TLDR: Older coworkers are shit, management is shit, I'm trying to get out as soon as I can.
I 23f do closing shifts at the bakery department my job at a grocery store, let's call it All Goods. All the morning people are older (boomers) and have been working with the store for 10+ years. I clocked in yesterday just to find out that morning shift has been talking shit about how closing shift (specifically myself and one other coworker) are “slacking, lazy, and incompetent” and how our jobs are “easy” but we get no work done. It threw me into an absolute rage.
Our schedules have been staggered due to shortstaffing and I've been closing BY MYSELF for nearly a MONTH since I've started this job and so has my coworker (same age as me). We work our ASSES off making sure as much gets done as possible by the end of the day, usually staying over an hour past our scheduled shift to get shit done. We look through ALL the bakery products for expired products at the end of the day, fill the floor with anything that's missing, slice any excess bread that hasn't been bought (takes hours), clean the counters, scrub the floors, clean the dishes, take out the trash, all the while handling shitty customers.
Just to find out all the morning staff are coming in to call us lazy and incompetent because what? Because I didn't put a single trash bag into the 1/7 trash cans in the entire kitchen? Because I didn't catch the ONE item that was supposed to go into spoils out of the hundreds on the floor? Because I didn't scrub the floor hard enough because I was an hour past my clock out time and now there's a tiny yellow stain on the floor? Because I didn't just bake and make every single fucking item for you so you wouldn't have to do anything when you come in, in the morning?
What makes it hilarious is that they're all fucking hypocrites. I come in for my shift in the afternoon and the place is a shit show. They don't clean up after themselves, they don't check for any of the duties that they're supposed to finish because “it's ok night shift will take care of it.” They just gather they're shit and leave when the times comes.
We have a health inspector come in every month and for this month, every single infraction fell on morning crew's duties but they managed to blame it on us closers. Making sure creamers in the coffee bar are dated correctly? Coffee is pulled at 1pm, I clock in at 1pm. Making sure the temperatures for all our freezers, coolers, and storages are recorded correctly throughout the day? Everything is logged except for 8am and 12pm, I clock in at 1pm. Cakes that are made and supposed to be dated correctly? Only morning makes and decorates cakes. The list goes on.
What's also absolutely fucking hilarious is management's approach to this. “Those infractions are no one person's fault. We don't put blame on a single person, the whole team takes responsibility.”
Yeah so explain why one of the workers has been reported for harassment multiple times with nothing done. Why this same worker also refuses to take customers and just stands at her work station doing bullshit. Why this same person in morning crew is making 20 cakes during an 8 hour shift while another member during mid shift is making over a hundred cakes in 8 hours.
Why is there another person from morning crew is grabbing all the shit with his bare hands while the rest of us are washing hands between glove changes. And this same employee ran around trying to find his hat for 2 hours and trying to drag everyone into it instead of just getting a new one and continuing work.
Why the other morning member thinks it's ok to leave degrading notes around the workspace? Telling us to get more shit done meanwhile they constantly leave us with no cakes to sell. They bake a ton of other unnecessary shit which doesn't sell in time and ultimately spoils. They spend an hour putting out maybe 5 products and eventually just “oh well bye” when their shift ends. And you're telling us there's no one to blame?
Why is it that both my coworker and I who have been working for LESS than 3 MONTHS COMBINED have higher-up duties (verification/allergy checks which can only be done by managers and select members) and more responsibilities than these 3 hogs who have more than 40 YEARS combined? Why do you trust US more than these people that have been working with you at this store for more than a decade EACH and yet “the blame is to share” and we're still getting paid less than them.
What's even more hilarious is that I just found out one of my male coworkers is getting paid more than me, in the same amateur bakery position. When I asked management for his rate, $18 an hour, I was laughed at. This coworker told me that when he said he was expecting $18 an hour, management thought he was lowballing them. He started a week ago and I've worked with him once. I've had to hold his hand through every step of every process. When I showed him how to check temperatures, HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT NEGATIVE NUMBERS WERE. I had to explain to him that you need to practice before writing on people's cakes because no, they won't just accept your shitty icing splatters that look like roadkill. I've shown him how to pull up tags for cupcakes +10 times now and he still gets it wrong. They haven't given him a single responsibility because they can't trust him with anything and you're telling me this man is getting paid MORE than me? Sidenote: he's also tried me to sell me things (not drugs) from his business that he runs outside of the job which I'm pretty sure is against store policy.
There's so much more going on that I can't even get into.
Honestly I'm just hanging onto this job until I fully secure my next one. I've applied and interviewed to a few and the moment I'm accepted, I'm ghosting this job. I don't care about maintaining connections or burning bridges, this job was shit anyway. I'm also convincing my coworker to leave with me. I can't wait for morning crew to truly feel what it's like to have no one closing, to see what no work and “laziness and incompetence” actually look like.