In August of 1980 I was excited to
get a job as a clerk’s helper at Alpha Beta 191 in North Hollywood. I was 21
years old and had just gotten married in July (exactly one month before my
official start date at the store.) I was excited because, at the time, a job at
a union grocery store was still considered desirable. The pay was above minimum
wage and the benefits that were provided to every employee, no matter how many
hours you worked, were excellent.
My first paycheck stub:
Within the first six months that I
worked the first barcode scanners were installed in the checkstands. As a
bagger I remember bagging for checkers who were amazingly fast at punching
register keys to check out groceries that were all individually marked with
stamped or stickered prices. By the time I became a checker, the scanners were
in place and I never used one of the older key-punch registers. I remember how
wary the customers were of the new-fangled technology and how the individual
price marking of items had to be phased out very slowly in order to gain the
trust of the public.
Within another year or so, plastic
bags were introduced to offer an alternative to the higher costing paper bags.
Customers had a choice now of how to have their groceries packaged to take
home. Because the plastic bags were never fully embraced by everyone, the
industry eventually cut down the size of the paper bags to lower their cost.
And of course, more recently, with
concerns for the environment, reusable bags are being embraced by more and more
consumers.
But back to my story.
I remember the first Halloween
(1980) that I worked while I was a clerk’s helper. We were allowed to wear
costumes and I chose to dress as a soldier. When I went to gather carts in the
parking lot, I got into character and ran around to do the job as fast as I
could. I was sweating and working hard and my manager, Harry Alfred, drove into
the lot and saw me. I forget his exact words to me but I could see that he was
impressed and very soon after that I was promoted to a checking position.
As the benefit of the speed of the
scanners became evident to customers, checkers and management alike, ways to
assess each checker’s ability were developed and I thrived in the competitive
environment because I had always been a competitive person. My “performance
reviews” consistently cited “productivity” as my strength and “friendliness” as
my weakness. Because I’m rather an introvert and don’t have particularly
outstanding people skills, that has been something I struggled with my entire
career.
My 5 year pin:
I worked at that Alpha Beta for six
years and was promoted to a PIC (person in charge) position in my 2nd
year there. One night when I was in charge, our store was robbed and I was the
one who had to open the safe. After the robber took the money, he held a gun on
me and forced me to accompany him out the door and around the corner out of
sight. Although he didn’t end up physically harming me, I can tell you that I
have never been more scared in my life.
I was able to remain calm and he got away and I was able to return to
the store. I later was called to identify him in a lineup and I remember how
hard my heart was beating when I saw him there. I didn’t think I’d recognize
him because he had worn a bandage over his face when he robbed me but my heart
knew that the man I saw in the lineup was him. But I never heard anything more
about the case.
I remember another time when I saw
a guy walking out between two closed checkstands with suspiciously large lumps
under his jacket. I stupidly chased him out the door and yanked on his jacket
and made him drop the beer he was carrying. I think it surprised him more than
anything and he took off running. My heart was racing and while I was glad that
I stopped him, I realized that it had been a really dumb thing for me to do.
In 1985 my husband and I discovered
what he called “God’s country” in Newbury Park. It was a beautiful community
and a great place for us to buy a home and raise a family. We bought a house
and I commuted about 40 miles a day while attempting to get a transfer to the
Alpha Beta located in nearby Thousand Oaks. The manager there, Larry Benton,
was reluctant to transfer me as a PIC but I told him that I wasn’t really
interested in continuing in a management position. All I wanted to be was a
part time checker and be closer to home and the new baby I was expecting. He
finally approved the transfer when I returned from maternity leave and I
started working at Alpha Beta 286 in May of 1986.
Within the first couple of months I
met a couple of friends that continue to be part of my life to this day. One
was a vivacious, bubbly, friendly, red head named Cathy Clark. She had just had
her own first baby a month before I did so that created an immediate bond
between us. And she is just one of those people that cares about everyone.
When I was searching for a
childcare provider, she was the one who told me that one of our other
co-workers, Ralph Frost, had a wife that did childcare. My daughter was about
10 months old when we met Janeen and I was won over when, at our second
meeting, Christy went to her with open arms.
Janeen cared for my son as well
when he came along in 1988.
In 1989 I got a divorce from my
bipolar husband.
Alpha Beta went on to be taken over
by Lucky in around 1991. All the employees stayed in place and we were trained
in the Lucky way of doing things. Our manager retired and we went through a
series of short term managers (one of whom was Gary Bottomley—have you seen the
pattern? Harry, Larry, Gary –and one
more to come) with one consistent assistant manager named Chet Allen.
During the period of 1990 to 1999
several things happened in my personal life while I worked for Lucky. As I
tried to figure out how I wanted to conduct my life as a single parent, I went
to school to pursue my dream of becoming a teacher, while continuing to work
part time at the store. I was able to complete my BA in liberal arts. But my
health took a dive from the stress I was under and I also became conflicted
about whether I really wanted to become a teacher after all. I was eventually
diagnosed with lupus and went through a period of a few years when I would have
a flare up that would make me unable to work for 6 months and then a 6-month
remission until the next flare up.
In 1999 Lucky “married” Albertsons
and the store I was working at was sold to an independent company called
“Westward Ho!” (or something like that.) I opted to stay with Albertson’s, as
did my friend Cathy Clark (now Nealon) and we were both transferred to a store
in Oxnard where we worked for 2 months before both being transferred to an
Albertsons in Newbury Park. We worked for manager Barry Sullivan until Cathy transferred a couple of years later to
an Albertsons by her house in Thousand Oaks. While at this store, I started
helping Kim, the girl who stocked the meat-deli, and eventually became her
permanent back-up.
In 2001 a brand new Albertsons was
built in Newbury Park and we all transferred from our little store down the
street to the new building.
In 2003, our contract negotiations
were not going well and our union called for a strike. At first it was kind of
exciting to walk a picket line but as the months dragged on, disillusionment
set in. Customers discovered alternative places to shop and those that crossed
our picket line looked at us with disdain for our “greed” in wanting livable
wages and working conditions. It was a disheartening time. Finally, in March of
2004, the contract was settled with big concessions from the union and the
people that were hired after that point did not enjoy a lot of the same
benefits that the people hired prior did.
Not too long after the strike Barry
retired and Randy Smith took over as manager. The meat-deli department was much
bigger in the new store and I was able to work most of my hours there while
still doing some checking. Eventually, Kim left to stay home with her kids and
I took over the meat-deli. I injured my shoulder after a couple of years of
that work and didn’t particularly want to continue doing it once I healed.
I was given the opportunity (Randy
recommended me for the job) of getting into the price integrity (scan)
department in 2009ish. At first I was unsure whether I would like the schedule
as I had never considered myself particularly a morning person and the job
requires a start time of 5 a.m. But I quickly adapted to it and found that the
required skills of the work (detail oriented, organized, ability to prioritize)
were right up my alley. I was the back-up for a couple of years until Tracy, my
lead, was transferred to another store and Randy promoted me in her place. For
the last four years of my career I have enjoyed a regular schedule with
weekends off—something very rare in the grocery business.
Now I am retiring under the rule of
the Golden 85 which is a formula that allows retirement if your age and years
of service add up to 85. I am ecstatic to start a new chapter in my life.
Although when I started I would
never have imagined that I would stay in the grocery business for 35 years, I
am glad that I have something to show for it. With the political climate what
it is and all the disparagement of unions, I am extremely grateful for what my
union has provided for me over the years. I sincerely hope that the UFCW and
all other unions continue to do their work for years to come.
