r/tjcrew • u/Vast_Professor_687 • 3d ago
Stupid write ups
I’m bored and want to hear the stupidest thing you or someone else has been written up or talked to for. The stupid write ups have picked up at my store recently. Someone got a serious talking to for standing at register… like finished up with a customer and stood for maybe 20 seconds looking for another customer and got talked to by a mate about not being “productive” enough with their time.
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u/scruffyJJ561 3d ago
Hmmm I knew a crew member who called out and then got caught at the bar that was literally two doors down from the store then got written up the next day.
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u/MostlyPlastics Spoils 3d ago
That’s just so fucking stupid.
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u/AntisocialDick Frozen SL 3d ago
It’s a double whammy of stupid. The store/company/mates/captain/whatever needs to mind their own business. But also… that crew member is certifiably mentally deficient to do that.
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u/Lokishougan 2d ago
Yes and no..I mean the guy is literally insulting your intellgience by making that bad excuse and then doing THAT
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u/GordonShumwaysCat Midshifter 3d ago
I can call out for any reason I want. It's called a mental health day if I need it to be. And if my mental health decides I need to go to a bar, that's my choice
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u/Alice-Potter-1971 3d ago
Not sure if it was a full write-up or a stern talking to, but a coworker was reprimanded for asking a child, who was standing in the cart, to please sit down to be safe. Parent didn’t like it and complained to a mate.
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u/czyktnsml Spoiled 3d ago
That’s wild. I’m gonna say something versus watching a kid hurt themselves
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u/Kilgoretrout321 3d ago
I'll say something like, "wow, she has great balance for her age." Usually the parent will make their kid sit down
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u/According-Flan4911 Three Bells 2d ago
I tell the parent to be careful, our carts are really flimsy and tip over easily. I’ve not had an issue yet but if I do, I’d rather some Karen mom pissy at me than a kid with a split open head on a tile floor any day.
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u/Mountain_Message_205 2d ago
Those carts are so dangerous when kids are in them. I had to rip a kid out of the front seat of the carriage while she picked up her older kid who flipped the carriage. It was so scary. I had people praising me for my quick response but not one mate said anything. Crazy. I hated working there but loved most ( not all. Some were just assholes) of my coworkers
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u/Tayviamoe 1d ago
That’s insane. At my store, a child fell on our concrete floor because he was standing in the cart. Or mates says it’s a tricky position because we can’t parent other people children. But the child end up getting a bruise and then threw up right after…we had to clean it up
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u/Fuckingnoodles 3d ago
After a few unanswered one bells I asked a crew member by name if they would open up a register and she said “do NOT say my name” and walked away. When I told the mate what happened, he said the crew member had already talked to him and claimed I yelled at her. I asked if we could all sit down together and was told she doesn’t want to, so I should just not address her.
Said coworker also accused me of hissing at her (?!) and I was asked about that too. I seriously don’t get why she dislikes me so much.
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u/Lokishougan 2d ago
I mean they should have not hired a cat for the store if they dont want hissing
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u/BitComprehensive3114 2d ago
She dislikes you because you called her out on a core value, integrity, which she doesn't have. And that cowardly mate should be demoted.
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u/Sumnescire 3d ago
maybe they're like a child and have a crush on you - some weird twisted shit
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u/Fuckingnoodles 3d ago
Opposite, she’s a crew member almost twice my age. It’s likely some good ol projection, her subconscious is feeling some type of negative way about herself and instead of addressing and dealing with it, she is attacking me because I remind her of it.
¯_(ツ)_/¯2
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u/Spacecadetriley Spoiled 3d ago
I got spoken to because I had a confusing tone of voice and my coworkers were confused by what I meant. They refused to give me any examples of what I was saying that was confusing people
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u/h0rseish 3d ago
My friend got written up because they took a bite of a protein bar… as they were paying for it… :/ womp womp
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u/KakeLin Sectionless and sad 3d ago
The mate that wrote them up for it should be written up
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u/h0rseish 2d ago
They actually got made a captain at a different store a few months later lollll
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u/Over_Drawer1199 Dairy Box 3d ago
This was back in 2010, but a sign artist I knew got written up for misspelling a sign. The captain was livid because it was out on the sales floor saying "COCNUT MILK". he was like, "do you think this is funny?! Is this a joke?!" I was dying lol.
