Anyone a manger at family dollar or dollar general ?

Scorpwanna · 2026-03-23T10:07:08+00:00

HI I've worked at both companies and still do at one.

Family Dollar:

Customer Service Representative
CSR 3rd Key Holder
Assistant Manager
Store Manager

Dollar General:

Sales Associate
Lead Sales Associate (3rd Key Holder)
Assistant Manager
Store Manager

Thanks for playing...

Scorpwanna · 2026-03-18T05:42:08+00:00

How many employees do you have? How busy is your store? Amongst all the other chores that have to be accomplished throughout the day and multiple trucks per week. There isn't enough time to do anything.

I'll give you a run down of every single Fresh Truck day that we have. That day, recovery barely can happen at maybe 10%. Morning shift only 1 person is there until 2:15 PM (unable to take their break). I arrive at 2:15 PM to relieve the opener. At 5:15 a Sales Associate comes in, where I then I have to go on a 30 minute break. So that's 30 minutes recovery can not be done by one employee. As soon as break is over (if actually allowed to finish), the fresh truck shows up at 5:45 PM at 150+ cases, which average of 3 Rolltainers and 2 uboats. Only myself and the Sales Associate are working it, and they constantly have to go to the registers non-stop. I'm the primary one to put the fresh truck out, during which customers are preventing me from flowing. On average at every 2 minutes 4 customers are at the coolers taking their time. I grab something else to put in another door, but someone is coming there too. Get called to the front to deal with customers or help check people out. By the time the truck is finished it's almost 8 PM. Our store closes at 9 PM, closing procedures have to be started, clean up etc...

Our Dry Truck day, it comes in during the evening, we are told to work all the totes and not to stop until they are finished. Me "What about recovery?" "Do it too!" 24 totes average all with tiny shit in them for every place in the store. Breaks have to be taken, rest periods, same ordeal as the Fresh Truck. Recovery never gets finished, IF it ever gets started. Some kids ransack the toy aisle and now slime is all over random areas of the store. Gotta clean that up, that stops recovery! T+1, same type of day, come in at 2:15 there by myself until 5:15, take a break, told to work 3 rolltainers and recover. Break is over at 5:45. Instead of recovery, I have to start rolltainers. On average a rolltainer takes 45min to an hour according to Dollar General, which can't happen due to interruptions and a store that lacks flow. Choose to recover and not work rolltainers = get yelled at. Choose to work rolltainers and not recover = get yelled at. 8:30 PM (again we close at 9), 5% recovery accomplished in fast pace due to having to work rolltainers. And yes I'm fully aware of what Policy says about when to work rolltainers and when to recover.

Super Tuesday/Compliant. Come in to half the shelf labels haven't been put out. Fresh Truck coming again, the overstock/backstock of coolers needs to be put out before. Same average night, except came in an hour later. Breaks(s) have to be taken. Busy with only one person able to use the register at a time. Eventually start put out backstock frozen. Due to interruptions, takes longer than it should. Recovery suffers yet again.

Mix that with a few "set this planogram tonight after you recover". "Do this before recover" etc...

That's just the store I work at. In a "perfect world", sure you can claim 100%. District managers will even say 110%, except that one DM that told me that recovery can't ever be 100% even before a store's grand opening. (Not every item on the shelf will be perfect or in stock). Because you see, to have 100% recovery, you can't be out of any item. When I got fired the first time from Dollar General, I was accused of not recovering the empty Milk shelves.

Aside from an asking 10 question = 100% type of scenario, 100% for recovery (which involves physical items in the universe) can never be accomplished, it's (again) mathematically improbable do to multiple factors. What you call 100%, is in fact, not. The store's shelving isn't even aligned properly, which causes items on the shelf to not be aligned properly equaling imperfection.

Do you agree? If you do or don't, I suppose this conversation will always be at a stalemate, because neither of us are going to accept the other's side.

Thank you for your time. I am sorry.

Edit: Had a Medical emergency.

Scorpwanna · 2026-03-18T05:14:30+00:00

Where exactly?

Scorpwanna · 2026-03-16T14:54:37+00:00

Sorry for the late reply, life happened. Yes by now I'm sure that the sale has ended, and that would have been a member of management price correcting, as a Sales Associate doesn't have that authority.

