Wait a tick... This is post-holiday season, right???

[Ledomar]

Okay. I've only made one post so far since joining this awesome site. Normally I get home from work and peruse the new posts, my butt off, and it drives the idiocy from my mind.. But not today....

Bit of background. I work as a meat clerk in (you guessed it) a meat department for {Corporation}. Usually we are kinda laid back in the meat dept, but the past couple days have been busy, so stress levels are up.

Well get to it...
Today I had a little old crab of a lady ask me if we had any ground chuck in the back, as we were currently out on the shelf. Having just ground said chuck a little less than 45 minutes ago, I figure surely we have some back there. I head to the cooler to see if we have any packs ready. Nope, none back there. Head up to the SC and say "Sorry ma'am, but ATM I don't have any, but I'm about to go grind some."

SC: Well, get back there and grind some.


WTF lady? I just said that I was about to go grind some. Did you think i was lying? If that is the case, then sorry to disappoint you, but I honestly was going to grind some.

Sorry, don't have any...
This actually happened to a CW that had just clocked in about 15 minutes prior.

SC: Where are the packs of lunch meat that are $0.99 this week?
CW: Not sure, let me go see if we have any. -walks to the cooler, where I am grinding even more ground chuck- Do we have any of the packs of lunch meat back here?
Me: No, the order for most of it got scratched by the warehouse.
CW: -Turns around and heads toward SC- Sorry, but we are all out ATM. You can get a rain check at customer service.
SC: Why do you even bother to advertise something if you don't have any? That's just stupid!!!!!!!!111eleventy!!

Ok, granted, we should have said item in stock. Normally we actually have a surplus of said item when it goes on sale like this. But, this week, our lunch meat lady (yes, that's what we call her. She runs the lunch meat section of meat dept.) didn't order as much as normal. This is due to the fact that almost every year, the week after New Year's is so slow that you could hear a cricket chirp from the other side of the store. Not only that, but WE at the store aren't the ones in charge of ads. That is corporate's job.

Bonus suck I hate you...
YOU.... The SC that brings a ham up to the counter to be sliced when I'm supposed to leave in 15 minutes and I still have 30 minutes worth of work to do.
YOU... The other SC that also brings a ham up to the counter to be sliced. This in itself isn't so sucky (as it is meat dept's job). But the fact that you never came back to get the ham so we had to scan it out as a loss is the suck.
YOU.... The SC that walks up to me as I am putting product in the case and are so close that when I stand up to turn around that I actually bump into you. I don't know how you feel comfortable so close to me. But I know that at this point in my day, I don't smell exactly.... fresh...., especially since I just spent 45 minutes at the seafood case pulling the fish for the night.
Also, don't ask me where something is when you are standing right fricking next to it.

Maybe actually read the ad...
Okay is it just me or do people actually read less these days?

SC: Where's the chicken that is $0.59 a pound? -points to the ad in her hand-
Me: Ma'am, that is on aisle 14 in the frozen section.
SC: No, its supposed to be fresh. Shows it that way in the ad.
Me: thinking to myself *Ha, nope lady. All the pics that corporate puts in the ad are of product that has been cooked or is cooking. Such as steaks on the grill or roasts on a platter with veggies around it.
Me: to SC Ma'am, the smaller print right under the words "Chicken Leg Quarters" states that they are actually frozen.
SC: -looks at ad- Well that's stupid. Why don't they make that print bigger?
Me: -- I don't know ma'am. Sorry.

[Imogene]

SC: Well, get back there and grind some.

Well, I'm certainly not going to now...
What she was saying was, "Well, get off your ass and do my bidding."

[Bramblerose]

Also, don't ask me where something is when you are standing right fricking next to it.

Will you forgive me if I apologize for being blind?

[ASM826]

Wait a tick... This is post-holiday season, right???

No, no, no. This is early in the 2009 pre-holiday season. Shop early for bargains!

[HawaiianShirts]

I could never work in a grocery store. I know how sucky some customers can get over electronics. I wouldn't stay sane very long having to deal with the same behavior related to food.

Regarding the ham slicing customers: I think if I ran the meat department, I'd try to create a policy where people paid for their stuff before it was cut. I know nothing about meat cutting, though, so I don't know if or how that would work. And the one who asked you to cut meat just before going home is just annoying. Granted, they probably don't know you're about to go home, but I think this is part of the reason retail and service employees are always so tired. We never get out of the store on time, usually due to the actions--deliberate or not--of some customer(s).

No, no, no. This is early in the 2009 pre-holiday season. Shop early for bargains!

Shh! Don't give retail corporate any more ideas! They've already ruined the December holidays for us by starting them in September. I don't need them starting in January!

Seriously, I bet most retail corporations would like to advertise Christmas and such all year long with the mistaken belief that customers will maintain that holiday shopping frenzy all year long, generating more revenue for the stores and bigger paychecks for the suits at the top.

[Ledomar]

Quoth HawaiianShirts
Regarding the ham slicing customers: I think if I ran the meat department, I'd try to create a policy where people paid for their stuff before it was cut. I know nothing about meat cutting, though, so I don't know if or how that would work. And the one who asked you to cut meat just before going home is just annoying. Granted, they probably don't know you're about to go home, but I think this is part of the reason retail and service employees are always so tired. We never get out of the store on time, usually due to the actions--deliberate or not--of some customer(s).

For some reason, the corporate big-wigs don't want our customers to have to "hassle" themselves to get the items that they want. To me, it would be more of a hassle to ask for ham sliced, do my shopping while it's being slice, forget about it while I'm doing said shopping, pay for groceries, get home and start tearing the bags apart looking for my ham that I know I got....CRAP, I FORGOT THE HAM!!!!111eleventy!!!!

Also, the customer that i was referring to who came up as we were getting close to quitting time, yeah, he's a regular. We go through this rigamarole weekly.

Quoth Bramblescar
Will you forgive me if I apologize for being blind?

Yes, but only if you /facepalm yourself.