"Express" 12 Items Or Less

[Skitterpop]

Originally Posted by Mike P

I will tell you this---Stop&Shop was not a bad company to work for. In the first part of my life, I worked for them for 13 years, both part time while I was in school and full time when I wasn't. You always started at almost double minimum wage, even as a bagger. I don't know what their benefit package is nowadays, but even a part-time bagger had full medical and dental, plus TDI. 3 weeks vacation for full-timers. Plus, you had a raise schedule in your CBA, and with a shift premium if you worked an overnight, you could take home 300 clams a week. That wasn't bad for a 24 year old kid in the late 70s..

Cashiers start around $9 or $10 an hour now. It's a great job for a high school or college age kid.

Me.......around 75 to 76 in a meat cutting facility in Marlborough

[Mike P]

Yup--Sydney Rabb and his sons. It's now owned by some European outfit.

Sydney used to make it a point to visit every store at least once a year and meet all the employees personally.

[Bass Babe]

Yeah, a job at the market is great when you're a teenager with a 3-hour shift saving for a beater car. I can barely wrestle 30 hours at 7.50 per hour out of Shaw's grimy little hands. On top of the crap pay and inadequate hours, I also get the shaft in scheduling. 1030 to 130 on a Saturday? I'd make about 10 bucks that day if you take out taxes and gas. Not to mention that they actually expect me to take my job seriously! I got a 20-minute talk when I scored a 39% on the mystery shopper. Why 39%? Well, I didn't have paid stickers for her large, unbagged items -- the store itself doesn't have one paid sticker in it! Is that now my problem? Should I buy them and bring them to work with me? I also made fun of our "Xtreme Item". I have to mention this weekly garbage (fruit snacks, razors, popcorn) to each and every customer, or they get it free. It doesn't matter if they're deaf, blind, buying just a paper or box of tampons, or if they don't speak English. Being required to pitch this junk is degrading. I don't get rewarded for how many I sell. I just get written up if I have to give too many away for free. Anyways, apparently I didn't say thank you to the mystery shopper, either. Thank you for what? She didn't do anything for me! I always tell everyone to have a good day, though.

I say make every register self-serve and staff a few decent, responsible kids to supervise. Nobody needs to go through the hassle and degredation of working at the supermarket. And if people's bread is squashed or if their bags break because they're too heavy, they have only themselves to blame.