Laura Vegas

i was thinking about this old story a few days ago … and how it reminds me a lot of things going on right now. i was going to blog about it. but i didn’t. then today i was talking to a friend of mine that was there when this old story happened … and she brought up this same story. i thought that was pretty funny that we both thought about it. so i figured why not re-tell it. may not be the most exciting story (and has nothing to do with scrapping or photography or my kids. lol!) … but i’m telling it anyways. let’s reminisce.

i worked in grocery for years when i was younger. actually i think it was about 12 years worth. i’ve done it all … bagger, courtesy clerk, checker, stocker, pricing, dairy, etc. started at safeway, made my way to foodmaxx (after a small stint in an accounting job), and then back to safeway.

anyways … when i got the job at foodmaxx, i was working in the pricing department (called POS). i helped open up 2 brand-new stores … we set up the entire store and priced it all and got everything scanning in the system … worked 18 hour days for weeks. then for the next year i was the assistant in the department. i went on maternity leave to have alyssa … and when i came back, i actually came back as the head of the department in the other store i had helped open. not like i had a huge department … we had 3 people to do it all. i had an assistant … and a sign maker (at foodmaxx we hand-wrote all our signage for displays and such). and i was in charge of pricing for just about the whole store.

we worked the crazy hours … 3am until noon … and sometimes midnight until 9am. did all the paperwork … and there was a ton! any price that changed had to go through me … sales, group 7’s (all buyins), group 49’s (where we went 1 cent lower than the weekly competitor ads), disco’s, etc. i dealt with vendors (the chip dudes, the soda dudes, the bread dudes, etc), worked with the department heads (meat, produce, gm, bakery), and the night crew manager and grocery manager (to keep up with buyins and when they ran out). printed all the price changes, batched the price changes, hung the tags, changed the signs. we test-scanned the entire store each month … which involves walking around with a price gun and double checking every item on the shelf and displays to look for any pricing discrepancies. we took care of items that weren’t in the system … checkers would tell us … and we would go out and hunt that item down and find out if it was authorized. we added new items into the system … took discontinued items off the shelf. worked with the backroom guy to stay on top of what came in the back door. one thing i prided myself on was that i was always quick to help anyone out … whenever a vendor and department head would ask me to check something … i’d do it right away. i never told them it was too late … i never told them they’d have to wait.

it’s one of those jobs that requires you to do and think about 67 things at one time. to literally be able to walk by a display or an end-cap … and to know that you changed that exact price just that morning … and get a new sign made and hung. i could change probably 1000 tags a day … and could walk the store and know just what i changed. could tell you in a moment what was on display, where it was in the store, what displays had to come down, and what items were displayed in several different locations. i could tell vendors what was going on sale and when … doritos this week, lays next week, etc.

i had 2 great people working for me … and with me. our sign maker, tommy, was a little on the lazy side … and took all day to make the signs i could make in just an hour … but he was funny as heck and a good kid. then i had my assistant, janette … who was such a great friend and a good worker. when she got busy with school and worked less hours … i picked up the slack. truth be told … i could have run that department by myself. i’m like that with paperwork and office type stuff … i was the same way when i worked in accounting. i’m organized and efficient when it comes to getting a ton of crazy things done at the same time … i’m the master multi-tasker.

then janette left me for more schooling and they had to get me a new assistant. so the chick from the front end came over to the department. let’s call her sandra (because really, that’s her name). sandra was ok … she could be a good worker when she wanted. she was good with paperwork … i’ll give her that. she could also disappear and you’d never be able to find her. it was a pretty well-known fact that she liked to "disappear" with the soda vendors … in the parking lot … doing lord knows what (and yes, she was married). it was also well-known that she … how do i put this … let’s just say she would NOT have passed a random drug test while on the job. and one more well-known fact … she was very "in" with the store manager, if you know what i mean. everyone knew this. sandra was one of those people that could just get away with anything.

then i went on maternity leave and had sarah. so sandra took over while i was gone along with another gal that stepped in for a bit. things got messed up … prices weren’t accurate like they were before … things didn’t run as smoothly as when i was there. so then i came back … and i fixed things. got things back in order. i had a 3 yr old and a newborn at home … and i still managed to work the crazy hours. and i could still get everything done in no time at all. the head of pricing for the division knew i could do it all … she knew i was good … and she knew our pricing was accurate.

