I happen to work for a large corporate coffee chain, and I hear the same complaints from my own coworkers. The fact is, a lot of people think retail is a loser job so anyone can do it. Yeah, anyone can technically stock shelves or brew coffee, but you need the right people skills to succeed and make your customers happy every day. Retail isn't for everyone, but then again, neither is anything. I, for one, can't stand to be stuck sitting down in some office looking at spreadsheets. I'm much happier working with people and moving around.

Trader Joe's has the best pay and benefits in the industry, bar none. Sure, there are a few bad apple managers, but in the grand scheme of things I think the company's doing very well. I know a lot of people who work there and they are all highly satisfied with the job.

A complaint goes like this, "Hey, I notice that you guys have cut Mike's hours lately… he's been nothing but consistent on the Box and Frozen for two years, can't you guys go easy on him? This is Wal-Mart shit, man… it isn't right to do this kind of thing to a loyal employee."

This is what whining sounds like, "Mooooooooommmm, Suzie's looking at me funny, and I don't like it!!!"

A complaint is a legitimate thing that should be taken seriously, and if you have little to no experience on a specific subject, you shouldn't attempt to speak on it. And as to the guy that keeps mentioning that TJ's is racist, I think you confuse the one manager in the one store you went to with the company as a whole, which, in the case of the store that I worked at, 5 of the 8 managers were Mexican guys, as well as many of the part-timers.

Also, Fillmore, from what I recall, is a small town surrounded by orchards with a small overall population… that's likely the main reason they haven't opened a store there… there's no money in it for them. I worked at one of the stores in Nothern L.A. County, with a population of nearly half a million people and it still took a petition and five years of time to get them to open one there.

Not everything is about race, my friend… it sounds like you heard an asshole speaking rudely, but I heard Mexican customers that barely spoke English talk shit about me right in front of my face and assumed that since I'm White, that I didn't understand what they said… and they were wrong. But, unlike you, being a customer, I couldn't do anything about it, while you could, and likely didn't, attempt to confront anybody about it.

The only color retail corporations care about is green, they don't give a shit what color your skin is, as long as your money's real.

And that complaint I mentioned earlier? That was something I told our Captain, and that's when they started lying on my Reviews and harrassing me about the fact that I didn't have a shit-eating grin when I walked into the store everyday. A store that cut my hours down to nothing when I started calling bullshit on the favoritism and hypocrisy oozing out of those douchebag managers… I'm a fucking veteran of military service overseas in hostile conditions, and even I couldn't take it anymore, so I left.

But I made them work to get rid of me, and that's what I'd rather be remembered for, because I'm never working for a retail chain again.

So working for Trader Joe's for 3 months qualifies you to write off the criticism of other employees as just a "negative outlook"? Try being with the company for almost twenty years like me and THEN see how you feel. I've worked with probably half the full timers in my state. There are good ones and bad ones, however, it's much easier now than ever to be a "bad" full timer, thanks to the uber-commandant status accorded full timers since Dan Bane took over.

Let me reverse the situation. Just for argument's sake. Suppose the next time you get your review the full timers give you an overdose of unfounded vague criticism (this has happened to every part timer I've ever worked with sooner or later). Why don't you just try telling the full timer that all the members of management criticizing you have a "bad attitude" and see what happens? I doubt you'll do it, even if you believe you're right.

And therien lies the arrogance I alluded to in my first post. When management criticizes a part timer, it's ALWAYS called "constructive criticism", but when a part timer openly criticizes management, no matter how well founded or true the claim, it's called a "bad attitude".

Trader Joe's management whines and complains and criticizes ALL THE TIME, trust me, it's just that when they do it, something gets done about it right away and it's always called something more respectable than "whining". It's all a matter of power and how much of you have, not how right you are. See how the "system" works? A lot like other big corporations, only I thought "we" were supposed to be "different". Are we?

FYI, I'm not a "problem employee" and generally get along well with management (I couldn't have survived with TJ's this long otherwise), but I do not pull punches when it comes to telling the truth about problems within our company and the people who claim to be "running it". The whole management chain right up to Dan Bane needs to be much more open to honest criticism than it is at present. And when you talk about this being some "fruity blog" to see these comments on, just remember that there really is NO official forum for us to voice these comments and people have been FIRED for speaking out in more mainstream venues like Facebook. It's not like it's easy to criticize our company from within, hence comments on sites like this one.

Anyway, welcome aboard and I wish you the best of luck with TJ's. The way the company's been going, you'll need all the luck you can get to hang in there for any length of time.

This page is way too long and I read all of the comments. And maybe in a few more months TJ's will "suck out my soul," but hey, it's a job and I signed up for it. The moment I start bitching about it on some fruity blog I think I will save TJ's the two week notice and just kill myself.

I have been shopping at Fresh and Easy since i posted my thoughts on your Webstie, and I can assure you that i love it than Trader Joe's. They have good things to offer and mostly at a fraction that Trader Joe's. I love how some of the workers at this site are expressing their opinions about this company. I heard from former and present employees that this place is a crap hole to work for. Well, I just wanted to let you know that you should shop at Fresh and Easy and then maybe get back on your site and express your thoughts.

On the other hand, I have to also agree with comments about how awful, vain, arrogant, and crappy our management is getting these days. They want to micro-manage EVERYTHING now. They never admit to being wrong, even when they clearly are. Don't ask questions, just OBEY the mighty omnipotent full timer or captain, no matter how stupid they're being. Lately I've noticed they're even starting to micro-manage your EMOTIONAL life right down to your "body language" and "tone of voice", which, of course, they feel no need to modulate in themselves. Even when NO such message was meant to be conveyed, they've got this really mysterious and baffling talent for "reading" secret messages hidden in your body movements and voice. WEIRD.

This is what happens when people with no real talent or management training become managers in a company which just does not monitor said individuals and lets them go around thinking of themselves as godlike, perfect beings. Sad. It never used to be like this while John Shields was CEO. I blame Dan Bane….Where's the "WOW" DAN?
(if you work for TJ's you know what I mean there