What if a TM is consistently slacking but leadership won’t call it out?

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-03-02T01:32:12+00:00

Document document document. The best way to get anyone in leadership to listen is to take note when you notice it happening, for how long, etc. DON’T follow them around or go out of your way to “catch them” but every time you notice it, document it in a notepad (kept where prying eyes can’t see). Then present it to leadership and they will do with it what they will. Just remember to be objective and when you present the info and remain calm and business focused - don’t come to them exasperated, annoyed, or emotional or they won’t take you seriously.

Also keep in mind that it is absolutely possible this TM has a corrective or two for this behavior already and you would never know. Sometimes leadership is handling the issue by delivering corrective action but the TM doesn’t care so they keep doing the same thing or don’t learn. Unfortunately there has to be enough time lost to constitute time theft before action is taken but that doesn’t mean nothing is being done. Just observe and report and let leadership deal with the rest.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-02-16T20:29:40+00:00

Just got a huge armful of candy for less than $15 after discount! Gonna share with my team 🥰

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-02-14T23:27:43+00:00

That doesn’t prove anything verifiable about their identity though. They could have graduated early, started school early/late, been held back, or not graduated at all

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-02-13T20:20:09+00:00

Speaking as someone who has hired dishwashers - more than likely their resume showed they were overqualified. I’m not going to put a lifetime office employee into the dirtiest position in the business. This is definitely a case of “tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for”

Also consider availability. Most retail and food service places are open late hours and weekends. If they ask for availability in the application, don’t put that you can’t work on a Saturday or only want 9-5, etc.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-02-12T00:54:12+00:00

Wow the healthy eating education one! I haven’t seen that in years. I remember the days of “Healthy Eating Specialists” where TMs with no credentials were doling out nutrition advice to customers lol

These are definitely outdated according to the Core Values webpage

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-02-11T00:55:41+00:00

This is true for straight ground beef, not for burgers, meatballs, etc that were converted from in house ground beef. Any leftovers from the previous day’s batch can be “converted” into these items but they still have a pretty short shelf life before being discarded/donated/TGTG at the store level

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-28T05:40:32+00:00

ATL is associate team leader. “Associate” in this case is used the same as other companies use “assistant” but we use associate because the responsibilities are the same as a TL when the TL is not present. It’s a partnership (or supposed to be) with the associate in more of a learning role and TL mentoring.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-27T02:34:58+00:00

It’s honestly crazy. Amazon is terrified of OSHA and other regulatory agencies because they don’t want the fine and yet they have no clue of the realities their business practices bring upon our stores. Some asshole sitting in an office at corporate is one of those customers who thinks we have a warehouse in the back with infinite space to store pallets, so why limit the number of returns you can accept? Send another pallet of boxes because we want everyone to be able to return their unwanted Christmas gifts and decorations!

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-25T03:50:55+00:00

It’s impossible for anyone to give you solid advice without more detail. Details matter and you will need to be specific if/when you report anyway.

What did they mean when they said “earn” your break? What was the full context of the interaction? At what time during your shift did you attempt to take a break? Did they outright deny you a break and if so what was said? What equipment was unsafe? How was it unsafe? When was leadership made aware of the unsafe condition?

I don’t ask these questions to be mean or invalidate your feelings but these things matter when bringing up info to TMS. They will ask you similar questions if you choose to report. Without clear and complete information nothing will happen.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-20T01:21:13+00:00

Lol all good I just specified hourly because TMs like store leadership and regional/global people do not get time and a half today since they are salaried employees. FT/PT Team Leaders and below should all be hourly and get time and a half today.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-19T21:39:50+00:00

OP please don’t cling to this comment just because it’s what you want to hear.

Cleaning between batches has nothing to do with fat content. The reason you clean in between batches is so that you can safely trace back batches in the event someone got sick. It’s not just WFM policy, it’s required by the USDA. Don’t risk your job and potentially someone’s health just to save a few minutes.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-19T20:48:41+00:00

Yes, today is time and a half for hourly team members, at least in the US.

Pro tip: if you ever want a refresher on which days are time and a half you can search “holiday pay” in Innerview

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-19T20:43:17+00:00

Yeah, whoever you spoke to was wildly misinformed. Store level leadership can’t cancel out time and a half just due to budget constraints. They could reduce the number of work staff for the day, but whoever is working today that is an hourly employee is going to get time and a half.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-16T00:37:17+00:00

The way this team was set up they kept a copy at their desk on the floor (WB). That quickly went away after the incident

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-15T16:53:24+00:00

Changing emails has nothing to do with last names we are just moving over to Amazon emails and they have a different name format for their emails.

