Should we be kinder to supermarket employees?

There are a few dreadful supermarket staff around too! There was one during Covid who was so rude to me I made a complaint and got M&S vouchers.

Actually, a few workers became a bit power mad during Covid about following arrows etc.

That's terrible. People aren't valued anymore.
I worked in a small supermarket for 18 years and nearly always enjoyed it.
We once had a manager who used WhatsApp every day for that kind of nonsense, I didn't have it and he said i have to. No if you have anything work related to tell me do it in work time. Unless someone's died or the shop has burnt down i don't need to know anything.
I retired 16 months ago and it was the right time as things were changing for the worse. We had area managers come in and tell me I should be covering the till, and the self scan and stack the bread that was at the other end of the shop plus watch out for shoplifters. I did ask how many hands they thought I had. My manager backed me because I do have mobility issues but what happens to people who can't speak up especially youngsters?
They also put a fancy notice in the canteen of how things should be.
1 always be available near the self scan.
2 never stand around doing nothing. Stack shelves or whatever needs doing.
I may have written on it "make your mind up. What do you want prioritising?"It swiftly vanished.
Sorry but it winds me up when they use people in this way just for profit. I have no patience for nonsense.

I’m not sure what you mean OP, its pretty standard is it not to be nice to shop workers/customer service staff.

what does being kinder mean? Feels like you are one step away from suggesting we should tip them cos their employers don’t pay them well/treat them well. Very american and basically makes people slaves & takes responsibility away trom the employers

The absolutely dreadful customer service at most supermarkets does not induce me to “be kind”, no.

My ds worked there a few years ago and they were pushing the PAYG sims back then too.

I worked as a picker in Sainsburys. In training it was all about picking the freshest produce. In reality the times they give you per shop was mostly unattainable. This is why the dates delivered to you are sometimes rubbish and the substitutes crap as you grab what you can as fast as possible. All for minimum wage at start times of around 3am. If your rate was below par, god help you. Didn't last long. Shit company and I would imagine most are the same!

I realised that after I posted. Won’t be taking advice from this Op.

The worst part is that they will actually have calculated how much staff turn over costs them and found it's cheaper to pressure staff and treat them like shit even if it means you have to recruit replacement staff more frequently than it is to treat them decently. Profit is the ONLY thing that matters.

Regarding pick rates supermarket staff are human not robots.
I wonder if pick rates are worked out to allow for obstacles and delays.

@Princessoflitchenstein I wonder are the lower and middle management under incredible pressure to push the teams? Not that that justifies the rude behaviour, but I'm wondering if they are being constantly harassed and are pushing it along. In my experience a negative work environment comes from the top.

Many years ago I had a boss I hated, he wasn't mean bit really unsupportive and always got really annoyed if asked a question, he made no eye contact and barked instructions or sent curt messages. When I handed in my notice on grounds that i had to leave due to stress, i saw a different side. He talked of immense pressure from above, he said he woke every day full of dread, was too stressed to speak somedays, he nearly welled up when we talked. I never realised, it all seems so cruel but whoever was above him was probably struggling too

I work on tills in a supermarket. Pick staff are treated so badly by management and customers alike. Humphed and cursed at because customers want to get to the food and managers are always telling them they’re too slow. The turnover on the pick staff is ridiculous, new people in every few months. They go to local pubs and factories and tell people they don’t know themselves even though they were working for the best payer and the most coveted place to work for. We’re not treated badly at all, so to see how they speak to them was shocking.

We can all say about being kind, customers are lovely until things go wrong, that’s when you see a person’s true colours- it honestly is such a testament to today’s way of life that people think five minutes of their time because another customer has caused them to wait is enough to make them act like the world’s greatest catastrophe is happening!!

OMG NO WAY

@Princessoflitchenstein I’m gonna take a wild guess that this is Superdrug. Why am I not surprised 😂

Her boss is a jerk, whilst she deserves a decent living wage, throwing money at everything isn't The solution

I've just seen that you were the person who hit someone's car yesterday (and then told them to fuck off) when they dared to park near where you were stood with your dog.

And now you are starting a thread about people being "kinder".....?

I agree. I think the supervisors and management are a real problem for staff too, treating them as low paid fools.

My husband had taken early retirement. Then he saw an advert for a local store wanting people (in fact my daughter had a Saturday job there but left as she got a better one). My husband said he could do a couple of shifts a week (doesn’t need the money) but would feel value, feel useful etc so twice a week is/ was working 10-2.30 pm. He can drop the youngest off etc. He’s a good employee and customer love him and how helpful he is.

He was made part of a WA group as they contact rotas etc via a WA group (his own personal phone) initially it was just to confirm the rota each week. But over the last month/ my husband has started to get a bit fed up with it as it’s daily ‘rants’ by the manager over what they aren’t shifting as extra mark ups with pressurised sales. My husband wants to help people / you go in and want a plaster - you get your plasters and go to the till but the company is trying to sell mobile SIM cards and ‘star buys’ as an employee you HAVE to push the star buys as you get ranked on how many you sell per shift and some of the staff push these star buys hard on customers. My husband wants to help the customer and will offer the star buys but in a normal way and not a hard sell.

