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Welcome back blog readers,

Those of you that follow me know that I’ve been working part-time in a bakery department in a big chain retail store. I have been working there 90 days at this point and I’m still not not able to gain access to direct deposit for my payroll checks.

Before getting officially hired on in June I was instructed to bring a void bank check and submit that to the human resources manager for the purposes of setting me up with direct deposit. I did just that and the same void check still sits inside of my cell phone case with my work ID card.

There have been many changes to how things are done since my employment two years ago. Back then I was able to hand it the void check and fill out a form for Direct Deposit into my bank account and be done with it. Now everything is done online which is convenient when everything works as it should.

This time around the HR manager tried to set me up for paperless pay and was unable to set me up. She said she’d try again later as she knew there would be a phone call involved and I would have to be present to provide information. The HR manager took time off for her honeymoon, so I approached another manager to assist me in this matter. This manager went through the process, asked the questions to verify my identity and the system was unable to verify who I was based on the questions and information I provided. The manager gave me a phone number and suggested that I needed to call and talk to them myself and that should sort things out.

I called earlier and the questions being asked were the exact same as what I had been asked before. After providing my social insurance number, loan information, address, and phone number the lady on the other end still could not verify my information and claims that whatever “Big Retail” corporate office has on file is not the same as what I’m providing and I’ll have to talk to corporate to fix it.

I mentioned that I was a former employee two years ago, I was living at a different location then, and that might be what corporate has on file, my old address and phone number. That is the only thing I can think that is causing this hiccup as my old employee number was reissued. That didn’t seem to matter to who I was speaking with, it was no longer in their control to set me up with log in information for paperless pay.

Why do corporations insist on making things more complicated than they need to be? I’ve tried handing in my void check to the HR manager last month and asked for a direct deposit form to sort this out, it was suggested that I call and talk to the third party company directly. GRRRRRRRRRRRR….

I have shifts scheduled over the next three days; hopefully I’ll be able to catch the HR manager and I’ll hand her my void check that I’ve been carrying around for the last three months and tell her to sort it out. My paychecks come with the phone number attached for me to sort it out (passive aggressive) and we see how well that ended up. I should be grateful that I am getting paid, sure it’s a slight inconvenience, but it doesn’t have to be if managers took a little initiative. The lady I spoke with eariler said I could try calling this phone number and maybe somebody there can help me. She proceeds to give me the phone number and I let her know that’s the phone number that I did call and it lead me to her.

On a similar note, I seem to be cursed with not being able to login to certain programs. I’ve talked to three managers to let them know I can’t log in to record temperatures and I can’t complete the cleaning log for out department. They were all going to talk to whoever is in charge of giving me access, so far nothing more has come from that. I have to rely on produce associates to complete those tasks for me. I can tell that they are getting frustrated, I understand that as it is equally frustrating for me. Their advice is for me to keep hounding managers to give me access otherwise it will not get done.

There has to be a better way, is my thought. When my manager knows, the HR manager knows, two other assistant managers know to which one said she’s sort it out personally and nobody gets back to me, what am I suppose to do? Maybe I should ask the guys in produce to not record the bakery temps/cleaning log during my shifts as that will get attention. Right now the managers probably think things are sorted out when they are not because the notification isn’t alerting them. I know those tasks are important, just as the guys in produce know as one in particular likes to remind me when he has to login on my behalf. The assoiciates care more about things than the managers do, we are the ones making them look good and the managers are completely oblivious.

I did have my 90 day evaluation during my last shift. That process has changed from a few pages being filled out with comments from the manager and the associate getting scored in various areas to a simple form online with a place for comments. My manager surprised me with Exceeds Expectations as I was sure he was hoping I’d quit or he was going to let me go before my 90 days was up. He acknowledged that I keep the department cleaner than how I found it and that I recognize the importance of making sure the tables/shelves are full.

There was a place on the form to fill in my current hourly wage and a place to fill in if a raise was given as well as a place for me to initial as a sign of acknowledgment and none of those sections were filled in. I am not expecting a raise as the minimum wage is expected to go up to $15.00/hour in Ontario.

Anyway, this concludes my venting session for today. Hopefully I can get things sorted out with my direct deposit situation. I’ve never been the squeeky wheel, maybe it’s time that I am.

Happy Monday ~ Hannah