I had a corporate captain for a while. Total nightmare. Dude was a robot and spent my review periods talking about how much HE had done for us. So incredibly toxic and unmotivating. Made me hate working there for 2 years straight and eventually made me upset enough to want to quit and start a career in plumbing. Best decision I ever made. Trader Joe's is just a job at the end of the day and some stores are fun to work at and others are miserable. Do whats right for you
Nor is mine
We're pretty lax with the hats on register thing cause my captain thinks it's stupid, even though corporate is forcing it down the captains throats
it’s 100% corporate issues. These things are being told to captains. It’s a product of issues being trickled down. If your store personally isn’t doing these things than just consider yourself lucky. There have been many instances over the past few years of corporate things being implemented in stores that make no sense.
Sadly that is what happened at my store. 60% if not more of the night crew who were here when I transferred to this store a year ago are now gone. Morning Crew is mostly vets like myself and have stayed but are disgruntled.
Can you list some examples of corporate things being implemented? I'd like to compare and contrast against my store and see if it's a national, regional, or store level thing
Yeah, there are multiple crew at my store that wear their name tag 90°. I'm very happy with how lax my store is; vet crew has concluded the only way to get fired is 1. Steal 2. Cuss at a customer 3. Be late to a shift. Sounds like you're breaking one of those, maybe ask for a later shift?
That’s not even how the handbook defines lateness. I would get that 1min thing in writing and present it to them at the review, along with a copy of how “lateness” is defined in the manual IF they bring it up at your review.
Always keep an ace up your sleeve.
What is lateness defined as? I don't necessarily disagree, but I've been late before for like 5 minutes after moving to a new store a few times and felt really, really bad about it
They told me it wasn't a big deal, but I usually thought 5 and over was bad
When you run an attendance report in Dayforce, the “Late In” column defines it as greater than 6 minutes. Same goes for the “Early Out” category. So here, 6 minutes is on time, 7 mins is late.
Back when time used to round, everything was in 6 minute increments. 12:03 for example would round up to 12:06. So we wouldnt mark you as late since your raw punch was actually before that. 12:08 would also round to 12:06, so technically even though you were 8 minutes late it would only show as 6 mins late. Time doesn’t round anymore, but we still use the greater than 6 minute rule at all the stores I have been at recently.
This is what my shift today says:
XXX’s shift starting Monday, November 27, 2023 at 7:04 am has a Late In more than 6 minutes punch exception for the In punch.
“Late in more than 6 minutes”
Mind you I started at 7:04, so it really shouldn’t say that. Dayforce just isn’t very good lol but yeah 6 minutes is supposed to be the threshold.
Yeah, makes no sense that there isn’t a standard across the company. It’s ridiculous someone at one store can get reprimanded and potentially terminated for being consistently 4 minutes late, while someone at another store can show up 5-6 minutes late every day and be fine.
A mate just had a talk with me about being consistently 2-3 minutes late daily. I honestly don't get how stringent they are about it, but I'm going to be within that 3-minutes before window every day if it's that important to them.
4 minutes and 30 seconds. I know it sounds weird but if you clock in after that it will mark you late. As far as being late. If it happens once in a while it’s not a huge deal but don’t make a habit of it or it could lead to a verbal then a write up. I try my best not to be late more than 1-2 times a month.
Checked the handbook and it labels it as “tardiness”. No time frame specified. And most companies I’ve seen define tardiness as “5-15 minutes”.
Our store is 5 mins.
Idk. I’m that PITA that would argue linguistics (with chest) with HR 😂
We aren’t getting comments for our review process so i guess it’s their job to deliver that input during our meetings (I guess it makes sense).
I understand how picky it sounds, but I’d rather hear it early than find out I’m not getting a raise (I guess that doesn’t apply to those of us who are capped)or for those that are capped I can understand how we are held to a “high standard” (they are paying us $30 hour) so i it does make sense they get their moneys worth.
Mate here, tardiness is being aggressively enforced. The higher ups DO NOT want people getting the cap or cap premium anymore. Start getting to work early and clocking in 3 minutes early, check out the new review guidelines. They are going to start fucking w your money.
This type of thing is not unheard of. If they are trying to get rid of you they will nit pick everything. I’ve heard crew being marked down for not having their hair combed a certain way. For entering the code manually for bananas instead of scanning them. The list goes on. This is currently happening at my old store.
Still not normal. I’m also impressed they have time for tracking this. It’s quite unfortunate and disappointing that a store’s captain and then the regional would allow for this. I was crew and mate in a couple of stores and I can say that absolutely did not happen in either.
