/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>12717534
put good insoles in your shoes

>>12717534
Laugh when I ask you to "cut the cheese".
Make the old lady wait, because I have more important things to do than she does. Even if her number is lower, serve me first. Because you know shes going to be slow as fuck and ask for 2 ounces of this and that while I just want one thing and gtfo.

>>12717534
>Any advice?
Kys

>>12717534
please dont reuse the lettuce you set meat on for the sandwiches like they do at the place I shop

>>12717534
Give customers slightly more if you can get away with it and let them know it might be a bit over with a cheeky wink.
Customers will love you for it.

>>12717605
based, fuck old people. You dont need an ounce of a smelly meat filled with peppers and awful mexican shit, your gonna be dead soon dumb ass, just stay at home and die already

I worked in a deli for three years

here's the big one:
learn to deal with customers, overall they fucking suck. keep your temper and remember they're right when when they're wrong, which is always

here is how to work in a deli:
hygiene
smile
yes sir, yes ma'am (or the britbong equivalent)
they are always right
don't fail drug tests
don't cut yourself
if you do cut yourself don't get high right after because they will require drug tests for slicer accidents. I have seen a guy get fired because he got high to help with the pain after he got his finger tip reattached and then he of course failed the drug test
they will ask you things like "will you slice that for sandwiches?" this is not a thing, all slices of deli meat are sandwich slices if you put it on bread
slice, ask if it's the thickness they like, offer sample
eat all the deli food you can get away with. don't lose your job but you work in a fucking deli, you make shit pay, eat free anon
again don't lose your job because you ate something and your boss caught you
learn the products and offer recommendations

>just because it's a bad job does not mean that you have to do it badly

that's about all I got. good luck anon, I will answer questions if you have them

>>12717534
>I'm going to start working at a supermarket Deli in a couple of days. Any advice?
Read up on repetitive stress injuries, and carpel tunnel wrist pain.
People need those blades wiped down and clean each time. Or it gets slimy gross before the week is over.
When making subs you don't pick up items dropped on that white cutting board top and throw it back into the sub, and you don't cross contaminate.

>>12717671
My grandpa used to go to deli's and ask for samples of different meats until the managers would make the employees stop. Then he'd go to the next deli and do the same thing.

>>12717666
Based Satanposter. Checked.
Fuck old people, they are the lowest priority.

>>12717534
You need to be 18 to post here

>>12717655
I went to Europe and this is one of the things I learned was different. In the US, employees of low wage jobs are more likely to take the customer's side over the employer's. In yurop they're like the ultimate bootlicking wage-cucks who never bend the rules for anyone.

>>12717671
just remembered, some typical problem customers

>is that gluten free?
maybe, depends on the deli. boars head shit is all gluten free I think, if that's the name brand you end up with

>I need exactly 1.00 lbs of this
do what you gotta do

>what's the difference between white/yellow American/cheddar?
yellow comes from annatto, a traditional coloring agent used in cheese, doesn't take like anything

>I want deli paper in between each slice
just do it, you're paid by the hour not by the customer

>samples of everything
depends on store policy, I once gave a sample of almost everything in the case before the guy left

>what's the best meat/cheese?
easy answer is whatever sells best or pick something random or something you want to eat. extra slice for yourself in deli paper when you cut a sample for them

also in a supermarket, get to know your store, you're gonna get a fucking lot of "where can I find this shit?"
know the aisle number or at least have a directory of aisles nearby because nobody cares that you work in a deli, they just see employee and demand help

>>12717671
Thank you.

>>12717666
Are you talking shit about olive loaf? Is this what my board has come to?

>>12717701
>When making subs you don't pick up items dropped on that white cutting board top and throw it back into the sub

wtf are you talking about homo
who cares?

>>12717534
Don't fuck the assistant deli manager.

>>12717787
that looks gross, but also no. There was an old italian/mexican lady ordering the brownest meat possible, that had green/orange/yellow/puke colored shit in it, and it smelled HORRENDOUS. Like, the spice made you tear up and the meat slapped you like an abusive uncle.