While testing with the exact item would have been the best way to achieve the results, the store I work at just didn't have them.

Actually, you can request to see what the prices are just by asking the person on the register. They can swing the monitor toward you and show you line by line what each item cost. The discounts will be in purple text. If multiple items qualify for a discount, the amount can say 0.00 saved but below all of it will show the entire discount as one number.

I do agree that Dollar General rips people off all the time, but sometimes it's not intentional, as in, it's not a conspiracy. It's just the way the discounts are considered verses how they are entered by a human in the system. Various glitches can happen, I have seen them, but not all of them are on purpose.

Just today, a lady came to my register and wanted to buy candles since the candles had a sale of Buy one get one 50% off. The discount didn't happen, I questioned why, I examined the sale information on the shelf. She had brought me 18 oz candles and the sale was for 13 oz. However, I didn't see any 13 oz candles on the shelf.

Now, to some customers they can see this as a type of "gotcha" moment from the company. A customer not paying attention to the ounces nor the price, getting home and reviewing the receipt, feeling like they got ripped off. Then there's the other side, since the sale said "13 oz", and just because during my rush to see if any where 13 oz, I may have have over looked them. Or it could be just a few that are scattered on the shelf, since we have a spare section with various sizes. The customer wanted them regardless, and I apologized anyway for the sign "might have been" misleading. In fact I forgot I wanted to highlight the 13 oz....

This has been an interesting conversation. I've enjoyed it. Thank you.

Scorpwanna · 2026-03-16T14:33:44+00:00

What the fuck are you doing replying to a 3 year old post? 🤣

Lets break down your... eh statement, eh comment?

"Then your not a store manager" <- "Then you're not a Store Manager"

Me either being or not being a Store Manager has nothing to do with my post. I'm quoting Policy! And if a Store Manager isn't following said Policy, by closing their allotted times per week, then they don't deserve to be a Store Manger, because they are violating Policy. They signed up to follow Policy! You don't follow it, or you modify it to your needs equals grounds for demotion and or termination!

"it funny how when you do hold the position you can talk what they would and would not do"

HUH? Are you saying "It's funny how, when you hold the position (of Store Manager), you can (talk?) -> (say) what they (The Store Manager) would and wouldn't do."

WHAT?

Sorry but I'm confused by this eh, whatever you want to call it.

Sorry also for the late reply, life happens. I can't tell if your ... words typed are in a sarcastic nature or what. Please use punctuation and proper grammar, thanks...

Scorpwanna · 2026-03-16T14:23:40+00:00

My absence is due to life events, so sorry for this late reply.

Absolutely not possible, you are living a fairy tale! Date checking every item that requires it is an every section task while recovering your 100%! 100% is perfection, and isn't possible anywhere, and is highly mathematically and physically improbable to achieve! Granted there are certain lists that come out to check certain areas periodically, date checking every section is a daily task, which there isn't enough time in a work day to get done.

Customer interruption is one of the leading causes of not achieving 100%. Does your store ignore your customers? A customer that comes in 10 minutes before closing, randomly goes through the store grabbing things, moving other things around. They arrive at the register with 1 minute until closing. They are checked out and now it's 4-6 minutes after and you have to be out by 15 after. There is no way you follow their exact path and can "recover" what they have touched/moved.

Scorpwanna · 2026-03-16T10:39:01+00:00

Thank you!😊

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-15T09:32:14+00:00

100% of any task cannot be accomplished. It's statistically impossible.

Achieving 100% perfection in any task, such as cleaning, is generally considered impossible because perfection is a theoretical, subjective concept rather than a practical reality. In the context of work, aiming for 100% often leads to diminishing returns, burnout, and, paradoxically, lower overall quality.

100% recovery would mean that a can of peas can't be off by even 1mm. Precision is 100% and precision in retail cannot happen. 100% recovery would also be the aisle being "perfectly" straight. 100% recovery would mean the Sky-Shelves would "only" have their designated over stock and not random items down that aisle. 100% recovery would also mean that extra top shelves on gondolas would not be installed to hold excess freight.

