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The Life Of A Courtesy Clerk
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Contributed by Anonymous on Friday, April 07 @ 02:20:24 EDT
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Well, here I go. I work as a courtesy clerk at Safeway and my job just sucks. I have been working there for about 3 weeks now. I get the most horrible schedule because I am new and over 18, so I can close. I get all the "closing" shifts which at Safeway means you work weekends weekdays and all until the lovely hours of 12 or 1 am. My shift starts at 3 or 4 pm and I get to go through the rush hour. But I need a job to support myself in college. A new courtesy clerk at Safeway is immediately thrown on every possible chore that no one else wants to do. I remember my first day in a crisp new white collared shirt and tie with slacks and dress shoes with my brand new apron. I was told that the dress code is strict for those in their 90 day probation period which includes all courtesy clerks. I looked in the mirror and realized that I had been enslaved. I make $7.50 per hour and after union dues are taken out that is probably closer to $6.50 and if you factor in all the taxes and deductions it is probably closer to $5.50.
A typical day is spent doing hard labor in my uncomfortable uniform doing bagging, customer carry outs, pushing carts, cleaning up toilets and spills, and then because I am the "closer" I have to clean up all the crap left behind by the cashiers and customers up front. I have to replace all the bags, take out the trash, mop, and wipe down all the registers and still answer all bagging calls. Each day at the end of work I crash and feel mentally and phsycally exhausted. I do the hard labor and also have to get carts in the rain and do carry outs in the rain. While all my freinds are partying on Fridays and Saturdays I am scrubbing toilets and bagging groceries at Safeway. All the other Safeway employees who have passed their probation don't have to wear a tie and they wear the comfortable working uniform. Besides the above duties, I remember the time when a customer yelled at me for not double bagging their groceries and made me redo them. Secret Shoppers also are not fun. Anytime you mess up and don't offer a carry out you get dinged and written up. So now I have to offer a carry out on every customer even when they don't want it and smile when I don't want to. Then there are the customers who tell you they want help out and don't say thanks or anything but treat you like you are their servant and you unload their groceries and you say "Have a great Day" and all they do is push the cart at you. Then managers make you go out and clean all the carts after a rain storm and scrub them down. I remember doing this and I was trying to clean them and customers said "Can I have that" when it wasn't even clean. I gave it to them and some customers say: Wow you are working hard and oh you missed a spot. THe managers also make you wash the windows and do other stuff like clean up vomit and pooh. I think customers can be so inconsiderate and then the courtesy clerk is forced to not only do what the cashier says but what the customers and managers say. For anyone who has ever done bagging it is hard labor and is the most unappreciated job in the store. We work twice as hard as the cashiers and then we are made to do the most demeaning work. Bagging for customer after customer and then carrying out their stuff while the customer doesn't help but makes you do all the work. It is, well, slaveway after all. Ask any courtesy clerk what it is like pushing carts in from outside. You have a bunch of carts and are pushing a boat load of them back in. Customers keep saying: Oh you can take this I am done with it. You take it and then wind up pushing 20 carts in and then it starts all over again as 15 customers come out of the store. The worst is getting carts in the rain. You get drenched. Ahh, the life of the courtesy clerk in their new crisp white shirt and apron, ready to serve the public for a whopping net of $5.50 per hour. Sucks doesn't it?
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