Working for a great company like Whole Foods is very rewarding because of the benefits the company offers. I work in the seafood/meat departments of Whole Foods. I’ve been working for the company for no more than a year now. I’ve encountered two challenges at work including angry customers and thieves.
Working in retail there seems to always be angry customers every shift. I understand that some people aren’t angry at me directly, but it portrays differently in my eyes. Some people come from work to Whole Foods so they can cook when they get home. They’ve had a long day at work and they bring whatever happened to them at work into their personal lives. For instance, a couple a days ago I had a customer get mad at me because we ran out of
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beef shish-kebabs. I asked him did he want to speak to my manager. He said, “No”, then walked out of the store. Saying the wrong thing can easily set someone off who’s already upset. Angry customers go with businesses like, peanut butter goes with jelly. Someone is always unhappy with any product even if it is a very good product. Some people are very narcissistic just goes with their personality. Others can just be carrying a chip on their shoulder from an incident that occurred earlier in the day. Occasionally, Whole Foods has its share of thieves that visit to score a "five-finger" discount.
We catch a majority of them, but some manage to slip away through the front door. The people working in the front of the store may have not saw them steal the product, but will catch them when reviewing the cameras. If a thief is planning to steal from the store he/she usually tries to fill up their basket full of stolen products. For example, I was working in the Seafood/meat department where we sell fresh fish and poultry. I don’t quiet remember his face, but I sold him a huge order of New York Strip steaks. At the time I didn’t know he was planning to steal the steaks, along with other products from other departments throughout the store. My manager caught him trying to walk out with the products and stopped him. He called the police who showed up, but was too late. The suspect got away without the stolen products.
Encountering angry customers and thieves while working is challenging. Angry customers are never happy, but you have to agree with them even in the wrong. The customer is always right, when running a business. To deal with potential thieves in the store we’ve found that being more attentive and letting them know we are watching them has dropped our stolen products
number.
Publix has very high expectations when it comes to its employees. The work environment is very fast paced. One of the many pros about working at Publix is that it is a very stable job with a fantastic retirement/profit-sharing plan. It is also employee owned which is not common so employees will take pride in the fact they are all shareholders of the company. Because the employees are working somewhere that they all own, it creates a pleasant working environment, which is nice to see for customers.
The actions of thieves can be related to a slippery slope. They may start out by stealing something small, but nothing is keeping them from stealing something of more worth, so the tendency is to escalate their behaviors.
Comparing my shopping experience at Whole Foods verses Walmart, I have always had positive experiences at Whole Foods. I admit at first I was hesitant to shop there because I thought their prices would be too high or that they wouldn’t have the items I was accustomed to purchasing. My first experience was shopping for lip balm. I was told they sold a brand that didn’t include camphor phenol and that was important to me. Being that I never shopped in Whole Foods before I immediately asked for assistance in finding the right isle. Not only did they direct me, they walked with me and asked what I was looking for, they showed me the product and even gave me useful information regarding the lip balm. Since that day I have been back many times, not only for lip balm but for a variety of groceries and products. Whole Foods staff is pleasant, enthusiastic and extremely helpful. They are well trained on their merchandise as well as customer service and seem to genuinely enjoy interacting and working at Whole Foods. In addition,
I used to work at my local McDonalds for three years during high school. At first, I thought I was there just to make an extra quick buck to fund my weekend adventures, but later would turn into a key cog at the store as the crew trainer and starting to be prepped for a managerial spot. It was exciting, learning how to place orders for the store, make the work schedule and cycle counts among other things. Soon however, I started to realize how replaceable my coworkers a...
That alone is an accomplishment but it really shows that the people that work at Whole Foods are invested. They believe that this is one of the best companies to work for and that type of atmosphere is contagious. Stability is another factor that could make Whole Foods an attractive career. They have been consistent in everything they have down and show a dedicated to the communities around them.
