Killing Me Softly with their Tongs

Ok ....so here it is....remember I am a rambler, I cannot promise to keep this organized but I will try. This will be long, I will put a bold title near the final synopsis, the one true reason that I could NOT do this job.


I TOLD YOU SO

Many of you have said.."What did you expect? It's Walmart!"

I expected that a company as large and profitable as Walmart would know a little something about hiring, training and opening a new store....what I forgot was that they are CHEAP. We all read the stories about how they underpay and use tactics to avoid providing benefits...but I thought since they had been so publicly called out that it couldn't really be that bad.

Why did I even apply at Walmart? The intention was if I didn't find a job elsewhere it would be a fall back job...stocker, cashier...something mindless...not to offend anyone who does this...I just have had years of a job using my brain and wanted something simpler. I personally love manual labor, loved working on an assembly line at General Motors during my college summers...you may say that's because I only did it for a short time. Sure, whatever, it was nice to just show up and know that you were going to do the same thing day in and day out...I don't like surprises, I don't need variety. But I digress...

So months later when I get the call from Walmart...where they never mentioned Walmart..."I am calling from the Neighborhood Market regarding your application"...at that point with my husband out of work, I didn't question too much who was calling, I was just excited to get an interview. The interviews went well enough and I was scheduled for a third (yes THREE interviews to get a job at Walmart!!) 2 days later...the next day I get a call from Neighborhood Market...the guy who did my first interview, he wants to schedule an interview. I politely remind him that I have a third interview scheduled...that should have been my first red flag but hey it's a big operation to hire an entire new crew, paperwork can get mixed up.  I am still excited because second interviewer brought up the possibility of decorating cakes and suddenly this whole thing looked promising. Oh what a fool to be an optimist!

Third interview...dude who is supposed to interview me is late so I get the bitch from bitchville...that should have been my second red flag...she was saying all the right things to discourage me from the job (it won't JUST be bakery but deli as well). But I must say all the right things and I am offered a "temporary fresh" position. No explanation what that is, no talk of pay....but again it isn't about the money...I may get to decorate cakes!!! SO COOL!! (Such a fool!) Off to get the drug test but I will have to come back to accept the formal offer because their computers aren't working and they have been promised for weeks that they will be online any day (third red flag?).

Orientation goes ok...well only 2 of there couple dozen computers are working and not fully..so it takes forever for the 12 of us to each do what we have to do. There is a VERY anti union video that claims the whole time not to be anti union...that doesn't sit right with me but hey I am gonna decorate cakes. We aren't allowed to keep our Orientation New Employee Handbook because they won't have enough for the subsequent orientations (uh FOURTH red flag....). Finally we are given are schedules and sent on our merry way.

THE TRAINING

The store I am sent to has a less than friendly personnel lady...well she ACTS friendly enough but doesn't want to be bothered with someone else's employees. She is a pain in the ass about giving me the paper time sheets I need, making me walk to the back of the store every morning to try to find her, then being put off while she pertains to some task that can't wait a second for her to grab a sheet out of the file right in front of her, this happens for 6 shifts before she finally decides I can be trusted with 3...THREE whole days worth of time sheets! Every day at the end of my shift I must track down a member of senior management to sign it...no easy task in these big ass stores. And at the end of the week I must drive them to the other Walmart and walk them to the back of the store to turn them in...after tracking down another pleasant personnel lady. Certainly none of this contributed to my overall annoyance with how half ass the training was going...(insert eye roll here!)

It takes over a week for me to get a computer username and password. I am still under the impression the store will be opening November 1st and we are supposed to go in 6 weeks early to build shelves and stock it (yes it is already past 6 weeks at this point) so I am nervous about getting my computer training completed...the packet states there is 30 hours. Meanwhile the first 2 days I decorated cakes and cupcakes with Arcelia...the cake decorator referred to by Graciela (who speaks very little English) as "The lady is bitchy". I felt like I was a bother and again was worried I wasn't learning things I would need to know for the new store. So I decided to go to the deli side for some training. Probably a mistake as this is where I really started to not like the job...but I guess it's better to find out know then to just keep decorating cupcakes to only be disappointed once I got the new store.

