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The story
A thread titled “Anyone here who’s worked or is working at a supermarket?” went up on 5ch (Newsspeed VIP), drawing a stream of stories from former and current employees. Posters described what the job actually looks like in departments like produce, meat, deli, and grocery, the truth about taste-testing (and sneaking bites) on the job, claims that store managers can pull in an annual salary of 7–8 million yen, and how much part-time coworker relationships can make or break the job. Meanwhile, some posts noted that big chains treat staff well, with proper lockers and even staff cafeterias, sparking discussion about the gap between company sizes.
What people said
I go twice a week.
Thank you for shopping with us!
I work the register.
Thanks for your hard work.
Same here, fresh food only, through and through.
S-sorry… I'm on shift right now, so I can't answer that kind of question\\\
Heheheh (lol)
Re: #3
No lying now
Re: #6
Of course
Honestly, I think it's ridiculous.
They should at least close for the first three days of the New Year.
Already clocked out and home for the day.
It really is all about the relationships.
Classic move.
I used to eat a few slices when I was packing ham too.
Not bad, is it?
No way I'd ever want to be store manager.
I'd rather just work a department.
Apparently management grills you on all sorts of stuff. As long as you can take that.
Produce or something?
Probably grocery — it brings in the most sales.
The aunties would treat me to meals or hand me bento boxes, which was a real lifesaver.
Sounds like some good part-time aunties.
though they don't hand much out.
A little staff perk like that is nice, huh.
I'd call it a bust, honestly.
At the deli corner the staff eat a lot of the product, so taste-testing gets watched closely.
If something's bad or soggy, it gets noticed fast and word spreads.
Somewhere without a history of trouble, maybe.
But there's always some idiot who screws it up at least once, so I doubt that's ever truly allowed.
Idiots causing drama happens everywhere, same story.
Sometimes in the back room, overstocked snacks or rice get marked down.
I always pictured them all being nice.
Plenty of them where I worked.
It was nothing but problems, honestly hell.
Depends on the store or department, but yeah, they exist.
Some are super pushy with their opinions, or dig in hard against even small changes to how things are done.
Also, if someone's like that, they probably wouldn't get hired in the first place.
It's a busy job, so the easygoing, good-natured people are the ones who stick around.
It's the exact opposite, actually.
They're short-staffed, so they hire anyone who seems usable.
And then the kind, capable people keep disappearing one by one.
The troublemakers and the useless ones never quit — and even when they do, they've got nowhere else to go, so they come crawling back.
So all that's left in the end is the weirdos and the short-tempered ones.
Re: #117
(σ´-ω-`)σ Facts.
Supermarkets aren't going anywhere, I wish I'd picked up some experience there.
Genuinely not fun at all.
The only parts I actually enjoyed were tossing out cardboard boxes and, if I had time left over, scrubbing the back area with a deck brush.
Cutting meat is actually pretty satisfying.
I get that. The lockers are clean too.
Having an actual staff cafeteria is huge.
Also there are a lot of good-looking, cute people.
Re: #145
Big chains really do have that stuff dialed in.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Supermarkets are among the retail businesses most likely to stay open 365 days a year, a practice generally attributed to their role as everyday infrastructure for shoppers and concerns about lost sales from closing. The store manager salary figures cited in the thread (7–8 million yen a year) and the differences in treatment between departments vary widely by chain size and region, so it’s worth keeping in mind that individual experiences don’t necessarily reflect the industry as a whole. Supermarkets also tend to rely more heavily on part-time and casual staff than many other industries, and this structure — where on-the-job relationships heavily shape how workable the job feels — likely underlies the thread’s back-and-forth about “part-time aunties.” Shop-floor customs like staff taste-testing or discounts on out-of-spec items also vary by store and company policy, so they can’t really be generalized either.
※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Newsspeed VIP) thread “Anyone who’s worked or is working at a supermarket?“
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