Whole Foods employees 'having nightmares' over stressful work environment

[JM Aggie08]

Link.

Talk about being over-dramatic. You work at a grocery store, bruh.

 

[Zeze]

Link.

Talk about being over-dramatic. You work at a grocery store, bruh.

Dude, anything retail is ridiculous tough.

Kitchen / server job is awful too. I worked a lot during college. I still think being a server in super crazy busy restaurant was the toughest job I did all my life. I'd like to think I'm pretty even keeled. I still remember the ONLY time I had a slight meltdown was Mother's Day evening in that restaurant I worked at.

And I've done executive director calls with 50+ people and reporting status concisely and dealing with pressure-cooker production support org. And I worked 70~ hrs/week. Just work and sleep.

Retail is tough man. What makes you think grocery is actually easy?

 

[JM Aggie08]

Dude, anything retail is ridiculous tough.

Kitchen / server job is awful too. I worked a lot during college. I still think being a server in super crazy busy restaurant was the toughest job I did all my life. I'd like to think I'm pretty even keeled. I still remember the ONLY time I had a slight meltdown was Mother's Day evening in that restaurant I worked at.

And I've done executive director calls with 50+ people and reporting status concisely and dealing with pressure-cooker production support org. And I worked 70~ hrs/week. Just work and sleep.

Retail is tough man. What makes you think grocery is actually easy?

That's my point exactly; it IS tough. I was a cook for 3 years and a server for 3 on and off. I'm not sure why these Whole Foods employees are getting any form of attention, other than to smear big corporate (Amazon) for taking over.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I had stress dreams about working at a copy shop for all 8 years I worked there. I was able to stop eating antacids all the goddamn time after I switched to part-time.

The dreams didn't stop for about a year and a half after I quit.

 

[jtvang125]

Dude, anything retail is ridiculous tough.

Kitchen / server job is awful too. I worked a lot during college. I still think being a server in super crazy busy restaurant was the toughest job I did all my life. I'd like to think I'm pretty even keeled. I still remember the ONLY time I had a slight meltdown was Mother's Day evening in that restaurant I worked at.

And I've done executive director calls with 50+ people and reporting status concisely and dealing with pressure-cooker production support org. And I worked 70~ hrs/week. Just work and sleep.

Retail is tough man. What makes you think grocery is actually easy?

Worked 2 weeks at a local grocery chain back during my early college days. They expect you to bust your ass cause you're getting a buck or two over minimum wage. You better be running anytime you get called, remember the entire store on your first few day, clear that lot of carts in under 5 mins, and skip your breaks if needed.

 

[JM Aggie08]

The fact that people are apparently crying while on the clock indicates more deep-seated emotional issues, rather than unreasonable expectations from management.

Edit: I dun goofed.

 

[Newbian]

Wait... so when a big corporation takes over your store did you not honestly think they were going to cut costs everywhere while trying to maximize profits?

Especially from amazon as we hear about the working situations in their warehouses.

Although to be fair working in any grocery store / retail store is horrible especially if you have to work with customers as they tend to be the worst thing usually as everything is your fault even when it's always theirs.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The fact that people are apparently crying while on the clock indicates more deep-seeded emotional issues, rather than unreasonable expectations from management.

Deep-seated.

 

[GeekDrew]

The fact that people are apparently crying while on the clock indicates more deep-seeded emotional issues, rather than unreasonable expectations from management.

The latter can - and frequently does - cause the former (deep-seated* emotional issues).

 

[lxskllr]

A lot of these people are probably young, and given an elite task for little pay. That creates stress, and the lack of maturity means some don't handle it well. Add in corporate bureaucracy(read bullshit), it removes any semblance of control in their lives. In a less "corporate" environment, you can simply put your tormentor up against a wall(worked for me), but these people don't have that option.

 

[ElFenix]

Wait... so when a big corporation takes over your store did you not honestly think they were going to cut costs everywhere while trying to maximize profits?