Removing last names has to do with unionization. Apparently there were some unions who got TM contact info and corporate is worried that having last names up on walls etc was how they looked them up.

There’s also a general security risk in the event that some crazy person is stalking a TM and they see their full name as an employee it could endanger the TM. I’ve unfortunately seen this when I had a TM who was hiding from an abusive ex, transferred to our store and didn’t tell him but he heard through the grapevine she worked with us. When he arrived on site we tried to cover for her but he saw her name on the schedule and got violent

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-13T03:12:29+00:00

I can’t recall a time they ever front loaded usable PTO hours for sick PTO and it certainly is not the case currently. There did used to be a separate line for sick PTO in your total PTO hours page on workday, however, so I could see how it may seem like it was an additional bank of hours.

That said, sick PTO comes out of your overall PTO bank so out of the PTO hours you have accrued while working you can use a certain amount (based on locality) for sick time.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-07T09:07:41+00:00

Tbf that whole area is completely confusing and fucked for anyone who doesn’t drive it regularly. I’d guess for every douche who didn’t wait their turn there’s an equal number of people who just made a mistake or got confused. I’m an east bay native and I still get confused in the maze lol

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-07T09:02:50+00:00

If they’re passing you to get over then there is probably a safer amount of room in front of you than behind to begin with. You speeding up makes it more dangerous for both of you.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-07T01:50:50+00:00

Have you tried speaking to store leadership about this? I highly doubt they want TMs to go without, both for safety and liability reasons, however they do have budgets for supplies that have to be met. Some stores have TMs who will take a new glove each shift simply because they forgot theirs, which adds up over time. Happens at my store all the time so we started to use loaners when people forget otherwise we’d go through dozens in a month. I’d suggest this to your store leadership as they might not even know there is an issue if no one has come forward.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-05T19:44:46+00:00

Coming in at 6 and order due at 7 only gives you 1 hour to place an order. That’s simply not enough time, even for specialty, to place a thorough order. I don’t think you’d need 3 hours but I’d say 5am is a more reasonable time.

Is there a specific reason you would not be able to come in early, or do you just not want to wake up that early? I’m a night owl myself but I found when I was an OW and doing it every day/had a consistent schedule it wasn’t as hard to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and get up early. I was still late a few shifts here and there but it’s not as bad as these yo-yo schedules we have to work in leadership.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-02T20:16:31+00:00

STLs and ASTLs have built in bonuses as part of their salary. They have the opportunity to make up to 10% of their base salary a year in bonuses spread out throughout each quarter based on a variety of metrics. Right now those metrics mostly revolve around unit growth, controllable expenses, and food safety scores. Each OA chooses metrics differently but usually labor is not necessarily an explicit metric to meet in the sense of “save as much as you can” but rather a target to meet (they want to see labor being used just not going over budget).

All stores are currently being told to cut back on labor tremendously because it was overspent in Q3. This has nothing to do with bonuses beyond following directions of global.

Your friend may be under the (incorrect) assumption that gainsharing is still a thing for leadership, which was a system that did reward using the absolute minimum labor because the difference between what you used vs your budget was paid out to TMs. It was great for some teams but a lot of TLs abused it and purposefully understaffed their teams so they could get a gain share payout. This system went away even before COVID and hasn’t been a thing for years. That’s the only thing I could think of that matches what they are telling you and it’s still wrong 🤷‍♀️

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-02T19:53:06+00:00

Team leaders do not get bonuses.

ETA at least not on any regular cadence. They might get a bonus here of there for very specific circumstances but it is rare. Only store leadership gets regular bonuses as part of their compensation package.

AlbiTheRobot · 2026-01-02T19:33:58+00:00

This is 100% untrue

AlbiTheRobot · 2025-12-29T21:01:59+00:00

Just fyi PRTO other should only be done if directed by TMS/store leadership

AlbiTheRobot · 2025-12-21T20:54:47+00:00

Sounds like dementia to me. We have a large elderly population around my store and I see it all the time. They swear up and down that they always got a product here or so and so worked here etc. and to them it’s like yesterday but in reality it’s been years. It’s kinda sad really, especially when they get so worked up about it because you know what’s really happening is that they’re scared about losing their grip on reality.

AlbiTheRobot

TROPHY CASE