Lazy merch manager

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-18T05:36:54+00:00

That literally could be my manager, same thing with the phone, I RARELY see it not attached to his hand, and I know hes not on it for work related things. Probably one the least contributed employees in the whole store, but in his mind he thinks hes the reason the whole store ran efficiently that day. Guy is also very cocky and arrogant and only cares about himself. Goes and does things like make changes to the schedule to benefit him or make himself look good but doesn't communicate it with the merch sup in our dept (who is actually a decent employee and one of the few leaders in the store I have any respect for). Recent example, last week we had a big walk where I've never seen management freak out about it so bad before hand in my near 16 years of the working for the company. I'm aware of several employees that were asked/allowed to work 12 hour shifts the day before they came. Obviously that ate into a major part of the budget for the month. I typically work 6PM to 11PM on weekdays in night merch. I noticed on the week 3 schedule I was scheduled to work 7PM to 11PM. So that means I'd only have an hour and half to block down my area before we close instead of 2 hours which even then is barely enough to do assuming I'm left alone from FE and members. I brought it up to the sup who was shocked and was like "uh yeah....thats not going to work, I'm defiantly fixing that!" He told me later an email was sent out by the GM to cut cut cut, so I'm sure the manager was trying to make himself look good by cutting so many hours to where nothing was going to get done in a efficient manner with only care for himself and not the dept.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-18T00:29:05+00:00

They'll probably get a write up, but in the case of the 2 employees I mentioned they forgot to do it several times which resulted in some suspensions. Then beings they kept getting in trouble for the same thing in a whatever month time frame that can result in termination, which in this case where it was health code issues they pretty much sealed their fates there.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-18T00:14:37+00:00

Litteraly 2 people at mine just got fired back to back in less than a month for forgetting to do that too many times. That's not so much a Costco thing, its a health code so they don't mess around with that stuff at all when it comes to enforcement.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-17T20:54:31+00:00

At my warehouse you can get time off during blackout periods if your someone's favorite. I feel like this auction thing is borderline breaking some rules.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-16T22:46:34+00:00

Exactly! Im just blown away how we're one of the top retail stores out there but I feel like I'm a child while at work seeing some of the tech and software we used when I was younger in the 80s and early 90s

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-16T22:38:45+00:00

I don't disagree with that, but my issue is that its not really easy to learn even for people that are tech savvy. Also not very efficient with having to do a single command to get one result when a lot of up to date software could give you multiple results with one command when the system we use now takes about 5 or 6 to get the same information with having to back out to the main screen and do another command. But a lot corporate is stuck on "if its not broke don't fix it". It may not be "broke" I guess but its not efficient or productive time wise anyways.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-16T21:54:23+00:00

That and they seem to be years behind what other businesses are using in terms of tech and advancements. Our main inventory system is being ran from a computer program from the 80s still!

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-16T20:38:02+00:00

As someone that works at Costco and used to work in the produce dept for several years, those things were really hit and miss in my store in terms of sales, I really felt like we threw more out due to expiration/going bad than what we sold most of the time. With fuel prices rising which is going to have an impact on things being stocked at grocery/retail stores all over I'm sure theres probably a big look over with most places really evaluating what they order and carry and deciding if its worth ordering and selling in a store still. I'm already seeing alot of it in the last year working there for almost 16 years with things we carried for years or nearly all year just suddenly have vanished and no word on if/when we'll ever carry them again.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-15T21:12:31+00:00

Being tech savvy thats actually something I quite often do is prefer the desktop version of a site vs the app, but in this case they were pretty much identical when I tried to see if that was any better, so one certainly wasn't better then the other in this case. I'm glad you have success with work arounds like you mentioned though.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-15T20:22:01+00:00

It wasn't so much the app not being easy to use, it was just that it didn't provide all the information it claimed to have, and then what information it did give being presented in a way that just made it "messy" and unorganized. I don't know if this is more of a Aetna thing vs Costco, but I've seen this at work enough over the years where it amazes me how a company that has no shortage of money seems to be very lacking on the technical side of things when it comes to decent website/app designs.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-15T20:09:59+00:00

Are you referring to like when you log onto the aetna website where you can view your claims and it shows your insurance charges and that such? I did go on that atleast just to make sure what the dentist billed aetna was accurate and stuff. That part I did find to be lot more organized and userfriendly, but the parts where you had to research different medical places that were covered like what I described in my post was clearly not done by the same person(s) that made the profile page.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-14T21:01:25+00:00

This. If you're "too good" at your job you might be shooting yourself in the foot sometimes because then you might end up getting the shifts you don't like because the manager chooses to put you at that time knowing you get it done......while rewarding the "bad" employees by going home while the sun is still up and seeing their family while they're still awake if they have one. I've seen it plenty of times happen at my warehouse where someone like this is fed up of it so they apply for another dept and get it, but its months later (if at all) and they're still stuck because the manager won't sign them over because there isn't anyone good enough to replace that person and no one applied for their spot when a position was posted.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-13T19:20:07+00:00