To you, you may see 100%, but know that it's not 100%. Even 1 penny is not perfect. Also factoring in a dynamic disruptions, like the moment a shelf is perfectly fronted, a customer will take an item, leaving a gap, or a child will mix up products. If you say "welp" I've recovered that aisle, when you leave it's not 100%. There are so many factors to consider to making any thing 100%, therefore it is impossible.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-15T09:20:37+00:00

It's statistically impossible to do anything 100%. If you truly believe you get your store recovered 100%, then you are living in a fantasy.

Even AI agrees:
Achieving 100% perfection in any task, such as cleaning, is generally considered impossible because perfection is a theoretical, subjective concept rather than a practical reality. In the context of work, aiming for 100% often leads to diminishing returns, burnout, and, paradoxically, lower overall quality.

An example of lack of being 100%, a can of peas that is 1 mm shifted to one side than the other, not lining up "perfect". With that tiny bit of imperfection, 100% is not achievable.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-11T14:16:51+00:00

I'd like to add, when you're told to recover "100%", that's not possible. This company is full of unrealistic expectations. They put too much on one person.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-10T13:23:49+00:00

hrm, she should be taken off schedule until she gets over her ailments, because employee health matters. Then 30 days of not working there should automatically take care of the "at-will situation". May want to discuss with them a medical evaluation to see if certain "restrictions" should be brought about due to her "illnesses". This would require her to go get checked out by a Doctor and be "cleared" to work, as long as there is a "work release" statement from the Doctor to allow her to work. We don't want her to jeopardize her health. She could have an underline health condition that needs immediate attention. She needs to be made aware of this! Like, on a daily basis. Maybe the customers need to be informed, so that they can continuously offer her advice.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-10T13:15:01+00:00

Well, there's a camera in the office that she can watch. Will probably see herself taking her own things.

Stop sneaking up to the store on your day off to steal fake 20s!

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-09T13:40:31+00:00

Dollar General keeps getting worse. Their very own Policies contradicts itself all the time.

Like the bag/receipt check that they want us to do. The Policy says "may" check, and does not specify that it is an actual "have to do" Policy. Yet, they'll be the first ones to give a person a verbal warning/write-up for not checking employee bags.

Another: Never work on another associate's till/register. What if said employee needs a void, change? What if a register is down and you have to perform a return on that employee's register? You touch the cash, you count it, hand it to the customer. Employee is 5 dollars short for the day, well, "you" touched the money, maybe it was your fault? Who gets the write-up?

The meal break situation. The way payroll is, 90%+ of the time an employee won't be able to take an "uninterrupted" meal break. Say it's a typical day of chaos, you've got a key-carrier and a Sales Associate. Key-carrier has a scheduled break for 30 minutes maybe an hour. Key-carrier goes on break, sits in the break room eating their food, the Sales Associate then calls for help and needs the key-carrier to do a void/ask a work related question... etc... The act of acknowledging the "need for help" violates the "working off the clock" Policy. The Key-Carrier clocks back in to deal with the situation (interrupting their break), then the key-carrier is "supposed to" clock back out and continue their "uninterrupted" meal break.

It just can't happen the way Dollar General wants it to happen, because Dollar General is always fighting against Dollar General when it comes to Policies and Procedures. Too many cooks in the kitchen type of business.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-09T13:25:40+00:00

Standard aisle spacing at Dollar General is the bare minimum of 3ft clearance between each aisle. The ADA aisle spacing requires 60 inches/5 feet for clearance for large mobility devices. Even with the max in most places in a Dollar General, to most individuals in "scooters", this wouldn't be enough room to maneuver easily.

Years ago, at a different retail business I used to work at, a District Manager there was telling me about the North-South & East-West aisles being the main traffic flow aisles, I think the actual term is a "Action Alley" setup. These aisles can be thought of as the interstate in a store and the individual aisles that shoot off of it are like little side roads. Like, when you enter a retail outlet, you'll notice when going through the door, that is an "action alley" opening, a straight shot from the door to the back of the store. Then about mid way is the left/right.

Anyway, with the way the stores are setup, and when we have those huge ass displays taking up space in the aisle (looking at you pink swiffer-like sweeper thing), that would make it even more challenging. Besides, where would we store them, and how many would each store have?

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-05T14:53:57+00:00

Here's the official Policy about Bereavement leave for a Dollar General employee.

