Vantaggi
Regular pay, albeit low. They give you opportunities to be knowledgeable in the area you are working, in my case regular tests on the various produce items. It is nice to be able to answer customers questions confidently.
Svantaggi
I am left completely alone in the department in the afternoon until evening, nearly every day from +- 3p.m to 9pm. The produce department is MASSIVE, by the time I get from one side to the other, the former side is already destroyed by rush hour customers...it's never ending. I am also expected to completely clean the department prep-area (which is fine with me) as well as the sales floor (emptying trash cans, sweeping floor etc...), which is all fine except that the front-end is regularly understaffed and I am CONSTANTLY being called up to help bag and do customer carry-outs. Management is well aware that I am by myself, but has no shame in calling me up there to do various jobs. I could even deal with that, except that being alone in produce, I can't handle my whole department by myself and still be called away to do other things....I constantly get fussed at by my assistant department manager the next day for the state of the department (he is extremely negative and whiny)...all the while the Produce manager knows what is going on and says nothing to stop them from taking me out of produce during my shift. I just feel it is impossible. I am extremely hard-working and keep the department looking nice, but no one notices it until I get burned out and don't keep up the pace. I have been riding them about the BBT program to become a manager, which they encouraged me to apply for upon starting work...just to be put aside constantly. Current managers don't even adhere to directives from corporate, so it is frustrating to watch them complain when they won't give me a chance to move up.