Told you I'm a detail person.

[Dreamstalker]

Not sucky, just funny.

Starting yesterday we've been merchandising stuff (and making sure we stay on the warehouse team's good side by not throwing backstock back there unless there's no choice).

One of the store managers (R) started a plano; he put one of each item on the shelf, and we fill in the rest. I had a shelf with three bags of chocolates (think the Lindt bags for shape and size). Three varieties, three across each like so:

1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 and the shelf is not packed out.

As I'm shelving, I come across a fourth variety that isn't on the plano (but grocery manager J confirms it was ordered). I figure it was overlooked--bag is the same main color as two of the other ones--and condense the others down to 2 each in order to fit everything. So what I end up with is this:

1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 and the shelf is filled out perfectly.

By this time R is coming back around to see how things are going, and notices that something's different...

Me: "I found a fourth type in the tote and it wasn't on the shelf so I condensed the rest. Everything fits."

I can almost see the gears in his head turning; I don't think he's used to a new hire not having to be told how to shelve and was expecting me to ask "What do I do with this?"

R: *pause, then he sounds puzzled* "Yes...yes, that's fine."

I think he actually asked J about the mystery variety, and J's reply was something along the lines of "We definitely ordered it and it must have been overlooked when making the plano. [implication: you didn't pay attention] You want every different item represented, and it is."

Later, J was telling me that a similar thing had happened at one of the other stores but nobody had found the variety before it expired (and it was something that would have sold out within days if it was actually on the shelf). The product was fairly expensive too. The reason it hadn't been found and shelved? Whoever stocked the item was going off of a quick glance at package colors, and the one in question had the same general color but different details.

[Pixelated]

Wonder how long it took R to wrap his/her head around the idea of an employee who takes the initiative ...

[Dreamstalker]

It's either a Big Head Honcho thing or a cultural/hierarchy thing, neither of the big cheeses we saw seem to be used to a nonmanager taking initiative. I doubt it'll become a problem though (J thinks I'm awesomesauce and so does the warehouse manager).

A few days ago we got in some candies in glass tubes, and displaying them was a puzzle. Everything had to be out of the boxes, so I got the idea to take four small acrylic U-risers from another area, invert them and stack the tubes inside (labels on the lid ends of the tubes facing front, held in by the riser sides). J said it took a little bit of convincing but they let it stay, probably because the 'proper' displays (I think someone was thinking of displaying them vertically) were more expensive and took up space we don't have on the shelf.

[Food Lady]

We have a whole team who does that stuff and they aren't allowed to do workarounds. It's ridiculous.

[notalwaysright]

Initiative is actively discouraged at my work, except when management thinks that you should read their minds and just know the answer. So if you try to fix something, you'll be told that it's wrong, but if you ask how to fix something you'll get sarcasm and condensation.

And by management I mean the SM, Twoface.

[Dreamstalker]

Same at my old store, but I think that was because they feel the front end shouldn't need to make decisions and/or have anything to do with anything else. Grocery gets a fair amount of leeway (each store is laid out differently depending on the space--they like to get stores in buildings that hold some significance for the location/community), and I kinda like their interpretation of the dreaded phrase.

"The customer is not always right, the store is not always right, but we'll find a solution in the middle."