We seem to have entered a lull on Produce (A)isle in business; this last week I was the only closer. In one case I saw the person I was taking over for; in the other I was completely on my own.
Closing alone is, on the one hand, not a great deal different from closing with more employees. It is helpful if the day shift has loaded up the shelves and bins so that there is less that I have to restock; I can get by with one main sweep of each area (with the exception of the tomatoes and bananas, of course). Likely some things that could get done do not get done - although freaking myself out about this a bit, I have just accepted that there is only so much I can do and I assume my manager knows it.
On the other hand, closing alone can be a very different experience.
The biggest sense is that you are alone - no, not alone in the store as obviously there are other employees in the store, but alone in your section. Except for the occasional personal shopper, no-one really comes by. It is as if the aisle ways that separate Produce from other departments were great water ways over which no-one can cross. Even in my limited runs away - to the trash compactor and box compactor, to the back - it is if there is a bubble that exists, an invisibility screen that shields me from view.
As a person that tends towards introversion, it is not necessarily the worst thing in the world - after all, it is not as if I spend endless time talking with my coworkers - but given that I have a very part time schedule, it does very much leave one with the sense of being alone.
I presume as the holidays begin to kick into gear the work will scale up again (at least, I hope it does - if it does not, we have a separate set of issues) and evenings will begin to filled with some level of other employees. But I do find it surprising - and potentially telling of modern employment life - that even in the midst of people and fellow employees, one can still very much get the sense of being alone.
Enjoy the solitude as long as you can TB, like you said that holiday rush is just around the corner.
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Given the state of the customer flow I saw, it was using the labor model to perfection. But yes - holiday madness is just before us. It should be an adventure.
DeleteI suspect, few people have ever been truly alone for any length of time. Instead, our default seems to be alone amid others who are alone.
ReplyDeleteI think that is fair anymore, Ed. Partially because true isolation is much hard to come by, partially because we live incredibly fragmented and virtual lives.
DeleteShort handed at the grocery store my son works at. He talks about it often. And this is supposedly a big grocery chain. They do make sure there are plenty of people available to pull delivery and pick-up orders though.
ReplyDeleteYou all be safe and God bless.
Linda, I do not understand the labor model my store is using. Tonight there were three of us and we were literally tripping over each other to do things. We got let go early tonight, which has never happened since I started.
DeleteI wonder what causes lulls in the produce section? I imagine it would be regularly busy since produce can't easily stored for future use. One of us (lately, it's mostly been hubs) is popping into the store every week to pick up some fresh produce. Suddenly, though, I'm wondering if the fresh produce section lags at some point after sales in frozen foods. I know some weeks (when there's a sale on frozen veggies) I shop to stock the freezer, and eventually I realize we need to work at eating some of the freezer inventory - which means I'm not buying as much fresh stuff. What do you think? Did I possibly answer my own question?
ReplyDeleteBecki, I think part of it is just an overall slowdown in customer traffic - I suspect that we are probably one of the areas more likely to get a quick visit (e.g. a salad or fruit) than other areas.
DeleteWe have been told in the past that our store is very much a weekend visit store, so perhaps it is just things slowing down in general.