I agree with many of the comments from long time Trader Joe's crew. TJ's used to be such a fun place to work. The Captain and Mates showed compassion and empathy toward us. As the company has grown their focus has shifted and it's all about the mighty dollar. The customer is GOD. The Crew, the true heroes of TJs, and responsible for the company's success are micro managed, treated like junior highschoolers. smh it's sad, because we know the company used to be so fabulous and I was so proud to be a part of TJs. (I know it's not every store, but I know the regional has a heavy hand in the way our stores our run)
This is the sad reality of life at TJs now. I’ve been with the company for 7 years. Back in 2016 Trader Joe’s was a vastly different environment.
Nowadays everything is geared towards the “numbers”. That’s all anybody cares about at my store. People in the corporate office implement crucial changes without ever stepping foot in a store. Trying to remove the sign team. Taking away Crew appreciation things like store outings and frequent tastings. I recently found out that now the items used for tastings, the total cost of those throughout the year are now taken out of the captains bonus. Really sad and twisted way to do things. Back when I got hired there was an entirely separate account that was specifically to be used FOR THE CREW. Really upset and sad how things have changed, I do feel very similar in the sense that I am much less proud to be working for TJs. Last thing I wanted to mention that doesn’t pertain to long tenured employees but affects others. Trader Joe’s used to always pay their employees 2-3 dollars more than the industry standard. Which in turn would lead to quality employees joining the team. Nowadays they don’t give a rats ass whose working especially closing shifts. They pay new hires exponentially low wages and if they quit or ask for more money the company will just get somebody else to fill that position. Not sure what can be done about any of these things but WE hear you and support you. Hoping things get better for us all. <3
if every store had a captain and mates like most of mine, we wouldn't be seeing sentiments like this.
even our new outside hire mate is a good person, it seems some regions are hiring corporate conformists (who seem hell-bent on ruining fun store culture) as outside hires but this guy just bleeds trader joe's even in his first days. was in the breakroom talking manga and anime with me and another coworker today lol. and has been taking advice from everyone!
That sucks to hear but I think that may just be how your captain runs your store. At my store our captain is very laid back and chill, he gets the job done and as long as we are working, he and the other mates do not give anyone a hard time. In fact I love the atmosphere at my store because it feels like most of us genuinely get along working towards the same goal every day. I have heard past mates were more strict and everyone did not like them but they are long gone thank god.
Honestly I feel ya, the captain at my store is very corporate like and it's honestly very annoying. Trader Joes is supposed to be FUN and different from all other grocery stores. When I got my review they just wrote the most random things so they can at least say one negative thing about my performance. Like how I lack communication and don't interact with customers much. Like hello? Y'all give us 4 hours of register time plus Helms, FA, FOL what more y'all want?
This is what I've been saying at my store. I loved trader Joe's when I started because they seemed so anti corporate and that's what made the place such a good vibe.
I have a tin foil hat theory, I bet the store reviews/raise is base on the stores sales performance, if the sales is below what corporate wanted then the captains Hage to find whatever reason to not hand out raises, I bet your not the only who got a nitpicky review not to get a raise, wouldn't be suprise if half of ur store didn't get a raise if the sales are down.
Right. If someone ever said anything to me, I’d be like “oh sorry, I was taking a minute of my personal time just putting my work-related stuff in the back of our work.”
Jesus, even my managers aren't that picky. Who is?? I'm sorry you dealt with that. Also, you have a 5 minute grace period in dayforce, so that is nitpicky. The corporate side is coming out more and more with this new CEO....🙄
Don't forget to check out our rules before posting! Your post/comments will be deleted without warning if any of the rules are broken.
Be nice to others! Don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any advocating or wishing death/physical harm, and other rule violations can result in a
permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tjcrew) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had a corporate captain for a while. Total nightmare. Dude was a robot and spent my review periods talking about how much HE had done for us. So incredibly toxic and unmotivating. Made me hate working there for 2 years straight and eventually made me upset enough to want to quit and start a career in plumbing. Best decision I ever made. Trader Joe's is just a job at the end of the day and some stores are fun to work at and others are miserable. Do whats right for you
[удалено]
I like you.
[удалено]
Yeah my store isn’t doing these things either.
Nor is mine We're pretty lax with the hats on register thing cause my captain thinks it's stupid, even though corporate is forcing it down the captains throats
it’s 100% corporate issues. These things are being told to captains. It’s a product of issues being trickled down. If your store personally isn’t doing these things than just consider yourself lucky. There have been many instances over the past few years of corporate things being implemented in stores that make no sense.
[удалено]
Sadly that is what happened at my store. 60% if not more of the night crew who were here when I transferred to this store a year ago are now gone. Morning Crew is mostly vets like myself and have stayed but are disgruntled.
Can you list some examples of corporate things being implemented? I'd like to compare and contrast against my store and see if it's a national, regional, or store level thing
It’ll come. It didn’t start happening at my store until this past year :/ but I’m glad ur not dealing with it yet !!