>>12717654
>eating a meatless sandwich
lmao fuck off and kys vegcuck

>>12717671
>>12717736
Former Grocery store worker for 3 years, all this is accurate but I just want to add a few things:

>Do not kill yourself. Every instinct in your body is going to be telling you to do this, do not. You die when you kill yourself. Remember - don't let the store win
>Don't start drinking to cope. It's more expensive than what you make
>Loss prevention is not to stop customers from stealing food. It's to stop YOU from stealing food. They will then immediately throw away 100 lbs of food because it doesn't look nice enough for the customers. No, you may not have any.
>that guy you work with who tells stupid jokes about mexicans? just pretend he's funny
>gonna revisit point one. Do not kill yourself.

>>12717809
Sounds disgusting but also like something I'd try. Give olive loaf a shot, anon. It deserves some love.

>>12717534
Yeah, don't show up and get a different job
Deli is one of the most soul crushing retail positions there are

>>12717847
You should try being a counselor or something with that silver tongue, anon.

>>12717534
quit before you start, holy shit, run. just run. fucking RUN

>>12717847
I waited tables, so I can probably work at a Deli without killing myself. Unless you think it's significantly worse? I'm kind of a mindless drone once I clock in.

Don't put your dick in the pickle slicer.

>>12717534
practice smiling while someone berates you for something out of your control

>>12717711
Based grandpa and based dubs.

>>12717534
when I used to work at Publix meat department, we would trade steamed seasoned shrimp for chicken tenders from the deli. Make friends with other departments, always a plus.

>>12718131
I'm allergic to shrimp

>>12717534
Carry a hand gun on your person.

>Worked in retail for 3 weeks
>Literally never had a bad experience with a customer

Are you guys all dicks or something?

>>12717534
Which supermarket?

>>12718155
>3 weeks
You are a baby. It’ll happen, eventually.

>>12718156
Safeway

>>12718165
>deal with people ~40 hours/week
>something shit happens once a month
>omg y r ppl so stoopid!
wow it's nothing

>>12718150
I don't work for the post office.

>>12717711
Based

>>12717534
Worked about 3 years at the Publix Deli. It's grueling work. You're on your feet all day and often reaching, bending, and leaning at uncomfortable positions to get meat logs, pull from the hot case, clean rotisserie ovens, etc. at the Publix deli, it was extremely busy almost constantly, and few things can bring at the worst in a customer than waiting in a crowded deli for their number to be called. In short, deli customers tend to be pretty splenetic. Closing shift can often keep you in the deli until midnight, depending on how busy you were that day. All this being said, I loved my time in the deli solely because I had awesome coworkers. It did help that I was in college at the time, working part time in a college town Publix deli, so I worked the closing shift and my coworkers were all college students as well. We had tons of fun, and closing was a blast. However, if I were full-time in the deli and my coworkers were not my age and I were not in a college town deli, I don't know how I'd of liked it.

So to give you advice, I'd say to keep a long fuse, don't let customers get to you. Break the ice at a busy cold cut line by saying "we'll get to everyone as soon as we can, thank you for your patience". Maybe make a joke if you're charming to diffuse the tension. But honestly, if you're looking to work in a grocery store any length of time, try to get into the meat department or produce department. Produce because it's super chill, and meat cutters can often make more than department assistant managers.

>>12717534
Feel free to sneak eat slices of meat and cheese throughout your shift. No one cares and it’s seen as a hidden perk. Also take a bunch of that shit home too.

>>12717711
Really sleezy and extremely disrespectful

>>12718786
It sounds easy I don't know what's so grueling about it. To me grueling is bricklaying outside in the sun all day without air conditioning.

>>12718861
Funny you should mention that, I worked construction for 7 months, in Florida sun no less, and unironically found it easier on my body than the deli. At least in construction I can lift, turn, pivot, and move in my core strength zone. The biggest risk of injury is lifting, bending, and torquing improperly, and in the deli there is kind of no way around some of the positions you have to be in. I also didn't have to deal with really picky or needy customers in construction. Just putting it in perspective. You'll find out when you start, maybe it's not as bad as I remember. But take it from me, as I've worked in every department at a grocery store besides meat department, that deli is by far the worst department, and you'd be wise to transfer to a different one as soon as possible

Keep a list of rude customers ideally with pictures. Then when they come in next, spit it in their food or drag it on the floor a bit.

