∽ Working Part-Time at a Grocery Store

I finished up my job at the grocery deli. Tuesday December 20 was my last day. I left on a positive note with everyone which is nice since it's the nearest grocery store and I still want to do my shopping there.

I gave my new business card to a few people, including some of the regular customers. It was an interesting experience, my first in retail and in dealing with customers. Turns out I'm pretty good at it. I think that even though I didn't work at the family restaurant, I learned about customer service by listening to mom and dad talk about it - how to treat customers, the importance of keeping the work area clean, working at a fast pace with a sense of urgency, presenting myself as friendly and knowledgeable, and presenting the product in an appealing way.

I learned so much about people from my co-workers, especially those who barely have enough money to buy their own groceries. I worked there two or three days a week for 16 months. It's exhausting physical work and we all complained of sore legs, sore feet, sore back, sore shoulders, sore hands, sore fingers, sore toes, and headaches. I really can't imagine what it's like for someone to do this work 40 hours a week for ten or more years. I was tired after two or three days a week.

Now I need to be truly focused on my website design career and not rely on the $150/week from the deli work. I have another part time job at the local community college. I'm a tutor in the computer science department and help students with Office 2010, JavaScript, and C++ computer programming.

What I really need to focus on is getting some clients who want a website! I plan to attend some small-business events in January sponsored by BIG Austin and the Austin Small Business Development Program. These events will help me focus on my website design business, create new friendships, and meet potential clients. I intend to do more tweeting and Facebook postings through my business account.

There's lots more roaming around my brain which doesn't need to be documented here...I did want to share some of those things with you, my greatest supporters and favorite heroes!

I truly can't believe I've been at this job for a full year. My plan was to be there for a few months just to supplement my income. In April and May I was looking forward to leaving this job. The pay is low and it's hard on my poor old body. The way the economy is going though, I started to realize in June and July that I couldn't leave this job.

It's been one heck of a ride. The original manager is gone. His first replacement lasted about three weeks until a serious illness put her on medical leave. Now we have an interim manager. Three co-workers have left and two new ones have joined the group.

I've become comfortable with product knowledge, as far as what specific products we have. There are about 120 products in the case and I now know where all of them are located. That is until someone decides to do a reset, which is grocery lingo for relocate products so the customer can't find what they always get and maybe they'll try something new. Sometimes it means the employees can't find it either!

The work is physically tiring, no doubt about it. There is no place to sit down - the only time I can get off my feet is on a break, which happens about every two hours. The first few months I'd come home and put my feet up for at least an hour. I was usually asleep within four hours of finishing a shift. I guess my body has become used to it because my recovery time is much shorter.

I still do like working for H-E-B. I liked them when I was a customer and I still like them even though I have access to some inside information. My co-workers are good, hard-working people. Young and old, they all need their minimally paid jobs. Several are like me, who came from different careers and now just need some more income.

I just really can't believe it's been one whole year.

The H-E-B uniform is quite simple: a red H-E-B shirt and denim or khaki pants.

The shirts have the company logo on them so I have to buy them from the H-E-B Company Store. I can choose either the Tee shirt or the polo shirt. I have noticed that most of the staff wear the polo shirts so that is probably what I'll get.

Since I'll be working in the Deli department, I'm supposed to wear non-skid shoes. They recommend going through their supplier,
Shoes for Crews, which is what I will do. There isn't a retail outlet where I can try on the shoes. I have to select one from the catalog.

I do NOT recommend using Shoes for Crews
I had to return the shoes I bought from Shoes for Crews because they weren't the right size. In order to do this, I had to give them my current shoes and wait for the replacement to arrive. I see their point but for me that meant wearing regular sneakers until the replacements came in. I waited and waited and waited. My feet became more and more sore. After five weeks and no news about my shoes, I decided to go to a local retailer, Sears, and get some shoes NOW. I found a pair of Reeboks which fit great and feel wonderful. I ended up getting a pair one size larger than I normally get but it's better this way because there's wiggle room for my toes. These Reeboks were on sale and I paid only $40 for them.

My part time job in the Deli started today. Another person also started today and we met with the Deli manager for most of the day.