I thought since the Deli had a manager things might go better (the bakery had been operating without one for who knows how long...no one knew enough English to understand my question...it was a chaotic mess..the freezer a disorganized mess!). The Deli manager either spoke broken English or just didn't want to talk to me, because he would always tell someone else what to tell me. There were 3 helpful people in the deli....2 who actually tried to do things by the book. Unfortunately we didn't work coinciding shifts very often.

He decided to have me learn how to "cook" (those who know me can see where this is going). This is basically operating the fry baskets to keep the hot case full. Different items get cooked different times and even then they may not be done, you need to break open the chicken tenders to see if there is still raw meat, same with the wings and the shrimp. The case has to be full no later than 10 am or upper management will have a bird (in my 15 shifts I saw upper management come by once--supposedly they do a walk through every morning). There are probably 15 items in the case and it was seeming a bit overwhelming, mostly because only ONCE did everyone scheduled show up for their shift. So others were always scrambling to do 2 jobs or just throw me into something untrained...like the deli slicer!

The slicer scared me, one girl said she cut herself twice...of course she is also one who didn't follow may of the proper procedures. But at this point without the computer training I was still in the dark about proper procedures. So here I am thrown on this thing with a "Set it on number 1--this one is for meat only"...Thankfully most customers were patient and most customers don't come til after they are done work and I was long gone by then! (The one positive Tues thru  Friday 8-4 with an hour lunch only 2 miles from home) So that's how I learned the slicer. I also got different answers as far as shelf dating a newly opened meat or cheese (6 days meat or is it 7? 21 days cheese or is it 22?). The same with their salads...NEVER buy cole slaw or broccoli salad without asking when it was made...The Palm Springs store told me they give it 3 days dating, the Palm Desert store said proper dating is 1 day but they give it 2!!!

So I finally get my username and gleefully get to spend 2 days in the computer lab, completely unassisted, doing my training packet. From what I gathered we were only supposed to do the learning that was assigned through links on our profile...screw that! I did the whole packet....every policy, procedure, task card, whatever...it's not like anyone had any idea where I was or when I was supposed to be anywhere. I probably could have shown up at 3:30 and hung out to get a manager to sign my time sheet at 4 but I am not like that...I am sure some of the people they hired caught on and took long lunches, etc. It was enough for me to hide out in the computer lab finally getting training albeit not hands on!

So now I go back to the deli armed with knowledge...observing all of the things you aren't supposed to do. Or rather observing none of the things you are supposed to do. You are supposed to wipe the thermometer with an alcohol swab before you temp food...seems pretty obvious...only ONE of the 6 or 7 people I worked with did that...at the Palm Springs store....I didn't even SEE a thermometer at the Palm Desert store!

You are supposed to change gloves in between tasks...if you were just touching frozen chicken and you need to slice for a deli customer, you SHOULD change gloves...only ONE person did this.

I watched the same tongs be used to flip those big whole chickens half way through their cooking cycle and again to use them to remove the chickens when they were done...or to use the tongs to get wings out the fryer basket...

I watched 4 hour rules be violated ALL of the time! There were rules about how the hot whole chickens had to be handled to determine if they could be used as cold chickens...but if there was already too many thrown away that day the rules were ignored.

 I watched the hot case be shut off for maintenance for an HOUR and that food served to customers without the temperature being checked first to make sure it was still over 140 degrees.

My favorite is the little hand held PDA type device that sends reports straight to corporate if the tasks aren't completed in a timely manner....sooooo associates just sign on to the device click that it was completed (sure we cleaned the slicer every 4 hours...I worked  fifteen 7 hour shifts...ONCE in the Palm Desert store I saw someone clean it the proper way)...put fake temps in, if a temp was the info requested....I love checks and balances....they just don't work when you punish your employees for not complying, it encourages dishonesty...of course it would all be unnecessary IF there were proper staffing and they were paid decent wages but then how would you get your 2 dollar 6 pack of socks??

Other stupid things: My second day of work, handing me a plan o gram and telling me to do a reset...the plan was for a different sized shelving unit. She didn't tell me where to get pegs or a ladder...that isn't training... Throwing me in a freezer to empty 3 pallets full of deli/bakery stuff. First week of work...I don't know which items are for deli, which are for bakery. Don't know where to find a cart to haul the crap. The bakery deli is already packed full of carts that someone never emptied onto the shelves because there is NO ORDER. No idea where to get a pallet jack or how to use one...Somehow I managed to empty 2 of the pallets and not get frostbite! Again...doesn't training involve, I don't know, a TRAINER???