Last week a message arrived on one of his days off saying (these messages are to all of his employees via the manager)
I get the star buy rankings for each of you, every shift and this number needs to be as low as possible (this means who have upsold more of the star buys) and some of you just aren’t. If a customer doesn’t have a reward card to must make them take one - it’s not an option. They need to be forced to have a reward card - you have all been warned

A few days later:
Again I am warning everyone that I am starting formal warnings and disciplinary meetings for anyone who has a high number during any shift for not selling our star buys and if I catch a customer walking away from you and they don’t have a store reward card you will be in trouble and disciplinary will start.

sent at 8 am.

A few days after that :

Right everyone you need to come to work with solutions not problems, x town is not any different to anywhere else in the flipping solar system. We need to improve our rankings for these star buys and we are going to do it now. You will start your next shift with a private chat with me and you will have five things you are going to do to increase the number of star buys you sell. No one is excluded from this chat. Dont come with a problem a solution for how you are going to upsell, upsell, upsell. Every single person must have five good solid strategies to improve their star buys sales on the till. Not four but five. Five different strategies. As from next week I’m going to start writing down everyone’s number and then disciplinary start Does everyone understand?

sent at 7 pm

He hasn’t worked there for the last 5 days as he only does two days a week,

Yesterday

He went in for his shift upset and came home and said I was doing this job for a tiny bit of money but more to help them out (always short of staff) and I enjoyed helping the customers. But actually I’m getting threats of disciplinary as a group over my own personal phone etc and it is making me feel pretty shit. He has now resigned and the manager is telling him he is fab employee customers love him and please don’t leave etc

well don’t treat your staff like that then. We are fortunate we don’t need to work. He left a hugely high up senior company role last year and took early retirement and that was massively stressful and he did that for 30 years before taking early retirement.

For someone on a zero hours contract trying to afford bills whilst on a minimum wage who can’t tell a manager where to shove it - soul destroying. You don’t need to treat your staff like shit.

I’m retiring this year early (54) and I’m planning on volunteering for a charity but I am worried - it will cost me money eg petrol etc to get there and I’m giving up my time and expertise - if someone talks to me like shit I will be off. I have a good friend who volunteered in a hospital cafe (used to be a headteacher) and the manager of the cafe came in which is a paid position (my friend doesn’t get paid at all) and she starting talking about the water containers (tap water) being too full and nice clean glasses etc - they are supposed to provide these but she told my friend off to actually topping it up, making sure it was cool etc saying it won’t encourage people to buy bottled water (expensive) and then got in her face and said loudly we might be a charity but we still need to see the money do you understand we need to see the money …. If they are upset offer them chocolate AND cake and not just ask ‘what can I get you?’ You need to tell them what they want ???!!!!! And my friend and her friend also working in there just left and walked out. They were paying to drive and park in the hospital and working completely for free…

Honestly it worries me how people are treating other people both at work and volunteering.

she said it was a supervisor who had had a 'go' at her Surely that's the problem? I worked in 2 supermarkets when I was younger and it was hell. The reason it was hell was because of the supervisors and managers. One manager pushed cages into employees in the warehouse. When I was 16 another manager who must have been late 40s demanded to see my appendectomy scar because apparently my Dr's note "could have been forged".

Customers I could mostly just forget about and move along with my day but the people above me I had to deal with every day.

Well of course in an ideal world it would work that paying a bit more would make a difference to staff.
In reality, supermarkets are in a cut throat world and the pressure of shareholders.

Poor supervision, short hours, no proper contracts and constantly being harried by work apps are all employer issues not customer issues.

Of course we should all be respectful of supermarket worker and most of us are but how is paying more going to do anything other than line the pockets of the Supermarket?

I very rarely even interact with retail staff now the customer is the check out agent because everywhere is self service. I certainly wouldn’t be happy to pay more, I pay more now for shopping than ever before and get less customer service. The issue here was clearly explained to you as being the result of the employers treatment - lack of shifts, high targets etc

Uh OK OP

It's frustrating that after witnessing tears you conclude that customers need to be kinder and pay a bit more. You were told the member of staff was upset because of work expectations, insufficient hours and poor treatment by a senior colleague. In this instance it was not a customer related issue.

Customers need to treat supermarket staff with respect but the bigger issue is unreasonable expectations from the supermarkets and shit terms and conditions. Contracts which only guarantee a small number of hours leave staff effectively "on call" 24/7 in the hope they will be offered extra hours to make up their pay. How can anyone budget or plan childcare under those conditions?

We need to stop appealing for "kindness" as if it's a magic bullet, it doesn't pay the bills or make shit contract terms tolerable.