Fed up of supervisors

dawn1974

I have been in my job a couple of month's.

I work on the tills in a very busy high street store.

We are always short staffed and the place is always a mess.

I arrived at the till bank a few minutes before my shift start time on friday.

I had collected some of the mess on the way through the store to the till bank.

When I arrived 1 of the supervisor's said to me "where have you been?"

I thought I was a bit late so I told her that I had collected a few bit's on my way over and she said it was busy so I needed to get on the till.

I told her that I didn't realise the queue was so big until I got to the till.

I got to my till and I was still 2mins early on my shift.

The other supervisor is very moody also and is constantly telling me how to pack bag's.

If I have a lot of shopping to pack I do pack as I scan but if I have a few item's I tend to scan them, fold them and put them in a bag together.

She says that I am wasting time which I don't think I am doing because most shopper's pay by card and therefore I am bagging the item's whilst they are paying.

I don't think I can work in the department anymore and I am thinking of going to the personnel department tomorrow to see if I can move to another department.

I feel like I can't do right for wrong

alyth

I have a similar job to yours, albeit I only work 20 hours a week whilst at uni - I'm a mature student.

Can I give you one piece of advice - relax. In my store, rules are changed and amended at what seems like a daily rate, as I only work 3 days a week I have no idea what is happening half the time. Remember, your supervisors are under pressure so that pressure filters down to you. In my store, we have queue audits that we keep failing, so the pressure is on all the time to get the stuff through the till, we now have our scanning rates measured and if we don't hit a particular figure then we are subject to a disciplinary! I don't like to know what my rate is!

If there is a problem then you will be taken aside, have a chat with your supervisor, but it sounds to me as if you are just stressing, as I did. I'd never worked in retail until last year, i was a PA for years then decided to go to uni and needed a part time job. Good luck, I have been in your situation before, my supervisors are different all the time, some are nice, some horrible, but as long as you know that you are doing the best that you can, giving the "customer experience/service" that all retailers seem to want to give, but also wanting profits up and wastage down, at the end of the day you are what my friends call a "till tart" and it's not up to you to stress about the big things.

diable

Just smile a lot nod your head in agreement and in your mind just say to yourself "I work for a fcukwit"

dawn1974

diable wrote: »

Just smile a lot nod your head in agreement and in your mind just say to yourself "I work for a fcukwit"

Thanks for making me laugh

DizzleUK

alyth wrote: »

...we now have our scanning rates measured and if we don't hit a particular figure then we are subject to a disciplinary! I don't like to know what my rate is!

Having spent well over a decade in retail, here's a little tip that works with quite a few till systems (not all though, but it's worth a shot.)...

Pressing the sub-total button stops the clock when calculating your scan rate. So if you have to stop to help pack, help a customer choose the right size batteries, or whatever, press that button.

Your scan rate is calculated by the amount of items you can scan in a minute. If you stop for any reason, your rate plummets, so by stopping the clock you can keep your average up. The clock restarts when you continue scanning.

There's no reason why you should get in to any trouble for pressing sub-total more frequently, though I would advise against using it multiple times in a transaction as it can annoy customers when they can't figure out their receipt.

alyth

DizzleUK wrote: »

Having spent well over a decade in retail, here's a little tip that works with quite a few till systems (not all though, but it's worth a shot.)...

Pressing the sub-total button stops the clock when calculating your scan rate. So if you have to stop to help pack, help a customer choose the right size batteries, or whatever, press that button.

There's no reason why you should get in to any trouble for pressing sub-total more frequently, though I would advise against using it multiple times in a transaction as it can annoy customers when they can't figure out their receipt.

wow thank you for that hint, my scanning rate is low, averaging 20% per minute, because I prefer to scan at the rate the customer packs, rather than throwing the stuff down the belt and getting an angry customer. It works not in my favour, but it keeps the customer happy, as a friends' parents have told me that that's why they come to my till. I appreciate your post, thanks again.

DizzleUK

alyth wrote: »

wow thank you for that hint, my scanning rate is low, averaging 20% per minute, because I prefer to scan at the rate the customer packs, rather than throwing the stuff down the belt and getting an angry customer. It works not in my favour, but it keeps the customer happy, as a friends' parents have told me that that's why they come to my till. I appreciate your post, thanks again.

No problem, I know exactly how you feel. Stuck between a rock and hard place. I used to average 30-35 items a minute using this method when working at a local convenience chain.

Tiddlywinks

alyth wrote: »

wow thank you for that hint, my scanning rate is low, averaging 20% per minute, because I prefer to scan at the rate the customer packs, rather than throwing the stuff down the belt and getting an angry customer. It works not in my favour, but it keeps the customer happy, as a friends' parents have told me that that's why they come to my till. I appreciate your post, thanks again.

Firstly, take care about serving friends - for security reasons this is frowned upon.

You are paid to perform at a certain rate - this is set by the company - if you feel this rate leads to an unsatisfactory customer experience then you need to raise it through a staff rep / union rep or to your supervisor when you are told your rates are not high enough.

It may be unfair but the employer gets to decide the rates which won't change unless they are convinced to look at the bigger picture (representations from staff groups / unions etc). In the meantime, you will need to try to comply as far as possible.

relic

Wish I worked in a place where all I had to worry about were some supervisors telling me how to pack a bag correctly!

At the end of the day, it's a job in a shop, you're expected to be nice to everyone and do what you're told.

stephyt23

It is no wonder customer service seems to be going out the window when everyone now has ridiculous targets to hit. I'd rather have someone be nice and friendly at the tills than someone who rushes me. I used to work in retail and never rushed to get things done as I believe in helping the customer and making them feel welcome. Unfortunately I know that not every shop runs this way and that targets come first

DizzleUK

stephyt23 wrote: »

It is no wonder customer service seems to be going out the window when everyone now has ridiculous targets to hit. I'd rather have someone be nice and friendly at the tills than someone who rushes me. I used to work in retail and never rushed to get things done as I believe in helping the customer and making them feel welcome. Unfortunately I know that not every shop runs this way and that targets come first

This is why I got out of retail/customer service after working in that industry since leaving school. Customer satisfaction doesn't appear to matter any more. It's all about footfall, average spend, upselling, cross-selling, discouraging refunds etc, etc.

I changed career and now work in the NHS, starting at the bottom. 10 months in and got my first promotion. It's so much more satisfying when your boss thanks you for working hard and playing your part in saving someone's life today than being thanked for making someone else richer after wringing that extra last penny out of as many customers as possible that day.