Archived little flow team rant

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Sep 14, 2012
Messages
10
Ok so our team works 4-8, some of us like myself start at 330 to get the ball rolling. During our shift we are allowed to play music over the intercom, but once 7:00am hits it gets shut off. What the hell is that? What are they talking behind our backs that they need to shut off the music so we don't hear them? Also no water! we have to get that on our own time, like seriously?!!!?? Plus everyday around 6ish all i ever hear on the walkies is "PDA'S for pricing please" non stop because no one else cares. Why can't we have enough pda's for everyone. So the flow has to give up ours, and then we suck because we have to run to a price scanner for a location on something. then they yell at us for not getting done on time, well get us some dam scanners. The hot summer months are the worst, the STL essentially said, sorry guys your not important enough to have the a/c running, enjoy the 80 degrees sauna while you work lol.

and that's just a small puzzle piece of our problems :angry:
 
I agree with alot of that but the reason is because pricing cant do their job without a PDA =) ...niether can I in Pfresh
 
Flow only needs the PDAs to push autofill. You should share one per area that you are working. I always put PDAs aside for price accuracy and my instocks team. Since I'm the TL I am the first to give up my PDA since I don't "need" to do tasky things. I hate when certain "key team members" get on the walkie demanding PDAs like they are something special.
 
There are never enough guns, that is just the way of things in every store.
Spot has a magic number for how many PDT's and PDA's a certain size and type of store gets and that's it, whether it makes sense or not.
Long time folks will tell you it's possible to push without a gun or even going to the scanner.
I know it's possible, I can do it (or I could, it's been a while) but I'm damned slow.

As to the music, that's what ipods are for (or phones, whatever)
Never really liked how the music sounds out of the intercom anyway.
 
when I worked on flow, we knew our own departments, could bowl it out ourselves, and stock quickly unless the area had been reset recently.

I didn't use anything but a box opener, ticket gun, and a black marker to mark backstock.

no walkies, no scanner.

and my goal was to finish my area fast, then I could move over to help someone else in a different department; kept learning new areas.
 
when I worked on flow, we knew our own departments, could bowl it out ourselves, and stock quickly unless the area had been reset recently.

I didn't use anything but a box opener, ticket gun, and a black marker to mark backstock.

no walkies, no scanner.

and my goal was to finish my area fast, then I could move over to help someone else in a different department; kept learning new areas.

All stores are suppose to work the WAVE now, and I do remember those days as well, I preferred it that way.
 
Ok so our team works 4-8, some of us like myself start at 330 to get the ball rolling. During our shift we are allowed to play music over the intercom, but once 7:00am hits it gets shut off. What the hell is that? What are they talking behind our backs that they need to shut off the music so we don't hear them? Also no water! we have to get that on our own time, like seriously?!!!?? Plus everyday around 6ish all i ever hear on the walkies is "PDA'S for pricing please" non stop because no one else cares. Why can't we have enough pda's for everyone. So the flow has to give up ours, and then we suck because we have to run to a price scanner for a location on something. then they yell at us for not getting done on time, well get us some dam scanners. The hot summer months are the worst, the STL essentially said, sorry guys your not important enough to have the a/c running, enjoy the 80 degrees sauna while you work lol.

and that's just a small puzzle piece of our problems :angry:

The music is an HR nightmare. TM1 complains they only play this type, TM2 complains they never play that type, TM3 complains because music is evil, TM4 complains because music can't be played all day long, etc. We used to play it for the flow team until those issues started and it was easier to just cut it off, don't blame me, blame your team.

Water on your own time would never have came up if it wasn't abused by your team.

Several teams need PDA's to perform their job, the flow team doesn't. In-stocks can't scan without a gun, backroom can't pull without a gun, pricing can't ticket without a gun, flow can push without a gun (there are a couple of areas I will make an exception for). There is no need to run to a scanner for every item, most of the time it isn't needed. Use the tools you already have such as upc, codes, and the big one - common sense. You work with the items every day, you should grasp how the planograms are organized.

It's not the decision from the STL, it's like that in every store. The heating and AC is controlled by HQ, your store can address it through FMOC but the air is turned on at a specific time to ensure the store is guest ready.
 
The music is an HR nightmare. TM1 complains they only play this type, TM2 complains they never play that type, TM3 complains because music is evil, TM4 complains because music can't be played all day long, etc. We used to play it for the flow team until those issues started and it was easier to just cut it off, don't blame me, blame your team.

Water on your own time would never have came up if it wasn't abused by your team.