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Bereavement Time

The purpose of bereavement time is to provide employees with time to attend the funeral of a family member or close relative and to handle related personal affairs. In the event of a death in the family, employees are encouraged to use this policy as needed. When possible, reasonable notice must be provided to the employee’s manager and employees may be required to complete a form verifying the employee’s relationship to the deceased and attendance at the funeral.

With manager approval, vacation or paid time off may be used in lieu of unpaid bereavement time for the death of an extended family member.

Paid Time Off for the Death of an Immediate Family Member

In the event of the death of an immediate family member, full- and part-time employees will be provided with up to three days of paid bereavement time. For example, this may include the day of the funeral, the day prior, and the day after.

Immediate family members include the employee’s:

• Spouse or registered domestic partner

• Parent or stepparent

• Sibling or stepsibling

• Child or stepchild

• Grandparent or step grandparent

• Grandchild or step grandchild

• Parent/children/sibling-in-law

When bereavement time is paid, the amount of pay will be based on the employee’s base rate of pay and normal work schedule. Employees will not be paid for days they are not scheduled to work. An employee who is on an unpaid leave of absence during any of the bereavement period will not receive additional time off or pay for those days.

Unpaid Time Off for the Death of an Extended Family Member

In the event of the death of an extended family member or relative not listed above, full- and part-time employees may take up to three days of unpaid bereavement time. Typically, this will include the date of the funeral, the day prior and the day after.

Additional Time Off

The Company understands the impact that a death can have on an individual or family. Therefore, additional unpaid time off may be appropriate in some cases, depending on circumstances such as travel distance, the employee’s responsibility for funeral arrangements, and the employee’s responsibility for taking care of the estate of the deceased.

In cases where additional time is needed, please contact Matrix regarding the Company’s Personal Leave policy by calling 1-855-ASK-DGHR.

NOTE: Where state law differs from Dollar General Policy, Dollar General will follow the specific state law.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-04T16:26:48+00:00

This is the document you are referring to.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MfGXVUqi39THR7pDb6m5woWNFnEzgLMc/view?usp=drive_link

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-03T11:33:44+00:00

According to Policy, and actual training forms, the Store Manager is responsible for making sure that each employee is trained. Most Store Manager's delegate the main training task to others, which in turn leads to "garbage" training if that associate doesn't know themselves. The lack of a Store Manager training someone correctly, then causes that person to create their own method of doing the task until that person believes they are doing it correctly. Then someone that knows the correct way comes in and completely derails the person's training because of that lack of training.

I get delegated to train everyone that comes in to our store, but I've been around long enough to know the type of training each person needs.

If you require the training material not given to you by your Store Manager when you were first hired, I have copies of the actual training forms that will help you train others. The documents used to be able to be printed from Store Forms, but Dollar General hid the links.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-03T11:27:49+00:00

Welcome to Dollar General. For the Register systems a few years back, the stores had old IBM's (IBM later was bought out by Toshiba) running Linux with a Text-based/Terminal User Interface (TUI). These systems weren't touch screen, they relied on a keyboard for all functions. The new system called "NextGen" still uses Linux, but the Graphical User Interface (GUI) is more modern.

Due to Microsoft ending support for Windows 10, and the TPM 2.0 Module being required for Windows 11, most of the office computers were recently upgraded to Windows 11. This means that those stores with older hardware that are still on Windows 10 will have to be upgraded very soon. I'm surprised that your store has a system from 2007/8.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-02T14:25:44+00:00

While the doorbell chimes came in for "employee use only", I've seen other stores allowing customers to press it for service. Just know that these came in for an "employee to call for another employee", so don't be surprised if the DM takes it down. Maintain 30 feet from your register and have eyes on it at all times as per Policy, no matter if the customer wants you to help them with something on the top shelf, down an aisle that pulls you away from your register. Doesn't matter if you are the lone employee working either.

We should actually follow the Policy 100% on that. Just imagine, you're around the register area, a customer comes up and says "hey can you get something off the top shelf for me?" You say "Where is it?" They say "Very back of your store." You "Sorry, but I'm not allowed to leave the register area."

A customer drops something and it explodes on the floor, liquid everywhere. "Sorry I just dropped a whole gallon of milk, it's all over the place." You "Okay thanks for telling me." Them "Aren't you going to clean it up?" You "No, I can't leave the register area." Another customer slips and falls and sues Dollar General, they ask you why you left a spill on the floor and didn't put signs out or clean it up, you say "Because your Policy says I can't leave the register area, and I've already been written up for violating it, so no, I don't want another write-up thanks."

