I've been working as a cashier (customer service team member) for Woolworths for the past year and a half. I am a student so have been working on a casual basis. Ask me anything, but please nothing too personal.
Edit: Thanks for all the questions y'all, they were all fun to answer. From now on, I'll probably check this once or twice a day, so keep on posting anything you may want to ask me, I'll respond when I can.
Haven't seen it being done at our store, but I'll tell them anyway :)
The stickers are put on by the suppliers. They likely put it on the bruises so the fruit passes Woolworths tests.
I thought he meant the stickers we put on cut fruit like watermelons and pumpkins :D. Silly me
They certainly don't! Can you imagine someone putting stickers on a million apples a day? It's definitely done automatically by a machine.
Maybe the machine is out of calibration and is bruising the fruit when applying the stickers?
It's definitely done automatically by a machine.
You'd be surprised by both what things are done by humans vs machines and by how advanced some machines can be (and how behind some humans can be).
Got a mango a couple of weeks ago (from local fruit shop too!) and it had TWO stickers on it, both of which were covering blemishes (bruise, cut, etc).
I'm not fussy about fruit (or veg) having some marks on it, but I don't like the deception.
@Chandler: Oh definitely for sure machines can be super advanced! However I've seen the latest and greatest Apple sporting machines recently and this wouldn't be possible with the way the process is.
Simply, the apples are washed, sorted and dumped back into a river of water, on a conveyor to be dried, then stickered, then packed. It's far too efficient to waste time sticking them over defects.
@Chandler: The mangos I can't say, but yes I'd imagine they are a lot more fragile and need to be handled by a person so myself definitely possible.
We don't put stickers on any products except for wrapped cuts like half pumpkins, half and quater cabbage, half clauriflower, half/quater melons to make scanning at checkouts easier.
We don't have the time to stick thousands of individual fruits. That is done at the processing factories before Woolies take delivery of them.
(FT Woolies Produce worker here).
geez, read this article regarding produce rejected by the supermarkets https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/13/you-say-…
it contributes to the high price of fruit & veggies in the supermarket
I never realised until my wife told me, it's so true!
Do you prefer the name Safeway or woolworths?
I guess I've gotten used to saying Woolworths over and over again, so Woolworths kinda feels more natural now. When I need to say the name, the first thing that comes to mind really is Woolworths, Safeway just seems like a thing of the past now.
LOL I am not a worker of woolworths but funny this came up. I still call it safeway and occasionaly force myself to say woolies or woolworths if I am thinking ahead what I am about to say.
What about countdown ? Haha
Haha yeah the NZ name is even funnier
Most unpleasant experience you've had with a customer?
Only reason I ask is that a Woolworths I've been to recently had signs up around the entrance telling customers that rude behaviour is not tolerated etc. Hopefully you haven't experienced anything too bad but I always wondered what happened to lead to those signs being put up.
I once politely asked a couple of children who were playing in the middle of the self-checkout area to move to one side to let the other customers through. They did move aside but their dad heard me saying that and he walked over and threatened to quote "kick my ass". And the funny thing is that the dad was like 5 foot 2 and I'm 6ft 2, so it was pretty much a joke.
I would have said to the kids "rack off ya filthy vermin!"
Did you tell him to control his children as they were blocking the way? Ask him if that was a threat as you will have to call the police.
I told him that he didn't have the right to talk to me this way and that his kids were blocking the pathway for other customers, and that if he had a problem with me telling them to move, next time he should do it himself. That shut him up pretty quickly.
@Omk4r123: Did you actually say that or is that what you came up with in the shower afterwards like the rest of us?
What makes you think that casual hours for a year and a half is too long?
Scanning items and bagging them for hours on end gets really tedious. Even a month of doing that is too long, but hey, I'm getting paid so worth it.
just wait til this guy finds out he has to work to 67…
I clearly haven't experienced the real world yet, have I?
just wait til this guy finds out he has to work to 67…
Yeah, he'll become as miserable and as nihilistic as you are.
Now, tell us more about how back when you were our age you worked 19 jobs, to feed 23 children and how you had to get up in the morning at 10 o'clock at night, half an hour before you went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work 29 hours a day down at the mill and pay the mill owner for permission to come to work.
@Gnostikos: Don't think the comments means the commenter is 67, just that they know what the current retirement age is. (Technically, eligibility to access aged pension).
didn't rudd raise it to 69?
Yep, retail is not for everyone.
But I have encountered some check-out staff at supermarkets that obviously really enjoy the interactions with customers, take pride in their job, and generally make my (tedious) supermarket visit just a bit better.
Hopefully you will find something you enjoy more at the end of your studies. In the meantime, yes - you have a paid job.
You'll come to learn that pretty much whatever job you do in life it's pretty much repetitive as in you pretty much do the same activities day in day out.
Hopefully I get to do something that I enjoy. That will make it less repetitive.
