cuff way, what happened and if the stars are all in the right place, your manager/supervisor might be willing to be more open about what happened and why they did what they did. However, this is tricky stuff and if you are not wise to this sort of thing, this kind of stuff is best left to the experts.
Just 'suck it up', as you, yourself, said and know that you are lucky that this happened while you are in a non-exempt job and not later in life when such activity can put a wrench into an executive job you might have where such activity/actions by supervisors/managers can have a deleterious effect on your career.
Welcome To Life. It is not always a bowl of cherries, as the saying goes and the other one, 'who said Life is fair?', well, you have found that one out for yourself.
Like I said, let this be something you put to the side and if comes up again, down the road, maybe you will know better what your choices really are.
(I had asked you if you are a union shop and you did not reply. I'm guessing from that, you are not which in a way is too bad since your shop steward, had you have one, would be running interference for you and would have been able to come back and let you know the inside skinny on what 'really' happened. For now, just consider this a cheap lesson that not all supervisors and managers 'play fair'.)
As a last thought, keep in mind everything that happened -from the time they asked about your preferences to their hiring someone from outside the store, etc.- could be part of a 'larger' agenda that is going on with them. IOW, there may be pieces to this puzzle you can't know since management has not brought you into the entire picture of what they are/were up to when all this stuff began. Again, this is another reason to know you can't control what you can't control and to just work your end of things the best way you know how.
Paul........
...
Last edited by HeadhunterPaul; 08-16-2016 at 07:52 PM..
Reason: text edit
You are asking for fairness and now you have seen a little business reality- that not every time in business/life will everyone be 'fair'.
Capricious decision-making shows up all the time, even at the executive level.
So, us not having been there and can't know everything about what happened except as you describe it, we are back to the beginning by answering your question -"Should I just suck it up"- as, 'yes', 'you should just suck it up'.
Asked and answered, as they say on TV.
I'll stick to what I said earlier- that although this is obviously a frustrating situation, there is only so much you have the power to do which is why I suggest you stick with watching out for #1 and let this go, keep doing what you have been doing and again, continue to work on your career path progression either in the store or external to it.
They may or may not be keeping what you said/they said in the back of their minds; it would not surprise me if 'they' have dropped the matter in favor of putting their energy into other aspects of the store business.
So, as I suggested, lay low, keep being the 'go-to' guy and next time they ask if you want to do this or that, just say 'sure'/pick one and hope they don't do a change-up on you again and go with the flow unless it contradicts your short/medium/long term interests.
And if down the road, they offer a couple of choices and again pull the rug out from under you, just know your managers have this capacity and now you are forewarned.
Leaving now for another store in the same chain may have your managers passing on something negative about you to the next front end manager/store director- don't think it can't happen. Leaving for a position in another chain might work and if you choose to do so, BE SURE to get references in advance by at least one or two supervisor types. It is best if they will give you something in writing. I suggest you indicate you have some kind of outside interest where they are asking for character references so it doesn't appear you are preparing to resign.
Were I in your shoes and was not inclined to quit, I'd simply lay low, remain co-operative and let this all die down and disappear.
Sometime down the road, if you choose your timing wisely, it may be possible to ask, in an off-the-cuff way, what happened and if the stars are all in the right place, your manager/supervisor might be willing to be more open about what happened and why they did what they did. However, this is tricky stuff and if you are not wise to this sort of thing, this kind of stuff is best left to the experts.
Just 'suck it up', as you, yourself, said and know that you are lucky that this happened while you are in a non-exempt job and not later in life when such activity can put a wrench into an executive job you might have where such activity/actions by supervisors/managers can have a deleterious effect on your career.
Welcome To Life. It is not always a bowl of cherries, as the saying goes and the other one, 'who said Life is fair?', well, you have found that one out for yourself.
Like I said, let this be something you put to the side and if comes up again, down the road, maybe you will know better what your choices really are.
(I had asked you if you are a union shop and you did not reply. I'm guessing from that, you are not which in a way is too bad since your shop steward, had you have one, would be running interference for you and would have been able to come back and let you know the inside skinny on what 'really' happened. For now, just consider this a cheap lesson that not all supervisors and managers 'play fair'.)
As a last thought, keep in mind everything that happened -from the time they asked about your preferences to their hiring someone from outside the store, etc.- could be part of a 'larger' agenda that is going on with them. IOW, there may be pieces to this puzzle you can't know since management has not brought you into the entire picture of what they are/were up to when all this stuff began. Again, this is another reason to know you can't control what you can't control and to just work your end of things the best way you know how.
Paul........
...
Ok.
For the record, it is a union store. The old steward (a friend) quit 30 minutes before she was supposed to retire and the new one immediately started behaving poorly after becoming steward (knowing that it would be hard for him to be fired) so going to him is not an option.
I guess this was just naivety on my part? They always made it seem like I had a choice, and insisted on knowing what I wanted to do, and made it seem like it really was going to happen. The senior employees I talked to would always go "Oh just talk to the managers! They'll fix you right up! That's what I did!". When I talk to other older employees about how long I've been waiting they just tell me to constantly remind them.
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and work your Plan B/Career Goal Plan.
Should I Just Suck It Up?
