butcher

deli associate

hvac technician

bakery manager

pharmacist

Big Y

My grandmother was one of the company’s first ever customers when the original owners of the company first started BigY. She and my mom would always tell me how the culture and the general atmosphere of the stores were always inviting and the people along with the food were among the most top quality to come across. I got a job there per their suggestion back in 2019 in East Longmeadow, MA as a PT deli clerk given I was also just up the road so it was also a no brainer. In the beginning I had a lot of fun, the customers were nice, had good coworkers etc., but it wasn’t until after the first few months that a lot of contradictions to the perception I was given started coming into play. Big Y is very much so a company that prides itself on the image it curates and displays to it’s customers and employees, it’s obvious in the PA system advertisements and the way management watches their employees like a hawk with little to no room for error without formal documentation with HR, and it’s also obvious who the favorite departments are, Meat/Seafood being the last on that list, even though they bring in some of the most revenue. Office politics are HUGE, especially when it comes to leadership, the tension given that fact is so thick you can’t breathe most of the time, reason being is because their pride of giving customers “the best customer service” is really a detriment to their employees since it also means giving them a bigger workload with less consideration for their time and proper compensation for it. Department managers are overworked and thus a lot of times their performance and interactions with employees become bitter and lackluster, WITHOUT appropriate pay: department managers were cut from getting salary pay to being demoted to hourly so that the higher ups can have more control over OT pay back in late 2019-early 2020 (the higher ups HATE OT and use every opportunity they can to avoid it with endless excuses as to why all the while forcing you to stay and do a larger workload than you signed up for even if your department is severely understaffed). Don’t get me wrong they have PLENTY of people that have stayed for decades starting when the original company founders were in charge and loved it, that is until their children and extended family took over. Employees stopped becoming a priority as much as making as much revenue as possible, nowadays you have to think of it as a food service sales job without commission pay because it might as well be at this point. If you do anything out of line, even telling a customer that a department is closed when it’s supposed to be, they hammer you for it, because it’s a threat to their personal checks. Some people might read this and say “there’s gotta be more to the story than what he’s letting on”. “Surely it’s not as bad as you make it out to be” etc., but when you’ve been working long enough in any job in food/customer service/retail, the business practices are easily recognized especially by employees, and you tend to start looking at the situations as they are and not as what they try to say they are. 

In short, don’t go to BigY hoping that the benefits and mediocre pay are gonna keep you sane… not so much in the long run. Use the opportunity to save up for school or a trades certificate, there’s better opportunities out there, BigY is just a stepping stone until you get a foot in the door somewhere else.

Typical day started with me sweeping the floors half an hour before opening and then going out to make sure the shopping cart corrals are emptied out and the parking lot isn't a mess with carts. If the bottle room isn't unlocked then I unlock that as well, along with the shed in the back where recycled bottles and cans go. After that it's just bagging groceries, putting back returned groceries during downtime and then going outside for carts when asked for the rest of my day.

The bottle room is the hardest and most frustrating part of the job. Emptying the machines isn't too bad mostly, but people who work late the previous night were often very lazy in regards to the bottle room. Bags in the machines are sometimes not properly installed so the bottles/cans at worst spill out onto the floor, the bags are sometimes not tied in the shed at all, they sometimes have holes and have spilled out so it's up to ME to clean up after their mess. Same goes for the heavy glass bins in the bottle room's closet. Sometimes it hasn't been emptied the previous night like it should've, so I had to empty it. Even worse is that sometimes they put the bins in the WRONG WAY so I have to use a lot of my strength to try to get them unstuck. Overall the bottle room at worst is me cleaning up after other peoples' messes.

Co-workers and supervisors were very polite and helpful. The supervisors in particular were very easy to talk to and were willing to let me abruptly take an upcoming day off for a family gathering. The only problem is that my location was very understaffed, with me very often being the only bagger they had at the front end, which created a lot more work for me. Most enjoyable part of the job is probably going out for carts, since I'm outside and have time for myself to work at my own pace.

