The last part of the day of working produce takes on a schedule all its own.
The generalized procedure, if there were to be one written down, is to front the produce/packaged produce with especial attention to things like berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries) which have two to three different "kinds" (regular, organic, hydroponic), bananas, roma tomatoes, and avocados, perform a random inventory check, a final floor sweep - all to be followed by a manager check. Ideally we are out the door by 2200 or a bit before.
It is odd how, even after working there a short time, a schedule locks in.
At 2030 I start pulling in the onions except for a single bin of each variety (fruit fly issues). I will then sweep by the berries - if I have stacked pulled everything forward (ensuring the oldest is on the top and all the newer ones are back) it becomes an easy job of just pulling things to the fore and backfilling. Bananas are usually filled two to three times during the shift, so perhaps some spot filling there as well. Tomatoes and avocadoes are just pulling forward and adding to existing bins or putting a new one up. If I am paired with someone else, they often do the inventory check. Front the packaged products and sweeping is the final step.
There are always some issues of course, like something being completely stripped out or a lack of a particular thing that means that whatever is left needs to be spread out to cover the space. But largely the last 1.5 hours of the day have been the same, shift in and shift out.
It strikes me as interesting that this "schedule" has come together so quickly - to be fair, I am basing my work on the work of my coworkers that do things in an established manner and there are fixed tasks, but this is the most quickly that a schedule has established itself, especially since I am only working part time.
Would that so many jobs had such straightforward adjustments.
Working the (A)Isle, An Insider's Candid Reveal. Don't believe I have read this info at any time during the years I've been reading blogs, good stuff TB......... :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Nylon12!
DeleteI often find "inside baseball" interesting for any profession. I wonder if the reason more people do not write about such things is they think it is too ordinary.
How do they deal with fruit files? An annoyance around the home when the bag of onions gets too old and partly decayed. Sad part is onions hide rot until you cut into it or its terminal.
ReplyDeleteClosing time, isn't there a Bar song or three about that :-)
Michael, I think putting them in the walk-in is the current methodology. I am not there in the morning of course, but there are definitely not many when we close. That, and I think we tend to go through onions pretty quickly.
DeleteThere is indeed a song about that!
Stay with the herd until a development occurs that requires some adjustment(2).
ReplyDeleteSeveral months ago, my wife asked a vendor why the tomatoes were so soft. He replied 'Everybody squeezes them to judge ripeness - why else wouldn't they be soft ?"
Certainly I am treading paths well trodden by others. I am slowly adapting based on my own known work habits.
DeleteRoma tomatoes and softness. That is completely deserving of a post all its own.
Not on subject but Bayou Renaissance Man has article on a Japanese sword made by a Samurai in the 1500's.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation! That was fascinating!
DeleteBeing married to someone from Asia, there is always lots of produce on our kitchen counters and never ending fight against fruit flies all summer long. My wife doesn't like refrigerating them but I insist on stuffing it all into the fridge until we get the fruit fly population under control again and then letting things roll for another couple weeks until it starts getting out of control again. I also switch to a summer compost bin which doesn't have a filter like our winter one does. This helps reduce fruit flies but at the expense of getting a healthy dose of decaying produce every time you open the lid. Fruit flies love raising their young on the filter of the other one for some reason and it isn't easy to access and remove larvae.
ReplyDeleteOther than bananas at home, we seldom have problems with them. I was frankly surprised - fruit flies and onions never really were connected in my mind.
DeleteI hada basket of onions and accompanying fruit flies in my garage a week ago until I used the last of them up.
DeleteA good routine really helps.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, this job is 90% routine and 10% novelty. It is just getting to the routine that is the real learning curve.
Delete