Working up a storm

 

The year 2025 has been an interesting year work wise so far, although the year is nearly ended and a whole brand new year is about to begin we shall see what is going to happen. Will things change, or will they stay the same?

 

Working retail is always a challenge especially in a supermarket. Add people going on holidays and then things can spiral, but not always in a good way. I will admit the several months leading up to the Christmas or Shoppergeddon rush was not an easy time either. I work in the fun part, which is the cold section otherwise known as dairy that includes frozen and milk.

 

We did have a weather event that decided to visit earlier in the year and it did cause some massive issues that included no power with powerlines down on both sides of the border. I went to work one morning just before the worst of cyclone Alfred hit. The power went off and while there were only two managers and two workers, the store manager decided to send us home. The power didn’t come back on for several days. That meant all cold and frozen stock was spoilt and had to be thrown out. I didn’t want to leave home and my department manager picked me up and dropped me off at the end of the day. I should say I did have my own agenda for going into work as I was out of essential supplies like bread, and the supermarket was going to be closed for several more days. The rest of the shopping centre had no issues. There were bread deliveries and those of us who didn’t panic buy could purchase a small amount behind closed doors just nothing that was frozen or cold.

 

I was there to help pack the stock off the shelves and then chuck intro a skip bin with a garbage truck waiting and filling up. Something I always wanted to do was to throw stock off the back dock, but not like that and not around I think was 30 ton worth of spoilt food. We filled the garbage truck a few times as he had to go empty. I got the I want to chuck the load off the back dock out of my system and while it was fun in a way, it was sad to see food that couldn’t be saves be thrown out.

 

I don’t know if its because of certain generations, people’s attitudes, or the fact you can just sent text messages to managers instead of calling to let them know you are unable to work. Not being a manager, I have actually spoken to people who have called in sick at the last minute when they had all day to say they cant come in. I told them I prefer you call first thing, so someone else can be organised instead of you thinking they will get ‘better’ by the time their shift starts. Could also mean people don’t think of filling the shelves in supermarkets as a real job as well. People including managers tend to know who the most reliable people are, but not when there is not enough people top go around. The best and most annoying message I have gotten for being unable to work is ‘I am too tired’. A message sent by a guy on numerous occasions.

 

My department manager, a lovely lady, but dealt with a bad batch of cards that life can throw out, wasn’t having the best of times. Her non work life was impacting on her work life and that wasn’t working out very well. After I took several weeks off for a holiday, she ended up with around 5 weeks off. Life as we know it can overwhelm people especially when the support networks are non-existent. Things were not easy and I totally understand what she was going through, but being short staffed and having to pull fillers out to do the processes during the day was not easy as that would mean one less person available to fill the shelves at night. A month before Christmas she decided it was time to move on for her own health. A lady I got along with really well and thought would stick around a touch longer, but that was not to be, and you get on with life.

 

The funny thing about being behind in work and short in staff is that you borrow people from other departments, and it was the first time I had experiences people not knowing the difference between a fridge and freezer. I don’t know what to say about that at all. Between the people I am working with, there are discussions over if things will improve by the time I end up going on holidays again in the middle of the year, whether we would have the same issues or they have improved. The store manager is moving on to a new store and we will end up with a new one as this happens every couple of years.

 

I don’t hate my job at all as its an easy job to do and I like the shifts. It just gets annoying when you know what is happening, but the issues are beyond your control. I have the training to do all the day work that includes the markdowns on things going out of date, stock counts, milk, date checks. Its even worse when you end up being behind on work and there is only so many people available to help you out. Hopefully 2026 will be a smoother year