Working in a chain supermarket is a world with its own, often cruel and unfair rules. They won't tell you about them in an interview, but they are the ones you have to live with every day.
The buyer is right.
The management is always on the side of the buyer. The hotline calmly accepts complaints from people who are hysterically shouting abuse. People in lines love to unite and lecture the cashier in chorus. Constantly apologizing and giving money out of your own pocket will become the norm.
Unpaid overtime work
Only in commercials do store employees in new uniforms and with radiant smiles on their faces serve polite customers. The reality is very different.
The deputy director works 15 hours a day from 8:00 to 23:00, and is only paid for 11.5 hours. They are not allowed to leave the store during the shift. They simply live in the store for two days in a row. The salespeople have to work 12 hours a day, of which they are paid for 10.5. An hour and a half is the time for a lunch break. In reality, it is never longer than 25-30 minutes.
Security service
During inspections, security forces break into personal lockers and search employees' belongings. They may stop them on the street after their shift or search their cars. After all, it's against the law to do this, but who cares?
They look at the cameras, force you to look for goods, pay, and provide receipts.
The most annoying thing is writing explanatory notes. The mailbox is overflowing with letters, suppliers are waiting, buyers are screaming about the queues, but you sit and write formal explanatory notes under dictation.
Nightly inventories
They take place at different intervals in all stores. Some chains hire special people for this, but most of the time, employees have to do it themselves.
Every 3-4 months you will recalculate the goods in your store for free. And several more times in others.
More and more stores are opening, but their staff is getting smaller. It is normal practice to bring in employees from neighboring stores to help with inventory. Why pay outside organizations when there is a workforce ready to do it for free?
“Openers”
If you get into a newly opened store, you will work hard for the first 2-3 months. For a bare salary without bonuses. You will be surrounded by beginners who will constantly make mistakes, and the rest of the team will have to redo their work.
Many will quit in the first few days, realizing where they have ended up. There will be a permanent shortage of staff. Everyone else will have to learn to work for several at once. It also happens that loaders give cashiers cash boxes and accept cars with goods.
Buy back expired goods
The administration is trying to reduce write-offs and is forcing employees to pay for overdue goods they find. They say, it's in your department – so you have to pay. They sold it under the wrong code – give the difference. They received the goods with an error – go to the cash register and pay. A favorite way of learning in chain stores.
And this is despite the fact that salespeople have low salaries, and even a small fine is noticeable to them. No company honestly admits that they apply fines, but many do.
Salary
It will differ from the promised one. There is a list of conditions that must be met in order to get a normal figure on the pay slip. The store must fulfill the plan, losses must not exceed the norm, the assessment of the managers must be high. If you are lucky with the team, the manager and the area where the store is located, then there is a chance of getting a normal salary, but it is very small.
Thefts
You'll have to get used to it. Even the most honest employees will steal goods, and the most meek grandmothers will hide butter in their pockets. The experience of working in chain stores changes your attitude towards people. You start to see everyone as a potential fraudster. If you have to work at the cash register, you also get nervous exhaustion and hatred for everyone around you.
Of course, there are also advantages.
Work will be close to home, savings on lunches, rapid career growth, “white” and official salary. Of course, if you are ready for an extreme schedule and heavy workload. Whoever can endure it – it will pay off.
