stocker

warehouse worker

cashier

stocking associate

order picker

Harps Food Stores

During my career with Harps, I was almost always met with interesting challenges to overcome each day, and managers always willing to help me advance.

Working with the public, there are always very unique situations that must be handled differently for each individual, and excellent customer service is always imperative. Along with this, high productivity is necessary, due to multiple responsibilities including customer service functions, cashiering, working load for many sub-departments, and leading a team simultaneously. Management is always ready and available to help with any inconsistencies or issues needed to be covered.

Working with the many teams I have worked with, I can say that the I have had a great opportunity to meet a lot of very interesting people. Though not always necessarily good, my coworkers have, overall, helped me succeed at my job, and we are very like a family.

Perhaps the most challenging thing to handle has been handling irate customers. Working for the public, it is inevitable that you will meet with some customers that feel as though they have been wronged. However, the ability, as a closing manager, to make things right by that customer and ensure their continued happiness and consistent business if extremely rewarding.

The most enjoyable part of my job has been, by far, the satisfaction of meeting expectations on a daily basis. Meeting all of the challenges of serving the public on top of being chief executive in the evening and directing a team of workers to meet our set goals is extremely rewarding in its own way. As a side note, there is an incredible opportunity for advancement, as long as a hardworking attitude is adopted and presented.

I started working here in college, and at the time, it was a good job, seeing as I only worked part-time, and it was just for extra money. However, making a full-time career out of it is not very easy to do. New positions don’t open up all too often, and when they do, they’re hard to get, they barely come with a raise (if at all), and the training is inadequate. The workload itself isn’t all that bad, the sense of accomplishment each day is pretty good, and the management overall has been pretty easy to work with. Vacations and other time off is easy to request and get, and scheduling conflicts are easily resolved. Rules and regulations are enforced, but not to the point where you would get fired for small things. My biggest problem with the company is the pay and benefits. Most positions, aside from department manager  (of which there are only a few per store) pay minimum wage, or just barely above it. The insurance offered is atrocious, with barely any coverage, no vision/dental, and because of the low pay, it’s even harder to afford for medical expenses. There are no employee discounts. The company offers stock ownership to all full-time employees, but considering that only would be helpful after years and years of working here, it doesn’t do much to help when you’re first starting a career here. Overall, the people that work with you are good, the work itself is not too bad. However, the pay, “benefits”, and lack of care for their own employees makes this a bad company to work for.

I have worked retail 25yrs. In the 8yrs I wished for harps I had direct access to the corporate office and the people working there. Many leadership classes, business classes, TONS of training courses through all sorts of companies. (AWG warehouse, Wisconsin cheese farmers are just 2)
They have cake decorators that are award winning (been on the tv shows even) & I know them and have worked with them, trained by them, they have filled in at my store when I was in a pinch! 
I LEARNED MORE IN THE LAST 8 YEARS than I ever could have imagined. I also worked harder. 
The hardest part of my job usually was writing a schedule. I had students, people who had full-time jobs already, some on set schedules. All full-time people had to maintain a certain amount of hours, while all part time people couldn't go over a certain amount. Then there were vacations, sick, weather. Weather was huge ! Any chance of snow - entire state would shut down. I always made it there even at 2am.
The next hardest thing was being shorthanded (especially if no one new how to order). Sometimes I  did donuts, baked, fried, cake decorated, worked load, and my duties. Plus anything else! That is at least 4 people missing. Management/ corporate was good about helping/solving any issues. They also had a crisis fund for all employees needing assistance with any hardship.

I work at night mostly which means I close the deli down. I greet every customer that comes by and offer any assistance. I also offer the customer a free sample of anything. Before I cut and deli meat or cheese I make sure the customer is satisfied with what they are getting. Around the end of my shift I start cleaning the deli area. I fill all the salads and put them in clean bowls then wrap them. I clean each slicer before unplugging them, refill everything we use, help with dishes, and clean the floors.
I learned how to solve problems on my own, and more about friendly customer service.
The management isn't the best. I received little training, and had to learn on my own. They don't go by how hard you work, but on how much you follow them around and chat. When there is a problem they don't sit you down to talk, instead the take all your hours away
The co-workers are great. They are as friendly as I am, and help out when needed. 
The hardest part is when were so busy the whole shift and still have a lot to do. Sometimes I stay late to make sure I have everything done.
I enjoy it when customers tell me that my service was awesome, and when I get  a regular customer and I already know what they would like. I enjoy making people happy.