@Omk4r123: That's the idea mate. Find your passion and give it your best shot, that's the best way to truly enjoy your work life.
What has been the best customer service experience in your job?
Best experience would be the one time when a kid spilt a few bottles of baby oil through the cosmetics aisle and then used it as a slip-n-slide.
that would be a good post for /r/DrunkOrKid
How do we get free stuff when it scans wrong? It seems to be a common query on here.
price scans higher than ticket? It's a code of conduct that the big supermarkets abide
If the product has been stocked under the incorrect ticket, the first one is free and the rest are billed at the discount price.
…the first one is free and the rest are billed at the discount correct price.
Fixed it! :p
Haha good catch :)
Is this a well known policy? It has happened to me a few times. Once they said oh since the price was incorrect you will get it for free. The other times they didnt mention anything and I didnt ask them about this policy.
Do you need to have had already paid for the item first, then bring the mistake to their attention at the service desk?
I was at the self checkout and it scanned incorrectly. Told staff and they fixed the price. I asked if this falls under the scanning policy and thus free. They said no, only if I had paid for it first.
No, you can tell the staff member as soon as you see it, even before payment.
@Omk4r123: Hi, where can i find this written policy? Do you have a link?
Seems a lot of staff turn a blind eye and just pretend they don't know about it so you don't get it free.
I've had this happen to me a couple of times. I think staff just see it as less of a hassle.
Products stocked under the incorrect ticket are not covered under the scanning policy - anyone can grab a stack of products and chuck it in the wrong spot.
Scanning policy applies when the correct barcode or PLU (for example, pressing the correct variety of apple on self serve or a staffed checkout) is entered and brings up a different price to what is displayed on a printed ticket.
First one is free, the rest at the reduced price. You do not have to have paid for the item. Exclusions apply (Tobacco and items over $50 from memory)
Interestingly they’re happy to take your money on multiple items if the error isn’t picked up.
@Vote for Pedro: Yeah, I guess it’s on the customer to notice the discrepancy
In my experience it almost always came down to human error rather than a systems issue. The most common:
a) A staff member is tasked with doing a store walk on the last day of the weekly specials, and removing all of the tickets for expiring specials. We’re talking hundreds, and some inevitably get missed. A customer goes to buy a product the next day thinking it’s on sale, but it scans up at full price. That’s covered by the policy, and the staff will identify the issue was an expired ticket and remove it.
b) Price increases and decreases get fed through to supermarkets from head office daily, and again someone has to print those, walk around the store and replace the old ticket with the new. Again sometimes a ticket may be missed, and that’s covered under policy when a customer notices a discrepancy.
The eventual rollout of electronic stripping for item prices (as opposed to paper tickets on the plastic stripping) should eliminate most of the issues, but AFAIK that’s only had trials using various technologies by a few of the majors with no wider rollouts as yet. It’ll be great once that goes in - tickets for specials and price changes are a very time consuming process.
@agentsmith: Accidentally select the wrong fruit (i.e. human error) on the self serve check out and they threaten prosecution for theft.
It’s kind of like when they stole from employees pay packets and called it ‘underpayment’. If an employee stole from them it’s theft.
They Make a price error = accident
We make a price error = theft
Seems like the balance is quite strongly against the consumer.
for too long
Nek minnit
past year and a half… on a casual basis.
That isn't a long time. At my local Woolies, one of the cashiers that works there was in my year at school. She had this job before we all finished school and is still working the same job. I left school in 1991, so I'm guessing at least 30 years…
My question;
As a Gen *insert current generation's offensive title*, is 18 months considered a long time to be in the same job?
I have a feeling that actual length of time has nothing to do with how "long" it feels to be in a particular job. Some jobs are just more draining on an individual hence the feeling of being "too long" in that job.
All comes down to personal preference/feelings.
Let me put it this way, in a job that you enjoy 18 months is nothing. But for me, the enjoyment factor has worn out by now and I really have to push myself to continue. Hell, if it wasn't for this being my only source of income, I would have definitely quit by now.
You seem to believe in the fallacy that most people enjoy going to work.
What are some of your favourite sports?
Avid fan of Formula 1, almost to the point of addiction. I play tennis in a junior league, so enjoy watching a good match. Also like cricket. But I don't like footy (cue the downvotes).
Who’s a better driver, max or Lewis?
Lewis, no doubt. Max is great, don't get me wrong, but Lewis performs when it counts.
Imo max is overrated. I'd rather have vettel or riciardo over max.
@nomoneynoproblems: Max is definitely better than Ricciardo (cue downvotes again), Ricciardo most likely won't win a World Championship. Whether Max is better than Vettel will be determined by how well Vettel does this year, because Vettel has had a few garbage seasons now. If Vettel doesn't do well this season, I'll bet he'll retire at the end of this year.
Max is a bit overrated yeah, but he's still better than most of the grid. The one thing that will define how good he is is how he will perform compared to Leclerc this year.