>>12717981
you're not the boss of me

>>12717827
>>eating a meatless sandwich
>lmao fuck off and kys vegcuck

t. brainlet with 0 reading comprehension

>>12718874
That's just immature. Who cares if a customer is mean, have you never been mean to a customer? We've all been on both sides and we all have our bad days. No need to tamper with someone's food over it

>>12717534
Yeah, quit. At least for me at a Kroger/Ralphs deli I was training at had me doing double the work of a minimum wagecuck job for $1.50/hr more. You have to cook, prep, check temperatures, clean and deal with autistic customers. I'd take the lower pay, just deal with the autistic customers and do some trash retail work.

>>12717534
If you get rushes at specific times having the best people person do the "what can we get started for you" thing efficiently and get it written down is a lifesaver. A smallish independent place I worked at which was in a walkable area from offices had a pretty good sandwich rush starting at almost exactly 11:30am each day and it tapered off near 1:30pm. Just being able to get into max efficiency sandwich creation mode rather than constantly switch and deal with customer interaction made life easier and customers much more happy. We basically worked around our PoS system when busy. It has been quite a while since then, so maybe shit has changed and everything is more flexible, but I don't think so based on the stupid shit I see all over the place.

>>12717726
I've never experienced the latter. Europe is a continent. Specify a country. They all have unique and individual cultures with their own commonly accepted mannerisms.
France and Germany and completely different despite being next to each other.

>>12717787
Go to fucking bed, Agnes.

>>12717655
They weigh it and the price comes out to what it weighs you idiot. Giving more is literally making them pay more.

>>12719057
after the weight is reached you could throw a few more slices on top once it's off the scale but the customer wouldn't know anyway unless they weighed it once they got home.

>>12717726
That's because you looked like you had more than enough already, spoiled lardass.

>>12717847
>No, you may not have any.

>>12717711
Yup, that's something I learned pretty quickly at the bread and cheese counter. Old people are the biggest assholes. Everyone thinks of old people as sweet, but there's nothing sweet about them, they're the worst.

P.S. OP, if you get to work with ovens or grills a lot, make sure to be extra careful, no matter how busy you are. Getting burned is all too easy, and you'll be stuck with that annoying pain for the rest of the day with barely any options to ease it.
t. worked a first day with 4 burns close to a radiating hot oven.

>>12717847
Imagine working at a grocery store for 3 years and being so weak willed that you contemplate suicide. It's a fucking job; not even a difficult one at that. Most jobs on the planet suck - they're jobs. That's why you readjust your attitude and have a goal for yourself to work toward. This nonsense about serious psych issues developing from working an average job gets repeated ad nauseam throughout webcomics and social media and only serves to cripple people's expectations of what truly arduous, tedious labor is so that when they encounter it they just quit thinking they cant handle it. Challenge yourselves to be better than that - you're not supposed to like all jobs, but most of them are piss easy if you actually have more to work for than buying video games and eating out.

Mortadella is delicious

>>12719219
t. never worked retail in his fuckin life

>>12719219
Someday when you've been absolutely broken you will come to regret writing things such as this, even though they're not really all that wrong. The thing you will eventually realize is it's all just a distinction without a difference-- one man's video games are another man's Tesla, one man's eating out is another man's eating in. It's just a treadmill of shit until you're dead. It's not that you will intellectually realize it, it's more that you will be utterly broken by it no matter how far in your "career" you progress. The thing that fucks you up is not the minor shit, it's that you can't really opt out, you can't really escape, and it all doesn't fucking matter. This will refocus your mind on smaller things, like being nice to people that work hard, and this will be the root of your regret for this type of post. You will reach the point where a pep talk is the height of irony. Hopefully at that point you will remember the days you used to dispense pep talks.

>>12717666
>666
fitting

>>12717534
Yeah. Don't be like Igor at my local grocer's deli and still be working there 16 years after I started shopping there. 16 years and he's never been promoted of found something better which would allow him to buy a crappy used car and not have to sit outside waiting for the bus at 11:30 pm.

>>12717854
No it doesn't. its cheap blogna and cheaper olives.
Its been 30 years and i can still taste it.
You will never be free of the taste, ever.

>>12717534
Drink. Keep ibuprofen on hand. The work is hard, and you'll likely have barely any help at all. They'll provide make you close. If so, make sure you don't commit a lunch violation.