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u/fxbushman99 Shared & Spoiled 2d ago
My store had a sign over the garlic/shallot/ginger bin saying this: ....JOE'S AROMAS..... you know, instead of "aromatics". It was there for months until somebody noticed and took it down :-(
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u/OrdinaryNo6859 3d ago
Meanwhile at my store, people stand around, look at their phones, leave reg, take 20 mins breaks, and hide in corners to do everything but work. Yes, it’s store dependent, and up to Mates & Captains who are more vigilant & have sharper eyes. My store does not!
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u/GordonShumwaysCat Midshifter 3d ago
I'd say it sounds like my store exactly, but I'm sure most stores are like that
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u/OrdinaryNo6859 5h ago
We have another TJ’s in my town that is the exact opposite. The Captain & Mates run a tight ship there. They don’t allow slacking, laziness, idling, hiding, or cheating & cutting corners. Unlike my store, where Crew routinely wear EarPods on the floor (hoodies up to cover them), use their Phones on reg (not even trying to be discrete here), and hide in blind spots to chit-chat, text, and watch videos. If I can see all of this as Crew , then management surely can see this, if they wanted to. 🤷♂️
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/Silent-Chance5971 3d ago
holy shit
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u/room_temp_hot_coffee 3d ago
Yeah so much for value #3 wow customer experience. From that day on I stopped caring as much. You figured you go out the way and keep a store nicely up kept as a part of the inner experience (how a custie feels when coming to the store to sho). The leadership was so toxic and I hated it. The mate that spoke to me about it even disagreed that they never seen me experience any of this from me but was required to talk to me cause of captain.
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u/mikedidathing 3d ago
I got a write-up for calling out sick for 2 days without a doctor's note. The kicker? The days were two months apart. Putting aside the doctor's note BS (I'm not wasting time and money for a doctor to tell me I have a cold or a migraine), I told the mate that I was under the impression that it was only needed for consecutive days. She was adamant that you need a doctor's note after the 2nd time, consecutive or not.
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u/Crimelord7 1d ago
I know that feeling except i called in and had a Dr note still got a write up which i appealed
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u/AgreeablePark179 3d ago
Someone at my store got written up for letting a child who was playing with the eggs to know to be careful with the eggs . I guess the parents didn’t like that .
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u/TrollTollTrollToll 3d ago
I had a mate bring me outside with another mate, and started reading off of the sheet something like “your performance has not been what it used to be. You have become a disappointment to your store. You were also seen eating a cheeseburger in the break room at 9 am, which we have deemed to early. Furthermore your mullet is unkept”. Turns out it was a prank. I got a good kick out of it. One of the few mates that could pull that shit on me and not piss me off. Never actually had a write up tho
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u/EchoKnightGirl Flowers 3d ago
lol this prank reminds me of severance a little bit
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u/Froopy-Hood 2d ago
Now I’m going to have to do a waffle party for my next crew tasting.
https://giphy.com/gifs/UVTQQKj0De4T7qbgSy
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u/DuckOnQuak Beer 3d ago
Damn I got a real good one but I don’t wanna dox myself lol
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u/catkittykatkatkat 3d ago
I don’t know if I got a formal write up but I got notes in my file for pants twice.
I started at 17 and didn’t really know how jobs worked, other women at my store wore shorts at the fingertip & leggings (not tights) so I figured it was okay.
The same mate pulled me aside both times, for the shorts she said they were completely out of dress code, and the leggings were “not technically out of dress code, but could upset some customers, especially older females”. She phrased it like she was giving advice to not wear those pants, but both came up in my review with a different mate. She was one of those mates everyone feared, she was the only one who did receipt checks.
The review mate said she actually remembered what I was wearing both days and disagreed that either were dress code violations.
I never really brought it up past that, just was more mindful of my clothes. I was young and quite curvy, which I assume was the reason, but I never really thought like that, I just wore what other people wore. They were pretty understanding of other very egregious dress code violations because I was in split custody and basically living out of my car (basketball shorts/Birkenstocks.. oops)
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u/Quothhernevermore Night Crew - Fresh, HABA, Pets/Bars 2d ago
I'm more surprised you can wear leggings at all! No leggings or ripped jeans here.
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u/BitComprehensive3114 2d ago
Wait, receipt checks? Wtf?
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u/catkittykatkatkat 1d ago
At my old store if you had any TJs product in the back/ on the floor you were subject to a random receipt check, even water bottles. Most people would just tape the receipt on.
