Courtesy Clerk - Basically the bottom of the food chain at Safeway, but the store wouldn't function without them. It's a good spot to start out, because if you become manager after being a CC, it sounds pretty impressive, and a lot of managers did use to be courtesy clerks. Thankfully, I was a CC for less than a year before being checker trained.
Helper Clerk - I was only a helper clerk for a week, but I did enjoy it. The reason I stopped it was because the hours were bad (5 hour shifts only 3-4 times a week) and asking for time off would be really hard to do. But I got to do dairy (eggs and milk), stock Safeway brand soda. Special thanks to Mat for teaching me everything about this position, from how to use the power jack to how to quickly load eggs and milk.
Sales Events - Now this is something Safeway (at least at our store) doesn't do anymore, which does bum me out. We used to set up these tables with samples of food on them. If I rack my brain... I did Ghoulish Grapes (black grapes for Halloween), sweet mandarin oranges, and honeycrisp apples for the produce department. I did soup and turkey for the deli department (And I helped Michael with ribs one time). It was mostly pretty boring, having to stand there all day with little or no breaks waiting for people to stuff their faces in the same food item over and over again.
Checking - I have voiced my thoughts on checking before here: http://briguy17-briguy17.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-thoughts-on-checkingcashiering-at.html So you know how I feel about it. I will say this, however. When I'm away for the checkstand for too long (such as doing self-checkout or something else for a week or two), I actually do start to miss it, which is weird. Never thought I'd miss checking.
Self-Checkout - Our store didn't get self-checkout until October 2010, I believe. I was not one of the people selected to be trained on it at first. However, a month or two after it started, I approached Marjorie during a shift that was pretty slow and asked her to show me how to do it. She showed me the basics, and I pretty much learned on the job from there. Now I'm one of the best at it, extinguishing fires left and right.
Floral - I first did floral Valentine's Day 2012. Why I was selected, I really have no clue. But it really isn't that bad. Marina, the floral manager (RIP Marina), can be a bit intense, but if you do your job and work hard she won't be mad. It does feel weird, being a straight male, to work floral, but hey, wherever I can get hours. Not my favorite department of the store, but I will say that time did go by pretty fast while working there. Occasionally if after floral closes (and produce is unable to cover) a customer needs help, I have helped out with wrapping flowers and/or balloons.
just4u - I just completed a week's worth of doing this promotion, and I both like it and hate it. I like it because I get to use technology at work, mainly the iPad and the laptops. I like it because I'm never swamped with work and it's pretty fun getting people signed up. I hate it however, because it is mostly slow and boring and all the rejection from people who apparently weren't interested in saving money. I was expected to approach people and ask them about it, and if you know me, you know approaching people is not something I'm good at.
Dairy - I just recently did dairy a few times, filling in after one of our employees went to another store. I actually really like it. You get to be in your own little world, stocking things like sour cream, yogurt, and cheese. There are a few things I hate about it though: The 4am start time (non-negotiable), and having to rotate so products stay fresh. It's annoying to do, but it cuts down on shrink. I don't want to do this full-time, but I don't mind filling in every now and then. Getting off at noon or sooner is very awesome, but going to bed before 8 is not.
Customer Service - I've now done customer service for about a year so I have a fairly firm grasp on it. It's usually pretty fun and better than checking. Sometimes, however, it can get extremely stressful. I haven't really had anyone yell at me per se, but I've had quite a few unhappy customers. Western Union is either nice to do (since it takes up time, helps time go by fast) or stressful, especially if a customer has no idea what they're doing, your line is building as you're helping the customer, or there's some issue with the transfer. Lotto is really fun and it's kinda funny to watch people blow their money away day after day. I used to rent out movies which were fun to talk about, but we stopped doing that. I'd say my least favorite thing to do is answer phone calls, because 1) I'm not 100% comfortable talking on the phone and 2) Often times I get calls that are stressful or I have little idea what to do or say. I'd say my favorite part is the closing duties, counting tills and doing the checkstand and self-check changers, which is why I may soon get trained for office. When I've done that for a while it'll be below this.
Front End Manager - With learning customer service I had knowledge of each checkout location on the front end, so I became a natural fit as a fill-in front end manager. I'm technically not allowed to do it officially since my girlfriend is a checker, but we manage to make it work. As for the FEM job itself, it has its ups and downs. The positives: Work goes by extremely fast, always getting an hour lunch, always getting off at a decent time, hardly ever having to do the same thing (check, self check) for too long. The negatives: Being stressful at times, having to deal with people calling out sick (or just not showing up), having to occasionally skip a 10 minute break. But all in all it's not terrible.
Office *NEW* - It was only a matter of time until I got trained for bookkeeping/office. Basically I am in charge of the store's finances, I account for all the money in the store and basically hope we're not off too much. I've done office on my own maybe... 7 times? Despite that, it's still tough for me and I still need to follow my to-do list. However, I get off early each time I work this shift. The early hours do kinda suck, but it could be worse. I'm hoping I can get better at it because I do really like it. Accounting seems to be something I am pretty good at.
PIC *NEW* - PIC (Person in Charge) is something I actually now have done a couple weeks of when one of our PIC's went on vacation and our store couldn't find a replacement. So they asked me. I agreed, so long as it was temporary. I gotta say, not as bad as I thought. Although my managers didn't want to load too much on my plate being a fill-in PIC, so I just did what I could. For the most part, it was mainly checking when called and putting the load away (which can be stressful if something else time-sensitive has to be done at the same time like covering a break). But most of the time I got a bunch of free time to kill in the manager's office and had plenty of time to face. If that were to be the case all the time, I would definitely consider applying for PIC. But I've seen what full-time PIC's have to deal with, and it's not for me. I tend to get overwhelmed and anxiety fairly easily, so that would not be good for me. But our store is lucky they have an emergency PIC in myself (which I ended up doing one last time when I was scheduled to close self check).
So, that is pretty much all I've done with Safeway at the point. I did do one morning in the frozen department as I was scheduled to check really early at the same time as someone else. I would put that on this list, but it was just one day. But if I were to name a couple other things I'd like to do, they'd be produce, wine, and more frozen. If I ever do any of those things (or anything else new), I will put it on this list.
Added:
Dairy
Customer Service
Front End Manager
Office
PIC
