So mad at my grocery store job.

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So, I'm a bagger at a big grocery store, I'm 16 years old, this is my 1st job and I've been working there for almost 4 months. Especially as of late, I am so upset at how often I'm being scheduled on friday/saturday/sunday, compared to the weekdays. There are 2 reasons for that:

1. I have a friend that I only get to see on the weekends. He's my only friend, and he goes to the school that I used to go to in my 7th and 8th grade year and lives across town.

2. Working that much in a 3 day time span wears me down

This weekend, I work on friday from 4:15 PM-7:30, Saturday from 9 AM-1:30 PM, and Sunday from 4-7:45 PM

Then next weekend, It's even worse:

Friday: 4:15-8(They seriously had to tack on an extra 30 minutes for no reason?)

Saturday: 8:30AM-2(5 and a half hours. Way past my comfort level. They don't want a worn down version of me working for them)

Sunday: 4:45-8PM

They could give me all those hours during those 3 days, but they could never schedule me Monday-Thursday. That's pretty pathetic in my opinion


I understand the fact that more courtesey people are needed on the weekends. I actually like working on 4 hour shifts on saturdays, but I have a serious issue for when they schedule me THAT much on the weekends, and never schedule me on weeknights. Doing something like bagging can wear me down easily, and the person who schedules me has no understanding of how worn down I get from having all those shifts during that time of the week. It's just as frusturating when it's also taking away my only time I can see my only friend.

You can call it laziness or whatever, but the flip side to it is that I'm under enough stress as is with school, and I need to be mentally rested for both school and work. And my shifts being clustered together does not help with it at all. With all that said, what should I do about it? I'm not one to complain about stuff like this to their faces, and I obviously don't wanna ruin my reputation, But until I'm done with school, I can't be having such a workload on the weekends. I can handle one day on the weekend, or I can even do something like friday and Sunday(which is what I got one time), but not back to back on the weekend. I'm getting tired of it.

Would this be a Hy-Vee grocery store? most retail,restaurant jobs do pile on for the weekend, and the older employees who work the early weekday shifts mostly never leave.

My first job at 15 was bagging groceries. I hated weekday work, getting home from school and going straight to work was exhausting at first but got used to it You could look for a place to work that is closed on Sundays. I worked in grocery stores till I was 27 and working Friday, Saturday and Sunday was par for the course. After you have had the job 6 months you would be well within your right to start shopping around for something that is a better fit. Grocery store work is hard (physically) don't do it longer than you have to. Good luck!

It sounds to me that you should just quit. Your school is the most important thing, and having a job at your age isn't really important. You won't have any money, but you can earn a few bucks mowing lawns or cleaning for people.

Tell the manager or owner "are you going to do something useful with me or just let me bag groceries?" Than quit or get promoted etc... try working in the deli in any open position... they won't give it to you.

Well you might need to consider looking for a different job with more compatible hours, or maybe taking a break from working, if its too much while still in school.

Well, OP, I salute you for working a job while still in high school. I didn't, which helped me concentrate on graduating, but on the flip side it was really hard to get a job after high school since I was basically competing with people who had a work history.

Retail boggles my mind though. I have no idea why, but most retail stores, and fast food outlets according to a friend of mine, never stick to one set schedule. Rather, they like to change around their shifts every week, and most don't even offer a convenient way to check the schedule, so one has to go in and check it on their day off. Don't get me started on being "called in" on your days off. Having shifts that change every week is exhausting, and I can image it's a pain for those who have to draft up a schedule every week too.

It's usually the management or someone of a similarly high position, and I'm sure they have better things to do than take the time to write a new schedule every week when they don't have to. If they just wrote up one schedule that worked for all employees and only drafted a new one when employees changed around or needed to switch up their availability, things would be a lot simpler. Heck, they probably wouldn't have to write up a whole new schedule. They could just make some modifications here and there as needed. It would save time and effort on both ends, and it would put an end to this "getting called in" BS, except in the occasional emergency situation, like if someone calls in sick. I know there are retail outlets that do operate in a sensible manner. Best Buy was sensible when I worked for them. There are just so many others that operate on this varying schedule BS that it defies all logic.

Find a job with better hours. They are out there. I worked in a Grocery Store for too long in college. I should have been doing tech support, or mowing lawns.

My wife worked in her junior universities' art gallery (~age 19-20). She was able to do her homework while getting paid.

Mowing lawns is some serious money. Find 3-4 lawns to mow and I bet you may be making more cash than bagging groceries. You can also normally set your own [daytime] hours [no one wants someone mowing a lawn at 3 AM].

its time to either quit or talk to your manager to tell him maybe going down to one day a week because your getting overwhelmed with the work. if he knows you have aspergers/autism then he would understand.

That schedule is pretty standard for part time low skilled work. It's almost always going to be nights and weekends only. As someone who had a grocery job in high school it's a waste of time. I could never make any plans they will not tell me when I work and they expected me to available all the time and became annoyed at school or any attempt at plans. Sorry you don't pay me near enough to buy my time. Maybe a bad attitude to have at a first job but I was always thinking of better things.

You are better off seeing friends and not worrying about a small pay check if you don't have to. In 20 years will you remember the friends or the ice cream you bagged? Worry about college and getting a real job. And that job really does not care about a grocery clerk job or if you had one. How does that job help you in the real world? It does not besides maybe proving you can be hired but in my opinion your college grades help that more.