Changes I Would Make

If I was my supervisor at work, what changes would I make? Well, the main thing would be that I would crack down harder on associates for laziness. There have been many times when the laziness of certain associates was ignored, without any sort of repercussions. For instance, it is a well known fact at Publix that one of our cashiers will occasionally go to the family bathroom and take a half hour nap. One bagger is known to go to the parking lot to get carts, and be gone for up to ten minutes texting on his cell phone (policy states that you shouldn’t even have a cell phone on you). One customer service staffer has gone to the back office and hung out with the person who was actually doing back office work for three and one half hours. Laziness is something that should not be tolerated, but is when it comes to certain people.

Conflict

I had a conflict with a customer that resulted from my ignorance of store policies, because I had only been working at the store for a little over a month. It was October, 2008, and everyone’s minds were on the coming election. I was bagging groceries for a woman who made a comment to the cashier about how his name was the same as a person that was currently in the political lime light. As I walked her out she asked me if I was going to vote, to which I replied that I was only sixteen. She then asked me if I could vote, who I would vote for. Not knowing that Publix has a policy stating that employees should not voice political opinions to customers, I went with the strategy of “do what is asked of you”. When I told her my answer she seemed horrified, and proceeded to tell me that I should get ready for boot camp. When I finished unloading her groceries, I ended her rant by saying “well I hope you have a nice day” and going about my business. I wish I’d known the policy, so I could have told I could not discuss the topic.

Best Day

What was my best day at work? My best day at work was the day of my first evaluation. I was very nervous about my first evaluation, because that would be the day that I would find out if I was doing well at my job or not. I have tendency to think that when somebody tells me to do something that I was not aware I was supposed to do, that this means I am messing up. In actuality, it was simply that I was new and therefore my ignorance was to be expected. As I sat down with my manager in the computer room, he started to pull out a small stack of papers. He proceeded to tell me that upon scoring my performance, that I was deemed as someone who not only met, but also exceeded expectations. For this I was rewarded with a fifty cent hourly pay raise.

Working Relationship

What is the best relationship I have built through my job? I would say that the best relationship I have built would be the one between me and my coworker Patrick. Patrick is a customer service staffer that really helped my get comfortable at Publix, and also helped me learn all of my responsibilities. We have a good time working together. We both do are best to say things that some would view as very awkward when customers are out of earshot. We are both big music listeners and critics, and we often talk about albums and artists that have caught our interest. Both of us are big fans of the Beatles, although he is much more so. I am a big fan of Led Zeppelin, and many of our conversations have to do with these artists, and / or their impacts upon rock and roll music as a whole.

My Greatest Challenge

What is the greatest challenge I face at work? The thing that is the greatest challenge for me is controlling my frustration in a certain situation. I have been able to successfully control my frustration every time I have been faced with this situation so far, but it is still tough for me. You may think that I am heartless or a cynical jerk for getting so agitated by this and I hope I don’t offend anyone, but this is something that really gets me. The thing that makes me so frustrated is when people come through the line and buy multiple high priced, luxury foods, such as lobster, rib eye steaks, oysters, etc., which usually adds up to over a hundred dollars, and pay for it with a food stamp card. To see people abusing money that was given to them by the government, who in turn got it from working people, like my dad, who work upwards of fifty hours a week to provide for their families, and because they have to these other people and their lavish eating habits.

My Position

What position do I ideally want at my job or at another company? Well, at my job I already have it. Now you may be thinking something along the lines of “Jim, you are a bagger. Don’t you want to progress?” And it’s understandable that you would think that, but the answer is no. I don’t want to progress when it comes to position at my current job. Reason being that this is my job. It gets me by while I am a student. In my opinion, if I was to progress in position I would be creating the possibility of my job become my career. Although it may be good for some, I will not allow grocery retail to become my career. It’s nothing against the industry, it’s just not for me. As far as with another company or something, I don’t know. My plan is to pursue my interests and discover the career opportunities along the way

Relevance to What Lies Ahead

How do I feel my position at Publix is relevant to my life and work experience I will have after high school? Well, my job at Publix is my first form of employment; therefore this is my first real work experience outside of little jobs I’ve done for my dad. I’ll use it as a reference when applying for future jobs and internships, but most of all the experiences themselves will be with me for the rest of my life. I’ve learned many things that will help me throughout my life in the work force. Whether it be how to keep a smile on my face in the presence of an extremely rude customer, or how to say not a problem when someone breaks a glass jar of tomato sauce all over the ground. I’ve learned to stay calm and level headed in the face of frustrating and annoying people; because that’s the way someone like me who is performing a service should act.