Especially from amazon as we hear about the working situations in their warehouses.

Although to be fair working in any grocery store / retail store is horrible especially if you have to work with customers as they tend to be the worst thing usually as everything is your fault even when it's always theirs.

WF put this in place before amazon took over

 

[JM Aggie08]

My only complaint, and this was done prior to the Amazon purchase, was WF removing skilled baristas from coffee bar. There used to be folks that had been in the coffee industry who knew wtf they were doing. Now, they rotate folks from the cheese and bakery departments in and out of the coffee bar. The result is a vastly inferior product, just a step above dishwater.

#MakeWFGreatAgain

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The problem is training. High expectations are fine as long as you train people how to attain them. Too many corporations demand performance without showing employees how to accomplish the job. Worse, they put managers in charge who lack the ability to train or perform the job themselves.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Worked 2 weeks at a local grocery chain back during my early college days. They expect you to bust your ass cause you're getting a buck or two over minimum wage. You better be running anytime you get called, remember the entire store on your first few day, clear that lot of carts in under 5 mins, and skip your breaks if needed.

Makes Walmart seem lackadaisical. I put in a few years there.

 

[Viper GTS]

The problem is training. High expectations are fine as long as you train people how to attain them. Too many corporations demand performance without showing employees how to accomplish the job. Worse, they put managers in charge who lack the ability to train or perform the job themselves.

That may be part of it, but there are also probably a lot of people who enjoyed their low stress high end grocery job. Pushing the Amazon warehouse experience out to Whole Foods is likely to ruin the job for a pretty decent portion of their workforce.

I'm not sure this is positive overall, it may destabilize the whole business model of whole foods. Wealthy, entitled shoppers are used to being widely separated from the low level Amazon grunts that enable their existence.

I know I sure am.

Viper GTS

 

[ch33zw1z]

Sounds like the new inventory system needs to be reviewed and proper staffing review as well.

Also, management should be helping, if they aren't, instead of pop quizzing people.

Also, this is not abnormal for corporate America, where IMXP they literally hand you other people's workload when they quit or retire and refuse to acknowledge that there will be missed objectives.

 

[Sonikku]

Rather than joining in with my fellow members piling on those struggling with these types of jobs, I take the unpopular view of being sympathetic. I've talked to people on many occasions that have gone on to say they would never shop at a place like Wal Mart because of all the assholes. Now imagine working there, catering to those assholes. Every single day five days a week. It would not be long before you probably began to hate life. Unfortunately, Walmart is far from the exception. Just about every place is like this now, dealing with consumer shit never before experienced by previous generations by some of the most over privileged entitled snots ever.

 

[brianmanahan]

lol, they would love my first job. work 70 hours a week, get paid for 40, and get chewed out by project and product managers on a daily basis for not working faster.

 

[Kaido]

Talk about being over-dramatic. You work at a grocery store, bruh.

Dude, anything retail is ridiculous tough.

I currently work an average of 70 hours in my IT job. It's far less stressful than my time in retail & food service.

I read some worker's complaints on the new Whole Foods inventory system the other day on reddit; it sounds pretty crazy. Their order-to-shelf system requires that the store team leaders complete a 108-point checklist...which isn't like, highly unusual, but the tolerances & results sound super sketchy:

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-whole-foods-uses-scorecards-to-punish-employees-2018-1

Whole Foods enforces compliance with OTS by instructing managers to regularly walk through store aisles and storage rooms with checklists called "scorecards" to make sure every item is in its right place, according to nearly 80 pages of internal company documents reviewed by Business Insider. Whole Foods scorecard Click to enlarge.Business Insider If anything is amiss or there is too much excess stock in storage, departments lose points on their scorecards. "Every item in our department has a designated spot that is labeled or marked," an employee of a Colorado Whole Foods store said. "If that item is even an inch outside of its designated spot ... we receive negative marks." The walks also involve on-the-spot quizzes, in which employees are asked to recite their departments' sales goals, top-selling items, previous week's sales, and other information. Failing scores — which qualify as anything below 89.9% — can result in firings, employees said.

