cashier

store clerk

department supervisor

grocery associate

produce clerk

No Frills

La Rosa's No Frills is an ideal example of a typical grocery store. It's obviously not perfect, mind you, but that does not take away from all the good it has to offer. 
One thing you will learn in the grocery department is that there is no slack time, it is always a go-go-go situation. Typical days start with bakery and slowly shifts forward towards with the grocery stock. You will learn on a typical day that there will be some screw-ups on the warehouse end (and it isn't your fault no matter what management tells you). With that being said, not everyone has the best day and that is fine. What is not fine is people taking that frustration out on other employees. 
One thing I noticed before I voluntarily left was that this store was noticeably becoming understaffed. This was a good and bad thing to happen at any grocery store. Good because people were given more hours; bad because if someone called in sick, the store was screwed: stock isn't worked, departments are sometimes left to fend for itself or forgotten, and closing shift coworkers mostly slacked off. This was probably the hardest part of the job (1), knowing you cannot change someone's habits to your standards of work; and (2), any new workers were hard to break into the habit. This was a typical complaint among management and coworkers, the fact that all the original workers left, and we were left with new ones to try and fit into our original standards. This also fed into another downside to being there for so long, everyone's  expectations of you are increased because you are competent.   
Workplace culture is your typical place. Very friendly coworkers and staff.
Customers are a 50/50 in terms of working with them. Most were well-behaved and did not bother you, a good bundle tended to be very rowdy. This is typical of any grocery store, however. If you haven't worked at a grocery store before, a couple things will stand out: (1), not a lot of customers can read no matter what you tell them; (2), customers, contrary to their belief, are hardly ever right; and (3), feel empathetic with cashiers because they usually get the brunt of all the criticism of this store. 
What I learned from No Frills was valuable customer service skills, work ethic and knowing you can do it, and team building. Regardless of what I think in the middle of my review, this place is great to start out. My advice is to show up for your shift on time, and do your work properly. If they see you don't care, they will treat you the same.

Been with No Frills for two years now and I love it. A typical day at work as a cashier is obviously mostly ringing customers through a cash which gets easier and easier. I've learned many PLU codes, produce codes. They don't have barcodes so you have to type them in. Memorizing them is easy as pie. 

I've learned customer service skills. You deal with customers the entire shift and I've learned that if you have enthusiasm, positivity and friendliness the customers will absolutely adore you. It's great talking to a whole bunch of different customers from all walks of life. They are great to give advice if you're young like me and they let you know if the weather is worth missing or if it's a beautiful day and you're missing out. Either way talking to the customers and other cashiers I personally find is the best part. 

Management is pretty decent. All of the managers at my No Frills are really nice and funny and we all get along great, it's like a family. The co-workers are great too. Sometimes they are too great, like I can't stop talking to them when I'm standing in front of my cash waiting for a customer. I've met so many people from other schools at No Frills it's great. 

The hardest part of the job I think are the long shifts depending on how much sleep you got the night before and how early your shift is. Also the standing isn't too fun. I highly recommend getting the comfiest shoes out there. I also recommend sleeping that night after a long shift with your feet elevated so they aren't sore the next day. Something I wish No Frills did was pay all the cashiers the same. If you're under 18 you get payed $10.30 and over 18 is $11.00. People who are over and under 18 do the exact same job and should get paid the same. I know people that work at other places in town and they get paid $11 and they are the same age as me (under 18) or even younger. Another bad thing about No Frills is that they are stuck in the 80s in some ways. Like you have to get your work schedule at work. You have to walk in and get it, instead of getting an e-mail with it which is kinda annoying. 

The most enjoyable parts of the job in the end are:
-dealing with nice customers & having a decent conversation w/ them 
-having great friends at work, feels like a family (co-workers)
-work experience, at the end of the day you need to get started somewhere and this is a great place for that

A typical day at work would begin with everyone receiving their assignments in the back room. This would then be your job for the rest of the shift ie) which isles were your responsibility today. We would usually begin with working through skids of delivered product and putting them on the shelves. If the shelves were full, then the overhead. We'd then continue to face (pull and stack everything) in our assigned isles until the end of our shift. If we finished early then we'd assist someone else. Other than that, we were isolated throughout our shifts aside from customers asking where items were. For the half hour we worked past closing if when we acting got to interact somewhat with our co-workers. We'd finish the most important jobs for opening the next morning which was usually working through a skid that was delivered late. The culture of working here was very isolated and involved a lot of alone time simply pulling things forward, stacking them, and pulling down from the overhead to fill shelves. The hardest part of the job was making sure you didn't put one of the dozen identical objects, such as shampoo bottles, in the wrong spot. This was done by endlessly checking the last 4 digits on the bar code of the products and matching them to the self bar code. If you misplace something and it's caught by the managers, that's when you would get a good scolding. The most enjoyable part of the job would be getting called by the cashiers. At this point we'd go resolve an issue that a customer is having at the cashier. This included but is not limited to doing price checks, carrying out bags for customers and retrieving additional items for customers. The reason this was the most enjoyable was because it actually allowed for some human interaction. Therefore I'd savor these moments and was as polite to the customers as possible to secure my spot as being responsible for these calls. The manager would tell us who is responsible for them in the back room at the beginning of each shift, and delegate when they went on their lunch break.

