Dear, Grocery Shoppers - 10. What's the Point?

It sounds like they wrote the job description with one person in mind, and you were not that one person.  It happened all the time where I worked and it was well-known. Despite what you said about him, this manager does not sound very competent to me.

I think you should start looking more than ‘passively’ for that new employment.  It’s tough now, but, as you said, it looks like this is a dead-end for you here.

Just now, Clancy59 said:

It sounds like they wrote the job description with one person in mind, and you were not that one person.  It happened all the time where I worked and it was well-known. Despite what you said about him, this manager does not sound very competent to me.

I think you should start looking more than ‘passively’ for that new employment.  It’s tough now, but, as you said, it looks like this is a dead-end for you here.

I won't say that I'm actively looking, seeing how I took the time to write this entry, and also have my fingers flying to write more of my story chapters. I'll be keeping my eyes open on job-posting sites, and I may need to have a conversation with our store's union steward about how the interviews are being conducted. I spent the last two years of my college education focusing on business, with classes such as Business Ethics & Social Responsibilities, and Principles of Management. Interviewing is simple:  review all, and I mean all, candidates, and choose the most distinguished one. It is important to not settle on the first one that piques your interest, for you don't know what the other candidates will bring to the table. 

I agree that this company has turned into a dead-end for me, despite working in almost every department for over a year (I've had two stints with this company:  a four-year run during college, and a two-year run currently). I know my weaknesses, but I can't combat them. I can't change my six year-old tone, and I don't have the capability of being a demanding supervisory figure. That is what my store wants, and I can't provide that. 

My manager has been in the game for a while, but he knows what he wants in his store, and I think a cheerleader isn't it. Looking at all of the other leaders in the store, they're big and burly men that easily command a room, or ladies that have a Karen wig in their lockers and aren't afraid to tell their workers what to do. Yep...it's time to start looking. 

I agree with what Clancy59 just said. Your store manager had already made up his mind who he wanted in the job. You are probably right that you will never be able to get any further where you are.
Back when I was involved in interviewing, I used to be in the position of asking the technical questions, after the cinema manager asked theirs (usually those horrible ones such as 'what do you consider your greatest weakness' or 'where do you see yourself in 5 years time'). There was a particular candidate who wanted to be promoted to chief projectionist and had four interviews in a year, at different sites. He was technically extremely competent and I had no doubt he would make a good job of running the projection team, but different managers rejected him for four different reasons. One said he lived too far away from the site, one didn't like his long hair, one didn't like that he was in the union and the last had already decided they wanted someone else for the job. Each time, he asked me to give feedback on what he was doing wrong and I had to try and be tactful as to why he'd not got the job. I told him to keep on trying and on his fifth interview he clicked with the manager and was given the job. The point of this long and rambling reply is that sometimes, people just pick someone for reasons of their own that you can never fathom out and then make excuses about why you didn't get the job.

3 minutes ago, Mawgrim said:

One said he lived too far away from the site, one didn't like his long hair, one didn't like that he was in the union and the last had already decided they wanted someone else for the job.

In my opinion as someone who has very little interviewing experience, but a lot of textbook business knowledge, these reasons are simply moronic. They do not speak of work ethic, attendance record, and enthusiasm for the position. If the worker was already showing up for work, the only hindrance for the first reason to be the deciding factor would be for an emergency reason, such as no other projectionist being available to perform the task. The second reason should no longer be a factor in any role, other than in the food industry. The third and fourth suggests a bias or favoritism, which can not be upheld in a successful business. 

Thank you for your comment! I'm sad to see myself leaving the company again, as it has become a go-to when in dire need of employment.  

Totally agree with you there. I used to get very frustrated by some of the cinema managers attitudes. I was there in an advisory role to make sure the candidate was suitably technically competent, but the final decision to employ or not was the manager's.