If I haven't made it clear being a service clerk is physically demanding between bagging for customers, taking care of the bottle room and also going out to retrieve carts. Eventually my legs started to ache regularly forcing me to switch to compression socks to make the days more bearable.

Overall this position is pretty mixed. You have a lot of physical work but also some downtime between customers on certain days, and the benefits for health and vision insurance alongside the 401k are nice and very well communicated. There's also occasionally employee appreciation in the breakroom on certain holidays with free food present. Take this position only if you have the physical endurance for it.

This was the most stressful job I've had and also the worst paying. A single full shift here wipes me out physically and mentally, thanks especially to standing 8+ hours, missing breaks almost every day, at a nonstop pace. 

There's no incentive for good help to stay, and nothing pushing bad help out the door. We've seen part timers call out or no show for over 60% of their shifts for a year without repercussion. Meanwhile full timers are expected to relocate within 50 miles to nearby stores, be available from 6am to midnight and work both one opening and one closing shift per week, and redline every day with nonstop work at busy locations. The pressure is heavily inverted even by retail standards: the more work you do "on the floor" the harder your day is, while any administrative or management tasks feel like vacation. 

Like many retailers, they skimp on labor hours and on pay. Their highest regular offer is for $0.25/hr raise yearly though this is less than the rate of inflation, and won't matter a few weeks later when minimum wage surpasses you yet again, as it has every year I've worked there. 

They will mislead employees about career prospects. One store manager promised me a $0.75 raise (which still would not have kept up with minimum wage) if I took a new position, only to explain later they were not in a position to uphold that promise. Your performance review may say you're "1-M" top-tier and ready to promote, but your human resources (ESR) may confide in you that only SOME people with that rating are on the list for many internal promotions. There are other requirements that are kept secret. On one occasion I was eagerly accepted for a promotion, scheduled a 6th day that week to begin, showed up only to be told to go home; once again a (different) store manager had intervened, this time because my old and lower paying position would be hard to fill. 

It's bearable when your teams and managers are great. Usually they won't be. There are workers we're happy to see every day, the ones who work hard to make things run as smoothly as possible, and every one of these pleasant workers is miserable and can't wait to get a new job. So choose wisely whether you want to be productive and miserable or a happy slacker, keeping in mind you won't ever get promoted or make more money.

I loved my employees. And the job itself was very easy. But unless you are best friends with the District Managers or Sales and Merchandising Mentors (SMM), you will never go very far. 

The favoritism is insane, so much so, that if someone is a repeat offender of bad behavior, if they like you, they will shrug it off and say "Oh, they are just old school, he's been with the company for 40 years."

The policies are very unclear in the employee handbook, and if they don't like you they will make their policies sound way more strict than they are written or have ever been enforced.

Most Store Directors and District Directors are the rudest and/or deluded people I have ever met and do not know how to talk to their managers- but apparently this is encouraged because it's always the most tainted people that go into the training program. Some may think I am just over sensitive but there is a very clear line between talking to people with respect and not. Sensitivity training might be a good idea for Big Y to invest in instead of some of the ridiculous and unnecessary programs and positions (SMM, ESR, Scanning Coordinator, Director of Inclusion) that they create.   

In one store, a "share-group" was going to be doing a walk- a bunch of Big Y shareholders I guess, and it was months of cleaning and replacing things and the fakest example of how Big Y really runs... The way they were telling us to act and work was like we were putting on a play. If I was a shareholder I would not give warning- I would want to see things how they really run.

The main office is so disorganized and has the worst communication between each other that I have ever seen. 

It was an experience to say the least. I loved building and training my team but when I first saw some of the toxicity of this company I should have ran for the hills... This company does not hold everyone to the same standards.

Don't ever ask for any kind of accommodation either- they will look for literally any reason to get rid of you.  