The meat dept can be great place to work and the only job I’d suggest to anybody considering working at harps. All depts except meat have low pay. For managers, upper/ district management is hard to work with and always too busy themselves to focus on each of their stores. Customers always right so don’t expect them to listen to your side of any issue that makes it that far up the ladder. Harps focus is on their large urban stores and 10box facilities. Everyone else is expected to keep up with endless increasing demands and a budget that isn’t possible for every market to make. 

The cool thing about this job was that a few of the people I worked with in the store were very nice. Two were top notch employees, in my book. It was nice that you could go back and listen to music on your headphones while doing dishes after closing, sometimes, and that helped pass the time and make the work more enjoyable/bearable. It was fun decorating cakes a little bit for customers when bakery cake decorator was not around. Most of the people in other departments seemed to be half way decent, or really good people, especially the cashiers. 

The bad things: Dpt manager was never there (at most 15 hours per week), store manager did not care about the store or the employees. Employees were almost all the same religion in this department and were verbally, mentally and sexually harassing me because of my religion, and then the dpt manager joined in, cut my hours, and I left due to all the harassment and stress from it. Also, some people were getting paid a crazy high amount and were less reliable, while while others a minimal amount for the same job. Lots of favoritism.

Everyday, as a cashier, I start at my cash register checking out customers and answering phone calls. Occasionally I will be placed in the aisles to help stock shelves and organize anything that was out of place. While on the job, I've learned that there are many different kinds of people/customers that have sometimes helpful and sometimes harsh opinions about your work and how we run the business but all in all, 90% of what you learn really comes from the valuable customers. The management isn't something I know much about but it is a very important part of the business. My co-workers are just like any other place, you have your good ones and you have your bad ones. The hardest part of my job is to please everyone including my co-workers and customers. No matter how hard you try there will always be at least one person who doesn't like how you do something but no matter what I did my best and that's where the satisfactory came from. Finally, the most enjoyable part of my job was making new friends and meeting new people.

Haven’t worked there for a few years, but have to a review for a company to see other reviews so here you are. Overall, the staff was good, and the work was easy. But like any other store, the enjoyment of the job depends on your management and coworkers. I had great coworkers, but hit and miss management. But I knew what needed to be done, and was evaluated fairly. They were also flexible with my school hours. They paid quite low when I worked there in 2018, however. Also, they had phases where busy work was required when everything was done. Additionally, corporate would take sales at face value and decide how many employees were needed, and cut hours significantly as time went on. At the end, I was often on my own to manage the store at night and make the store look good, which seldom got done if I was needed for anything at all for customer service. But, I was never reprimanded by management, because they knew I did what I could. Still, good company to work for, was my first job and I was there for six years, so take that as you will.

A typical day consists of entering sales figures, ordering dry and frozen grocery, as well as dairy, stocking quantity, customer service, cashiering, getting carts, doing Western Union money transfers, cashing checks, money orders, as well as filling or making displays. I've learned how to be more personable and how to make customers happy. Management at the store level isn't always the best, it just depends on the people involved...but upper management in my opinion is top notch. My co-workers are part of the reason I like coming to work, we're more like a family than we are co-workers. The hardest part of the job would probably be dealing with refrigeration or computer related problems during heavy traffic hours, and with limited labor available, it makes it a bit worse. The most enjoyable part of the job is working with the people I work with, and chatting with the customers, ensuring they're satisfied and found what they needed, as well as breaking a sweat stocking...I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty.

From my time at Harps as a Deli Clerk, I learned valuable skills that I can use for different kinds of work. Including workplace habits such as always find something to keep yourself busy, even if it's wiping down tables, problem solving skills, last minute first aid in the event that someone hurts themselves on like a slicer.

My most enjoyable part was the coworkers in the Bakery/Deli, they always kept my spirits up until I had to leave the company for family reasons, it was always humorous back there with the girls and occasionally a guy or two to help us out on the night shift and days.

The worst part was helping out when someone was trained the wrong way on how to do something, then we had to go all the way to step 1 and work through it to see what went wrong, even if it meant we were 30 minutes late clocking out that night.

I found it as a great place for a first job, I would definitely recommend for someone in need of work, even if they weren't going into that field in specific.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Stocker 1 salary reported	$15.50 per hour
Warehouse worker 12 salaries reported	$22.71 per hour
Cashier 1 salary reported	$20.50 per hour
Stocking associate 10 salaries reported	$1,500 per week
Order picker 10 salaries reported	$27.06 per hour

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