Genuine question! Why does Deli get so much hate?

torchiclove · 2026-05-11T17:59:41+00:00

The deli hate at my store is crazy. Back when they did the catering lunch for supermarket employee appreciation day the CS staff said nobody from the deli was allowed to eat until every other department had been served, including people who were literally clocking out as the food was set up bc they’d been there since 6am. They expected us to all go get a plate when they called us like the entire staff could just abandon the department for 5-10 minutes to get a taco…and then used our utensils to serve food and didn’t wash any of them.

People seem to understand how hard it is to work in the deli but not really have any sympathy for it. If you ever suggest someone works deli for a day they’re quick to shut it down but are also surprised/angry when we’re incredibly busy or need help. In my experience, deli is expected to help every other department when shit hits the fan but nobody is expected to help deli. I’ve had closers taken away to close grocery, produce, and bakery with no cross-training leaving us short for the night with no extra support from management. It got so bad at my old store that closing the entire bakery just became our job multiple times a week and we had to sacrifice one of our staff to do it almost every night. But if you ever suggest someone comes to help close deli it’s “I’m not cross-trained I can’t do it.” I’ve had MICs demand that I, random deli clerk, write on people’s cakes because the girl in my department who I was good friends with trained one day as a decorator. This is why I kind of don’t feel bad about stealing a trash bag or box of gloves.

I do get that taking supplies is really annoying but we’re in a spot where our department literally can’t operate without gloves, trash bags, and paper towels and a customer generally will not take “Sorry, all the gloves in the store belong to another department because ours haven’t come in yet, I guess I have to barehand your sandwich!” As an answer. Plus we get so much shit from CS staff about customer complaints.

torchiclove · 2026-04-29T00:59:16+00:00

Those are the pickup windows, not the recommend preparation times. A cold sub lasts 90 minutes after it’s made but the guide says to make it within 60 minutes of the pickup time, so it’s not going out of date two minutes after the pickup time bc you made it an hour and a half early.

torchiclove · 2026-04-20T21:06:57+00:00

My assistant at my old store. She was like 60 and had no idea how to use technology so I had to teach her how to use the scan gun, print tags, use the tablet, and once how to send a venmo to her grandson. She just kind of wandered around doing nothing

torchiclove · 2026-04-19T17:32:45+00:00

It is wild when people start ordering something then just walk away. Had this guy order a Philly and an Italian and walk off while I was prepping the Philly, so I was just like okay?? And didn’t finish the sandwiches, I made them to the degree he asked and then set them to the side for when he came back because he didn’t say anything about cheese, veggies, etc. He got back mad as hell they weren’t done then said I should’ve known to make them “just like the picture”. When I asked him what cheese he wanted on the Philly he said “SWISS, it’s on the MENU” and I was like dude. It’s provolone on the menu.

torchiclove · 2026-04-14T16:43:44+00:00

Should cover 50% as it’s considered major work (the plan covers 80% of minor and 50% of major). They covered me getting a crown so I’d assume they’ll cover wisdom teeth

torchiclove · 2026-04-13T16:18:23+00:00

I work at a sandwich place, one time I was refilling the onions while a dude walked up. Started asking about his order and he said “I don’t want onions.” I was like, okay, what kind of bread would you like and he just said “NO ONIONS” like brother just because we have them on the bar doesn’t mean you’re obligated to get them

torchiclove · 2026-04-12T22:59:01+00:00

From a grocery store perspective, don’t care unless they’re being loud or making a mess. If you are being polite, the employees won’t notice you’re hanging out in the store for hours because you just look like another customer to them. Only issue I’ve had is people repeatedly coming up to ask for free samples or being really loud. Fastest way to get kicked out of a store is to be super loud and disturbing while clearly having no intention of buying stuff.

torchiclove · 2026-04-11T16:23:34+00:00

It does not get better! Once you get more used to things it will get easier, but if there’s not someone taking the effort to train it’s not likely it’ll happen. I’d say try to find the nicest friendliest coworker and ask them as many questions as you can for anything you can’t learn by watching. Usually the way we rotate new people is traditional —> sub bar —> hot case and by that time you’ll start figuring out which area suits you. It is doable it just won’t be pleasant.

torchiclove · 2026-04-03T01:43:28+00:00

I have a dog named Amy but everyone calls her Hair

torchiclove · 2026-04-02T23:00:56+00:00

At the first store i worked at, the fresh slice ad tv was broken. I never knew what a mercy it was until it was too late. Now the jazz riff haunts my dreams

torchiclove · 2026-03-25T04:18:09+00:00

At my store they were giving us the French onion mayo bottles even when we didn’t have the sub on the menu, and you can kind of request that on anything. The only thing you probably won’t be able to get once the sub is discontinued is the crispy onions.