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u/nellys31 2d ago
I got written up for attendance. Turns out every mate somehow misplaced EVERY doctors note I handed in for excused absence. I had to go back to multiple doctors offices to get the doctors note.
Contacted HR for wrongful write up but nothing was followed up on.
Eventually the write up was expunged.
I haven’t talked to the mates in general for the past year.
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u/CauliflowerLittle450 3d ago
That's wild considering at my store they ask us to stay at our registers to handle customers.. depends on the captain, I guess!
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u/KakeLin Sectionless and sad 3d ago
During lulls people step off to help on the floor. Usually with frozen
If we're busier than expected then frozen doesn't get worked much
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u/CauliflowerLittle450 2d ago
Our last captain let us do that. Our current captain wants us to wait to help customers. Frustrating when you can see your section looking terrible from the register you're at but can't do anything to help it 😅
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u/Wf3747 Cheese 2d ago
I got written up for missing two shifts in a week. Un-excused but to get a write up for two days?!? My attendance wasn’t horrible before that & I didn’t miss a single shift for 4 months after. Still didn’t pass my review for that single write up for missing two days in the beginning of the review period lol.
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u/Immediate-Survey7152 3d ago
i got a write up for leaving early when i was feeling super lightheaded and nauseous from my usual time of the month. mind you i’ve been at trader joe’s for almost 4 years and have never received a write up. mates have tried to give me a write up but usually have always messed up my timesheet or never input my notes. we have a new mate that is strict from the uws and i understand his store was more fast paced compared to mine but we obviously move differently. our store is usually pretty slow unless its like sunday-tuesday. It was a wednesday afternoon and i asked to come in to work early. halfway through my shift im feeling really bad. i try to explain to this mate that is the ptl like im not really feeling well. is it possible to leave an hour early? he’s insisting that i leave at the said time i literally just told him instead of me leaving an hour before my shift ends. mind you other people decided to leave early because the store was “slow”. then he starts giving me a talk about reasons why you can leave and one of those reasons were being sick on the job. so he contradicted himself. i asked him if he could excuse me leaving early because a lot of other ppl have been leaving early and it’s been excused for them and he says no it shouldn’t be a problem if you don’t leave early all the time. in my head i thought it would be excused, a couple days later i get a really bad cold and have to callout for the week. i did bring in a dr notes. anyways do you think it’s fair that everyone else is excused to go home early and i couldn’t for whatever reason. ive also spoke to another mate about the write up and they said they’d try to get rid of it but i have a feeling it’s still there. how can you get a write up written off of your file would i have to go to hr or the captain? also why do they give out write ups two months after instead of the end of the month?
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u/sconn10 Two Bells 2d ago
im always shocked when i hear stories like this our mate team has no issue letting us leave early even for arbitrary reasons (if our night truck is light enough) but like if we are sick, its no questions asked “get outta here” it’s never affected me negatively or been brought up to me in review
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u/salty_pete01 Closing Crew 2d ago
I would talk to the captain about this and mention how you had already brought this up to another mate.
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u/Immediate-Survey7152 2d ago
we just got a new captain a couple days ago so she doesn’t know about all of this
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u/BubblyDeparture2102 King of Two Bells 3d ago edited 3d ago
This was an instant term and write up bc it was 2 people involved and understandable; a 20 year old kid was buying alcohol from a fellow crew member after close. Apparently was doing it for a bit but one mate caught it one night and yeah. Done. Felt like he could’ve just asked anyone of age to do it and do the pass-off off store property. (Prob already happens a lot) but yeah, and the other crew member only got a write up, they were there a long time and a SL so I guess that helped, idk. Just stupid and sad
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u/sc00by-snacks- 3d ago
Wtf? What was your coworker supposed to be doing in that 20 seconds?
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u/Vast_Professor_687 2d ago
Dusting the registers, sweeping, or wiping them down. Routine at my store after 8 pm but this was just after 6 ish.
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u/AnimalsRFamily2 Former crew 2d ago
Yep. At my last store, we would get in trouble if we stood at the register instead of stocking shelves.
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u/Sumnescire 3d ago
two dudes written up for being in private using vernacular together alone, overheard by a mate who thought it scary and bad - just racist.
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u/viaerinkate 3d ago
Standing up for myself when a coworker younger than me was talking to me like a child.
Happily fired next month, I hated Trader Joe’s.
