stocker

front end manager

receiving manager

deli manager

meat manager

Restaurant Depot

I worked at the New Orleans location for just about a year. When I first started it wasn’t so bad as the first month or so I shadowed some of my peers and learned the gist of it. Training was atrocious as they wouldn’t tell you how anything worked, how the store operated, paper work or anything. They showed me how to stock shelf’s as a manager. There were only two employees there that helped me and actually showed me how their outdated computer systems worked, paperwork, and how the store worked as in who ran things. 

My job title was Deli Manager; Cold Side Salary Manager. I was in charge of the refrigerated/ frozen half of the warehouse. So I was over meat, seafood, deli, produce, and the freezer departments. I was responsible for over 75% of the stores sales as those products had greater earning potential. Although I was in charge of that you’d see me countless times on the “dry” side and back in receiving unloading trucks or dropping pallets because they would fail to schedule people in that department for the day or be so far behind that it would drag everyone else down. My surperiors, store manager and senior managers (2), would expect me to carry the store pretty much and do nearly everyone else’s jobs because they couldn’t be bothered by it. 

When I was hired I was hired as hourly and we came to an agreed wage but after receiving my first paycheck they had cut me by nearly $3/hour. I was livid to say the least, I was in a tough spot and needed the job. I fought with them over it but lost that fight. I didn’t let it affect my work ethic and quality of my work. After about 10 months they pulled me into the office and told me they would have to make me salary. It wasn’t a big deal at the time because they offered me about $5,000 more a year than what I was expected to make that year. Sounded great as I could really use the money! That’s including my overtime as I worked about 60+ hours a week whilst going to college full-time online. Well it took two pay cycles to receive it which is typically normal for most places. Well when I received my first salary check I was beyond mad. They had cut me so bad I was making less now than I was previously... before the overtime! I argued with them and HR for the last month and a half that I worked there about it. The HR woman at this location was probably the worst member of the team I have ever been in contact with. 

She was snobby, wouldn’t do a thing to help anyone at all. She would literally talk bad about you in front of you with other Spanish speaking employees. The only reason I know this was a close friend I had made working there had taught me so basic Spanish and would tell me some of the things she would say about me and other employees there. Kinda hard to make or file a report on somebody when the person you need to report is your HR manager and she won’t provide you the details the speak with a higher up. Along with that she would use my personal, vacation and sick days without my consent. As I made my own departments schedules, I was required to work a minimum of 48 hours a week. I had it scheduled to where I worked 4 days 12 hour shifts. (I always stayed over and would normally work on average 60-65 hours a week) well she decided to use some of my vacation time to make up for my average work week which was ridiculous! To even use vacation or personal time it has to be signed off by the store manager. Well long story short I could never get the time back because I wouldn’t know until I was payed out for it on my paycheck and she screwed me out of almost all of my time through my year working there.

Overall if you work for this company I wish you the best of luck because you WILL NEED IT! This location is terrible, I’ve never had any issue with other locations as I did travel from store to store during inventory counts, but the NOLA store #453 is the worst of the worst. If you need the money that’s fine but don’t expect to stay very long. It’s not worth it as management is a joke, the union employees will do the bare minimum and you will be left on your own!

There is alot of work to be done as management, even employees under management. I started my day earlier than most people wake up. I was always first to arrive and worked for atleast 10 hrs a day and up to around 14 hrs a day. I start my workday off with cycle counts then low stocks. The way they have their cycle counts can not be done on the timeline they give you but they expect you to do it. I then do price adjustments on reduced items and fill up low stocked items. I then stock all frozen items that need to be displayed in the cooler. All of this needs to be done within 2 hrs. Trucks deliveries could be scheduled better but most of the time they are fine. Its hard to be a successfull meat manager when not trained at all and with no experience in management, not to mention going threw meat isleman like crazy. The pay was not great but it was understood because of lack of experience. All certified operators of machines are not properly trained, there for alot of accidents have happened. Being teamed up on by higher employees to make you look bad is not fair and when you try explaining you might need some help doing things sometimes they brush it off and expect you to do it yourself. I was always the first one their and ussually a half hour early. I guess I was not responsible enough to have keys to the store for some reason. Management with keys would be late sometimes so it would put me behind on work. I worked long hours and slept very few at home. I would always try my best to do everything i could but still was not good enough. For example, one person would tell me how to or what to do and a higher employee would not like how it was done or would want something else done instead. I would be the one to blame? Its not right but what can you do. I was fired for losing to much money but others would not give me the help that i needed sometimes, I was not trained at all, customers and some employees were stealing, I had to train multiple new employees with hardly any help. We do get vacation and sick days which is nice but they shorted me a weeks vacation after I became manager but give every other manager their two weeks. Even if i was sick and not feeling well enough to work, which was hardly ever... I would still come to work. I would also go in on my off days alot. I have also worked some days and didnt clock in to be generous. I guess all this dont matter at all and they keep the people who dont want to work.

