(W5) Training, a Valueble Tool.

Back in November of 2005, I had been working in the department for three months; all of which was purely customer service and cleaning slicers. I remember looking at the person, that had only been there for a week, who was getting trained on breaking down the salad bar. Why was she alloted a different job when she had the same job title? I took it personally and the only reason I did not walk out was because I was brought up to never walk away. Through questioning on it, they told me that I was needed more on the counter, and that in January when business slowed down I would be trained on a few more things.

There were two ways to do things, by the book and the shortcut way. The shortcut way got the thing done, it just did not require as many steps and actions. Each member of management in the department had a different tolerance of the shortcuts, some would not allow you to do somethings; others, no shortcuts where allowed. The trick was to ask them how they wanted it done and watch when they lectured someone else on doing something wrong. The what not to do rules where more important then the actual rules.

March 2006, I watched one of the better associates get weeded out. He was unorthodox and pushed things to their limit all the time. It was more like he was operating a deli of the 70's; he did not believe in sanitizer, he would let meat pile on the slicer until he could not fit his hand in to catch meat. He got the job done without following the rules, but he did fit the changing face of the deli. People wanted there machines clean and sanitary. So, when new management arrived they placed him in the sink, he was to just wash dishes and clean the department at the end of the day; and if he did anything wrong he would have to hear about it for at least an hour the next day. He walked, he knew that they would just keep hassling him until he left.

In April of 2007, I started to work at the deli in the Portland store. I slowly got the knack for telling who was going to last a long time and who would only last a few weeks. Regular clerks and shift leaders were in constant flux. For the people that I got along well with I showed them the tricks to dealing with the deli; for those that were rude and seemed to lack the qualities needed for an effective service clerk, I let them run their course.

In the Portland store I trained and guided 14, three of which I thought would make it any given amount of time. Managers would read a list of objectives and point at the areas involved, when it came time to do something; someone who had done the job a hundred times over would tell you how to do somethings and what the outcome should be. A week after you were trained on something, if you could not do it efficiently they would tell you that you needed to do it faster. I worked my hardest to be the trainer, I knew that it did not matter how much potential person has if you do not teach them how to do the job.

In August of 2007 I returned to my first store and I watched as they started to follow new rules. All of the new rules had been in effect at the Portland store, so I knew that they were not new. Because I knew what the rules had been I talked about it with lower forms of management, by piecing what they said together I learned that somewhere there was a complete list of the rules and protocol, but we only had to make sure that we followed the ones that the store manager wanted us to follow.

Through my two plus years in the deli I learned the real training of a deli, is learning how to stay in the deli.
-Never take things personally
-Never do something you are not going to be able to do everyday
-Ask as many questions as possible
-Walk the line when it come to rules
-Be ready for change
-Learn how to meet their standards in your own way.

Standard deli training only teaches you to make the deli functional, it has nothing to do with keeping you there.

-NK