Trader Joe’s uniquely designs jobs that is tailored to specifically meet all the attributes and standards they are trying to portray in its employees. Such as people who possess qualities that are creative, upbeat, outgoing and motivated. Along with a combination of interpersonal people skills, social skills, communication skills and character traits that are moral and ethical. Skills and qualities that will be beneficial in creating a smart workforce that will produce customer orientated employees whose objective is to expand customer relationships. Not mention Trader Joe’s offer its employees a quality work environment and democratic control of the store by taking their ideas into consideration. They also increase satisfaction and higher performance in their employees by offering benefits and highly competitive wages. According to Uhl-Bien, M., Schermerhorn, J.R., Jr., & Osborn, R. N. (2014) Trader Joe’s nurture their employees with a promote from within philosophy and its employees can earn more than their counterparts at other grocery chains. In California Trader Joe’s employees can earn almost 20 percent more than counterparts at supermarket giants Albertson or Safeway
Store Operations/Incentives: From an internal perspective, Whole Foods uses a team-based strategy of operations. Employees are part of a democratic process of selecting new hirees, implementing new ideas and encour...
WSJ. "Whole Foods Market(R) Celebrates 17 Years on FORTUNE's '100 Best Companies to Work For' List." Wall Street Journal. Wall Street Journal, 16 Jan. 2014. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. .
Conflict is and will always be something that everyone has to experience, and they experience it because we are all-different and have different beliefs. Some of the sources of conflict that exist in Bridget’s organization is the differences over interpretation facts, behavioral expectation, and conflicts with the customers, customer’s satisfaction. The general manager such as Issa tends to interpret things wrong. When Bridget wishes to do the best for Pollo Campero Issa, always pinpoints to look like Bridget’s negotiation is always wrong. Bridget has always said that although Issa always makes her feel less of a person Bridget doesn’t allow it to affect her. Like Bridget said at least she has the support of employees. Many employees and other managers who know Bridget know that she is a calm person and someone to trust especially because she has demonstrated since the first day of employment. She explained that in order to manage conflict you have to be worthy within you and not letting anyone make you less will make you value and love yourself more. Bridget said “do not fear conflict rather embrace it”, different conflicts arise everyday for example the customer service conflict, but the ability to recognize and understand the nature of conflict and bring a swift of resolution makes Bridget a good
Occasionally the individual may hoard the stolen objects or surreptitiously return them. Although individuals with this disorder will generally avoid stealing when immediate arrest is probable (e.g., in full view of a police officer), they usually do not preplan the thefts or fully take into account the chances of apprehension. The stealing is done without assistance from, or collaboration with, others.
Although Jason Lane said most of the thefts are found out later on surveillance cameras retailindustry.com quotes Hayes, president of Loss Prevention Specialists, as saying that “technology is critical to maintaining low loss levels.” In their article he said, “Because shoplifters are largely targeting small, highly desirable merchandise, these retailers have increasingly turned to electronic article surveillance devices to protect their merchandise.”
The third solution would be to implement more electronic surveillance. Electronic surveillance is progressively used to stop or catch thieves. Implementing more cameras will stop theft from customers and employees. However, for Sunshine Fashion it might be ineffectual because of the inconceivable possibility to cover all ranges in sufficiently high determination to see the price tags. The company may be unable to make out sale signs as well, depending where the cameras are
“Shoplifting, worker theft cost retailers $32 billion last year,” is the title to a Fortune 500 article written by Phil Whaba. The name of the article sums up the immense problem facing retailers in the United States. Companies are not just losing millions of dollars in merchandise to theft, they are in fact losing billions of dollars to theft. To protect themselves, many retailers and companies incorporate security to help protect their goods and mitigate the threat of thefts. While employing security to solve this issue can be effective, it also brings with it implications which can lead to lawsuits and negative publicity for the company. Some of the implications include additional training, policies and procedures for officers, as well as the additional consequences of potential injury to staff and perpetrators, which can both have far reaching legal weight attached to each issue.
At K-mart, when they flashed the message "PLEASE DON'T STEAL" onto their monitors in the stores, theft was reduced by about 30%.
When you are in a public place like a supermarket, square, or shopping mall, you need to be careful of the actions of strangers. You should wear your bag in front of your body, keep your important things in concealed pockets, and keep your hands in your pockets to make sure that others do not have the chance reach in. With these tips, you can prevent the loss of wealth to pickpockets.