There is a lot wrong with this company, at least with the branch that I work at. Management does not care about anything other than getting the job done, regardless of how any people are available. I work alone, in a department that requires 6+ people to function, at least once a week.

10+ hour days, 6 days a week. Even if you request 2 days off a week, it'll only last for a week before they put you back on a 6 or 7 day work week. You get lots of overtime, but it's too much work to make it worth anything, not enough to live off of. I even get paid more than most stockers in the store, which is completely unfair to those who have been working there longer. I honestly don't know why I'm being paid more; it's nice but unfair to others.

My experience as a stocker is bagging produce for the 'bag wall', and management wants it stocked to the brim at all times (20+ products), which is extremely unrealistic when you're the only one working on it, and it requires 2 people to keep it properly stocked. Customers buy more products than you can bag. But upper management does not care and remains ignorant with this, expecting it to be filled at all time.

If you're injured during work, there is no compensation for sick days and in most cases, they will make you work even with a doctor's note. Many of the workers I've spoke to complain they are always in pain from being overworked but cannot take time off because of the low pay. Also, many workers would make OSHA cry. Climbing shelves, forklift drivers speeding down aisles, impatient forklift drivers yelling and honking at customers all the time, and workers riding pallet jacks like skateboards. Customers can be extremely rude, impatient and unbearable, while workers yell and swear at customers.

The only way to survive working here is if you stand up for yourself because they target those that can't. This company has a high turnover rate for a reason; low pay, too much work, poor management, and unrealistic expectations.

A typical work day consist of constant busy interaction with employees (cashiers) and customers. Restaurant Depot offer their customers a one-stop shopping experience for food, equipment and supplies. 
Being part of the management team, I was able to be interactive with all departments of the organization, cross-training, assisting on team projects, valuable input in weekly manager meetings and responsible for closing down cash room with the assistance of store manager on duty.
My co-workers all work well together as a team with the exception of a few bad apples. Most teams within the organization worked independently and work excellent together without major problems.

The hardest part of the job as being on the management team is that we work long hours. A mandatory 45 hours a week for all managers and supervisors but you could easily work 50 plus hours a week.
The down fall in this organization is that the regional manager is bias to Afro American's in higher positions within the company. He looks to put his own race (Hispanics) in those positions. As an admin assistant and front-in supervisor I was by passed twice by two Hispanic cashiers, who I personally trained to be promoted to a cash room manager. When asked personally by my direct general manager & store mangers was I a good fit for the position, they all advised the regional manager that I was qualified for the position but he still decided on a cashier who had no previous experience. I was currently already the cash room assistant who closed the cash room down nightly. I was a cash room assistant for 4 years for this company at two different store locations.
The most enjoyable part of the job was the exceptional customer service that our team delivered to our customers who we helped in most cases on a daily basis.

Management and customers can create a very chaotic work place. They do not support the right amount of hours or man power going into tasks that need to be done however they expect you to exceed expectations. You're expected to block entire aisles, break down as many mixed pallets as possible, receive trucks down your aisle, help out SEVERAL customers looking for product that's neither in stock, in the right place, or up on the top steel that needs to be taken down with a forklift where only 2 are on the floor with 7 aisles, clean and sweep, pack out, hustle in some cases 30 degree climates, under management that's just winging as the day goes on. For each department there should be at least 4-5 employees for blocking, customer service, receiving trucks, etc. Instead all responsibilities can be burdened on to just two or some times one employee. Most times you are forced into overtime just to get your recovery done or receive an unexpected late truck but it never turns out that way at the end of your shift unless you have an early shift. I've see day one new employees thrown to the wolves without proper training while others have called out. I would say there was a 35% chance new employees on their first day would quit before lunch. I worked there for 2 years before becoming overwhelmed by politics, stress, and micromanagement every day. Without leaving on a bad note I just turned in my two weeks respectfully and worked up until my last day. I wouldn't even want to go back for part time work.

If you manage to become a favorite amongst the managers, then you might be able to become an assistant manager or manager. If not then you will always be overworked and underpaid. Not to mention 100% entirely unappreciated. The assistant manager of the store is like a dictator. He came from another branch that is complete trash, and expects to make this branch better. He waltzs around the store looking busy, but never doing anything at all. All any of the managers do is sit in their offices, and when they do come out to “help”, they have nothing but degrading comments to make about the departments. The company is under staffed, therefore we are overworked. You will never receive training for any department you go into, but you will always be expected to know everything. The assistant manager will tell you in one way or another, you are replaceable, so have a plan B job ready. The company runs away good workers, for people they have favorited. These favorited people are usually the ones who sit in the offices and laugh with the managers all day, while the underpaid and over worked employees slave away. To put it into perspective, you will never have more than maybe three other people who work in a department with you, ever. Oh, and don’t ever think about telling them your concerns about things. They won’t listen. And now you are their target, because you complain. Genuine concerns about safety, freshness, and company policies. They don’t want to hear it. You will wake up every morning and dread going to work, you will count down the minutes every single day until your shift is over. No exaggerating. It feels like a prison. Unless you’re a favorite. So be quiet, put your head down and work like a good little worker.