What is the best part of working at the company?
If you get the chance to make a friend, it outsets all the negative things. Sometimes you meet cool customers too

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Heavy micromanagement with all aspects such as how you manage your time and break as well as all aspects of your work. Not as heavy work as construction but you will be pushed to your limits physically and mentally with the quotas you have to meet. On average, in 5 hours, you will be expected to finish 3 pallets of boxes of merchandise, not counting the constant aisle clean up, price checks, customers asking if there are more of something in "the back" . If you work frozen, it's a whole different ball park. Sure, it's still stacking things on shelves but you have to be concerned with your pacing, as not only is it a new environment, you are still expected to finish it within 2 hours (there are three frozen palettes filled with frozen merchandise that will make sure your fingers freeze up and body go to survival mode, making sure the heat leaves your whole body and straight to your heart as a last resort. And yeah, pay is modest

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very personal and very "frank" with a hint of a corporate feel when you are invited to the office by your boss or manager every once in a while. Make you you get lots of sleep the previous night before you start any shift, if you don't, buy coffee.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Starts slow where you check the temp of freezers and fridges, do some customer service, make small talk, or not, then you "pull tops" where you bring over stock from above the shelves before the truck arrives. Once it arrives, it's all out busy and if you're an unfortunate soul, you'll be in a sea of people, some of which expect you help in another aisle, one wants your help where you're standing and they don't speak English and they're showing you their phone translator, and you're only half way in your pallet.

They never stop hiring because people always quit or get fired before they pass probation. As a grocery stocker the supervisor will constantly be on your back about speed, go faster, go faster, etc. The owner/big boss seems cool but you never interact with him. If you stop to help customers with their questions you'll be slower and probably get fired. 

It's hard to learn to be fast because you're dealing with thousands of different item locations and the items you stock aren't in a systematic order, you pick random stuff off of a pallet. It's pretty random and you have to come up with your own optimal walk path given what you have to stock. So you're asking me to learn where everything is in the store and do mental gymnastics to optimize my speed, all for a minimum wage job? They also change the store layout all the time which throws you off.

Some of the veterans are mean or dismissive for some reason. You're not better than anyone because you've worked at a retail grocery for longer. You're much better off working for a food warehouse as the work is just as fast-paced and tedious but you'll get paid way more.

When I was here, we were scheduled for 6 hour shifts (I think, hard to remember) and they switched us to 4 hour shifts just to get more days of work out of us (like 4 x 3 days instead of 6 x 2 days). What a joke. I don't how people feed their families on such low hours.

They really should do their restocking at night, people can do it faster when there's no traffic in the aisles. Another thing is who really wants to be seen furiously stocking items at full speed during open hours so customers will think "ha, look at that guy he takes his minimum wage job so seriously"?

Another thing to note is that this No Frills is not unionized but one close by is (Mantel's I believe it's called). It's much better to be unionized but I don't even think a union would make this job worth it.

A typical day of work consisted of taking stock from the backroom, putting it on the shelf, and culling out any bad product. Also helping customers when necessary. I learned how to send and receive orders. Now regarding management its honestly a mixed bag. You have some that work as hard as they can, and you have some that are happy just sitting in the office on their phone. Honestly I'm not really bothered by the phone thing that much. What does bother me is having orders barked at me for jobs that aren't even my responsibility by the managers not doing anything. Even worse though is the same managers will get on your case for being on your phone or talking to a co-worker. The managers that work hard there are super nice though, hence the 3/5 stars I gave for management. Workplace culture at least among the employees is okay, everyone gets along anyway. The hardest part of the job would be the dollar ads that they have once every month or couple of months. This is a sale that spans two weeks and brings in an absolute horde of people which is great for No Frills, although it makes it literally impossible to get a job done because you cannot get through all of these people that are now crammed into this tiny store. And if that wasn't enough these customers are now getting mad and straight up being rude to you, because something is sold out or its not on the shelf even though its completely out of your control. The back room of that store is tiny, its literally impossible to have enough stock on hand for these kinds of sales. If the store was bigger and sufficiently staffed, dollar sales might be doable. Sadly however, that is never going to happen because of the size of parking lot this store is located in. The most enjoyable part of the job was receiving orders because it kept me busy and away from customers.