I was basically used as a grunt employee to fill in for those who didn't show up, which would be fine, IF I had ever done any of those jobs before.

 THE BEGINNING OF THE END

The final straw came...well let me back up ...when I got my next 3 week schedule I was told that the new store had been delayed...from November 1st til sometime in January...the light had the end of the tunnel just went OUT! I felt like all of the air went out of my sails. I had kept telling myself that if I could just hold on, the new store would be different, it was smaller, it would be organized by us and stay that way because the bakery manager was supposed to be awesome. One day soon I would be mostly decorating cakes and only occasionally doing the other crap. I could suck it up.... I had even thought how easy it would be to move up in the company (80% of their management started at a crappy job within--which explains a lot). Now I was face with MONTHS of being used to do whatever crappy job they decided no one else was doing. And no cake decorating because I couldn't bear to deal with the "bitchy lady".

SO, the final straw...I show up and there is ONE just ONE regular deli employee. There should be 3. The other lady is Graciela, the lady from the bakery that doesn't speak any English, very nice, I had thought, but ZERO English (outside of "lady is bitchy"). It is her FIRST day learning deli. The other lady also speaks ZERO English. At this point, I know how to use the fryers, but don't have all of the cooking times memorized. I have only sliced cheese twice and meat maybe half a dozen times. At 9:50 am she goes on her lunch break (another worry about what the new store would be like---some shifts here start at 4 and 5 am!). She leaves us ALONE for an hour. I am supposed to get a 15 minute break at 10. Graciela pretty much begs (without any English) for me not to leave her....how can I? She has been helpful when I was sent to stock the bakery aisles, even without English! So I stay...I get my 15 minute break at 11. I am supposed to take lunch at noon..that happens at about 12:50. When I get back, Graciela throws me under the bus by abandoning her slicer and leaving me to wait on a bunch of people. I realize she is new to this as well but Really? I could have left her alone to take my break and didn't, thanks for nothing. And that is how the associates treat each other. There are very few willing to help each other. Again, not a big concern, because MY store will be different...when did i ever become so optimistic? I am so irritated that on my 3 o'clock break (taken at 3:10) I call and speak to someone at the hiring center. It turns out to be the deli manager of the new store. He tells me to calm down ( I really wasn't hyper...) and says that we can't have people who don't speak English training me that I should start going to the Palm Desert store the next day. He isn't familiar with the Palm Springs store but KNOWS I will receive the proper training at Palm Desert. Once again, I am hopeful.

I arrive and finally meet someone else that has been hired for the deli/bakery at the new store. Just a kid, but very sweet. I learn from him that he was just hired. He was told it is a temporary position and that after 6 months we will become part time. They, of course, deliberately schedule us under 30 hours to avoid the ACA (should I blame Obama for this or recognize that Walmart is just doing what it has always done--looking out for number one). He was also told the new opening date is January 15th! TWO full weeks into January. Good God....

The deli manager here is very nice, as are the employees (for the most part). Day one goes ok...I even discover that there may not even be fryers at the new store...one less thing to worry about, as the deli still seems a little overwhelming. I am being SHOWN how to do things, such a novel way to train someone (dripping with the sarcasm!!). I learn how to make subs, not so bad. I learn some proper techniques for the slicer, including the proper way to clean it (not to be seen again--though I do only work one more shift before I quit!). I also witness even more rules being broken than at Palm Springs. Giving away way more samples than allowed, eating the food that we are making, at least these things don't compromise customer safety (well unless those samples aren't cooked properly)

 I never really see anyone in the bakery..they seem to all stay behind the scenes? I am guessing my cake decorating days are over until I get to the new store.

I realize that even with a more organized store and people actually training me that I am still dissatisfied. I try to place my finger on it...could it be that NO ONE at any point during the day has taken the temperature of any food item? Could it be that the cleaning procedures aren't any better than the other store...same with glove changing...same with 4 hour rules...same with the little PDA thing...and this is THE GOOD STORE!

While I think I could master being half assed at something like stocking I realize, finally, why I must quit.

THE ONE REASON I CAN NOT GET PAST

I can not break rules that can potentially hurt people. I am mocked by my obsessiveness to following rules, laws, recipes, directions, whatever....my son and husband find it silly....whatever!