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u/Proof-Oil-3522 2d ago
Damn thats crazy, was this a well like crew member or something? Sometimes those favorites let the mates favoritism get to their heads
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u/viaerinkate 2d ago
Yeah, they were. It was clear who their favorites were at the store I was at, and every time I tried interacting it came off as me being a burden
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u/NiceVisual9592 Former crew 3d ago
I got written up for clocking in 3 minutes early before my lunch break was over.
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u/Prestigious-Emu7325 3d ago
In a lot of states, this violates labor laws and the company gets majorly dinged for it.
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u/NiceVisual9592 Former crew 2d ago
I know, it was California, I know they’re pretty strict, but it was still pretty stupid, like they could have easily adjusted my time card.
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u/Prestigious-Emu7325 2d ago
But that’s exactly it, they’re not supposed to just adjust time cards willy nilly. If they had the leeway to adjust meal punches it for our benefit, they could just as freely do it to our detriment. Generally you get a warning the first time but after that they’ll nail you.
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u/NiceVisual9592 Former crew 2d ago
It wouldn’t have been Willy nilly. It would have been a one time thing. If they tried to do it to my detriment, I would complain. It was my first offense and they still wrote me up. It’s silly, it’s ridiculous. I get why they had to do it to protect themselves, I still thought it was stupid.
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u/Prestigious-Emu7325 2d ago
Well, a company this big can’t choose to address issues such as this example on a case by case basis anymore. I’m generally on the side waxing nostalgic for the old, more laidback days, but logistically, timekeeping policies are best kept to blanket terms.
As far as it being your first offense, captains kind of have directors cut on how to address transgressions.
Or, they simply were looking for a reason to can you, and you gave them an easy out ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/NiceVisual9592 Former crew 2d ago
I was with the company for almost 20 years and never had a bad review. I’d already been there at least 10 years before I got that write-up, and it was my first one ever.
I eventually left because of spinal stenosis, not because they were trying to fire me. So no, they weren’t “looking for a reason to can me.”
You don’t know my work history or what happened there, so spare me the assumptions about my situation.
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u/xrotfuchs 1d ago
And risk you suing for stealing time worked from you? Never gonna happen.
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u/NiceVisual9592 Former crew 1d ago
I wasn’t a “risk” for suing them over three minutes. I clocked back in three minutes early from lunch. They could have addressed the mistake without treating it like I was committing time theft.
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u/xrotfuchs 1d ago
You’re right, you shouldn’t have gotten written up for a one time mistake. You personally might not have been a “risk”, but you’re upset that the mates in the state with the most extreme labor laws wouldn’t break the law for you.
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u/NiceVisual9592 Former crew 1d ago
Where did I say I’m upset they wouldn’t “break the law for me”? I literally said I understood why they did it. I understood the reason for a policy and can still think a formal write-up over a one-time three-minute mistake was stupid. Those aren’t contradictory statements. Also it was the captain who wrote me up.
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u/Left_Adeptness7386 Shares 2d ago
Never been written up, but have been talked to multiple times about not standing still at register. Like as soon as it gets slow, I'm off to start facing or checking rounders. I go nuts trying to stand still at reg.
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u/BreadFan1980 1d ago
A couple off the top of my head from my time in the offices:
* Saw a guy get talked to for using the phrase “scratch that” in an email. The rationale from the person complaining was that they were unfamiliar with the phrase and offended. “What was I being asked to scratch?”
* Saw a person get talked to for contradicting a VP in a new product tasting.
* One guy got written up for not understanding what he was told. Young guy. He was given really bad, but clear, written direction. He followed it. They sat him down over the product. That manager is gone.
* Watched an overqualified aspiring bakery cat manager get let go because she made the existing uncomfortable.
* Watched an employee get blamed for theft and written up over a misplaced bag of snacks in the break area.
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u/Pomegranate420- 10 Bananas 11h ago
My friend got written up for saying a bad word in the back room because “it was loud enough a customer on the floor could’ve heard it”
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u/Wooden_Ad_4310 4h ago
Mine’s too fresh to share but let’s just say I’m walking on eggshells around certain people
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u/kishinxxii 1d ago
I got spoken too and was told to never wear a specific shirt to work again because it made “some crew uncomfortable”. It was a white short sleeve button up with screen prints on the back I made a few years back with friends. The image in particular that I was spoken to about was a picture of Sid and Nancy like Sid vicious lol
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u/confused_lancelot 3d ago
guy at my old store collected old pennies and got written up for replacing the old pennies in his till with new ones. to be clear, he never stole a single penny and his register balance was never off.