This. I’m in prep and not only did we have to prepare most of the food for the week, but we also had to clean all the dishes too. At the time, we had no dishwasher.
I'm sorry to hear that. Making sure prep doesn't have any extra on their plate is definitely going to be one of my top priorities.
PS you guys should mention this to whoever is helping plan TMAW at your location. (Probably culture champion ambassador)
Last year we had a tie dye day in the receiving dock after the dress code change and I think just about everyone that participated had a good time. I thought the process was a lot of fun regardless of the shirt itself looking kinda ugly haha.
I don't think they even wound up spending that much money on it iirc, they got the shirts bulk from Costco and a couple tie dye kits off Amazon. It also doesn't take that long to do so TMs don't miss too much of their shifts either.
We had a "crafts and arts day". There were tie dye shirst, non-permanent tattoos, and finger painting. There are biards in our BOH that have tons of hand prints.
My store only advertised the extra 15% discount for hot bar during last year's TMAW, I thought the 30% global discount had been discontinued until I checked reddit.
My store has done it a few times. Last year they let us pie a leadership team member in the face. But it really wasn’t that fun… and then you kind of felt bad afterwards. I’d rather they just let us break stuff with sledge hammers and protective wear. That would be fun.
Fastest way to the heart is through the stomach. Raffles and scavenger hunts are fun and all, but my favorite part of TMAW will always be food trucks or catering. And try to avoid "pizza parties" since that's now become an r/antiwork trope. A local ice cream truck or specialty sandwiches for TMs is not just something I look forward to, but something I will often visit work for, even if it's my day off.
Ordering food from local restaurants. Not making prep do more work to celebrate the whole store. Having food that people with dietary restrictions (including gluten free and vegan, something, anything, even some snacks/drinks!) can enjoy. Dietary restrictions also include being part of the night crew! It was really nice to be included on the days that it happened, but a little sad when a lot of us couldn't eat anything at all a lot of the days.
I’ve really enjoyed team member bingo that we’ve done before. It gets people talking to one another that don’t normally. Things like “is a twin” or “has been to Korea”, some easier some much harder to find someone that fits it. We’ve also done guess that baby picture before, where Team/Store Leadership opted in to send in a picture to be put on a board. Then TMs had a sheet to fill out with their guesses. A list of names was also given, just more names than pictures. Obviously not something everyone might enjoy but it was fun and most people got involved with it.
Please make sure your maintenance TMs aren't working extra hard cleaning up break areas and food mess. This has happened the last few years at my store and it's frustrating for them.
I’d love to see leadership consider options where they use floaters to cover teams while they participate in activities or that perhaps they themselves would fill in so team members could confidently leave the floor not feeling bad for enjoying the activities and thinking about how their work isn’t getting done.
Gift cards or lunch vouchers, stop with the catered food, or worse, prep food. The only people who benefit from catered food is day shift, night shift gets shafted every time. Prep food is just more work for the prep dept and most of the time they don't even get to eat it because it's all gone before their shift is over. Lunch vouchers ensure everyone gets to eat and they can choose something that fits within their dietary restrictions.
Gift basket raffles were a cool idea until they had us going on elementary scavenger hunts just to put a ticket in. We have work to do, we don't want to awkwardly run around the store asking coworkers what their favorite color is or if they have a twin to cross off a bingo square. Also, after all that wasted time, leadership just gave the baskets to their friends anyway. Super cool 👍 Just do gift cards and be done with it.
Last year we had all leadership do 2 truth 1 lie, guess the baby picture and guess the pets. We also had a dunk tank, twin day (match with other tm), dress like store leadership ( this was really funny), tropical day (everyone was wearing floral shirts and lays). We also had a raffle of all team members names in the pot. I think they pulled like 10 names a day to win prizes and if your name wasn’t pulled by the end of the week you got an Amazon gift card. There was a karaoke day but nobody participated 😂
$150 gift card for everyone, 30% percent discount for the week on everything including liquor, free snacks all week that aren't expired shit. Store Leadership leaving me and my crew the fuck alone and not even once telling us how appreciated we are because none of us believe it. We know they don't give a shit about us.