I hope they fix this. Whole Foods is one of the few B&M stores I actually enjoy shopping at because the stores are usually clean, well-stocked, and have pretty decent employees. Not as nice as the people at Chick-fil-a, but hey

 

[96Firebird]

Huh, a local grocery store continually ranks near the top of the "Best Companies to Work For" list year after year...

http://fortune.com/best-companies/wegmans-food-markets/

Yet so many people here say working at a grocery store is awful. What is Wegmans doing that is completely different from all these other stores?

 

[UglyCasanova]

I used to wake up w nightmares every night when serving tables. Shit sucks oh well that’s life.

 

[Exterous]

Now imagine working there, catering to those assholes. Every single day five days a week. It would not be long before you probably began to hate life. Unfortunately, Walmart is far from the exception. Just about every place is like this now, dealing with consumer shit never before experienced by previous generations by some of the most over privileged entitled snots ever.

Five days a week or more - especially during holiday seasons when everyone else gets time off but customers are more likely to be assholes because of their failure to plan. If you mean over privileged in terms of wealth then I would disagree as there are just as many assholes in one tax bracket as another. But if you are referring to the masses of americans to whom "The customer is always right" is the One Universal Right and entitles them to belittle any store worker who gets in the way of their demands then I would agree with you. My extended time in retail has left a general disdain for humanity that still lingers more than a decade after I left.

Still I think its unlikely I would have cried if a new inventory system was implemented or someone checked my work or knowledge. It certainly sucks when your company goes in a direction that has negative impacts on your work environment but thats not an uncommon occurrence in the workplace

 

[Kaido]

I used to wake up w nightmares every night when serving tables.

My opinion of mankind in general dropped quite a bit & I became fairly cynical towards human beings while working in the food service & retail worlds. My attitude has since improved, but man, you really have to learn how to develop a thick skin to work around the public. I'm sensitive, yo! But it is really amazing just how rude people can be to other people, and how much it can affect you if you're not a bruiser yourself. And it's a huge spectrum of reasons why people act that way, ranging from adult bullies to just plain cluelessness. I had a coworker who literally could not put himself in someone else's shoes; he wasn't a dumb guy, but his emotional IQ was like zero...he truly did not understand why he offended other people or even realized that he did unless someone pointed it out to him, and even then he still didn't understand it.

I don't know why, but developing that hard external shell is kind of a mandatory part of growing up. It's partly learning to defend yourself emotionally, so that you don't develop a heart of stone, and partly just accepting the fact that some people are jerks & you still have to deal with them. But part of the problem, I think, is that a lot of people turn their feelings off & never turn them back on again, which becomes a form of depression or general numbness. It's important to learn how to turn it on & off; it's something I've had to learn how to do professionally because people can get really upset when their computer isn't working. One of my best learning experiences was working for a coked-out CEO (who happened to pay extremely well, partly because no one else was willing to deal with him & partly because I charged him extra because he was a pain in the neck lol), who would literally yell & scream and just go ballistic...focus on the job, get it done, and get people back to work was the name of the game, and learning how to be like a duck & let the rest slide off my back was a vital part of my OTJ.

 

[UnklSnappy]

Huh, a local grocery store continually ranks near the top of the "Best Companies to Work For" list year after year...

http://fortune.com/best-companies/wegmans-food-markets/

Yet so many people here say working at a grocery store is awful. What is Wegmans doing that is completely different from all these other stores?

I think privately owned company's tend to treat their employees better than corps. that demand increased profits every quarter.
I've never seen an unhappy employee at Wegman's.
Also I've done work for various members of the Wegman family and they are nice people.

 

[pcgeek11]

That article made me laugh. What a bunch of snowflakes. What is our younger generations turning into. Maybe they should join the military and find out what real stress is about.

Jeez.