u/ReadyIsland8477

I’m scheduled under 40 hours this week, and one day it looks like one of our underage coworkers may potentially have to close alone. Closing alone at our store can be extremely stressful, especially on a busier day, so I’d like to offer to stay 15–30 minutes past my scheduled time if she needs the help.

My manager is somewhat strict about people leaving at their scheduled time. I’ve stayed 15–20 minutes over before without an issue, but she wasn’t there. So I’m wondering if staying a bit over could get me in trouble.

I’m hesitant to ask her beforehand because she tends to underestimate how much work there actually is and overestimate what one person can get done. Her attitude is generally more “it’ll be fine, they’ll figure it out,” even when the workload is clearly a lot for one person. Even our assistant manager has commented before about not understanding her decisions when it comes to this.

We used to have another manager who genuinely didn’t care if people stayed over to help out even hours at a time. People would regularly stay past their scheduled time when needed, so I’m not sure what to do now

Question: If you’re scheduled to work on a day when you have an important family obligation, but you give your manager a week’s notice that you need the day off, does that still count as a call-out/absence if they’re able to replace you?

I’ve never been late or missed a day, and I’ve even picked up shifts when other people couldn’t and gone in early for my managers (I’m a reliable employee I promise), so I’m just wondering how this is usually handled. I’d really appreciate knowing before I talk to my manager because I’m not sure whether giving advance notice makes a difference.

I’ve been working in Produce for about 3-4 months, and for the past couple of weeks I’ve been the main closer. Lately I’ve been scheduled as the only closer, aside from someone who leaves around 7 p.m.

When I was training, I always closed with another person. Even now, when I look at the schedule on other days, there are usually two closers. But for some reason, I’m consistently closing by myself.

My manager has told me they trust me because I’m thorough and detail-oriented, which I appreciate. But every single night feels like a race against the clock. I have a checklist, I stay organized, and I don’t waste time (even taking my break feels like I’m wasting time), yet I’m constantly running from one task to another and usually end up leaving about 20-30 minutes after my scheduled time. If something unexpected happens, like a balloon order or helping customers for a while, it throws the whole night off.

It’s not that the person leaving at 7 isn’t helping—they usually pull dates and get some trash. The problem is that most of the actual closing work can’t really be done until after 7. I can’t pull end caps early, I can’t finish collecting trash while customers are still filling the cans, and a lot of the work has to wait until later in the evening. So by the time those tasks need to be done, I’m completely on my own.

I don’t think it’s a staffing issue because I was told we actually had plenty of people, and some have just gone back to school. I honestly feel like even having someone scheduled until 8 or 8:30 would make a huge difference. Having someone leave right before most of the closing work begins doesn’t seem very effective.

Is this normal in Produce? Do other stores regularly have one person close alone, or do most of you have at least one other closer until later in the evening?

I already worked 2 full shifts, mostly cutting fruit, which honestly I have had no problems learning. The floor is another story. I have only been on the floor for a total of maybe 3 hours. I was being trained by the assistant manager, who basically just built the flattops for me, sent me off, and repeated this like 4 more times. Then he disappeared and seemed bothered when I did not really know what to do. I asked the actual manager before I found him, and he also seemed kind of annoyed with me.

I do not know if I am supposed to know everything already. Can you guys please give me any tips on stocking? Like, how do I choose what to put on my flattops? I have retail experience, but honestly the structure was different, and there was more manager instruction. It does not seem that way at Publix, and I do not want to seem like I cannot do anything without a manager present either. I feel loaded up with information on cut lists, bills, and everything else to the point that I feel like I do not know enough yet, and I do not want to keep feeling like a bother.

thank you in advance