Recently started as a grocery person at a certain Amazon-owned store and was wondering if people here had any pro tips for inconspicuously slacking off, staving off boredom, corrupting fellow workers with Marxist thought , things to avoid, etc.
Recently started as a grocery person at a certain Amazon-owned store and was wondering if people here had any pro tips for inconspicuously slacking off, staving off boredom, corrupting fellow workers with Marxist thought , things to avoid, etc.
Empty boxes are your best friend. Like in that video game from forever ago. An empty box that looks full? You're on a mission and everybody needs to step the fuck back. You got an empty box that looks empty? "Oh shit, sorry, I gotta take this back to the compactor,"gets to be used to overly friendly customers.
Unless you do full shifts as a cashier you probably won't be getting bored on a regular basis. If you're doing fronting/facing and you're not a person who easily gets into a Zen state that can be irritating.
Avoid drinking coffee or energy drinks unless you're just dragging. Nervous caffeine energy will wind up with you going out and doing more work than you get paid to do.
Remember the phrase, "Non-mechanical hearing issues." Its a way to get out of having to talk to people if you don't want to hear their life story when in a somewhat noisier section of the store.
Figure out the "cat is on fire" procedures. Meaning, if you notice another worker that's been cornered by a customer, what can you do to help them out? I worked at a store with an overhead PA system, and we'd page the employee by name and tell them they had a call on a phone line that did not exist. If they needed an excuse to leave, they had it, if they wanted to keep talking to the customer they could stick around.
Clipboards make you look important, looking at a clipboard makes you look busy. Double edged though, sometimes somebody will think you're a manager or something and expect you to have answers you can't possibly have.
Figure out who the stores "Bill" is. "Bill" being an imaginary employee/worker that gets to be the reason why something isn't satisfactorily meeting a customer's expectations.
Buyers get to blame stockers for why the shelves are empty, stockers get to blame buyers for why the shelves are empty. When there's some big national or regional event, buyers and stockers get to blame that for why the shelves are empty.
I found that a decent pair of Etnies sneakers were long lasting and comfortable for being on my feet stocking/receiving grocery/chill/frozen. Probably any reliable brand of skater shoe bought from like Shoebacca.com will be worth the 50$~60$ bucks. Natural uppers lasted longer for me than synthetic. Looking for thick soles as gives some padding, will let the sole flex longer before cracking, and you WILL be stepping on nails/screws/glass so keeping your feet from being impaled is super important.
That's a great tip for the shoes - my feet have been killing me the past couple days
I know insoles are "supposed" to help. But I've never had any that would 1) stay in place or 2) if they were the fancy jelly ones the "parts" would come unglued. So a properly fitted pair of thick soled sneakers wound up being more affordable and slightly more comfortable.
Another thing to think about... I found that having a few pairs of "toe" socks that I could rotate into my weekly foot clothing rotation did great at helping to keep blisters from happening where my toes rub against each other.