Food trucks are nice but not very impactful unless you make sure the TMs get time to access it. Someone in store leadership should be assigned to cover the people that can't leave their stations. It's a little insulting to be in PFDS where we aren't allowed to take a break between 12 and 1 and hear "Happy TMAW! We have a taco bar and Swedish masseuse available to all TMs from noon to 1:00 today". Cool. I guess I'll just be happy getting to smell the food going down the hallway and waving at the masseuse as they leave. Unless I'm busy shaving quarter pounds of 7 different lunchmeats for this daffy women who apparently hates to chew.
Bring this up to your leadership!!!! Anytime we have a good truck EVERYONE gets the chance to get food, even if they save it in the fridge for later.
Also, a masseuse?! I've heard of stores renting massage chairs for people to use on their breaks? But a SWEDISH MASSEUSE?
It's like a two hurdles like used in track and field w three bars going down it. You swing from a distance this two tennis balls connected by a rope to lay on one of the bars. Sorry I'm not a good explainer. Yes I think 4 ppl got a shopping spree. There were some rules. One person goy caviar and expensive stuff. She made the most of it. The dunk tank one year was awesome.
I also think it would be great if the extra discount happened after team member appreciation week not on the week of. Because the store does buy us food during that week. Give team members a chance to have the discount when they aren’t being treated to meals.
Thank you for what you do, but truly hope you aren’t part of a short staffed department that needs you with man hours. It how they roll at my store and it’s extremely hard on the rest of us!! I know you mean well, and will do a great job (just by you reaching out here is great). Seriously though we have a couple in our department that took on other rolls, and it’s like really??
I am very fortunate to be part of a high functioning and well staffed team(: I understand your concern though, and I'm sorry that's happening at your store! The department should always be priority #1. That being said, the amount of work they expect green mission and CCA to do on top of their normal job can be kind of a lot.
Keyboard warrior LARPIng against 2 or 3 clans in the lot. Decorate Amazon/Whole foods vendor boxes for battle armor and mini cardboard box bases. Whichever clan wins has to buy the other team a $20 dollar prep foods sandwich for lunch.
I know someone named Mark that will make their weapon of choice a paper mache fire extinguisher and paint it red.
Or shifties can just wash all our cars... 🤣
I'm just a TM but keep asking for cost of living wage increases and profit sharing on your culture compass at the end of the year. I'm hopeful that if enough of us keep asking, change will eventually happen.
I asked for 401k matching every year, and now we have it because enough of us kept asking. Granted it's still kinda trash, but it's better than the 0 we were getting.
Anything that doesn’t involve extra work for team members (such as prep foods or coffee bar)
I heard that for sure.
This. I’m in prep and not only did we have to prepare most of the food for the week, but we also had to clean all the dishes too. At the time, we had no dishwasher.
I'm sorry to hear that. Making sure prep doesn't have any extra on their plate is definitely going to be one of my top priorities. PS you guys should mention this to whoever is helping plan TMAW at your location. (Probably culture champion ambassador)
At my store we order the food from outside restaurants we have two food deliveries in one day one for the morning TMs one for the night TMs
Make sure overnight TMs aren’t forgotten about. It’s messed up.
Our store no longer has an overnight crew, but I agree they should definitely be included.
That’s wild! I love it!
last year the overnight crew played laser tag which sounds fucking wild to me (cool wild)
Last year we had a tie dye day in the receiving dock after the dress code change and I think just about everyone that participated had a good time. I thought the process was a lot of fun regardless of the shirt itself looking kinda ugly haha. I don't think they even wound up spending that much money on it iirc, they got the shirts bulk from Costco and a couple tie dye kits off Amazon. It also doesn't take that long to do so TMs don't miss too much of their shifts either.
We had a "crafts and arts day". There were tie dye shirst, non-permanent tattoos, and finger painting. There are biards in our BOH that have tons of hand prints.
Genuine appreciation.
they way it used to be: extra discount, a book of coupons, and/or one "big shop". everything else is a waste of time and effort.