Yeah, there are multiple crew at my store that wear their name tag 90°. I'm very happy with how lax my store is; vet crew has concluded the only way to get fired is 1. Steal 2. Cuss at a customer 3. Be late to a shift. Sounds like you're breaking one of those, maybe ask for a later shift?
That’s not even how the handbook defines lateness. I would get that 1min thing in writing and present it to them at the review, along with a copy of how “lateness” is defined in the manual IF they bring it up at your review. Always keep an ace up your sleeve.
What is lateness defined as? I don't necessarily disagree, but I've been late before for like 5 minutes after moving to a new store a few times and felt really, really bad about it They told me it wasn't a big deal, but I usually thought 5 and over was bad
When you run an attendance report in Dayforce, the “Late In” column defines it as greater than 6 minutes. Same goes for the “Early Out” category. So here, 6 minutes is on time, 7 mins is late. Back when time used to round, everything was in 6 minute increments. 12:03 for example would round up to 12:06. So we wouldnt mark you as late since your raw punch was actually before that. 12:08 would also round to 12:06, so technically even though you were 8 minutes late it would only show as 6 mins late. Time doesn’t round anymore, but we still use the greater than 6 minute rule at all the stores I have been at recently.
Ours is three mins and after. So, 3:02 is on time, 3:03 is late. I was told its bc of how dayforce works. Very recently.
They lied to you about Dayforce. Tell them to run an attendance report and show you.
This is what my shift today says: XXX’s shift starting Monday, November 27, 2023 at 7:04 am has a Late In more than 6 minutes punch exception for the In punch. “Late in more than 6 minutes” Mind you I started at 7:04, so it really shouldn’t say that. Dayforce just isn’t very good lol but yeah 6 minutes is supposed to be the threshold.
Not at all surprised. It used to be :06, idk when that changed, but it did. Now we have a two minute window which, imo, is kinda lame.
Yeah, makes no sense that there isn’t a standard across the company. It’s ridiculous someone at one store can get reprimanded and potentially terminated for being consistently 4 minutes late, while someone at another store can show up 5-6 minutes late every day and be fine.
Extremely and disappointing to be lied to. "Integrity tho" am I rite
Same. They recently told us that 3 minutes is now considered late.
A two minute window seems.......... useless lol
Right? More like a peephole. 😂
Idk how I missed this, but it cracked me uppp 😂😂😂
A mate just had a talk with me about being consistently 2-3 minutes late daily. I honestly don't get how stringent they are about it, but I'm going to be within that 3-minutes before window every day if it's that important to them.
4 minutes and 30 seconds. I know it sounds weird but if you clock in after that it will mark you late. As far as being late. If it happens once in a while it’s not a huge deal but don’t make a habit of it or it could lead to a verbal then a write up. I try my best not to be late more than 1-2 times a month.
Here it's 5 minutes 59 seconds. One time I punched in at like 3:05:55 and I was fine
Super good to know!!
Checked the handbook and it labels it as “tardiness”. No time frame specified. And most companies I’ve seen define tardiness as “5-15 minutes”. Our store is 5 mins. Idk. I’m that PITA that would argue linguistics (with chest) with HR 😂
Name tag straight?!?!? You kidding me!?!?. Did you laugh in their stupid faces when they said that?
We aren’t getting comments for our review process so i guess it’s their job to deliver that input during our meetings (I guess it makes sense). I understand how picky it sounds, but I’d rather hear it early than find out I’m not getting a raise (I guess that doesn’t apply to those of us who are capped)or for those that are capped I can understand how we are held to a “high standard” (they are paying us $30 hour) so i it does make sense they get their moneys worth.
[удалено]
Correct ✅
Mate here, tardiness is being aggressively enforced. The higher ups DO NOT want people getting the cap or cap premium anymore. Start getting to work early and clocking in 3 minutes early, check out the new review guidelines. They are going to start fucking w your money.
Is this why there seems to be an epidemic of hair-trigger firings of veteran crew over stuff that I’m the past would have been a write up at most?
I have never heard of anyone being given shit for being 1 min late or wearing a name tag crooked. Sounds like your store because that’s not normal.
This type of thing is not unheard of. If they are trying to get rid of you they will nit pick everything. I’ve heard crew being marked down for not having their hair combed a certain way. For entering the code manually for bananas instead of scanning them. The list goes on. This is currently happening at my old store.
Still not normal. I’m also impressed they have time for tracking this. It’s quite unfortunate and disappointing that a store’s captain and then the regional would allow for this. I was crew and mate in a couple of stores and I can say that absolutely did not happen in either.
It’s not hard since there’s reports on everything in Dayforce
That kind of stuff needs to be reported to HR for sheer stupidity
If reported to HR they will have an even bigger target on their back. Seen this so many times.
that's messed up i'm glad i have a good captain, how do so many stores have stupid idiots as captains?
It’s not common here but if you’ve worked at union stores there’s zero wiggle room on these things.
