Store cleaner being used as cashier

[tracemick8824]

Protest too much & they'll cut your hours.
Basically they're using the cleaning budget to make up for their scheduling shortfalls.
An anonymous call to the HRBP could bring that to a screeching halt but, because you mentioned it, you will likely be suspected of ratting them out & they will retaliate.
Tread carefully.

^ my fear

 

[Far from newbie]

Protest too much & they'll cut your hours.
Basically they're using the cleaning budget to make up for their scheduling shortfalls.
An anonymous call to the HRBP could bring that to a screeching halt but, because you mentioned it, you will likely be suspected of ratting them out & they will retaliate.
Tread carefully.

This is real. Lie on the sword for the greater good and expect to get fatally cut.

 

[lucidtm]

In our store beauty hours were cut a lot (even though we're slammed) so if we put on availability we wanted, say, 20-30 hours then they give us some in beauty, some in cleaning. I've also randomly got some cashier shifts. I don't mind so much, but I'd really love to get back to only beauty & just helping out up front for short spurts if needed.

I cover tech sometimes for their breaks and honestly, I just tell people that and help them find the answer for things on Google 😂 . If it's something I can't figure out I'll bug the TL but they're usually busy enough and depending on who it is they don't know either so they try to Google.

 

[Zxy123456]

It wouldn’t matter. Your store is going to do what they want and that’s that. So you’re scheduled cleaning and sometimes get thrown on register. You play ball and do what you have to do to get hours. Unfortunately that’s just the way it is. Team members can be moved around when needed. Now would you take a tech person and put them in beauty- no. But everyone is supposed to be able to cashier and if that’s where they need you that day then that’s what you do

Under normal circumstances I would agree with this but, I think the designated cleaner should be cleaning!! I bet if corporate found out cleaner spent entire shift on a register they would not be happy. Those hours were designated for cleaning and nothing else.

 

[Catlover]

I am the cleaner at my store. We usually have someone else as cart wipe. In the beginning our etl said if I hop on register it should only be for ten minutes. Now I come in and help with all the breaks then star cleaning. I did our gstl’s break once. I am a cashier before COVID started.

 

[afterhours]

Let’s be clear: the cart cleaner and the store cleaner are for show.

 

[Ringwraith917]

Let’s be clear: the cart cleaner and the store cleaner are for show.

I disagree. Disinfecting oft-touched surfaces is important to reduce spread of disease

 

[CeeCee]

Most of our Food Ave TMs got switched to cart/store cleaning shifts when they closed FA. A couple hated it and switched to other areas but some are still doing it with guest advocates filling in for some of the shifts. Started with one tm at each entrance (super t) but now just one who cleans carts on one side for a bit then switches to the other side. We use them for quick backup or to cover a 15 if someone calls out but they primarily stick to cleaning. Some are better than others. There are a couple that walk so slow from one side to the other that you can tell they hate it.

 

[Rarejem]

We have a store cleaner and a cart cleaner. That is what they do for their entire shift. They do not cashier. They do not cover breaks except for each other. They do not do carry outs. They clean.

 

[Zxy123456]

Our store cleaners and cart wipers only clean. If there is overlap in schedule they may cashier for little bit. Example opening cleaner scheduled till 3:30 closing cleaner comes in at 3:00.

 

[afterhours]

Show. It’s for show. Sr. District Director's words not mine.

Regardless of whether your fellow team members perform the task they are given with integrity / leaders hold said team members accountable to “cleaning & sanitizing OR if they are pulled for everything but .. the crux of those 175+ payroll hours we all of a sudden can afford each week are for show. Period. Do with them what you please (or can get away with).

Our breakroom has a box of forks everyone digs through each day to eat with, face mask boxes just laying around because leaders don’t have time to treat your clock-in like a surgical procedure, expired food on the shelves (because nobody has time to check for that! We don’t have the payroll hours remember?! [coughcough] <—(not Covid, just reminding you of that 175+)

Sales and profits are our top priority- not the health of our guests and definitely not the health and benefits for it’s team members.

 

[slowhands]

Most of our "cleaners" just stand around at self checkout or the service desk. Maybe make one quick loop around the store. Might as well not even bother. Its sad.