This company needs a complete overhaul to purge the poison.

Going somewhere that I am truly valued currently is one of the greatest things to ever happen to me, and in its current state I would not recommend making a career here unless its just a part time after school job. 

Working at Big Y has taught me many things, and it has given me more opportunities than I could have ever imagined was possible. 

As a deli clerk, the acutely work is fairly cut and dry. I slice, I serve, I sell, I sanitize. Customers have always been friendly and excitable, and that makes for a very rewarding work environment. What also made the job as fun as it is will always be my co-workers. We somehow became a massive family, something that feels very appropriate for a family-owned business. 

We often joke that our Deli managers are like our mom and dad. They are always there to offer us a helping hand, and when the inevitable time comes to move on to a new job they always offer their support and want us to succeed with our dreams. That energy is something I intend to bring wherever I work. 

My co-workers have become my best friends. Wether they work in the deli or any other department I know I have people there I can rely on and ask for help or get a good laugh from. My co workers have taught me to have a great attitude at all times, and they have shown me ways to turn a day around. 

Working with customers will always make time management hard, they always seem to come at the worst possible time, when you're in the middle of a big project of some sort, and you never know how much they will need, in products or attention, and that is easily the biggest challenge. Ten minutes feels like a long time when you're  closing up shop for the night! However, we've all learned to face it with a smile, and how to prepare just in case.

All in all, it's a great work environment. Creativity and constructive relationships are encouraged, and there are many, many opportunities to grow. To say why I love my job in a few words is a challenge when there are so many things that excite me about it. I hope that it's easy to see that it truly is a great place to work.

Most days that I work at Big Y I am in the safe.  Here I count and balance the previous days cash intake.  I also prepare the registers for the current days transactions and prepare the deposits.  Sometimes I  find difficulties with balancing the trays. When this happens I have to divulge further into the transactions from the day to see why a register might not balance and then correct the problems. Other days I work in the Customer Service Desk.  I am responsible for balancing other medias and reports from the day before and helping any customer that needs it.  I help and educate new employees to the store and also take care of any issues that a customer may have had on a previous visit.  I am also the Payroll Coordinator.  When I am in this position I edit the daily crew sheets and run daily reports.  I also enter the weekly schedules and deliver them to each department. Each week the final payroll has to be completed and sent. In order to complete all of these tasks I have to be in constant contact with all of the department managers and communicate any problems. Sometimes it can become difficult to accurately edit the daily crew sheets because employees often forget to punch in and out for their shifts.  In these cases i have to track the employee down and confirm their shifts with them.  It can also be difficult to schedule employees at times. Many of the employees are cross trained in numerous departments and there are times when more than one department will schedule the same employee to work during the same or similar hours.  I then have to find someone else to work one of the shifts. I really enjoy being able to form relationships with the customers in order to better understand and serve their needs. I also enjoy everybody that i work with.  It's easy to become close with people that you work with everyday.

I have followed a standard "path" working in the front end / customer service.
You start as a cashier and/or service clerk, also learn to run the self checkouts, then you might get promoted to working the customer service desk, then later on you might get promoted to be a "head cashier" AKA a front end supervisor.

Hours and availability are pretty good and flexible, at least for someone in my case with mostly open availability but wanting to have a certain day of the week off each week and wanting to, for example, not be available to work nights during certain parts of the year.

With all the responsibility I've gained, however, I've never been offered any kind of raise, even though it just seems logical and obvious that someone supervising the whole front end, making sure the needs of all their customers and co-workers are met, should probably be paid a bit higher than what they were paid when they started on day 1 as a cashier.

Besides this, overall a pretty good place to work. Don't take customers' occasional ridiculous, immature, unwarranted behavior personally. Try not to take things too seriously and try to have the best time you can while you get things done throughout the day.

