Jobs I have Worked – Grocery Store

So as I was heading into my junior year of high school, my parents emphasized to me that if I wanted a car (what hg student doesn’t), a more permanent job would be required of me. I went to the grocery store chain here in St. Louis and re-applied for the job I applied for several months back. They turned me down simply for scheduling issues I had with playing summer baseball. Now that baseball was over, the hired me on as a bagger, sorry Courtesy Clerk.

It was a fairly busy job. Very flexible with school and worked a lot on the weekends and they were flexible around my church schedule too. I have absolutely no complaints about them as an employer and would highly recommend them to anyone.

The majority of times, you could assume by the day of the week how busy you would be. Usually busy around 5-7 during the week and the afternoons on the weekend. You would have random events that caused craziness. Thanksgiving was always entertaining for me because you would see people come in around 10pm and get a 14lb frozen turkey and shocked we had them in stock. Well, since it takes quite awhile to defrost the bird correctly, you were not going to have that turkey for Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve was relatively simply because we closed around 8pm and people would start heading to church earlier in the evening.

When I turned 18, they moved me into a new position as a checker. The would have me as an Express Checker so I was in charge of sending the courtesy clerks out to get carts as well as when other courtesy clerks and checkers would go on break. Authority at 18!! Major Euphoria! Okay, it was not a lot but hey, I took it.

What was even more great about the job is that it was available to me when I cam in for holidays and the summer. I would work the later hours if need be and ended up closing up the store a lot of times. One evening, after closing, I counted my drawer and went to drop it off in the safe. Well, the courtesy counter had shut down early and they were gone. The manager on duty had left as well so it was me and the overnight crew. I had to go track them down and get them to sign off on my drop. They were afraid to do it because they had not done it before and were unsure of the procedures. We went back and forth for a few minutes and we finally called the store director. Long story short, a manager and the person who left the courtesy counter were not too happy with me for about a week after they were reprimanded.

What that one event taught me is that yes, you may be scheduled to a certain time; however, revolve around your associates’ schedule when needed. You have to be flexible in ANY job you work. Even union jobs and what may seem like mindless jobs. Flexible is key, not break. You do not want your life to revolve around work and break from your family and friends. But be flexible. Bend a little bit for them.

Next time: Jobs I have worked – You want me to drive WHO around??