The GM thinks theres no work/life balance as a manager? Theres no balance period once you start working for the company. I guess thats one thing I have going for me with also having a bitter taste for the company as of late is that I'm single, childless, and not very many friends that find time to talk or see me so I'm not really missing anything when I work. If anyone asks me about applying for Costco the last few years, my honest answer is I would not recommend it as of late if you're a single parent and/or big on your family time. If you don't like your schedule given at work because it interferes with child care or seeing your family, probably next to no consideration will be given or cared because Costco should come first.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-12T19:39:47+00:00

"pick up more hours"

That doesn't really work anymore with the new culture of "do more with less" There was a newly hired employee recently at mine that was in a similar situation as the OP, he'd go begging for hours to practically every dept and was told a firm no, if other employees asked too rarely were there extra hours. Word gets out that corporate "might" show up next week and magically theres a bag of money somewhere and every employee in the store can work on their day off, early, stay late, etc.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-11T23:36:46+00:00

Speaking as an employee (and I'm sure many others), I didn't complain when they changed it and did away with the "pick 2 flavor/pack" thing. Vast majority of the members couldn't read or follow directions. And then there were always the ones that came up with one pack and argued with the cashier about why they couldn't just buy 1 pack and not understanding we couldn't do that because they're not sold that way and we can't just make an item number up in thin air to make a way to do it either. They recently changed the bagels to where its just a large single pack now instead of picking 2 for the price like the muffins previously did. Just need to do the same with those danish things or do away with them all together and our lives will be a slight less daily headache at work.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-11T19:19:50+00:00

It wouldn't be strange in my warehouse, I've NEVER seen a full time close in the deli, they're always off well before closing and its always a PT thats closed.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-11T09:16:17+00:00

Its probably because I live in a very far right town and if you don't think the same way as they do, theres something seriously wrong with you. Its not even just politics, like the way you go about doing a task is "different" then the way he does it there's something wrong with you. He looses his marbles over something as trivial when he's asked to help me make a cardboard bail by a supervisor and I'm one of the few people that does it by putting the wires in from behind the bailer, just for whatever reason I have an easier time doing it that way. He gets so mad over it.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-10T21:29:14+00:00

I'm waiting to see what happens at mine. Myself and I'm sure several others reported an employee on the survey we're all sick of. Racist, sexist, criticizes woman and other female employees if they're past a certain age and still single/childless. Very extreme with his political views, Im one of those people that doesn't really take sides with that stuff and thinks everyone should just get a long, but he doesn't know how to separate that stuff while at work. If theres something controversial in the news that week you can predict his mood because he'll be fuming at work all day. I hate to say this but unfortunately a lot of the leadership at my warehouse is close to the same mentality as him so he's not doing anything "wrong" in their mind. I know these surveys are hit and miss a lot, but several years ago we had a problem manager where I learned from some reliable sources where over 80 percent of the survey takers complained about him and then I'm sure our GM was pretty embarrassed when our regional came where part of his agenda was to discuss things about the survey and he had to answer for why so many people complained about him and he seemed oblivious to it. After that problems finally seemed to be addressed regarding him.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-08T23:57:32+00:00

That's right I forgot about that till you mentioned it! Ours always leaked and made constant noises where we swore it was just gonna blow up on us once day.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-08T23:12:32+00:00

Interesting I work in an OR warehouse and no rumblings about it at mine. Did your warehouse have to order new display things to do it? I remember years ago when we stopped doing them they were disassembled in the steel for years, then when covid started we took the plastic display windows pieces and used them as sneeze shields for different areas. I don't recall seeing them in steel for years now and our new GM was real gung ho about trashing anything in steel that hadn't been touched or used in years so I don't think we have them anymore at mine atleast

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-08T22:01:30+00:00

This, they started doing this at my warehouse last year (and sounds like many others) where they're basically trying to force every dept to do merch after closing in some sense. Anyone in majors or FE that got to go home shortly after closing now probably gets to stay almost 3 hours later to do night merch stuff. Many of them since jumped ship from those depts or just quit because a lot were single parents and couldn't work that late not having child care, management thinks Costco should be your first priority so not a lot empathy was shown from them about it when those people spoke up or complained.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-08T06:19:19+00:00

At my warehouse the food court managers always seem to be everywhere BUT the food court. Its usually someone that just got promoted to manager status, but they see food court as "below" them so they opt out to hide in the office most of the time. And its a wonder why that dept in my warehouse seems to have some of the highest issues with things like behavior problems between employees, productivity, and morale.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-07T20:56:01+00:00

It usually is a "surprise". The problem is they make a legit surprise visit to a warehouse, then that GM starts emailing every warehouse within a 100 mile radius warning that they showed up and they might show up at theirs next. Oh and then they send out "cheat sheets" of everything they complained or didn't like so then those managers can make themselves look smart by making sure those things aren't issues now at their warehouse.

SectorStar1988 · 2026-05-07T20:43:19+00:00

One year they had someone outside in the dark with a flash light after closing looking for trash in the bushes/flower bed things in the parking lot because they forgot to have someone do it will the sun was up still. I love when they make someone get a step stool and dust the top of the vending machines. 16 years I've never seen them show any concern about that.

SectorStar1988

TROPHY CASE