UPDATE: I did end up getting a 75-cent raise when my job title officially changed to "head cashier", which happened after I was consistently working over 50% of my shifts as a "head cashier" / supervisor. 
So you can earn a bit more than minimum wage by getting such a promotion (or just by asking for a raise, if they'll give it to you).

Overall a good job to have for needed income. Not the best, but could be wayyy worse.


Ok job. Good coworkers. The introduction of self checkout made the job incredibly stressful. Working through the pandemic and its aftermath have made corporate culture worse. 
Part time employees used to average 25-27 hours a week, now corporate dictates the schedule, and we’re lucky if we can get 20 hours a week. 20 hours a week is what corporate “guarantees” us now. We’re also understaffed often, because corporate thinks they know what each store needs, and when.
It makes budgeting incredibly hard, when people have become used to a certain amount of hours over the years. We’re also not allowed to discuss hours amongst ourselves, or have access to schedule books (so we could find coverage for shifts more easily)anymore.
They’re just very secretive about scheduling practices, and will reprimand when questioned.
Company is incredibly hesitant to stand up to disruptive customers. Refuse to ban customers, when they are awful to employees and other customers. We just get “they’re a good shopper, we need their business.”
Also, they have made self checkout operators train as head cashiers as well, to what end, I’m not sure, but nobody is happy about it.
The introduction of the device that tracks scanning activity is awful. 
Corporate expects us to do Loss Prevention’s job now, but without the backup, despite management’s claims otherwise. 
If they don’t trust customers on self checkout, get rid of them—the machines break often enough, that they’re hardly worth whatever the company is saving, not to mention the chronic theft in that occurs there.
It used to be a decent job, but now, it’s just leaving longtime employees scratching their heads, with all the sudden changes.

I worked there for over three years. I was a cashier for over a year and struggled because of customers being rude over something I had no control over or actually a customer's mistake. Managers almost always sided with the customer. I mostly interacted with my elderly coworkers instead of people my own age, so I didn't experience coworker conflict. I then moved into the customer service booth where you are given so much more responsibility (Western Union, lottery tickets, returns and refunds, answering the phone, etc) but no pay raise at all. No flexibility for hours (there were three shifts a day that started and ended at specific times and would only vary by 15 minutes if absolutely necessary and possible). There were a lot of guidelines or rules that weren't explicitly written down or if they were, were difficult to locate. Many managers did actually care about their workers, but they cared more about ensuring that customers kept coming back and spending money. They had policies such as call outs that they did not enforce on everyone the same way. The culture was okay, lots of high school and college students and elderly people. The younger aged workers often stuck together and would mostly help only their friends. There was a bit of gossip but talking was frowned upon when working as we were supposed to **always be taking care of customers. I really liked how Big Y hires people with disabilities, but I do think that some coworkers and customers treated them differently. Customer service in general is very narrow and only specific types of people and personalities do well in this job.

I enter my employee ID into our employee clock in data base. I great any customers that walk into our store and offer assistance. I sign onto my register behind the customer service desk. I balance lottery sales , western union sales and ticket sales for our monthly bus passes, and balance our returns and refunds for the day. I then relieve the co worker who was before me and continue my day pleasing each and every customer I encounter and provide World Class customer service. I've learned to have a lot of patience and manners when working at the Customer Service Desk. Usually, customers are displeased when they have to make a stop at the desk because they usually just want to get in and get out. I greet everyone with a smile and try to do my best to help them with their needs. My co workers are amazing and they're always willing to lend a helping hand. I often have to call other departments , so it's rather refreshing when they're so helpful and kind.  They make getting the job done a lot smoother. I'd say they most difficult part of my job is staying busy. Depending on the weather or the time of the day , it can get rather slow. So I always do my best staying busy and finding cleaning tasks so that my work area is clean and organized. I most enjoy meeting new people and engaging in conversation with the customers ! I love hearing their stories , hearing about their day or just talking sports. I enjoy working with the public and being able to make someones day just by talking with them for a moment.

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