Customer Service Representative | Brampton, ON | May 4, 2018
Average day of service clerk
Come into work, punch in, inform management that you had come in on time. Go to the cart garages and check in with your coworker(s) and begin working. Depending on how many coworkers are there on a given day or time would change if you had to take care of the whole store or just a portion of it. If the day was a slow one (generally weekdays in the summer) you would go in to help with returns or other odd jobs that management may have. When closing you would be in charge of emptying the cashier's garbage cans and collecting their mats at the end of the day. Then at the end of your shift you check in with management to let them know your leaving then go to check out.
There is not much to learn from working Service Clerk for most of the time your out collecting carts for the store. But on the odd chance the need you to do something inside or on a slow day there are things that one can pick up on. As mentioned before you would sometimes do returns that includes taking a cart of returned items and restocking them onto the shelves. Which is a job that one could move to later on. Another thing is that you are closely associated with the cashiers as they are both run by the same managers. If the managers like you one can move to being a cashier fairly easily.
Management is general nice and understanding but you will most likely not have much interaction with them as your unsupervised while do your work. Most of the time you will only see them if you did something wrong, they ne
Nice decor, cool co-workers (non-management). Nice customers and underground parking. That's it for the good stuff.
On the outside this place looks really organized. Inside, this place is being managed by under-qualified managers with no problem solving skills and rely on making themselves look smarter than they really are. Stock all over the place in the back that sits there forever while shelves are empty and customers can't buy what they came for. Lots of wasted product from terrible organization of overstocked items. Crushed cans, open flour bags, crushed boxes of all kinds of dry goods. When you mention it to management, they do nothing about it and that's if you ever find them or can reach them when you call them.
Customer service is preached about being so important when your hired and than when you try and help customers, management complains about not being fast enough with your other duties. They always tell customers "it's out of stock and they don't know when they are getting more" when it's been sitting buried in the stock room for the longest time. Overstock gets worse as management orders more of the same thing instead of looking for it in the stock room resulting in more waste. Nobody in Management knows when new stock comes in and where it should go. One person says put it in the back, another person says make room for it anywhere on the shelf.
Need I go on?
In Summary,
The duties, co-workers (non-management), atmosphere and over all decor is pre
Did Fortinos ever have a heart to begin with? This is what one would question after being employed there.
When you first start working at 5111 New Street everything seems like your typical friendly store. Depending on which department you're in, you may have a friendly and dedicated manager or a disrespectful one. Either way, department managers are pressured from their boss to make the departments function in unacceptable, hostile and unmaintained environments. Employees are also subject to these conditions and are harassed by different levels of management for things that are out of their control.
Employees quit often, are not given discounts, there are no Christmas parties or any celebration of any kind besides a charity BBQ which is not free for the employees either. The company seems to be run by nepotism, certain inner circle members are impervious to discipline of any kind and their union representatives seem scared to represent their fellow coworkers.
The wage and benefits are none livable like most level entry jobs available today, however this employer refuses to reward loyalty, or show any special interest in hard working/dedicated employees and suggestions for improvement are ignored.
From a customer point of view, the store is often out of stock of a lot of items, signs can be missing on products and food may be overcooked or expired.
This store either needs to be closed or completely revamped with a new company that has a different outlook on pr
Prosco-workers are friendly and supportive
Conshostile environment with a short tempered owner
2.0
Customer Service Representative | Waterdown, ON | Aug 7, 2019
Customer service and department tasks
The job mostly consists of providing customer service while you go about completing department specific tasks. It can get busy, but manageable enough. I constantly had things breaking on me, though hopefully with the renovation everything will improve.
The hours aren't bad, from my experience. This differs for each department, though they seem to have a similar set up.
What I learned working there was I am not a fan of custom service, however some people are made for it, so don't let me stop you.
Not a fan of management. Some people were fine, but when one department suddenly doesn't have a closer, you wonder about competence.
Never had a problem with co-workers, even from other departments. I found it easy enough to make friends. On holidays there's usually free food in the break room, but there is also no employee discount.
Hardest part of the job, I'd say, is dealing with angry people. There's some heavy lifting, but going into the back just to pull yourself together isn't fun. This isn't an issue with the company, however I think they should respond better to such situations, and coach employees in how to react in direct, and stressful confrontations.
Part of the "service with a heart" is a check up on customer service training every once in awhile, but no one takes it seriously, or teaches useful/important skills when it comes to dealing with a upset customer.
Overall, I didn't have a great time, and neither did anyone I know. It could be the department
Very enjoyable schedule-based and team-oriented maintenance position.
Was a very exciting opportunity to work with Fortinos. There was no such thing as a typical day because every day was different, always something new going on and new things to do. I learned a lot from working with the Maintenance team at Fortinos for example; working on a set schedule, cleaning strategies for bathrooms/lunchrooms as well as general time management strategies to ensure that work gets done on time every time.
Management was pushy and though understandably harsh was good in that they kept me engaged at work and reminded me to keep putting in 100%. Experience with the Maintenance team was a positive one, they were friendly and understanding and help me learn a great deal about the position, I enjoyed working with them.
Part of the position that I found the most challenging was keeping up with the schedule when days were busiest, keeping pristine washrooms while checking up with the other departments of the store proved to be a challenge.