Meeting the Manager
This manager has a lot of experience and transferred to this store location about two weeks ago. He is rebuilding the department and initiating changes that will help improve everyone's performance. I'm glad to be coming in right at this time so I can learn directly from him how he expects things to be performed. It means I don't have to unlearn anything, just be watchful when another employee teaches me something I have to make sure that's really the way the manager wants it done and it's not one of those "how we've always done it" methods.

I liked the fact that he was prepared for us and alternated his instructions from big picture business concepts to fine detailed meat slicing procedures. Had I been sitting at a table with a notepad, I could have easily filled 20 pages of notes. But, we weren't at a table - we were standing up listening to him, following him around, and stopping when he needed to take care of a customer.

SOME THINGS I LEARNED TODAY
The store we're in was not built/designed as an H-E-B store, meaning that some of the standard H-E-B practices are difficult to follow simply because of the work area's layout. For one thing, this store is relatively small compared to other H-E-Bs (I already knew that) and the deli section is much smaller. As a new employee, to me that means I have slightly less product to learn.

Rotiserrie chickens
Rotiserrie chickens are indeed freshly made. In my eight hours at the deli, I saw at least 72 chickens come out of the oven and onto the sales rack. Unsold chickens are brought back to the kitchen and eventually become chicken salad.

More products in the Deli than I realized
In addition to the sliced meat section, there's a hot food section where people can purchase a fully cooked meal to go. There are also some display cases for specialty cheeses and spreads, potato salad, cole slaw, pre-sliced pre-packaged deli meats, and the little coffee bar.

Slicing meat and cheese
Among other things, I learned the correct way to slice meat and cheese, how to weigh, label and package it, and how to interact with customers. I was hesitant to help customers at first because I was afraid they would ask me about a product and unable to answer. My co-worker who started today has previous experience working at a sub shop and he stepped right in. Not me. So I helped out by wrapping the meat after it had been sliced and putting it back into the cases. I am sure that I put some back in the wrong location. If you think it's hard to find product from the customer side, it's ten times harder from the deli side.

Learning the products and gaining confidence
I know I'll learn where things go but I always expect more from myself. Towards the end of the day when things quieted down, I started to write down what's in each case. I got as far as the first case top row before I had to stop and help with something else. I think it was sweeping the floor or something. Out of six cases with three rows, I've written down the product on one shelf in one case.

My first customer
Eventually I felt confident enough to offer to help a customer. Luckily for me, she knew what she wanted. My big challenge was finding it on my side and making sure I get the right one. I did, though I'm pretty sure I told her today is my first day just so she wouldn't think the deli staff are total morons. She asked for a quarter pound of something. When I put it on the scale I was really proud of myself when it came to 0.24 pounds. When she saw it was only four slices, she asked for more. So I sliced up a few more until she thought it looked like enough. I've had that same experience as a customer.

Helping a customer find something in another part of the store
Another customer I helped was looking for tortillas made by H-E-B. Since I already shop at this store location, I generally know where things are, including this item. I told him "I think it's with the bread, I'll walk you over there." The deli manager had previously told us that when a customer is trying to find something it's best if you can walk them over there. So I did, and the customer was very appreciative.

The uniform
I don't have my non-skids shoes yet so I wore my sneakers. I wore two pairs of socks for extra support and was really glad I did that. Since the shoes are ordered through a catalog and through the store, it will be a while before I get them. In the mean time, it will be sneakers. We wear a dark blue apron with one little pen pocket. We go through lots of gloves and I learned my hand is definitely not "small." Of course we wear hair nets.

After work
Oh boy, was I ever tired when I got home. Mainly my legs from the knees down. I think I only sat down two times in the eight hours I was there. Once for my 15-minute break and once for my 30-minute dinner break. When I came home my dog sniffed me like nobody's business. Up and down my pants and a lot of time at my sneakers! I relaxed in my recliner chair, mind reeling from all the things I learned, glad that I have the next day off, remembering that there were some groceries at the store I intended to buy before leaving but totally forgetting about them when my shift was over, and generally feeling good about myself and what I've accomplished.

Aisle7 Not sure what this is just yet.

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