Oh, Lord! Where to start? I've worked in 2 Loblaws over 8 years in Wpg. Both store managers were aggressive bullies. They never said good morning, how are you, nothing. I had run ins with both of them and I'm happy to say they stayed out of my way afterwards. Even my "needs to be on meds" supervisor pretty much leaves me alone now. You have to stand up for yourself. If your union rep is useless, ask to deal with someone else. Don't forget the union is there to represent us, the lowly worker, and it's up to us to make sure they do. The amount of waste in every store is staggering - they'd save more money focusing on that then by cutting hours. And how about those nasty t-shirts that we had to wear? A new one every few months so we were walking advertising. How much did that cost? And then we threw them away.I know my supervisor orders stock like she got hold of someone else's credit cards. There is no set way to let her know we're running out of something then she freaks when we don't have that item. Maybe a list would be helpful? The stores should quit moving everything around once a month - customers like to know where things are. I always tell my customers to complain long and loud at customer service or ask to talk to the manager and then follow up.I can't do more than that. As for the cut back in hours - I do what I can do with the time and help I have - that's it.I dare someone to complain. My supervisor now knows if I request (or block) days off, I won't be there. So don't put me on the schedule. Not my problem. I don't understand why the front line people aren't asked for our suggestions and ideas. We know how our area works, we know what works and what doesn't and we know what the customers want. It wouldn't challenge anyone's authority and we may actually start to respect the management. Maybe. I also find it amusing that we're supposed to know the new ways of doing things, yet that info stopped at the supervisor! I'm always happy to point that out. As far as holiday hours and time off, I've taken to restricting myself by Veteran's Day - picking my hours and days- then unrestricting myself after the holidays. There's usually lots of hours to go around then so I lose only 4 hours a week.

I know that I and the people I work with are capable of doing much more than we actually do. I don't know if the supervisor is afraid to lose her status or what but we now wait around until she tells us what to do! I know if I started something on my own, she'd want it done differently. I won't even go into the favoritism that runs rampant in the store.I'm glad the people I work with every day are great - we all have a sense of humor, we all agree Loblaw's sucks, we all agree the supervisor is whacked and we have each others backs. I do think that the management should be rotated at least every 2 years. That foils the favoritism and complacity that always develops. That would include the supervisors. I also think that cutting a few of the supervisor and management jobs would save a hell of a lot more $ than cutting hours in each department. After all, it's the lowly workers that do the bulk of the day to day jobs. They keep cutting our hours and before you know it the management will have to write on cakes or work the registers or sweep up in the produce dept. My advice is to get a good sense of humor, don't let anyone treat you with disrespect, get involved in the union to some degree and keep looking for something better. And yes, some companies deserve one star or less!