The Pros and Cons of Working at a Supermarket
February 26, 2014
Thinking about getting a job? Supermarkets are always looking for more help. However, before you decided to sign your life away at a job, think about all the factors that go into working at a supermarket. As someone who works at a supermarket, this article is pretty accurate.
- Down Time
Working at a supermarket on weeknights is not too bad. You tend to have a lot of time just standing, waiting for a customer. Depending on your boss, you are able to do some work while you’re waiting. Or read some magazines or a book.
- Rush
Time flies when you’re having fun or when you have a lot of business. Standing around doing nothing makes time drag. However, at a supermarket you tend to get a quick rush of people checking out. This helps make your shift go faster and you don’t realize it’s time to go home!
- Customers
While you’re working you will met some nice people. You notice the regular customers and soon befriend them. Some customers are nice in the sense that they help you bag all their groceries. Others are nice and stir up conversations with you. Some will even give you nicknames based on the fact that you smile. (Little do they know, it’s because you feel uncomfortable).
- Pay
Money is the main reason for you getting a job. Depending on the place you work pay will be different. For the most part you will get minimum wage which is now, $8.25. Other stores might have more or less. If you work four hours that’s about $36 for one day, and if you work three days a week, the money will add up soon.
Cons:
- Boredom
You tend to get bored very easily. Since your job is centered on having a customer, not having one means doing nothing. At 8 o’clock at night, just standing around can get very dull especially if you don’t have anyone to keep yourself occupied. You try to keep yourself occupied by either counting the ceiling or floor tiles.
- Customers
Customers can be both a pro and a con. You have the handful of people that are nice and then you have the truck load of customers that come in with a bad attitude. So many people will complain to you about prices or how the doors won’t open or how there aren’t any carts. It’s not like you can really fix all their problems. Sometimes they are right but most of the time they’re not.
- Famous
If you work at a local supermarket chances are you’ll run into people you know. You will also run into customers outside of work when you’re out with your friends. It might not seem like a big deal, but it is. It’s very uncomfortable because both of you know that you know each other but you don’t want to mention it.
- Training
To understand the job fully you need to get some form of training. However, no one is trained the same. You can be trained by three or more people all different ways so you don’t know what the right thing to do is. So if you do something wrong, you get blamed, but it’s not your fault because you don’t know what is right.