The Job of a Produce Pro

I work at Pathmark, a grocery store chain located in the mid-Atlantic region. I've been there for about 2 months now, and it's actually my first job. I work in Produce, and have the title "Produce Pro." But what exactly do us "pros" do?

I'm sure you've been to a super market before and you've probably seen someone from the produce section hard at work. There are many things we do, and I'm almost certain I won't be able to cover all of them in this article, mainly because I haven't been there long enough to see everything, plus I'm sure other stores might do things differently. In the next few paragraphs, I will go through a normal and even not-so-normal day at work.

When I first get to work, I punch in. That's always the first thing I do. After that, I usually do the "Melon Bar." This process usually takes about an hour and a half. The Melon Bar is an area that is covered in ice, and in the ice are different fruit and vegetable platters. There are fruit cups (assorted fruits), Luau Bowls (usually a variety of fruits in one bowl), slices of fruits on trays (watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew), watermelon halves and quarters, and fruit and vegetable trays with dip. The first thing to do is chop up the old ice, making it loose. This means you have to move everything out of the way. I usually take an empty shopping cart and put everything in there for the time being, making sure to remove any out of date product. After that, you have to figure out what you need to bring out to fill the empty spaces. I go in the back, price up what I feel I need, and bring it out. I then bring out our "bucket" of ice and cover the whole area with a fresh layer. The "bucket" is really a huge container on wheels that is filled every night. After getting a nice even coating and making sure it is smooth, I put out the product, submerging it in ice. After it's all in there, I put a little extra ice on top of everything to make it more appealing to the customers.

Now, the whole process sounds a lot easier than it really is. After many times doing it, I know about how much space each item will take up, and I can count how many of each thing I will need. Most of the times I am right on the ball, but I do have an off count every now and then. And when you price these items up each morning, you have to change the date manually on the machine. Sometimes I forget, and have to redo a few things.

After this is done, I don't really have a set schedule. Wherever the boss needs me is where I go, that's why I usually ask before I do something. But, I usually always do "re-wraps." These are the manager's special items; the discounted, cheap stuff. When you put out product (of any kind in the produce area) you have to cull, or look through the older items of whatever you're putting out. You take off any bad items and these are then taken to the back room, where they will either be discounted or thrown out. This is probably the nastiest thing to do at my job, considering you come across moldy, rotting, leaking, and crushed produce. Some of it you end up throwing out anyway, but the stuff you keep is put into trays, wrapped, and marked down.

Depending on how much is there depends on how long it will take. Sometimes I can get it done quickly if there's not much there, other times it takes me a while because there are boxes and boxes of these items. After "re-wraps" are done, I find out what I need to do next.

The one big thing every Produce Pro does is simply take out product (items). This is a fairly easy process; just get what you need, go where it is, and put it up. And how do you think we get what we need? That's right, a lot of heavy lifting. I like it because it's keeping me in shape, but when I get home, I'm beat. Anyway, it takes a little while getting used to where everything is; but I think I got the hang of it.

There is also the matter of "tray corn." I have done probably thousands of ears of corn in my small time there, or at least it feels like it. It is amazing how much corn a supermarket goes through. Doing tray corn is simple though: cut off the excess at each end, husk, put in trays and wrap. Sometimes I've spent over four or fives hours a day doing this, but the time goes by fast.

Besides these major things to do, there are also smaller ones. Taking out the trash, getting rid of boxes after you've put out product, fixing the machine that prices up the Melon Bar items and re-wraps (the labels often start ripping, so you have to manually fix it), washing your hands, and so on are also important.

In Conclusion, next time you see a "Produce Pro" or someone working in your grocery store, be sure to give them some credit. We work really hard to get out all the food, and make sure the shelves are full. While I wouldn't consider myself a Produce Pro just yet, my co-workers definitely are and are some really great people. I just now think I got the hang of work, but unfortunately it's only a summer job. What I don't think I will ever get used to though is the smell of the trash compactor, what a horrible aroma.