I've been working for the company for 13 years. Only in the past year have I had a manager who actually verbalizes his appreciation for the effort and results I achieve. With the conversion to Great Foods, I know I'm not the only one who's upset with the fact that the company has purposely understated the transition. Many, many, many customers are unaware of the fact that the banner and therefore the collective agreement has even changed, let alone the concessions the employees have had to make with the conversion. Stay conventional and you lose out on a once in a lifetime opportunity to gain a lump sum of money to sock away for the future. Take the buy down and you give up benefits, Sundays off with your family, sick days, Christmas bonuses that were guaranteed as long as Loblaws operated under the name "Loblaws", and significant chunk of your hourly pay. It's truly a feeling of you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. Motivation is going out the door because no matter how hard you work, how much your sales are up or how much conditions have improved, the uppers are never happy. It's a shock to hear a compliment, but you'll never hear the same one twice. All anyone ever talks about is wishing for an opportunity to get out. There's no doubt that company is not what it used to be.