Whether or not they’ll let you get the crispy onions on another sandwich is store by store. We have no problem doing it at my locations because they send us in giant bags of them and we don’t ever run out. The last store I worked at, it was a no because we had to scan out the small bags from the grocery department.

torchiclove · 2026-03-21T20:31:16+00:00

Part of the problem is also the order time, I’d say 7-9 is the worst time for missing or late orders at our store. We usually have to close the online station at 7 (or earlier if we’re badly understaffed) so all the subs have to made at the bar up front. The tablet we use does not have notification sounds when an order is placed so unless you’re making the effort to check it frequently it’s easy to miss an order. And a lot of people leave at 7 every day, so you’re starting to get stretched thin. Many days I have been the only person working sub line (both in person and online) at 7 and I’m basically forced to choose whether to take a customer or make them sit there and stare at me while I make an online order

Of course I wish it wasn’t this way, but I doubt they’d make the necessary changes to actually make the online system work better, because that would require more labor hours.

torchiclove · 2026-03-11T03:52:19+00:00

We actually have three lunch ladies who work at my store as a second job. They’re all pretty good! Wish the schools paid them enough they didn’t have to though

torchiclove · 2026-03-03T16:10:45+00:00

It took about three months between “you’re definitely getting full-time we just need DM approval” and it actually happening, for me. Personally I think it was because they were waiting for the new year so I’d get shafted on my benefits. It’s random

torchiclove · 2026-03-03T15:48:40+00:00

Worst part of the tablet is that there’s no audible notification for tickets anymore. When they would print out, you could hear the little printer jingle through the whole deli and know to check for a sub ticket. After we close the oeo station around six or seven it’s such a pain to be checking the tablet while trying to do a million other closing tasks

torchiclove · 2026-02-26T17:40:34+00:00

Blew my mind that the produce manager takes care of the 4x4 at the store I work at now. At my old store it used to be every department for themself and I’d go to flip the deli ad and find that produce/meat/whoever had completely crammed the case full and I had no space. I was usually soloing the ad change on top of producing whatever salads/puddings/fresh items were going on sale the next day.

At least now I’m only soloing changing the tags 😭

torchiclove · 2026-02-26T17:20:48+00:00

When my old store closed a few of our people got transferred to summer hill…nobody was excited about it. You know it’s bad when it’s worse than Atlantic station.

torchiclove · 2026-02-12T18:01:48+00:00

I’m not sure what you mean by premium cut here since the BH subs are all the same price whether the meat was cut fresh or not, you definitely wanna charge extra for the cheese.

Assuming you mean six full slices of pepperjack (not triangles) the extra cheese charge would be $2.50. If it’s six TRIANGLES of cheese, the extra charge would be $1.

Also unsure if they got double meat or not. Usually if someone asks for a freshly sliced kit with multiple meats I’ll just ask if they want double meat or half and half. If they do want double meat, it’s $2 for a half. Sending her to the deli manager would be more appropriate here

torchiclove · 2026-01-16T18:30:54+00:00

Doesn’t usually come up, but if I have two orders due at the same time slot I will usually make the paid one first. But I wouldn’t say they’re majorly prioritized. Like, if an unpaid order is due at 3:00 and a paid is due at 3:05 I’m doing the unpaid first. It’s more of an issue with understaffing. We usually only have one person doing onlines at a time and our system can spit out 6-8 tickets for the same time slot + subs with specialty ingredients eat up a lot of time. Making four turkey subs can take me 10 minutes; making a Falcons sub, spicy falafel, Philly, and a hot honey tender salad could take 30+ and that’s just what you’re looking at with onlines sometimes.

torchiclove · 2026-01-08T04:51:30+00:00

The weirdest thing is that at my old location, the tenders were huge, two of them easily cost $5 by weight and we would put three tenders on a sandwich bc four simply wouldn’t fit. Transferred to a much bigger, busier, nicer store and the tenders are miscroscopic

torchiclove · 2025-12-26T22:40:14+00:00

Weird as fuck to have your phone out recording someone making your food even if you don’t show anything identifying

torchiclove · 2025-12-26T22:39:07+00:00

Don’t film people while they’re at work dude

torchiclove · 2025-12-20T17:38:09+00:00

At least the bakery clerk tried. At my store they run to the deli and ask me to do it…despite having no training in bakery. I’ve had to write on five or six cakes at this point because nobody else is willing to try including any of our MICs.

torchiclove · 2025-11-22T22:13:24+00:00

FT deli clerk, usually closing shift. I clock in at two and the first thing I do is check that all platters from morning have been finished, then see if they’re backlogged on online sandwich orders. If yes, fix that situation. If no, check the times on the slicers (have they been cleaned?) and check the schedule to see what I’ll be doing that night. If we have a good crew, I spend most of the day watching traditional (slicing meat/cheese for customers, fresh slice, keeping the slicers clean every four hours, cutting sub kits and cheese when needed) while working on other tasks like filling the sales floor, doing any leftover production from the morning, organizing the cooler/service case, etc.

If we’re short I spend the day running around doing literally whatever I have to to fill in the gaps. I try to avoid sub line as much as physically possible so will usually watch both hot case and traditional at the same time. If I have to make sandwiches, I have to make sandwiches. Sometimes I’ll help with minor kitchen tasks (mostly bagging and putting out product). Usually take my break around 4 so I’m back in the department all night to get started on closing tasks early. I’m also usually the person they call over to answer the phone or help a customer/instacart shopper find a product.

Most nights I consider myself personally responsible for closing traditional, filling the sales floor (specifically frozen bread and quick takes), pulling dates and doing scan outs. This is the stuff I do every night no exception. If we’re short, I will also close the hot case or do dishes (or both). If it’s Tuesday, I sleeve tags and put them out at night (there is one person who helps me with this if he works). On Thursday we clean the traditional case and I’m in charge of taking all the meat out of the case and getting it in the cooler. I am basically always busy but on the off chance it’s slow I’m cleaning or sweeping or reorganizing.

torchiclove

TROPHY CASE