Over the tannoy in a supermarket yesterday:
“Can a member of price integrity go to aisle 24, please? Customer waiting.”
Price Integrity? Do you think there’s a Price Integrity team? Do they have team meetings where they pledge to uphold price integrity against all threats? Do they finish with a group hug and a rousing chorus of “Simply the Best?”
An announcement by Dr Rob Spence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Oh yes, I can well believe it.
Shelf stackers in our supermarket used to be called ambient replenishment assistants. What utter nonsense is that? We also have assistant deputy managers – surely a tautology?
At least you can work out from the name what an ambient replenishment assistant might be. But I really don’t know what price integrity workers do. When they get home, do their partners say “How’s the world of price integrity?” When they are introduced to people do they say “Oh I work in price integrity”?
The aisle in question had a sign declaring it contained “meal solutions”…
I can tell you what they do actually, as I used to do it myself – they check that the product scans at the same price as the shelf-edge label and advertising, and are responsible for actioning price changes around the store and any other legalities involved. If there is a problem, they are the ones who sort it out, hence the announcement in your supermarket the other day.
‘Actioning’? Does this impact upon products? Have a look at this link Anonymous, I think you’ll enjoy it.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=m4xsVacEOnc
Thanks petal.
‘Actioning’ means putting out new shelf edge tickets/advertising for products which have changed prices and checking that the new prices have come into effect.
It was quite a varied, if stressful, job with a lot of pressure and involved many early starts(3 or 4am).I didn’t have a fancy title though, I was just a member of admin and there were certainly no group hugs or rousing choruses.
I also wonder if the term ‘meal solutions’ comes from the eternal questions, “What shall I do for tea?”or “can I be bothered cooking?” muttered by customers as they wander round with their baskets and glazed expressions after a hard day elsewhere.
Too much information, anonymous. It reinforces my desire to avoid supermarkets as much as possible.
Petal – thanks. Why have I not heard of George Carlin? I loved that routine.
He was an American institution – one of the good ones. Very black humour and great satire. He had plenty to say about supermarkets.
The other day I heard “Member of hygiene to aisle X”. While listening to this I was watching a cashier (I bet they have a better name than that) wiping his nose with the palm of his hand. I tend to watch the cashiers so that I can pick the one who looks least likely to infect me.
Maybe “hygiene” to the cashiers might work better
Nigel
Don’t get me started on the hygiene. Why is it that the staff have to wear their hair up, silly hats etc, when the salad bar is open to any coughing and spluttering customer or snotty child to spread their germs? Why are the instore bakers required to wear soco suits when the bread and cakes they make are laid out for anyone to prod and maul?
Petal- Now I know about him, and now I know he’s dead. There’s a lot of his stuff out there though. I shall explore.