Hey all,

I thought I'd NOT derail the soy thread but still continue the discussion, particularly my past involvement with the Jєωel supermatket.

Perhaps it is not a universal phenomenon, but my store was rather horrible.  Since someone mentioned the purchase of one of those fake butters, I'll start this thread off with some insights into the dairy department at my former place of employment.

When shipments would come in, there would never be enough room in the dairy coolers for the deliveries, so the product would sit out in the back rooms for 20-30 minutes minimum (often quite longer, perhaps even several hours).

As you know, the product cannot be taken out to the floor on the original wooden shipping pallets, so the dairy workers would "break down" the load onto carts.  These would be stored in the coolers and taken out one at a time (or so was the plan) to the floor to be stocked on the shelf.

Just like the original pallets, these carts would often be left sitting in the back room for hours on end (while the employees wandered off to do who knows what).  These carts would have cheese, butters, yogurt, juices, etc.  You name it; they left it sitting in the HOT back room.

Before the carts even made it out to the floor, product would often fall off of the carts and spill on the floor.  1-2 sheets of paper towel later, the mess would be smeared around on the floor, and then the carts would be run over the mess (ie. they'd drag the yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. all over the store).

In the event that someone was motivated enough to actually stock the shelves, they would pull the cart out onto the floor and begin stocking.  In all likelihood (by this time), it'd be the right moment for a break, a run to the W.C., or just a chance to hide in the back coolers and read a magazine from the checkout lines.

So, what does that mean?  It means that the cart (full of disgusting product) gets to sit on the floor for an additional 20-30 minutes while the employee is off doing something else.  In all likelihood, the employee will come back and ignore the cart on the floor.  He'll grab another from the back and start the whole process again.

To give you an idea, I'd often see carts of yogurt sit on the floor for 3-4 hours minimum on a regular basis with nobody attending to them.  That is if the managers aren't yelling at us to put them away.  Sometimes, they'd be there for my entire shift 6-8 hours, and nobody would be doing anything with them.

Well, thank you very reading the first installment of "Insights of a Former Jєωel Employee."

Until next time!

Pinoy Monk

Of course he was.  That's why it reads like St Augustine's Confessions.  I am teasing you, Pinoy.  Let us face it, if we aren't being poisoned on purpose (homicide), we are being poisoned inadvertently (negligent homicide).  I told my husband about the soy last night and I think he hit new lows of despair.   :pop:

Installment 2: The Meat Department

Personally, I did not work for the meat department nor did I work in their immediate vicinity, but I will say what I know.

Their loads came in on the same pallets as the regular "freezer" loads with the Jєωel brand pizzas, ice cream treats, popsicles, etc.  Similarly to the dairy shipments, the meats (along with the frozen products) would often sit out on the floor for a minimum of 30ish minutes.

There is one exception which applies to the above rule (which applies to all deliveries).  In the event that the director of the store appears in the back room and spots the load, it cannot be sorted out and sent to the freezers and coolers swiftly enough!

Anyway, I cannot speak for the department on the whole, but I'll mention a few other anecdotes.  Quite often, I'd find steaks, fish, etc. that customers had tossed on shelves throughout the store, left in the ice cream freezers, etc., so I'd need to return the product to the meat department.  Most of the time, the fresh meats would need to be thrown out (after being damaged, of course).

The older ladies in the department were quite kind to me and usually would throw out the damaged product (deep frozen steaks, for example).  The middle-aged blokes glared at me.  I don't really remember what they did with the product.  Left it sitting out for all I know...

The last minor anecdote that I could remember is that the meat department had a processing room in the basement where they'd cut the steaks down to size and all of those sorts of things.  Although the two older blokes that worked down there were always quite condescending towards me and made sure that nobody went through their area, my managers had no problem pushing old tables, loads, etc. through their processing room if the normal corridor was blocked.  Perhaps this isn't a big deal, but I personally found it to be unsanitary to track all of that muck through a meat processing room.

Until next time...

Pinoy Monk

I do think there are good grocery stores out there that don't follow such unsanitary and unsafe practices.  Problem is, they are usually the more expensive ones in uptown kind of neighborhoods.

There are health codes that need to be followed.  You may want to contact your city's health and human services if you know of a store that is in violation of basic sanitary precautions.