Blog entry #1 - What strikes me most at my internship at Vons is that the staff are nice and fairly easy to work with. I’m friends with everyone because I’m a nice person & I have professional manners towards my coworkers and customers. In my opinion going the extra mile at work for customers goes a long way nowadays especially during this pandemic. Even though I was already a Vons employee as a Courtesy Clerk, I am now doing different tasks as an intern so I look forward to learning new things. My first task given to me was to walk around the store and think about how we could attract more customers to the grocery store. What I'm also noticing is that the shelves seem better stocked than a few months ago during the pandemic and this will probably attract more customers to the grocery store. What could be more frustrating than going to the store to buy a food item and then find out they don't have it in stock? As an intern, I think it will be challenging because I now have to think about the place in a different way. I will need to do the projects that are given to me instead of just going into work as a Courtesy Clerk and do bagging/carts. My projects will be based around ways to improve the store. I will go into this internship with an open mind and I know I will learn more about Vons than just bagging groceries and pushing carts.

Blog entry #2 - Mentor Interview and Self-Reflection

PART 1 Mentor Interview - Kristina

• Job title - Service Operations Manager

• What are your main duties and responsibilities? Manage front end; write weekly schedules; make sure customers receive great service; hiring;safety; compliance; training.

• Have you worked at other stores? Yes I have.

• Did you work your way up to this position at Vons? Yes I started as customer service/front desk.

• What do you enjoy most about your job? Working with customers and training/hiring.

• What do you like least about your job? At times it gets very stressful.

• What does it take to be successful as an employee at Vons? Reliable; want to learn; being able to provide good customer service.

• What other advice do you have about working here? Try your best and have a good attitude.

• How important is getting along with other people in your career? One of the most important skills is getting along with others.

• What other skills, or knowledge are needed for a job at Vons? All you need is to have good people skills.

PART 2 Journal Self Reflection - Nathan

• What connections can you make between this internship and what you've done in school? I’m learning how to better work with my coworkers and to self advocate when there is a miscommunication at work. I’m also learning how to speak up if something doesn’t feel right. This is similar to what I do in school.

• What new skills are you developing (or will you need to develop) for this internship? I’m getting better with communicating to my coworkers and taking feedback. I’m also learning to not let frustrating situations bother me, like when customers are rude.

Blog Entry #3 - My Internship Project

• What are you doing/creating for your project?

I am working on a project focused on Customer Service. Right now I am collecting observation data in the Vons store on how customer service can be improved in the different areas. As part of my project I will be creating an idea on a way to improve an area of customer service and implementing it.

• What skills do you need in order for it to meet/exceed your mentor’s expectations?

I will need to be creative in coming up with a customer service improvement idea. Then I will need to work on my own customer service skills because I will have to practice it in my own project.

• What support will you need and from whom?

My mentor is helping me with this. I’m still collecting data right now and will be working with her for the next step in the project.

Blog Entry #4 - Personal Reflection

• What are you learning about yourself as a worker in a professional environment?

I’m learning how to not let one rude customer ruin my day at work. It’s hard to shake it off but I’m still learning how to handle it. I'm also learning how to take feedback and learn from my mistakes.

• What are your strengths?

Trying my best with a positive attitude for friendly interactions with customers. Stepping up more at work by asking what is the brand name on an item when a coworker or customer asks me to find it but I don’t know what it is. For example, I was asked by a customer at check out to go get 12 grade eggs. When I went to get it, I realized there were 5 or 6 different kinds of egg brands. I grabbed a few and brought it to the register to show the customer. He didn’t want the ones I grabbed and ended up getting it himself. The customer was not happy with my help.

• What do you enjoy most about your work?

I’m friends with everybody at my workplace. I like how we continue to hire nice people that want to help you.

• What do you dislike about your work experience?

One thing I dislike about my workplace is the customers that say rude statements to me for no reason. For example I was doing carts and this lady said I needed to be more patient in life. I think she felt I was rushing to collect carts but I wasn’t. I don’t know what she meant when she said that.

• What areas of your work do you want to continue to improve?

I want to improve on stepping up more at work when I have a problem with my coworkers or can't understand the customers' needs.

• What type of work are you doing that is similar or different from last year?

