Well, for those of you who read my initial review of Fall River's new Market Basket, THIS is a re-write. My opinion of the food still stands! Best place to come, order a meatloaf dinner, a turkey dinner, a slice of Sicilian pizza, wing dings, etc. The bakery is terrific, the prices are tremendously low, and the employees, 99.9% of them, are the best ever! Courteous, friendly, kind, and extremely accomodating. Melissa and I eat the majority of our lunches and dinners here almost every day! A liter of diet coke, a hot meal, and dessert, $7! For two people!
The MAJOR issue? The management!
Not only can a certain few of them be outright abusive toward the employees, but also the managers ALWAYS side with the rude and inappropriate customers! How do we know? WE SEE IT, UP FRONT AND CLOSE, EVERYDAY!
Melissa works at Stop & Shop, so we see and compare.
Example: A customer starts screaming at, and belittling, a competent and top notch cashier (a friend of ours). She takes it, and continues on a bit rattled. The front end manager, B, goes to talk to the customer. After he's done, the customer returns to the cashier (our friend) with his loud, intimidating voice, and starts in on her again! "I hope the camera sees everything!" She now gets completely rattled. I'm in line to cash out, and, me being me, I start screaming at the guy to go sit down. He starts telling me to mind my own business, and asking me if I'd like to go at it. I tell him it's illegal to hit a senior, so no. Stupid, he says "I'm 68, I'm older than you are!" So I said, "exactly." Now, B returns, saying he'll "throw him out of here even though he's here every day!"
The cashier, and two others in line, speak up, saying "he (the customer) started everything!"
The cashier, receiving no words of comfort or assurance from her boss, chooses to leave on a time and a half Sunday.
A manager, tall B, goes to see the customer and rewards his childish behavior with a gift card! I question that move, and he tells me "that's how I chose to handle it." The abusive customer gets a giftcard, and the cashier loses her Sunday pay.
Is THIS really Artie T's Market Basket?
Yesterday, another cashier, who previously had been accosted by a customer who just walked in, was threatened again by said custmer. She tells her manager, A, of whom most of her employees refer to as mean and abusive, who simply laughs. That cashier had to seek out the store manager, Q, who basically brushed it off as well.
Folks, this is Fall River. If nothing, this city has had it's share of catfights. To this cashier, the threat was real.
Front end cashiers speak of C as being "mean," abusive and harassing. A has all but eliminated the morale, if there ever was any, from the kitchen.
Q is MB's choice manager to open new stores. Someone needs to teach Q about the importance of morale in the workplace. If folks have great morale, the type that Hosea could bring to the front end and other employees as well, anything can be accomplished.
But when there's no morale, almost nothing succeeds.
Remember, this post is my personal opinion, and hearsay. Make your own decisions!
UPDATE: After WITNESSING the treatment of a very competent and kind cashier, we sent an email to Sue Pieslak, who forwarded it to Joe Schmidt. Joe wrote me back: "You are misinformed," was basically the gist. I'm not sure how I can see, hear and be actively involved in a situation, only to be told I'm misinformed. But that's how they handled things. The cashier tells me she met with Mgt only to get nowhere. We've been voting with our dollars by eating and shopping less there.
Remember: These are my own personal opinions. Form your own then vote with your dollars! read more