then one day about 2 months after being back from maternity leave … the store manager told me that he was taking me out the department. my "POS manager" title was being taken away … and i would become a checker. wth? no reason, no explanation. i hadn’t done anything wrong … nothing that anyone could tell me. convienently, sandra was then promoted … and given top pay just like that. after all … she was "in" with the store manager … so you can add that all up, right? the head of pricing for the division said there was nothing she could do … that it was the managers decision and that she couldn’t change that. i was pissed that she didn’t have my back … that she just left me on my own. so i went to the district manager … i told him how i felt, questioned the "managerial" decision, defended my abilities at being able to do it all, and gave the facts about sandra not performing at the standards that were required. he basically said that it was a done deal … did i forget to mention that him and the store manager were friends too? i went to the union … but they said there was nothing they could do either. as long as they didn’t take away my full-time status … and still gave me my top pay … it was totally up to the store manager as to what job i was assigned too and he could put me wherever he wanted to.

i refused to be a checker again. nothing against being a cashier (in fact, i did do it again on occasion when i ended up back at safeway a year later). that’s just not what i was hired by foodmaxx to do. i never studied for my product test … one of the things i would have to pass to be a checker. luckily the grocery manager was on my side … he knew things weren’t right. so he found me other things to do. i started doing schematics … re-setting shelves and displays. working in new items and helping him with inventories. i started working in the GM department (general merchandise, as in health & beauty) … ordering and stocking product. i would go to other foodmaxx stores and audit them … basically randomly checking their prices to see how accurate they were.  i started doing the price-checking … where i’d go out in the middle of the night to competitor stores with our master price list in hand … and would go around and make note of all their prices … then send it to corportate where they would adjust our prices off my notes. not a ton of fun … but the night crew guys at the other stores got to know me and didn’t mind me "spying".

meanwhile … sandra was messing up the store. she wasn’t keeping up on things. test-scan scores were low … and the price audits were terrible. vendors weren’t happy … and she wasn’t too nice to work with. you’d have to wait for things you might need … until she decided she had time. part of me secretly enjoyed watching her mess up … i knew she was stressed and overwhelmed. but at the same time … it made me sad to think that they really thought she was a better POS manager. i know the decision wasn’t based on anything professional … it was a personal decision of the store manager.

i sucked it up and worked there another year. i did have to work with sandra for things … i hated when i had to ask her to create an item for me or put something on sale for me … and she’d take forever to get to it. but i did it. after about a year … i got a job back over at safeway … where i had started out when i was just 16. assistant to the file maintanance manager (which is really the same thing as POS). things were just as crazy there … only a different kind of crazy. totally different pricing system and way of doing things. but everyone would remark on how good i was at the job … how effecient. they knew the older lady in charge didn’t do anything all day … that i was doing it all. to this day i get told that i could run that department by myself … and i know i could. after about 8 months i quit safeway for a second time … to move to our new house and start a daycare business. and with that, my 12 years in grocery came to an end.

ok … now the point of this whole long-winded story? lol! first i want to say that lots of things in this old story remind me of things going on right now. but i know what could happen here. someone could come on here and read into every word i typed … and think that i mean "this" and "that" literally … that i’m accusing people of everything i just wrote. so here’s my disclaimer … i’m not accusing anyone of adultery, or drug use, or being "in" with the boss, or anything like that. lol! just a general "lots-of-things-in-this-old-situation-remind-me-of-things-going-on-right-now-in-a-random-kind-of-way" type of thing.

actually, i think i’ll just leave it at that. no real need to get all specific anyways … won’t really do me any good. plus, i think that was a long enough story don’t you think? lol! i really am an amazing story-teller … i have this ability to make any given story about 4 times longer than it really needs to be. can i make my point in 2 paragraphs? sure … but wouldn’t 13 be more fun?!?!? i’ve been dying to tell that story though. and since angie mentioned it today while on the phone … it was meant to be shared today, right?

btw … are you’re wondering how angie fits into this story? she worked in the GM department … and became the  head of the department sometime in that story. so i worked under her basically. such a good friend. we kept in touch when i left … and then when i moved out here. then she recently moved out here … and started her own daycare business in her home. i think it’s truely amazing that she is the one and only person that i keep in touch with from my old life. and by "old life" … i mean "back-in-the-day". i’ve lost touch with every single other person from high school, all my grocery years, and old friends in general. but we still talk every week. love that.

and your reward if you made it all the way through this story? first off … you have my undying "thanks" for listening. journaling about this stuff really does make me feel better … even if it may make no sense to you sometimes. and i can’t guarantee you all a reward … but how about 2 of you? i had no intention of doing this … but i’m feeling quilty for writing such a long story. lol! leave me a comment … and i’ll draw 2 names for a RAK. don’t know what it’ll be yet … but i’ve been cleaning out some stuff and i have to go to the post office on tuesday anyway. lol! i’ll draw the names monday night!