Wrongful Firing, Severe Breach of Contract, Unethical Management - Deli Clerk Safeway Employee Review

1.0
19 Sept 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Close to home and walking distance.

Cons

Wrongfully fired after four weeks, though was Never properly trained. Was thrown into deli as "emergency" when hired, put with another relatively new employee (whom management always complained about to all in store) , was not trained to make sandwiches, work/clean equipment, what duties were etc., one week the manager scheduled me to work and she didn't even know I was in high school. No communication between managers, no deli manager on board till my last week. Manager who hired me transferred shortly after I was hired. I was put into deli alone after two days with no knowledge of what to do, but was reprimanded openly by two store managers for mistakes. Was blamed for things in other shifts that I couldn't do or would even know as I had no training. Was never asked to sign any training, only was allowed to watch a few videos and thrown in, expected to "mind read" my job??? Then fired, being told I was no fit for food industry. My training manual, the reviews and training were never done OR signed by any manager, they were too busy in office. When I told them I wasn't trained they would pass the buck or ignore me. I was never given union form, any papers, nothing. I had to ask customers how to make some sandwiches, as no one showed me and I had to wing it I operated meat slicer not knowing how, hoping I didn't cut my hands off, manager made a smart comment about me being afraid of it. Well I didn't know how to operate it, I just guessed. Absolutely no training, by any managers, no signing off if any the Required training yet I'm not fit for good industry??? I couldn't even get my school work study signed so I get credit, after school made allowance for me to get off early for work because there was no deli manager. Now I'm fired, no study release signed, won't be able to graduate in Dec because now I'll have to redo my school schedule, and all because I was not trained as according to the manual. This isn't right. It's a breach of contract on the managers part. Why bother with a manual at all? How can I do the job if I don't even know what the job requirements even are? I never got a break even though I worked five plus hours, didn't complain, did my best with what little I knew, and to be publically humiliated and told I'm no fit. Since when was it acceptable to throw people into positions with zero training them reprimand them for not having knowledge? Would you work as a surgeon without training? Of course not. It's one thing to be trained and signed off by management and then not perform, but to be thrown in, shown a few things, not even given HR access, info, nothing, then fired because you can't do the job of which you know nothing about...I don't know what else to say. By the way, I advocate for fair labor, it was going to be my major in college. I turned down a non union job to work for Safeway, always told union was best and this work would have gone towards my school portfolio. But now, I get a fired record of four weeks, and for what? For not being trained. At all, except a couple of days with a fellow worker who barely had time to show me anything. What little about sandwiches I knew, I had to learn from the customers. Who were kind enough to tell me how it's done. Is it no wonder the deli is short handed.

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Cons

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4.0
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Pros

Floral was genuinely one of my most fulfilling jobs. My manager at downtown Renton really helped me understand what I needed to know and was super kind and understanding. I'd work there again if I ever got the chance Grocery department was also super helpful to me when it could be, they were patient and kind with my first job experience. Cashiering usually had me end up in the SwS. Either way I never had an issue and management was usually pretty on top of things. The wage was fantastic and really felt like I could afford to live somewhere someday. Which is a rare find. Some employees take a bit to warm up to but most were super kind and I'd argue eventually all of them are, at downtown Renton. I had such a good experience working with everyone I met and it actually broke my heart when I had to leave. I felt like I made good connections with everyone.

Cons

I dont have a lot, but when the store got busy and I couldn't get a key to unlock our alcohol section it really held things up. Its something I'm sure was a trust thing but if Im the only one stuck at the SWS section it could take minutes to find someone with a key to get alcohol or cigarettes while people tried walking out with things they couldn't take to the main store. [I can understand this was more of a trust thing, but it hurt my efficiency and i would be looked at for not being fast enough]. Getting a manager override to void a transaction or remove an item someone no longer wants or I may have overscanned by mistake also caused huge backups in the line. Still not sure why I needed someone just to stop a transaction. Sometimes I was one of two cashiers on duty if that during peak hours. Someone would step in to help sometimes but it was infrequent. Infrequently customers would be annoyed with me for things impossibly out of my control, such as not getting the correct items on a sale or a sale out of date that wasn't removed. Rather than explaining to the customer the options available they'd give the discount anyway as to not deal with it and I feel as though that hurt the customers experience with me in my opinion. It wasn't that bad, but it always sticks with me. Some customers in the area are genuinely abusive. This isn't anything about staff but thats something to note about just the general area and something to note. Floral dept. to me did not have downsides that I can think of.

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