Worst job I have ever had as an adult.  If the Branch Manager ( overall boss ) had been honest with me during the interview process, I never would have accepted the position.  I worked 12 hour days as a manager overseeing three departments and could barely keep up with daily expectations particularly because I was always short union laborers.  Although I was salaried, I was expected to do the exact same manual labor functions as the union rank and file ( this is absolutely forbidden in every other union shop I have worked in ) and because my departments were always short handed, at best, my position could be described as a " working supervisor ".  The facility was old and poorly laid out, in particular, my freezer was too small to accommodate the pallet and product flow, this led to product stacked from floor to ceiling with no room for MHE to operate.  The pay differential for the freezer high / low operator was only .30 cents per hour, many days he failed to show up for work.  Other department high / low operators would only help - out in the freezer if they " felt like it ".  Because of the general level of chaos in the building, the Branch Manager and his two assistants offered little help and everyone lived in dire fear of the Regional Manager and his weekly visits.  As a manager, I had multiple time / temp and safety inspections throughout a 350K foot building but was not trusted with the keys necessary to perform those inspections.  On the whole, if you have any grocery / wholesale warehouse experience as a supervisor or manager, avoid any position with Restaurant Depot.  One last thing - the pay was well below what would normally be expected for a similar management position.

I worked alot of hours for free and not appreciated. If you give them your all and you slow down they throw you to the curb and hype up somebody else to want to take the position. Long hours and so many things that have to be down as a manager. It's like your so stressed on a daily and your always finishing Mondays work on Tuesday/ Tuesdays work on Wednesday/ Wednesdays work on Thursday ETC.. Always running behind. And when you tell the store manager your situation  he don't wanna here your complaining. It just needs to be done. Always threatening to write you up and disapline you if your department isn't 100% excellent at closing for the opening morning. And when you try to transfer to a different department after years at the same position you get the explanation of there's nobody else to replace you therefore you feel stuck which transfers to wanting a new job or just quitting the job overall. Quick turnover, new faces daily, pay is poor for associates making people quit and all work load is on the manager to do and must be completed. And if you don't finish what the store manager is reasonable you get questioned the next day. Rarely thanked for what you did good/ its what you didn't do or what you didn't finish is the highlight of conversation between you and store manager. Not seen as a human being/more like a body and what can you do for me today. Store Manager always reminding you that your replaceable making you feel down and making you want to leave.

You have friendly people, but they lack at training you they just throw you in and expect you to learn something within three days which I felt uncomfortable about. I noticed they really don’t care too much about your personal life like if you have a doctors appointment and you gotta leave it’s like they get an attitude some of them not all of them and then they try to question you 50-50 but when it comes to management and they need the time off or they have to leave all of a sudden we’re all supposed to care is wrong because you should treat people how you wanna be treated they overwork you the pay is not worth for what you do depending on what you do I work in the freezer and it’s not worth the pay and I understand jobs have their 30 day period. 60 day period. 90 day. Period , but some people don’t even make it to the 90 days because the pay is not worth it and people have bills and I know it’s a second chance job but even as a second chance job it’s not worth the pay. I’m just being honest because from my understanding, this is $17 an hour when I put in my application and then when I got there, they were talking about 1450 or I’m sorry  $14.90 and even though you’re new, they pick the older people not the older people but the people with longevity there they’ll take their side over the new person side because they feel they’re more valuable to them if the person who’s been there for a while wrong  needless to say I’m blessed to have a job but yes, I am looking for another one .

Relatively quick ascension to management (less than 2 years to assistant, a year after to deli manager) from freezer packer. Coworkers were the best part. If you put in effort and care about productivity management will see you as an asset and give you the benefit of the doubt to lead, but regionals will unreasonably expect you to move mountains for them. Packers are at entry level and for the most part have little reason to care about the quality of work done, which will reflect on you if you can't rally them to try to give 100%. I did have a nice ABM at bat for me who advocated for my advancement, and department managers who had my back and I could get along with, but corporate will become your worst enemy. Customers can be nice, especially when you develop client-like relationships with them when they are business owners, but home shoppers can be insufferable. Mismanagement from upper management kneecaps your ability to complete tasks if other managers are out, you will be asked to drop product out of overhead or float employees to their departments to help out, at your expense. Mandatory 50 hour weeks from 6-4, often with need to close department as well, so 12 to 13 or even 14 hours days are frequent. Many times I've had 6 days on because of employee call out and sometimes had 12 to 13 days on straight. Not worth it for the money but good experience with forklifts, employee management, conflict resolution, QA, and understanding department budget. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Stocker 1294 salaries reported	$15.93 per hour
Front end manager 411 salaries reported	$18.47 per hour
Receiving manager 365 salaries reported	$18.26 per hour
Deli manager 354 salaries reported	$19.16 per hour
Meat manager 333 salaries reported	$18.11 per hour

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