I work in a big brand store as a deli clerk.
I'm actually the PIC (person in charge) for my shift.
I've voiced concerns in the past to management and HR. Mostly scheduling, not having enough people or when we do have people, them not doing what they're suppose to do. Yet nothing comes of it, and each shift gets more and more chaotic.
Finally, I left a note on the managers desk.
To shorten it up, the note said this:
“I would like to propose the idea of a role reversal day. Managers come work in the deli and meet every and all expectations expected of us and try to meet the deadlines required.”
The managers do nothing but walk around and demand things to get done, if you've never worked in a deli before, there is actually way more than just cutting up slices of meat for people. We have fried food, we have dishes, we have standards of how clean things need to be and many more. We never have enough people and even when we do, it's always on the busiest days and we can't get much done when everyone and their grandparents are shopping for high quality meat for the summer.
I put this note on the managers desk 5 days ago. I finally got a sit down and talk with HR and my department manager. I voiced EVERYTHING. I expressed how stressed all of us are in the deli, how stressed my manager is (she is doing her best, the store managers don't appreciate her, all they do is just demand and demand while they walk around and do nothing but yell at people in each department)
I expressed that I was also tired of picking up after other people who aren't fulfilling their tasks, I brought up that if they're gonna walk around and demand we do things when we're short handed or already trying to get those tasks done- that they should step up and help.
I mentioned everything that's wrong and broken in the deli. I laid everything out. It was a 40 minute conversation and my boss was there for all of it too.
After some silence, I was almost sure I was gonna get written up for my 'smart ass' note on the managers desk. But no, I didn't get in trouble. HR and my boss agreed with me that there needs to be changes. HR assured me that from now on, if we are struggling that we need to reach out to those managers that come through and demand things to get done, to step up and help when we need it. She has agreed to start scheduling those who want full time (but are stuck at part time) to help on my shift and they're now working on getting some other people hired on so we can actually be fully staffed.
It sounds crazy I know, but according to corporate the deli is the hardest department in the store. I believe it, it's not hard necessarily in the way that it's taxing on the body but it does get mentally exhausting. We have a register, we're helping customers, we clean, fry food, slice meat, process orders, make party trays, make sandwiches, we have 3 islands that we stock up fully and also have to make most the product by hand to put out on stock.
They agreed with me and want to help make these changes and I actually feel good that I finally got through to them. Idk if this belongs in this sub but I feel happy. I really hope that they pull through with these changes. I love what I do, the job is fast paced, my day flies by and I get paid pretty decently. I just wanted changes to better the department, better us as workers and make our customers happy.