Several teams need PDA's to perform their job, the flow team doesn't. In-stocks can't scan without a gun, backroom can't pull without a gun, pricing can't ticket without a gun, flow can push without a gun (there are a couple of areas I will make an exception for). There is no need to run to a scanner for every item, most of the time it isn't needed. Use the tools you already have such as upc, codes, and the big one - common sense. You work with the items every day, you should grasp how the planograms are organized.

It's not the decision from the STL, it's like that in every store. The heating and AC is controlled by HQ, your store can address it through FMOC but the air is turned on at a specific time to ensure the store is guest ready.

They stopped letting us play music on the overhead years ago and to be honest Im glad they did. Nothing will make you hate music and radio quicker then working overnight and hearing the same top 10 pop songs played over and over and over again. lol
 
So the flow has to give up ours, and then we suck because we have to run to a price scanner for a location on something. then they yell at us for not getting done on time, well get us some dam scanners.

Every box should have the home location on the pick label. As far as 2nd locations, even the price scanners don't tell you that, hence the Challenge Tub. Though I agree, there should be enough PDAs for everyone. At my store, we barely have enough for the few TMs in Pricing, Instocks, and Backroom. I managed to snag one the other day when I was pushing re-shop, and one of the ETLs had to borrow it just to get the PCV done.
 
Its always fun trying to get a PDA when I come in at 6am and there are none available and I have to do the SDA, QMOS, Research, Order, Print Labels, etc over in Pfresh and Dry :) and then having to track down a PDA for the C+S team for doing BCODES on full cases
 
Last edited:
I would grab all the pda's I needed first thing in the morning and my team would use them until the special teams came in and then they would be directed to that team member to get them. We tried getting some of the harder areas like stationary, office and some of HBA without labels finished before we would lose them. I would hand them out to pricing otherwise they would take forever hunting them down and putting them behind on work. Also handing out to backroom day tm and i would borrow pfresh pda until they came in. POG was notorious for taking one for every team member when they could get away with sharing 2 for the whole team. They used to lie about how many they had and it was a constant battle. I was supposed to have one for challenge and usually let my team borrow mine. We usually had one for my breakout ladies in HBA that we ended up keeping along with 1 or 2 for my electonics pushers and that was it.
 
i see your point, but now we have to all work together. The whole team starts in one area then finish'es at this area. so we are not able to focus on one area.
 
The music is an HR nightmare. TM1 complains they only play this type, TM2 complains they never play that type, TM3 complains because music is evil, TM4 complains because music can't be played all day long, etc. We used to play it for the flow team until those issues started and it was easier to just cut it off, don't blame me, blame your team.

Water on your own time would never have came up if it wasn't abused by your team.

Several teams need PDA's to perform their job, the flow team doesn't. In-stocks can't scan without a gun, backroom can't pull without a gun, pricing can't ticket without a gun, flow can push without a gun (there are a couple of areas I will make an exception for). There is no need to run to a scanner for every item, most of the time it isn't needed. Use the tools you already have such as upc, codes, and the big one - common sense. You work with the items every day, you should grasp how the planograms are organized.

It's not the decision from the STL, it's like that in every store. The heating and AC is controlled by HQ, your store can address it through FMOC but the air is turned on at a specific time to ensure the store is guest ready.

water was never abused by our team. they just magically said stop going for a drink of water, and wait to the end of your shift. We also have to ask to use the bathroom, and if we're backed up we can't go.

Thank for clearing up the A/C problem

no one complains about the music, because they play the same kind everyday. I imagine if someone complained they would do a variety. What i'm trying to figure out is why they shut it off at 7am. It helps a lot of people move faster, even though it's just that one hour.
 
nope... they say its too unsafe to have your ipod. we only can have music over the intercom

And they have no problem with at our store, even some of the TL's wear them as long as one ear is uncovered so you can hear.
Some folks have the mini speakers for their phones, they couldn't complain about that.
 
Won't let you go to the bathroom, or get water? Talk to HR. That's unreasonable. I'm pretty sure there are other stores give their teams that amount of freedom and are still successful. Your problem isn't in the bathroom.
 
Whoever is working repacks in flow gets a PDA, especially when you have tons of transition coming in. I also give one to the H&B team for their repacks. I carry one so I can take care of mispicks and defectives as I go. When price change comes in I will give them the H&B one (they work the repacks right away) IMO plano takes too many PDAs when they are working in the same area/aisle. They crack me up when they say they need them to fill. Well flow fills everyday without PDAs.... look at the labels. On the other hand can you imagine coming in to do your job and having to beg for equipment everyday? If you are backroom, pricing or instocks you simply have to have one to do your job. You shouldn't have to beg. During the unload I have a few people carry walkies and as soon as we are done, they go back in the chargers for the other teams. Our music is played overhead and we do different genres each day (I hate country Thursdays!)
We have a water cooler on the dock for all teams to use. We do not allow water bottles on the floor at all. If you need to pee, you need to pee! How can anyone tell you that you cannot use the bathroom? On really hot days I always make sure I have something ready for first break. Gatorade, lemonade, soda, bottled water all work. The teams favorite is when I have cold energy drinks for them.
 