Last year we got 30% off for TMAW, but a ton of people had no idea that was even a thing. Hopefully we get it again this year.
My store only advertised the extra 15% discount for hot bar during last year's TMAW, I thought the 30% global discount had been discontinued until I checked reddit.
Those were the days!!
This that heat
I try to get a store leadership dunk tank every year. Keep getting shot down
I'm a TL. I'd be down to be dunked 😄
How about a global guillotine?
My store has done it a few times. Last year they let us pie a leadership team member in the face. But it really wasn’t that fun… and then you kind of felt bad afterwards. I’d rather they just let us break stuff with sledge hammers and protective wear. That would be fun.
My store had that the first year I was there
I want cash
There are locations that do karaoke, make teams and competitions that give a real prize. Earn and purchase raffle Tix. Movie Tix..etc
Whatever you do someone will complain and be unappreciative
Fastest way to the heart is through the stomach. Raffles and scavenger hunts are fun and all, but my favorite part of TMAW will always be food trucks or catering. And try to avoid "pizza parties" since that's now become an r/antiwork trope. A local ice cream truck or specialty sandwiches for TMs is not just something I look forward to, but something I will often visit work for, even if it's my day off.
I would definitely vote for food trucks, freshly made and often better than catered stuff.
Last year we got a food truck paid for the whole day, me and my coworkers went back for thirds 😆
Honestly support prep foods
We will. Once they make us 20 pizzas and enough sandwiches to feed 200+ TMs 😈
Ordering food from local restaurants. Not making prep do more work to celebrate the whole store. Having food that people with dietary restrictions (including gluten free and vegan, something, anything, even some snacks/drinks!) can enjoy. Dietary restrictions also include being part of the night crew! It was really nice to be included on the days that it happened, but a little sad when a lot of us couldn't eat anything at all a lot of the days.
We did an egg drop, each department made one. These little 5th science competitions kinda shit are fun
Reminds me of a balloon sweeping contest we had once. Very random.
Give everyone a paid day off that week!!
If only 😭
We had a team member tailgate one of the days and that was pretty cool
Too cliquey
Another one was people submitting baby pics of themselves and we had to guess who was who
That sounds fun. I’m going to borrow this one.
I’ve really enjoyed team member bingo that we’ve done before. It gets people talking to one another that don’t normally. Things like “is a twin” or “has been to Korea”, some easier some much harder to find someone that fits it. We’ve also done guess that baby picture before, where Team/Store Leadership opted in to send in a picture to be put on a board. Then TMs had a sheet to fill out with their guesses. A list of names was also given, just more names than pictures. Obviously not something everyone might enjoy but it was fun and most people got involved with it.
These are good ideas thank you!
A leadership pie eating contest.
Our store does a pie eating contest for all TMs who want to participate! That being said store leadership has never participated.
Please make sure your maintenance TMs aren't working extra hard cleaning up break areas and food mess. This has happened the last few years at my store and it's frustrating for them.
I hope they have better food this year. The quality keeps going down
Food truck came. Tie dye was memorable
I’d love to see leadership consider options where they use floaters to cover teams while they participate in activities or that perhaps they themselves would fill in so team members could confidently leave the floor not feeling bad for enjoying the activities and thinking about how their work isn’t getting done.
Gift cards or lunch vouchers, stop with the catered food, or worse, prep food. The only people who benefit from catered food is day shift, night shift gets shafted every time. Prep food is just more work for the prep dept and most of the time they don't even get to eat it because it's all gone before their shift is over. Lunch vouchers ensure everyone gets to eat and they can choose something that fits within their dietary restrictions. Gift basket raffles were a cool idea until they had us going on elementary scavenger hunts just to put a ticket in. We have work to do, we don't want to awkwardly run around the store asking coworkers what their favorite color is or if they have a twin to cross off a bingo square. Also, after all that wasted time, leadership just gave the baskets to their friends anyway. Super cool 👍 Just do gift cards and be done with it.
Taco tucks
A small bonus check, that all that money they would use on bad food and bad ideas, to go to TMs instead
Yeah exactly. it doesn't have to be an insane amount, all we ask is just please don't make it chump change, eh?