>>12719057
The nice old lady at my local grocery will always either give me a few extra bits of meat or tare the scale slightly higher than the weighing paper. She’s the best

>>12717534
>Any advice?

get ready to get complains from customers because you were off by .1 when weighing some meat or cheese.

>>12717827
What the hell are you even talking about

>>12717534
Don't get put on the closing shift if you can help it. Because then you have to clean everything AND wait on customers at the same time and you're racing the clock to get done before the deli closes.

>>12717534
Practice keeping a straight face whenever you hear the words "roast beef."

>>12719219
>It's a fucking job; not even a difficult one at that.
im guessing youve never worked retail before.

its almost never the actual work that breaks people. its the customers you have to deal with that breaks people.

>>12718440
Do you think you work the only customer service job? You think people's additudes and courteousies change from area to area? You don't know rude customers until you're dealing with Mexican catholic families with seven kids, one or more always disabled, Indian immigrant men who think they can treat workers like actual trash, and the inflated-ego inner city rapper types.

Once you learn how much security is keeping an eye on things, you could start to make your own prices for stuff. Since you'll be printing out the labels with the barcodes on them for the deli items, no reason why you can't print out labels for other shit.

Make a $12 frozen pizza .50 and so on, just slap that shit on over the actual barcode.

Of course this only works if you're cool with one of the cashiers, or there's a self check-out AND the managers don't check your receipt. You can just pay for your heavily discounted items and then throw them in your car immediately so no one has a chance to check.

You can also discount cold cuts heavily for your friends, since no one's gonna be watching them and it will all look legit on camera.

This is very dishonest, I know. But a great way for a struggling deli worker to save some money on occasion.

>>12718794
Reminds me of when I worked at a train station cafe for the last two years of Uni. I worked the evening shift which was a mad rush for the first few hours then got quieter and quieter until no customers. I had to dispose of all the "out of date" food so most nights I'd take home a backpack full of food.

>All sandwiches and wraps
>Sliced meats
>Salads
>Fruit
>Cooked orders people would change their mind on at the last minute of leave to catch a train
>Sometimes even bottled drinks and crisps

Probably the best I've ever eaten, had leftovers for housemates, rarely even went to the supermarket, except to up the brotein content as I was lifting, never got sick as I avoided the seafood (except smoked salmon) and saved a ton of money to go travel for a year after Uni.

>>12717534
Get your GED and stay out of prison, you might get a real job one day

>>12717534
Look for another job.

>I'd like 500.g of proscuttio EXTRA thin oh and make SURE they are not slapped on top of each other NO THINNER! right and could your separate the layers with plastic please.

used about 20 fking plastic bags just for less than half a Kg of wafferthin meat.
> just finished refilling the (insert meat).
"I'd like some of that please but I want it fresh!
>Explain I literally just cut it
"no thanks i want it FRESH" (gives a foul look)

>when theres a ticket system but people shout because they're "in a hurry" and can't wait in line.

>When they take 20 minutes choosing 10+ items not having a clear idea what they want and you KNOW they're gonna try to shop lift
30 minutes later "hey they tried to do a runner, heres the stuff back"
Have to mark it as waste since cold items were sitting on hot chickens

>Getting infected fingers from prawn injuries

>finding large items left in other cold sections of the store because they found something better
>that jittery guy who wont stop staring at the knives on the bench's
>sample "entitlement"
>spills in the deli
>other people spilling in front of the deli
>kids asking for free meat then rubbing hands on the glass you just cleaned
>inter department politics
>managers
>UPPER MANAGERS
>Call ins in on day offs
>refused day offs even if its a funeral
And finally when a nice customer points out theres a fly inside the cabinets. Worst feeling of it all.

Honestly if you can find good things in it then you'll be fine, but like most things in life, the bad things just keep draining you bit by bit.

>>12720988
>>12720933
>>12719177
>>12718933
>>12718799
>>12718155
>>12717800
>>12717711
>>12717666
>>12717655
Checked

>>12717725
Some of us don't own our daddy's business anon, some of us fall on hard times.

>>12717711
he is a fucking leech

>>12717534
You can price your mates up good shit then price it as rubbish shit.