Pros
I love many of my store co-workers. There are some good deals as an employee. You get off your shift and are already at the store if you need groceries. I have created many delicious sandwiches. I am paid 20 cents above minimum wage.
Cons
There have been people working here for more than 15, FIFTEEN, YEARS WITHOUT A PAY RAISE. Many of my co-workers are distraught about the unfair conditions like lack of proper cleaning supplies, and expectations given to us. When I was hired the first video they had me watch was a welcome to Safeway video. They ephasized the importance of the customers and then of their shareholders. It made me feel like more of a capitalist slave than I should have. The television in the breakroom plays a loop of Safeway video propaganda with a very conservatively passive aggressive news reel at the bottom. You get off your shift and are already at the store. Impulse buying could get nurtured this way. We are forced to do an unsatisfactory job cleaning in order to appease the hours we are assigned, but forced to help any customer if they see us no matter what. This includes time after the deli closes, which is vital to cleaning. The morning clerks can get very busy leaving their dishes for the evening sometimes. We are not allowed overtime to clean and would be written up if we were to get overtime. I have only worked there for about half a year but my department co workers do not work as hard as I do. We turn over a large number of workers as 2/3 of my crew has been replaced while working there. I believe we are given realistic expectation for a perfect scenario (experienced workers, cleaning throughout the day, no customer interaction after department hours), though these expectations are ridiculous. The customers can be rude (as with any service job). If they don't like something we must go above and beyond to keep their loyalty as a shopper. No matter how we are feeling, we are explicitly contracted to positively greet any customer that asks us how we are and if we even make eye contact with someone we must say hello and offer assistance. While some workers may not have issuers with this, I am a severely depressed individual and having to contrive such a fake amount of emotion leaves me extremely exhausted and empty after my shift. We are hounded by management to tell our customers to fill out surveys with an incentive of a free lunch ($6 credit) but the customer must give us perfect 10's for us to earn that. We are not allowed to take breaks if we are busy which leaves us to postpone breaks towards the end if we are unable to fit one in before our rush (which happens too often). Breaks stress me out for this reason because it's time that we are legally not allowed to work, while still expected to finish up on time. We are forced to throw away pounds of food every night. Homelessness is a large problem where I live. Nonetheless my company would rather throw away good food they can't profit from than let starving people eat it. I steal food from my employer and tragically feel no remorse from the illegality. I used to feel that way, but this job has consumed my morale. Why should I play by their rules when they do not allow me to perform my job by their rules. I just finished writing feedback about this in particular to see if we can donate our "waste".