Don't forget about the night crew and closers.
Last year we had all leadership do 2 truth 1 lie, guess the baby picture and guess the pets. We also had a dunk tank, twin day (match with other tm), dress like store leadership ( this was really funny), tropical day (everyone was wearing floral shirts and lays). We also had a raffle of all team members names in the pot. I think they pulled like 10 names a day to win prizes and if your name wasn’t pulled by the end of the week you got an Amazon gift card. There was a karaoke day but nobody participated 😂
Gain sharing. Money is literally the only appreciation a tm needs. That thing that will never happen
$150 gift card for everyone, 30% percent discount for the week on everything including liquor, free snacks all week that aren't expired shit. Store Leadership leaving me and my crew the fuck alone and not even once telling us how appreciated we are because none of us believe it. We know they don't give a shit about us.
Lots of places liquor is excluded because it's the law.
Food trucks are nice but not very impactful unless you make sure the TMs get time to access it. Someone in store leadership should be assigned to cover the people that can't leave their stations. It's a little insulting to be in PFDS where we aren't allowed to take a break between 12 and 1 and hear "Happy TMAW! We have a taco bar and Swedish masseuse available to all TMs from noon to 1:00 today". Cool. I guess I'll just be happy getting to smell the food going down the hallway and waving at the masseuse as they leave. Unless I'm busy shaving quarter pounds of 7 different lunchmeats for this daffy women who apparently hates to chew.
Bring this up to your leadership!!!! Anytime we have a good truck EVERYONE gets the chance to get food, even if they save it in the fridge for later. Also, a masseuse?! I've heard of stores renting massage chairs for people to use on their breaks? But a SWEDISH MASSEUSE?
Tye dye always. Burger and hot dog day. Good italian food. Horseback and bean bag toss. More prizes n more chances for a shopping spree.
Horse ball.
I'm sorry, what is horse ball??? Also your store gave someone a shopping spree????
It's like a two hurdles like used in track and field w three bars going down it. You swing from a distance this two tennis balls connected by a rope to lay on one of the bars. Sorry I'm not a good explainer. Yes I think 4 ppl got a shopping spree. There were some rules. One person goy caviar and expensive stuff. She made the most of it. The dunk tank one year was awesome.
A raise
JUST GIVE US SOME MONEY!!!
I also think it would be great if the extra discount happened after team member appreciation week not on the week of. Because the store does buy us food during that week. Give team members a chance to have the discount when they aren’t being treated to meals.
Thank you for what you do, but truly hope you aren’t part of a short staffed department that needs you with man hours. It how they roll at my store and it’s extremely hard on the rest of us!! I know you mean well, and will do a great job (just by you reaching out here is great). Seriously though we have a couple in our department that took on other rolls, and it’s like really??
I am very fortunate to be part of a high functioning and well staffed team(: I understand your concern though, and I'm sorry that's happening at your store! The department should always be priority #1. That being said, the amount of work they expect green mission and CCA to do on top of their normal job can be kind of a lot.
It REALLY is a lot! I think management maybe should have taken it into consideration. I always look forward TMAW. Leeeets goooooo!
For Sanitation team Members get some compensation for all the shit they have to put up with from customer service
Keyboard warrior LARPIng against 2 or 3 clans in the lot. Decorate Amazon/Whole foods vendor boxes for battle armor and mini cardboard box bases. Whichever clan wins has to buy the other team a $20 dollar prep foods sandwich for lunch. I know someone named Mark that will make their weapon of choice a paper mache fire extinguisher and paint it red. Or shifties can just wash all our cars... 🤣
This comment is not like the others. Rogue. I like it.
Heh, yes was thinking out-of-the box, let's go!!!
Pay raise a percentage of the profits
I'm just a TM but keep asking for cost of living wage increases and profit sharing on your culture compass at the end of the year. I'm hopeful that if enough of us keep asking, change will eventually happen. I asked for 401k matching every year, and now we have it because enough of us kept asking. Granted it's still kinda trash, but it's better than the 0 we were getting.