I believe I enjoyed the entire position in itself, I thoroughly enjoy keeping tidy and maintaining a clean environment, and having to put my skill set to the test in a job environment that made sense to me and enjoyed was very exciting for me and I look forward to the possibility of working in such a position again.
ProsFriendly team. Flexible break times
ConsFrequently understaffed during busy days/peak hours
Double-tasking, time crunching, and a little physically demanding (lifting pizza boards, lifting and putting down bins of dough when breaking commissary, bending down often to reach ingredients or grab something, pulling garbage bags to throw in trash) You must be a people person and able to communicate effectively with customers and co-workers/managers. Managers are decent but can be hard based on department/location. But overall a fun experience with co-workers. However, the amount of stress (on minimum wage) doesn't balance out (in the context of work/life). Training is learned as you go and if you pay attention it's easy to understand and people are willing to help you. You will specialize in what skills you have (prep, ovens, pizza-making, bread front) If you want to move up though, it's gonna be hard, you trade your time for hard work and have to look for different opportunities on the job boards in-store. Multiple co-workers have been there for years and are dedicated, welcoming people. You'll make some good work relationships.
All said and done, it's a good part-time job if you're looking for work in a rapid-paced, friendly, safe place.
ProsUnionized, free food occasionally & after closing on holidays, friendly people, engaging customers, ~flexible shifts based on *availability days*
Consshort-staffed, either long hours, or 2 shifts a week, stressful environment, burn-out is often
The experience was very short because I gave up the job when I realized that between one shift and the other I had less than 6 hours to sleep, having 8 hours of difference between one shift and the other would be impossible for me to follow these rhythms of work and rest, stress accumulates quickly and fatigue compromises the productivity and the psychosomatic balance of workers and being a physical job a position in the bakery work is very hard constantly moving the kilos of dough during the phases of cutting and cooking.
Personally, I know that at these conditions of work I can not guarantee to be a good employee for the company and I have therefore decided to renounce the position.
For me the downside in my experience at fresh bread was the shift, for the rest, I have only positive experiences of a beautiful team!
The pizza bread manager is an excellent teacher and with her, you can learn quickly how to work in the processing and final baking of bread making.
The manager's passion for baking is a beautiful gift that encourages you to work well and to continue learning.
For me it was a wonderful experience in Fortinos, I hope to find another nice working group like the one I left behind.
Other plus points are benefits and a fast career at a multinational such as Loblaw in the Fortinos supermarkets.
Good luck to all.
I worked here part time as a student for 2 years. I wish I had left so much sooner. Working at Fortinos feels like you're constantly being watched, like at any moment some manager who has no idea what it's like to actually work your job is going to coke scold you. We were not given enough time to complete tasks at the end of the night, which we had to take up with the union, because management told us they expected us to stay for a half hour after our shifts ended to get it done. They'll schedule you for 6 hour shifts, and only give you 15 minutes of break time. Took that one up with the union too, my manager was forced to offer half hour breaks when we worked 6 hours. There's a culture of guilt-tripping if you need to call in sick, that made me incredibly anxious. My great-grandmother died and my manager told me to find my own coverage.
If you work here, please talk to your union. They are an asset to you. If anything can get management to finally listen to you, it's them. But if you're not already working there, don't start now. I'm at an incredibly laid-back job now where I work by myself, but I still feel like I'm being watched at work. The anxiety of working at Fortinos lingers. Don't subject yourself to that.
ProsUnion, working with other students
ConsStressful environment, management surveillance, bad workplace culture
Terrible work place. Safety procedures were never held. Training for the job (if you want to call it training) was basically someone teling you what to do and then leaving you to figure it out. Any manager who ever had a problem would never talk to you about it, instead you would be written up and disciplined the next day. Union reps were no help at all. One actually hangs out and goes drinking with a couple managers. No grievance that i ever filed was ever solved, instead it just dragged on for several months with no return of my calls or emails. One day the union rep for the store dropped a skid of pickles and did not clean it up properly at all. so the following day i happnened to be handling a case that was underneath the bay and went to take the product and cut my hand because there were chunks of broken glass in the box as well as several other boxes and still on the ground with pickles. When reporting this incident to management they did nothing nor cleaned it up. Instead i was disciplined because i was not happy with the fact no one did anything at all along the safety guidlines that are more common sense then guiglines.
Would not reccomend anyone ever to work for this company.
It is hard to describe a typical day as a Pricing Analyst at Fortinos Supermarket since every day is different. The daily responsibilities include scanning all empty spaces of product in the Grocery Department, Health and Beauty Department, Dairy Department and Natural Foods Department which prints a pick list that notifies these departments on which product needs to be refilled on the shelves or which product is out of stock and needs to be ordered. Then product pricing resets, increases and decreases must be replaced on products. After this is finished, Grocery aisles are then code checked which includes removing and documenting all expire product and reducing the prices of all product that is close to expiration. Since I am also a Cashier, I help the Front End of the Store when they are busy.
While working as a Pricing Analyst I have learnt which products sell and which products do not sell. Management is very organized and my co-workers are a pleasure to work with.
The hardest part of my job is that there is not enough people working in this department but the most enjoyable part of my job is the people I work because although we are a small group we are able to work as a team to finish all tasks.
Questions and answers about Fortinos
How long after applying did you get called?
Asked Jul 25, 2017
I was called for an interview a few hours after applying.