Our store shuts off the music at 7AM as well. I believe it is because that is the time when our operator shows up. She prefers that the flow team not have to listen to her answer calls or ask the opening LOD (who is at the TSC during that time getting the days paperwork ready and letting the CO TM into the cash office) questions.
 
IMO - overhead shouldn't be used to play music. Overhead should be kept clear for night bell calls, as we rarely have anyone in TSC except the ETL/TL every now and then to print something or check RWT. We used a portable ipod dock, and our TL uses his iPod with a very wide variety of music (to please everyone) as our source of workout energy.

Works for us.
 
There are rarely any walkies or PDAs when we open the pharmacy so we usually have neither. Granted, we usually don't need a PDA until later in the day, but I'm sure our HR person gets a bit tired of paging someone over to help a guest when we have neither and need something looked up or we need the LOD or GSA or whatever....
 
Ok so our team works 4-8, some of us like myself start at 330 to get the ball rolling. During our shift we are allowed to play music over the intercom, but once 7:00am hits it gets shut off. What the hell is that? What are they talking behind our backs that they need to shut off the music so we don't hear them? Also no water! we have to get that on our own time, like seriously?!!!?? Plus everyday around 6ish all i ever hear on the walkies is "PDA'S for pricing please" non stop because no one else cares. Why can't we have enough pda's for everyone. So the flow has to give up ours, and then we suck because we have to run to a price scanner for a location on something. then they yell at us for not getting done on time, well get us some dam scanners. The hot summer months are the worst, the STL essentially said, sorry guys your not important enough to have the a/c running, enjoy the 80 degrees sauna while you work lol.

and that's just a small puzzle piece of our problems :angry:

Back when I started on Flow, we only got two PDA's, 1 for Electronics/Entertainment and 1 for HBA/Stationary. That was it. We were required to learn how to read DPCIs and Understand Dept. #'s. Not all that hard. Now the "trainers" aren't even trained enough to train the new comers. It gets on my nerve to hear the specialty teams trying to get PDA's in the morning knowing that Flow has 5 of them, and if a couple get taken, they (Flow) walk around clueless.
 
All stores are suppose to work the WAVE now, and I do remember those days as well, I preferred it that way.

Our Store doesnt follow that apparently. We have Waves in: C&D, Market, HBA, and Softlines. With 2 guys soloing Chem, 1 Pets.

But on topic. I'm trained in other departments so I know the demand for HBA, Walkies, are high. Yet giving up one in HBA really hinders us. Specially on 30hr HBA days. I work fine without one, even when doing Cosmetics. But most of my wave tm need one every 2 seconds...

Our only rant Flow has is not having enough flats for zones we havent pushed yet. Cause after 8am we cant bring out the pallets whatsoever. P-Fresh always steals the flats and tubs.
 
Won't let you go to the bathroom, or get water? Talk to HR. That's unreasonable. I'm pretty sure there are other stores give their teams that amount of freedom and are still successful. Your problem isn't in the bathroom.

Sounds to me like the leadership team is getting annoyed with the team... I'm assuming there has been lots of issues with the team using old elementary school tricks to get out of cla--- I mean work (10 minute trips to get a "drink of water" or "go to the bathroom") multiple times a shift! I have seen TMs waste half of their shift away when I was a TM alongside them using these tricks, and its a huge waste of payroll! I wouldn't be surprised if the team in question had one too many people that just made it suck for everyone else!
 
Our Store doesnt follow that apparently. We have Waves in: C&D, Market, HBA, and Softlines. With 2 guys soloing Chem, 1 Pets.

But on topic. I'm trained in other departments so I know the demand for HBA, Walkies, are high. Yet giving up one in HBA really hinders us. Specially on 30hr HBA days. I work fine without one, even when doing Cosmetics. But most of my wave tm need one every 2 seconds...

Our only rant Flow has is not having enough flats for zones we havent pushed yet. Cause after 8am we cant bring out the pallets whatsoever. P-Fresh always steals the flats and tubs.

Your wave should work together throughout the entire store (some exceptions are fine) and do all the case stock off the ground... as you are going someone should be sorting out the repacks and loose autofills into carts in the horse shoe formation... and then as the wave moves through a few people will stay to work those out! The wave should never need a PDA unless they are one of the few working repacks...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top