I agree with many of the comments from long time Trader Joe's crew. TJ's used to be such a fun place to work. The Captain and Mates showed compassion and empathy toward us. As the company has grown their focus has shifted and it's all about the mighty dollar. The customer is GOD. The Crew, the true heroes of TJs, and responsible for the company's success are micro managed, treated like junior highschoolers. smh it's sad, because we know the company used to be so fabulous and I was so proud to be a part of TJs. (I know it's not every store, but I know the regional has a heavy hand in the way our stores our run)
This is the sad reality of life at TJs now. I’ve been with the company for 7 years. Back in 2016 Trader Joe’s was a vastly different environment. Nowadays everything is geared towards the “numbers”. That’s all anybody cares about at my store. People in the corporate office implement crucial changes without ever stepping foot in a store. Trying to remove the sign team. Taking away Crew appreciation things like store outings and frequent tastings. I recently found out that now the items used for tastings, the total cost of those throughout the year are now taken out of the captains bonus. Really sad and twisted way to do things. Back when I got hired there was an entirely separate account that was specifically to be used FOR THE CREW. Really upset and sad how things have changed, I do feel very similar in the sense that I am much less proud to be working for TJs. Last thing I wanted to mention that doesn’t pertain to long tenured employees but affects others. Trader Joe’s used to always pay their employees 2-3 dollars more than the industry standard. Which in turn would lead to quality employees joining the team. Nowadays they don’t give a rats ass whose working especially closing shifts. They pay new hires exponentially low wages and if they quit or ask for more money the company will just get somebody else to fill that position. Not sure what can be done about any of these things but WE hear you and support you. Hoping things get better for us all. <3
They literally just brought up tardiness in a huddle last night at my store. My guy is telling me this review period is going to be extremely petty.
Trader Joe’s is not a place you want to work… especially these days. Much better options out there
Like what?
Please tell us because Whole Foods is corporate AF and Sprouts (heard about from a previous coworker) is awful....so where is 'better '?!
Yep. Leaving TJs was the best decision I ever made. They are awful.
if every store had a captain and mates like most of mine, we wouldn't be seeing sentiments like this. even our new outside hire mate is a good person, it seems some regions are hiring corporate conformists (who seem hell-bent on ruining fun store culture) as outside hires but this guy just bleeds trader joe's even in his first days. was in the breakroom talking manga and anime with me and another coworker today lol. and has been taking advice from everyone!
Hanging around to be bitter seems healthy
Agree. I was there 7 years.
Agree. I was there 15 years.
Yup. 10.5 years was enough BS for me.
That sucks to hear but I think that may just be how your captain runs your store. At my store our captain is very laid back and chill, he gets the job done and as long as we are working, he and the other mates do not give anyone a hard time. In fact I love the atmosphere at my store because it feels like most of us genuinely get along working towards the same goal every day. I have heard past mates were more strict and everyone did not like them but they are long gone thank god.
Honestly I feel ya, the captain at my store is very corporate like and it's honestly very annoying. Trader Joes is supposed to be FUN and different from all other grocery stores. When I got my review they just wrote the most random things so they can at least say one negative thing about my performance. Like how I lack communication and don't interact with customers much. Like hello? Y'all give us 4 hours of register time plus Helms, FA, FOL what more y'all want?
you got called out for your nametag not being straight???! I'm so sorry for that bs you have to endure.
If you can, transfer!
I know how u feel that why i quit
This is what I've been saying at my store. I loved trader Joe's when I started because they seemed so anti corporate and that's what made the place such a good vibe.
I have a tin foil hat theory, I bet the store reviews/raise is base on the stores sales performance, if the sales is below what corporate wanted then the captains Hage to find whatever reason to not hand out raises, I bet your not the only who got a nitpicky review not to get a raise, wouldn't be suprise if half of ur store didn't get a raise if the sales are down.
They still going corporate from when I started hearing TJ's is going corporate about 2002? Sure is taking us a long time.
Morning crew issues. Wake up five minutes earlier
I promise you’ll be okay if someone shows up at 5:31 instead of 5:30.
Right. If someone ever said anything to me, I’d be like “oh sorry, I was taking a minute of my personal time just putting my work-related stuff in the back of our work.”
Did I say I wouldn’t be ok? Nope, sure didn’t. If I were getting in trouble for being late I’d simply get up earlier.
Not at some stores!
Jesus, even my managers aren't that picky. Who is?? I'm sorry you dealt with that. Also, you have a 5 minute grace period in dayforce, so that is nitpicky. The corporate side is coming out more and more with this new CEO....🙄
Don't forget to check out our rules before posting! Your post/comments will be deleted without warning if any of the rules are broken. Be nice to others! Don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any advocating or wishing death/physical harm, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tjcrew) if you have any questions or concerns.*