Some rules NEED to be followed, hell, they shouldn't even NEED to be rules...it is common sense. You should make sure food is thoroughly and properly cooked if you are going to serve it to the public. You should throw out food that isn't fit for consumption, no matter what the consequences from your boss. You should clean surfaces with CLEANER, not a nasty towel that has been rinsed in hot water. You should cover cakes that aren't currently being decorated, especially when there are flies present! You should change gloves after mopping the floor BEFORE starting to cook food! You should get rid of any utensils used on raw chicken immediately, so someone else doesn't use them on cooked food. You should not use scissors to open a bag of lettuce and then a bag of raw chicken wings and then a bag of gravy...you should not stick a thermometer in shrimp and then chicken and then chimichangas without cleaning in between! You should not dump fried chicken where the raw chicken has just been! Would it kill you to wipe up the bloody roast beef drippings before slicing turkey or ham?

I observed lots of GROSS stuff and I just can't be that person.. I don't care how short staffed we might be or how over budget we are with are "markdowns" (food we had to throw out). I will NOT do it...I will not do it for even two more weeks....I could not do it. And to complain would be useless, because all of the management came from below. They know what goes on.

We have to fail sometimes to learn...I learned that I can NOT work around food because I will never be satisfied with other people's definition of clean. I did love decorating cakes but not enough to compromise my standards. So off I go on a search again...and if I don't find a dream job, involving animals or art, I do know that I would enjoy stocking, it's not that different from assembly line work or shoveling shit...both things I find enjoyable!

Thanks for reading until the end.

I needed to write this because I am still disappointed with myself. I am not a quitter. And certainly not a quitter who wouldn't give proper notice....just another red flag...Why would they want to keep paying to train me? Is it because that is the only way I will be eligible for rehire? They could have said that and I would have explained that this is one bridge I WANT to burn. I found it funny when my sister was fired from her Walmart job (she called someone(I think in management) a lazy fat ass and they have a ZERO tolerance policy about harassment --eyes rolling here!!) they told her she would be eligible to apply again in 3 or 6 months I forget which....I don't think she lasted much longer than I did. I certainly appreciate her comment now...so many of their employees are apathetic, with good reason.

I know this was supposed to be the end, but I remembered something one of the ladies in Palm Desert told me, she said they will try to find any reason to fire you, once you have been there long enough, because they like new help because it's cheaper. Oh corporations how I love thee...Wouldn't you just love to be watching your back all the time at your part time job without benefits so you don't get fired??

I don't have a lot of requirements for what my post pharmacist job will be but stress free is a necessity and deli work at Walmart would never be stress free.


AFTERTHOUGHT!

There is a procedure for proper thawing of the cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, muffins, pies, etc. I bet you thought since they had a bakery all of that stuff was fresh!! (HAH!) They are supposed to thaw for 30 minutes...I think in the fridge...but since no one spoke English and didn't do it anyway, I am relying on my memory of the tons of crap I read in the computer modules. You also aren't supposed to pull out more stuff than you can stock in 20 minutes. That is the max time the stuff should be out before it is returned to refrigeration/freezer. On the day I stocked, neither of these procedures were followed. We put frozen pies out in the morning. And that pallet full FULL!! of bakery items sat in the bakery un refrigerated, unfrozen for HOURS and hours... and then was put back in the freezer at the end of the day.

I also found it hysterical on my last day...yesterday, but feels like forever now that I am free!-- a customer was appalled when he watched the associate refill the mash potatoes bin (the old one....not a fresh one like you are supposed to do) with a BAG of mashed potatoes. He said "The mashed potatoes come in a bag??", I said "So does the Mac n Cheese" ....he was saddened, apparently he thought we were back there slicing up potatoes and boiling pasta....THAT'S what he was concerned about....not any of the other crap that goes on....like not using the seafood only fryer for seafood only. Or that the tray with raw whole chickens is kept side by side with the premade hoagies...sure it's covered...it was covered using the gloves that handled the raw chickens...surely no salmonella could be on the OUTSIDE of the plastic! Or when making hoagies the meats and cheeses come prepackaged to make 3 hoagies. If you only make two, what happens to the rest of the opened packet? Thrown back in the box, unwrapped....yummy! Dried out lunch meat and cheese!

Oh yes ignorance is indeed bliss! Til the diarrhea hits...