I agree with them above, that the manager already had the person in mind for the position. I remember when my manager at a convenience store had told me to help her with ordering and showed me how to do it and when she got to work she would send the order in. That helped her. She had me do a lot of stuff there to help her out. But when she quit, another manager from another store came in and asked why was I doing the ordering cause that was not my job. I told her that the old manager had me do it to make her job easier since she could wait on customers without any interruptions while doing other work. She told me to stop and she would do the ordering. When our new manager was hired, he ae me the job back when he found out I was the one that had time to fill out the order and had done so before. When the old manager quit, another employee and I was the only 2 employees working so we both worked 12 hour shifts for a 24 hour store 7 days a week. But did I get a raise for doing more. No, I didn't. I was the low totem pole employee. Needless to say, I actually lost my job because someone was stealing from the company that worked for a different store and everytime I would relieve her, she would write down the wrong dipstick number of how many tubes of money was in the safe under the register that we used to et extra money like ones, 5's, 10's and 20's for when we needed to break large bills people would hand us to pay for their stuff. I was fired. But wasn't told to come back when I found out that the employee doing the writing had gotten fired for the same thing they fired me for, which I didn't do. I did get unemployment for a year due to the fact that my manager was not the one to do the unemployment interview and I was more prepared than the general manager.

14 minutes ago, Story Reader said:

I agree with them above, that the manager already had the person in mind for the position. I remember when my manager at a convenience store had told me to help her with ordering and showed me how to do it and when she got to work she would send the order in. That helped her. She had me do a lot of stuff there to help her out. But when she quit, another manager from another store came in and asked why was I doing the ordering cause that was not my job. I told her that the old manager had me do it to make her job easier since she could wait on customers without any interruptions while doing other work. She told me to stop and she would do the ordering. When our new manager was hired, he ae me the job back when he found out I was the one that had time to fill out the order and had done so before. When the old manager quit, another employee and I was the only 2 employees working so we both worked 12 hour shifts for a 24 hour store 7 days a week. But did I get a raise for doing more. No, I didn't. I was the low totem pole employee. Needless to say, I actually lost my job because someone was stealing from the company that worked for a different store and everytime I would relieve her, she would write down the wrong dipstick number of how many tubes of money was in the safe under the register that we used to et extra money like ones, 5's, 10's and 20's for when we needed to break large bills people would hand us to pay for their stuff. I was fired. But wasn't told to come back when I found out that the employee doing the writing had gotten fired for the same thing they fired me for, which I didn't do. I did get unemployment for a year due to the fact that my manager was not the one to do the unemployment interview and I was more prepared than the general manager.

I'm so sorry that happened to you! I understand wanting to help out where it's needed, but there is a difference between helping and doing someone else's job. I learned this when I worked as a salesman for a mattress company. With only a team of three people, one being the manager, sometimes different responsibilities were forced upon all of us. My manager was the self-proclaimed "numbers guy" and didn't see why he was the one to do the visual changes (hanging large banners, changing pricing signage, ensuring all sign collateral was up to company expectations). He saw me and my (at the time) ambitions for home decoration as an excuse to "cross-train" me for that responsibility. I did not mind such responsibilities, as it got me out of dealing with shoppers and making cold-calls. 

The district manager found out about this, and how I also performed the weekly store audit, and I was immediately pulled to the side. He explained to me properly how I don't get paid to do that, and my manager does. He did tell me how appreciative he was for stepping up when my manager should have, but assured me that it was not my responsibility. To this day, that DM still chats me up on Facebook and checks in. He's still on the look-out for an auditor position for me, since I almost failed our store each time, since I'm a stickler for operations and argued that a certain walkway should be deemed necessary and it was not OSHA standard (36 inch walkway for wheelchairs). But I was shot down each time. I went to his prized store during a training session and told him to look up, and he saw the nastiest air filter in his life. Needless to say, that go fixed within the training weekend. 

I completely agree with you!  I think a big part is "they" also know what a hard and capable worker you are and they don't to move you up because they also know they will not be able to find someone to fill your shoes...  Same old story - the harder you work, the less chance you have for any promotion.  I wish you all the luck and good vibes in rectifying the situation.  Rock and a hard place!!

It's too bad you don't live about a hundred miles to the NW.  My company (a garden center and grower) is hiring and needs people like you (smart, fast, and hardworking).  Good luck!

I have been retired for 17 years from a 40+ year career with computer software.  During that time, I worked at two companies as a computer programmer and then at four companies as a software tester.  Twice, I was unemployed, during which times I had many interviews.  I too had an interview from Hell, which I describe at [http://www.rossde.com/unemployed/unempl_interv_hell.html]. 

I have four other Web pages describing my experiences being unemployed at [http://www.rossde.com/unemployed/index.html].  However, you will notice that my experiences were more than 20 years ago.  My unemployment ended as the job market improved significantly, which is not the case today.  Not all of the lessons I learned, however, are obsolete.