A typical day work would include, lifting objects that can be 50+ pounds, pushing buggies back from the parking lot into the lobby, refilling displays of fruits and vegetables, and constantly providing customer service. 
I've learned about business management, and operations management approaches, because I attended school at humber college for a business management program. Working at No Frill's helped me have a better understanding of it because I see the business techniques in action through the manager how he manages not only his but other peoples time, merchandising, and contracts within the company.
No Frill's is a team based workplace, and my co-workers do make a great team, everyone is friendly and respectful to each other, as we do plan times to spend with each other out of work. Everyone has their different strengths and weaknesses but each one of us are different from the other, and have different strengths that can make up for each others weaknesses.
One flaw about the job I would say is that since I work in the Produce Department only, we have not been trained to know the products that are in the grocery department, so when a customer asks a produce clerk about a product that is in the grocery department, sometimes we wouldn't know what the customer is talking about or sometimes don't know where it is located. So us produce clerks need to find a grocery clerk for assistance, but it seems like that department is under staff because most of the time, the grocery clerks would be in the back room or they are hard to find because of having two or three of them on the floor for such a big department.
But the most enjoyable about this job is that, it is very flexible for me because I attend school and they understand and have workers that can work if needed.

A typical day at John's Nofrills is usually the same as usual. I show up ready to work 5 minutes before my shift starts every shift. Since I've worked at Nofrills I've learned there are no "easy" jobs, a cashiers job may look easy to some people but it definitely has its challenges for example dealing with the rush of costumers, get blamed for everything that goes wrong with the store by the costumers even when it has nothing to do with you, little problems seem to make the biggest difference no matter what they are. The management at this store definitely needs a lot of work, there are to many bosses who have their own rules on how things are suppose to go. Everyone needs to be trained the same way so its done the same way no matter whose in charge that day. It's a really big problem that needs to be fixed soon or everyone's going to be doing the same job different ways. Some of my co-workers are definitely treated better then some. It seems to be a some what of a popularity contest with somethings that happen in the workplace, some of us work a lot harder then others that are treated a little bit better but don't do very much, so there's a few of us that pick of the slack of those workers to make sure the job gets done. Its not fair and there's nothing that gets done about it, if anything they get promoted.  That's one of the hardest parts of this job, its very unorganized with the training and the rules that we're provided from one manager then told that's wrong by the other's, its very confusing and frustrating and not fair to the employees. The most enjoyable part about this job is the co-workers I have some of the best co-workers I could ever ask for, that's what makes this job so enjoyable, there's no way I'd be able to work here without some of those people I work with.

A typical day of work would start by getting dressed in uniform, starting the shift off by bringing down the till into our instructed register. You'd just spend the whole shift helping cashing out customers, handling their payment, typing down food codes at the register. 
From time-to-time when business is slowed down, we'd have to put away the baskets and put the returned groceries back on the appropriate shelves. 
On closing time, when we're finished with our last customers, we clean up our stalls by bringing out the garbage, bringing up our tills to the cash office, washing down the conveyor belts and facing our assigned shelves.

I learned a lot working here since it was my first job experience, such as proper P.O.S. system handling, working with a lot of different customers under pressure, attention to detail is very important and the basics of keeping a business.

The co-workers in general were nice, everyone was very helpful; but only a few would actually be open to have a full out conversation with you. The management was very fast-paced with training, but I caught on quickly. Everyone was wonderful for my first job experience, which was a great start! 

I'd say the hardest part of the job was keeping positive during rough times, when customers were rude and would complain a lot. It was definitely tough working through those times because I'm still getting used to working with a bunch of people at once.

Finally, the most enjoyable part of the job was scanning and handling the food items, because I felt like I did a very excellent job at serving the customers. I've always wanted to work behind the cash register ever since my first visit to a grocery store ever since I could remember.

A typical day at Christopher's No Frills 
- standing at my lane to wait for customers that need to be cashed out.
- if the store is not busy, I look for different tasks that need to be completed such as placing items back where they belong, collecting baskets and ensuring that my lane looks presentable for customers.
- assisting new cashiers with tasks when asked
- collaborating with other employees working in different departments to fullfill the customer's requests
- on days when the store is busy, I am limited to movement
- during closing, I complete duties such as cleaning lanes, collecting garbage and damaged boxes, and if needed, I also help other departments reorganize items on the shelf

From my experience as a cashier, I've becomed accustomed to handling customers that complain about prices and damaged items. Also, I'm able to determine where items belong and what the price is.

The supervisors, or those with overrides, take advantage of their seniority. For example, they take more breaks than are assigned for smoke breaks, and without consulting other cashiers, they will move breaks to have it together with preferable employees. 

Out of my one and a half years working at Nofrills, I've never encountered any major problems The only difficult task was memorizing the codes for the fruits and vegetables, however after a week or so, I became accustomed to them and was able to do my job without struggling.

The most enjoyable part of the job is being able to talk to customers when the store is not busy. This gives me time to slow down from the constant fast pace and actually have a formal conversation with them.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Cashier 10 salaries reported	$18.84 per hour
Store clerk 13 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour
Department supervisor 10 salaries reported	$26.00 per hour
Grocery associate 9 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour
Produce clerk 3 salaries reported	$17.90 per hour

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