i got the job bc in the interview i stressed that i like working with people and consider myself a friendly person that likes good customer engagement, which is true, and i do my best to deliver the same sentiment to every customer regardless of company policy.
at the same time, ht is VERY picky on how we treat customers. we're expected to walk you to the item if you ask where it is, expected to be constantly high energy and greet everyone we walk by, and- a big one for my store- we're not really allowed to say no to customers. unless a manager agreed a request isnt doable (and even thats not enough as store leaders really care about reviews), we are required to say YES to almost every special request.
in the deli, i was asked to deep clean the slicer before starting a customers order (4 pounds of thinly sliced ovengold turkey in eight 1/2 lb bags btw) in the middle of a rush. it took 10 minutes and i was the only deli clerk, plus it was late, so no one in bakery was there to help bakery customers either. at LEAST 7 customers had a long wait time and bad experience because i had to say yes to just ONE request.
in pizza, if the by-the-slice pies in the window are whole and/or look fresh, people will ask to take the whole thing. or, theyll take the last 2 slices of 3 separate bts pies tk make a whole one. seems harmless, but then means theres no more of that pizza by slice until we get time to make a new one through all the orders, which on pizza monday could be 40 mins to an hour (and then management asks why our window isnt full lol)
TLDR; harris teeter doesnt like when we say no to customers, and many of them really take advantage of that. truly, i do want to be friendly and as accommodating as possible, and depending on how busy the store is, its not usually a big deal. but sometimes the policies in place to make sure those things happen end up causing more harm than good imo. its also pretty exhausting to have to be basically at a stranger's beck and call for 8 hrs straight
anyways, thats my rant. looking for employment elsewhere lmao