Mates feel important by micro-managing and telling everyone what to do. Like we can't figure it out? Pay is not bad for retail but the hours are killers. You could be there until 10 or 11 at night and then back in at 5 or 6 the next morning. Management couldn't care less about these "turnaround" shifts and what it does to their employees.
The captain seems to listen but there is no follow-through on what has been discussed so that is not helpful.
We are asked to do the work of many when we are short-handed - which is very often - so that the captain and mates "make their numbers." They get bonuses - we do not.
Now, to the paycheck comment.....paydays are every other Thursday. People plan on that. So payday was on Thursday, January 2, 2014. Interestingly, no paychecks arrived at ANY of the stores across the country. When I asked our store management, they said, "Oh yes, today is payday but we'll be getting our checks tomorrow." HUH? Paychecks a day late without any notification whatsoever to employees? I can understand a change in payday if it falls on a holiday but it didn't. And even in that case, reputable companies pay their employees the day before - NOT the day after. Store management only discussed it if you brought it up to them. They were not proactive in letting employees know that, in fact, no money had been deposited in their account as they had expected. This was a huge, huge miss for store leaders.
The other thing that really bothers me about this event is that we never received an apology from senior leadership. Nothing. Nada. It was just supposed to be okay for a really large group of people who make just barely enough to be above the poverty level (and some are even below the poverty level) to have their paychecks messed with in this way. I think this says volumes about Trader Joe's ethics and integrity - which, by the way, are supposed to be pretty important to them.
Very sad indeed.