 

[Softlines6]

We have not a store cleaner in months. Only Cart cleaner 🤷‍♀️

 

[Babyelf]

We have both but right now our hours are so thin that's its not uncommon for the store cleaner to do one maybe two laps and then be upfront the rest of the shift but it usually only the cafe people that end doing that any other people usually will just stay as the a tore cleaner. ( and I was told that the cart cleaner has to stay there at all times if they aren't by the carts or by the hand baskets at the front door then they could get in trouble)

 

[SpilledTea]

My store was pulling the cleaner to be first responder to the check lanes but once the HR ETL that was covering our store caught wind, leadership got their hand slapped. So, it doesn't happen anymore.

 

[Hope4Future]

The same thing has been happening over the last two months at my store. Before that, we were pretty good with having enough cashiers/guest services team members that the cleaning people could just focus on their jobs. Now, payroll has been cut and we've pulled the carts and baskets team member to cashier when it gets busy.

The team member scheduled for cleaning tonight asked if I was willing to take his shift since he said he couldn't make it for tonight. I agreed and asked ETL-SE if it would be approved but he said that the store needed to cut hours so I wouldn't be able to take his shift and there would be no store cleaner tonight.

 

[Anelmi]

Yep. Most grocery stores have stopped having a designated cleaner and just have the cart wipes/supplies out for the guests to use. Makes sense bc tbh we could definitely use that person elsewhere.

 

[flow4areasonuno]

he said that the store needed to cut hours so I wouldn't be able to take his shift and there would be no store cleaner tonight.

Sure would be a shame if someone reported that to corporate

 

[Hope4Future]

Sure would be a shame if someone reported that to corporate

Yeah, it would be. To be fair though, if that team member posted his shift on the swap shift board, HR may have approved it and it wouldn't have come to this. On the other hand, he said he requested today off beforehand but said the ETL-SE didn't approve it or look at his request so it seems like both sides are to blame, at least partially. Mostly, it's just wrong that it came to cutting the store cleaner in the first place.

 

[Style2563]

I primarily work in Style. And when I get a cleaning shift, they tend to pull me away from cleaning to help in style instead. So it’s like cleaning is not necessarily a necessity.

 

[Nauzhror]

This surprises me. If our SD walks through the front and sees that there isn't someone actively cleaning the carts he yells at the SETL.

 

[flow4areasonuno]

This surprises me. If our SD walks through the front and sees that there isn't someone actively cleaning the carts he yells at the SETL.

Wish that would happen here. I guess our hours have been cut too badly

 

[Sisyphus]

I can see the responsibility for cleaning carts being turned back over to guests. They can grab a wipe like before Covid hit the fan or spot will do like the grocery stores where I am and just leave spray bottles and towels there with a DIY sign.

 

[jackandcat]

I see less and less cleaning occurring in our store. Once in a while, I'll humorously ask one of our TLs if we're still required to clean things like door handles, endcaps, registers and so forth or if it's no longer enforced. I usually receive a vague, noncommital response like "it's up to individual workcenters now". Gee, is the COVID-19 epidemic over with now?

By contrast with this, however, Washington state is probably the strictest in the nation regarding face coverings. Our TMs are 99% compliant with masks/coverings. Our r guests appear to virtually all being compliant. This is occurring because, unlike some other states, Washington's health directives force retailers to be legally responsible for enforcement of the face covering rules. Stores can face very steep daily fines or even store closure for failing to enforce the rules. So, we have repurposed a "beauty" kiosk and placed it near the store entry, where an AP member or other TM monitors for any noncompliant guests. These guests are offered a mask. If a guest refuses to wear face coverings, AP is brought to the scene to "educate" the guest. Our store is very intentional about offering online ordering and drive-up as an alternative.

Our state demands that our retailers be hard-core about face coverings, the public seems to supports the strict rules, and Target doesn't want to be harassed by our state's rather nasty Attorney General over face masks.

 

[flow4areasonuno]

Well, it's official, corporate now says AP must staff the mask desk at our store. Our AP TL or whatever his rank is is spitting mad...can't imagine why

I am consigned to an eternity of wiping carts and answering the SAME TWO QUESTIONS all day long.