@Omk4r123: If their time at Red bull is anything to go by ricciardo is the better driver. While Max probably has a higher ceiling (He has his age behind him after all) I can agree ricciardo probably won't win a championship. To be fair as long as Mercedes keeps producing the best cars, no one will. Ferrari are hopeless and Red bull can't find a winning engine supplier.
To be fair as long as Mercedes keeps producing the best cars
Hopefully that changes in 2021 (I'm a Ferrari fan :p)
Ferrari are hopeless
No, they just don't know what strategy means
Red bull can't find a winning engine supplier.
I think Honda have proven to everyone that they can provide a very competitive engine. Next year we will be able to get a proper judgement about whether Honda are up to it because this season was full of teething problems.
@Omk4r123: Lol yea so useless. How many races they throw away in 2019 again? 3-4? Utter incompetence a tier 1 team can choke that badly. Especially in F1. I won't even get into 2018…
I can't see on what basis Max beats Ric but I digress. He kinda reminds me of Kyrgios. Absolutely unbelievable when he's on his game but is reckless and immature at times. That wildcard factor and at potential is definitely there, but not right now.
I also hope Honda do well. I'm sick of Mercedes dominance. Hopefully Ferrari manage to pull their head out too…
@nomoneynoproblems: I think max is definitively overrated. The media coverage and opinions on the grid all rate him so highly, he is no better than Riccardo or Vettel (Vettel I think is currently over rated, best of him has past IMO)
@Omk4r123: Hard to compare drivers who drive different cars, so least not forgot Riccardo beat Vettel when Webber left the seat for Ric. Vettel jumped ship the year after (I wonder why).
As for Max and Ric, the last and only year Max beat Ric in the year Ric had more mechanical retirements, like heaps more.
So IMO Ric = Max > Vettel
@cloudy: Haha yeah, the way Vettel's been performing lately, I'd take Russell instead. At least with Russell, you have some guarantee about what position he's gonna finish
@Omk4r123: I agree that Max is much better than Vettel and Ricciardo. Ricciardo is a good driver, just not a Champion material.
@cloudy: Let's not forget Ric smashed everyone in Top Gear's F1 driver challenge. Obviously, not the only metric but the gap is still surprising.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_test_track#F1_Liana_l…
Personally, I would have liked to see Daniel join Ferrari. He's got the Italian background and he gets a good car.
When I saw 'Formula' I pictured you watching chinese fighting over infants formula.
any rare or unknown saving tips
There's a secret code-word every day that allows you to get 15% of your shop. Just tell the cashier. Today's code-word is sarcastic.
Just a joke by the way, don't sue me.
I thought today's word was gullible
That was yesterday's word.
Gullible is not a word, it not even in the dictionary.
do many of the staff at your store know about the 50% off meals for all WOW staff card holders and their families and friends at ALH pubs?
we love looking after you guys but it doesn't seem many know about it. I especially enjoy when a young kid brings their mum and dad out for dinner using the perk from their new job.
alh?
Try and make the most of your day when there. Start a chat with the person you are dealing with. Make them smile have a laugh. Learn how to deal interact with others and make them have a good feeling. It may make your day less laborious. Wait till you get a real job or at worse this could be your job for life.
Just make the most of it as you are getting paid. Better than sitting on your arse and doing nothing, but gaming.
Yeah, I'd say the best part of our job is the really big variety of people we get to interact with on a daily basis. Some have all manners of interesting stories to tell, while others don't have the basic courtesy of saying please and thank-you.
Just make the most of it as you are getting paid. Better than sitting on your arse and doing nothing, but gaming.
Yeah, that's what my parents say too, cause that's exactly what I used to do before I started working.
It's also good for your well being and life experience. Gee my wife's sister met her partner when she was working at Hungry Jacks and he was a customer. Look at the opportunities. Good luck.
I don't see why this isn't a real job? If you're enjoying it and/or don't have any issues with it a job like this can be great. There's far worse things to be doing out there.
Have you had any customers try/buy huge amounts of gift cards ?
Tell your manager if it happens during a gift card sales and has nothing to do with scammers :)
I've had a few customers buy a lot of gift cards, but only like $200-300 worth. Me on the other hand, I bought my phone with JB gift-cards purchased from my store.
Around 10 years ago this was pretty big. They'd ask for a certain amount of GC, pay on EFTPOS, then asked for more, so the team member would turn around and they'd quickly manually punch in stolen card numbers. It's very rare now as most of the manual entries have been removed as an option.
Overall is your interaction with the public generally positive?
Overall, the public is very positive towards us, I guess they understand that we're humans too and try to make out jobs as easy as possible. The best customers IMO are the ones that pack their own stuff, making the checkout process a lot faster.
But there are a few members of the public who are really rude/arrogant and treat us like shit. But glad it's only like once or twice a day.
How often does theft occur in your store?
Can you tell the people in produce to stop putting stickers on bruisers or marking on fruit/vegetable