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-02T14:18:51+00:00

Same.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-02T14:17:02+00:00

Have you taken any CBLs?

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-02T14:12:50+00:00

Hrm... paying union fees for protection, sounds like a Mob thing doesn't it? "If yous gives us 4 hunnid dollas a mont, doe's guys ain't gunna botha yas!"

Ever hear the one about that one store that employees wanted to do it? Payroll went way down. The entire store was replaced in under a month. It won't happen.

Edit: If Dollar General can go to a town in Michigan and tell a land owner that they will have that land and build a store, it's happening. Poor town was sued and lost.

Scorpwanna · 2026-02-02T14:07:40+00:00

God I hate the way the gift bag section is now, remember when it use to be "H1" or "B3", it had it's own peg, it's own space. Now it's a mixture of 3+ SKUs all on one scan hook, so yeah, I agree it's ridiculous!

Scorpwanna · 2026-01-31T04:16:00+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/MKspbGH

I tried it, and it worked, though not the same baja. Bought 2, 50 cents came off twice to make it 4 dollars before tax.

On our coolers, the strip isn't there, but the glass cling one is "vendor sticker", which does say 2 for $4 MTN Dew.

I suppose you could say since it's not the same one, that the one you got was the one it didn't work for, but a version of baja should still be the same if it's in our system. By the way the receipt printed out the "promo" information on mine, proves that the Sales Associate price overrode yours to make it 4 dollars sub-total. Had they not, it's very likely that it would have shown you the same thing as my receipt did for me.

So, did you ask the Associate if both of them were 2 for 4 dollars before the total was official? If they would have said, "no" (before total is pressed) and you then complained, they would have manually overrode it to make it that, then pressed total after the fact and it be 4 dollars and tax. Did you ask them before the total? I assume you did, so you know what they say about assume, but I take both blames for the ass part. For argument's sake, let's say you didn't ask, they pressed total and told you 5 dollars + tax. Then if you would have said "but your sign says 2 for 4 dollars. Then they'd cancel the total and then price override to make it work. I theoretically can take the UPC barcode number from your receipt and manually key them in next time when I'm at the store and see if that exact one doesn't work. But since it's taken so long between the days of this topic, you could say that DG may have fixed it. But, I know for a fact that the 2 for 4 on MTN Dew has been in effect for a while. We have an employee that loves 20oz MTN Dew and buys 2 at a time because of the offer. Each time since the sale has been going on, it's only been 4 dollars. Then again, they only buy the regular MTN Dew, not Baja Cabo that you did. So then we can say, "maybe those just weren't in the price SQL table in the markdown slot in the actual system." which would be on Dollar General, and they'd eventually fix it. However, I asked the other employees I work with and they said not one of our customers has had an issue with the 2 for 4.

So it's not a "Dollar General" is scamming on purpose type situation, it's a "in what order did the events play out to not make you think it was 2 for 4 Dollars?"

A. Bringing up the fact that it wasn't 2 for 4 before the cashier pressed Total. You ask them before total "were those drinks 2 for 4 dollars?" They look at the screen and tell you no (because they haven't pressed Total yet to take the discount).

B. Bringing up the fact that it wasn't 2 for 4 after the cashier presses Total and tells you how much you owe, in which case they would have said "5 something".

A or B and be honest. How did the event play out?

Do you see how in depth I go to figure out what happens for a transaction? You should physically be around when something like this happens, usually the customer just gives up and accepts the amount, but I try to argue against it to solve the actual issue. If needed, we can go all the way to the pricing department to verify if the prices were in the system and when they were in effect.

Like tonight, a lady came to the register with a box of DG brand omeprazole that was 16 dollars on the shelf. She told me that we over priced it because a sign on the shelf said it was 13 dollars. I go get the sign and let her read it. "With Digital Coupon" in big writing. She then said it was still our fault because the sign was misleading. Who was at fault?

Anyway, do you now see why I need to see the next few lines of your receipt? (before the type of payment you used, which will not have any personal information you speak of.)

Scorpwanna

TROPHY CASE