I was online for my 10th grade year so I had very few interactions with people in person. During the summer of 2021 I got hired at Vons and then started learning to interact again with people in person and getting real life experiences. This year is more in person experiences, especially at work with masks off and people are in each other’s faces again. This is different from last year because we wore masks last year and there was more social distancing.

Blog Entry #5 - Work as an Intern

Part 1

• How do you make a meaningful contribution to your workplace?

I use a positive attitude when I go in for work and I offer to go the extra mile to the customers that need assistance. Getting along with people and speaking up when I have a problem with a customer or staff. I always work hard and never slack off.

• How is your work as an intern meaningful to your education?

I’m learning more about customer service at this internship. It helps me with group work at school and working with my classmates. I’m learning how to handle conflicts with personnel and customers in the workplace. It’s interesting to do a real world project at a workplace instead of a project at school.

• What are you learning about your own work from your internship project (customer service)?

I’m learning that people get mad at you when you take too long to get what they need. They also get mad in the parking lot when they think you get in their way. My project is learning ways to improve attracting more customers to the store. I’m learning that I’m a hard worker, I’m dedicated, nice/ friendly, caring, & helpful. I’m also learning that I sometimes have trouble understanding the customers' expectations, both in the store & in the parking lot.

Part 2

• What qualities or characteristics do you see in the people around you at work that you want to develop in yourself? Why?

I would like to get better at knowing where things are in the store. I’d also like to get better at understanding customers' expectations so I have less conflicts. I wish I could learn cashier duties so I can help people in the self checkout line.

• How might this internship experience influence the direction of your life? Do you think you will want to work with customers or customer service related job?

Yes I do enjoy talking with people and trying my best to help them. I can imagine myself to be a train conductor or an employee at Disneyland.

PHOTO ESSAY

CUSTOMER SERVICE

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS TO OUR STORE

KEEP CART AREA FULLY STOCKED - Photo #1 (on left)

Customers will like it better if there are always carts available for use. It is important to collect shopping carts from the parking lot and bring them to the cart area. I am putting carts back in this area from the parking lot and making sure the cart area is full.

FRONT ENTRANCE OF STORE - Photo #2 (on left)

Make the front entrance of the store inviting, clean, presentable and safe. We put flowers near the entrance so that the entrance looks pretty and you can smell the flowers when you walk in. We also display sale items right when you walk in so that customers will be drawn to it. The floors are swept throughout the day to keep the store clean and safe for walking around. We have a security camera and video monitor at the entrance which could make customers feel safe shopping there. The store is also well lit.

FRONT OF THE STORE - Photo #3 (on left)

Display pretty plants in a neat and organized way. I am straightening up this shelf right now and making sure the price tags are on the items so that customers can see it.

HAVING ATM MACHINE INSIDE VONS - Photo #4 (on left)

This is good for attracting customers because they can do other errands like banking while grocery shopping.

HAVING COINSTAR MACHINE INSIDE VONS- Photo #5 (on left)

This is good for attracting customers because they can use this machine while also doing their grocery shopping. Customers like to take care of a lot of errands at one time. It provides convenient shopping for customers.

OUTSIDE PATIO/LUNCH AREA OF VONS STORE - Photo #6 (on left)

This photo shows a nice clean lunch area for us when we go on our lunch break outside of the store. We come to this place to have our lunch since the break room doesn’t have that much space. Customers also use this space to sit, wait, and rest.

GREETING CUSTOMERS IN FRONT OF VONS STORE - Photo #7 (on left)

I’m giving out clean carts to the customers that come in and want a cart. I also greet them.

HOW WE KEEP THE VONS FLOOR CLEAN - Photo #8 (on left)

Every 30 minutes we sweep the store to have it clean and safe for customers. I go through the store and check for any trash that needs to be picked up or fallen items from the shelves that need to be put back.

CART CORRAL EMPTY - Photo #9 (on left)

This was on Memorial Day when it got really busy and all the carts were gone. My opinion is when a holiday or a major event arrives we should have 2 people out on carts. Having carts available for shoppers is important.

STOCK ITEM - Photo #10 (on left)

Lately a lot of the refrigerated items are out of stock. Most of the out of stock items are refrigerated items and produce items that haven’t arrived yet from the ports. It looks better now compared to a few months ago where more than half of the store was empty. We try to keep the shelves stocked so that customers will want to shop at our Vons.

Blog Entry #6 - My Internship Project Presentation