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Everything at the wholesale club is broken.
Well, not everything. But certainly a lot of things in the store could use more than just a fresh coat of paint.
For starters: the main door. When you move from our vestibule into the store proper, you walk through one of those automatic doors, which have been knocked around enough by "blind" costumers and cart-guys bringing in their train of carts that the doors are actually bent near the bottom. As such, they no longer sit flush in their track, and make a noticeable dragging sound when opening or closing.
Recently, they installed a brand new automatic door at one end of the vestibule. We still have the bay door that closes behind it at the end of the day, but pretty much everyone who works FDLP wonders why they installed one there when we pretty much need a new one inside. Or, you know, install a bay door to replace the broken automatic, so we can be more like every other store in the chain.
While I'm up by the front door, the air curtain. This is a device that blows a steady amount of air downward, reportedly to keep out birds and bugs. Problem is, the thing is so damn old that it's really freakin' loud. Loud enough that BL, our main FDLP guy, has lost some hearing in his left ear from having them on. As a result, most of the FDLPs shut off at least one side of the air curtain (the noisier side) so our hearing doesn't suffer. Lately, however, some of the managers are telling us to put them on anyway, citing that it costs $X00 dollars to get the birds out if they get inside.
Also: the leaky roof. Whenever it rains any significant amount, we always get leaks. So, at least once a year, they hire some company to come out and re-surface the roof of the club, ostensibly to fix the problem. It doesn't help. It leaks in the same freakin' places even afterward. And some of the leaks are in our electronics section. You know, a pretty major electrical hazard there.
And finally: the self-checkouts. One of the more annoying problems that we've had lately is the metal "lip" that comes down at one end of the conveyor belt, allowing the merchandise to slide on to the rollers at the end of the register. The lips have been knocked out of alignment (and then further bent by merchandise sitting on it) so that they always poke up juuuust enough to cause customers' merch to back up on the conveyor, tripping the sensors to tell the customer that the "collection area is full, please remove some items, and then continue scanning." When it really isn't full at all.
And then there's the matter of how the self-checkouts are programmed. I'm not talking about the fact that it's way too easy for scammers to abuse coupons at the SCOs (though it is), but at least one of our SCOs has hiccups whenever someone comes through with an EBT transaction.
Here's how the hiccups happen. The customer scans all their items, then scans some coupons. As a result of the coupons (and possibly our "instant rebates" as well), when the EBT card is swiped, they still have a small amount (often less than 50 cents) to pay. Problem is, they usually try to pay that amount in coins. This SCO however, accepts their coins, then says they still owe that same amount in coins. (The screen even shows: "CASH .00")
The only fix for us at the moment is to have the customer pay that amount on a credit or debit card. And if they don't have those, we pretty much have to call a manager over to handle the problem, which gets complicated.
These are just some of the many things in the store that could use a good fixing, though I'd like to give some a sledgehammer.
Well, not everything. But certainly a lot of things in the store could use more than just a fresh coat of paint.
For starters: the main door. When you move from our vestibule into the store proper, you walk through one of those automatic doors, which have been knocked around enough by "blind" costumers and cart-guys bringing in their train of carts that the doors are actually bent near the bottom. As such, they no longer sit flush in their track, and make a noticeable dragging sound when opening or closing.
Recently, they installed a brand new automatic door at one end of the vestibule. We still have the bay door that closes behind it at the end of the day, but pretty much everyone who works FDLP wonders why they installed one there when we pretty much need a new one inside. Or, you know, install a bay door to replace the broken automatic, so we can be more like every other store in the chain.
While I'm up by the front door, the air curtain. This is a device that blows a steady amount of air downward, reportedly to keep out birds and bugs. Problem is, the thing is so damn old that it's really freakin' loud. Loud enough that BL, our main FDLP guy, has lost some hearing in his left ear from having them on. As a result, most of the FDLPs shut off at least one side of the air curtain (the noisier side) so our hearing doesn't suffer. Lately, however, some of the managers are telling us to put them on anyway, citing that it costs $X00 dollars to get the birds out if they get inside.
Also: the leaky roof. Whenever it rains any significant amount, we always get leaks. So, at least once a year, they hire some company to come out and re-surface the roof of the club, ostensibly to fix the problem. It doesn't help. It leaks in the same freakin' places even afterward. And some of the leaks are in our electronics section. You know, a pretty major electrical hazard there.
And finally: the self-checkouts. One of the more annoying problems that we've had lately is the metal "lip" that comes down at one end of the conveyor belt, allowing the merchandise to slide on to the rollers at the end of the register. The lips have been knocked out of alignment (and then further bent by merchandise sitting on it) so that they always poke up juuuust enough to cause customers' merch to back up on the conveyor, tripping the sensors to tell the customer that the "collection area is full, please remove some items, and then continue scanning." When it really isn't full at all.
And then there's the matter of how the self-checkouts are programmed. I'm not talking about the fact that it's way too easy for scammers to abuse coupons at the SCOs (though it is), but at least one of our SCOs has hiccups whenever someone comes through with an EBT transaction.
Here's how the hiccups happen. The customer scans all their items, then scans some coupons. As a result of the coupons (and possibly our "instant rebates" as well), when the EBT card is swiped, they still have a small amount (often less than 50 cents) to pay. Problem is, they usually try to pay that amount in coins. This SCO however, accepts their coins, then says they still owe that same amount in coins. (The screen even shows: "CASH .00")
The only fix for us at the moment is to have the customer pay that amount on a credit or debit card. And if they don't have those, we pretty much have to call a manager over to handle the problem, which gets complicated.
These are just some of the many things in the store that could use a good fixing, though I'd like to give some a sledgehammer.
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