Standing in the Gap: The People Behind The Store Experience

The best review our operations team got this year was that nobody could tell anything was wrong.

Let me back up.

There were weeks this summer when we went into Monday more than 50% short on volunteers.Cancellations. No-shows. August being August, one of our hardest volunteer months.

Layer on staff sickness, a few vacations, and a bereavement leave.

It was a rough stretch.

And being short on volunteers at The Store isn't a small thing.

It can mean a longer line to get in. A slower shopping trip. Shelves that aren't quite as pristine or fully stocked. A wait for someone to help load groceries into your car.

Except, apparently, our customers didn't experience any of that.Aaron runs our customer advisory committee. Once a quarter, he sits down with a small group of customers and asks them how we're actually doing.

At the last meeting, he asked a question I might have been a little afraid to ask:

How bad was it last month when we were so short on volunteers?

They looked at him and basically said:

We didn't notice.

Not one of them.

“If you've been short on some of the days we've been here,” they told him, “we couldn't tell.”

I've been reflecting on that piece of feedback.

Because I knew we had been short.

I knew because I'd worked the scanner myself.

Our program director had stepped away from her normal work to run the intake station.

Robbie, Lisa, Mandy, Brant, and the rest of our team were bouncing between jobs, filling whatever hole opened up next.

And the volunteers who did show up were doing more. Stocking another shelf. Bagging another order. Taking another cart to a car. Seeing something that needed to be done and just doing it.

That's what our customers didn't notice.

They didn't notice the missing people because the people who were there refused to let those absences become the customer's problem.

The gap didn't disappear.

Somebody just stood in it.

And I think that's one of the best descriptions of our culture I've heard all year.

Nobody stopped to say, “That's not my job.”

We just did what had to be done because the experience on the other side of it was non-negotiable.

A customer should still walk into a beautiful store. Still find stocked shelves. Still be greeted warmly.

Still get to choose the groceries their family wants.

Still leave feeling like they had been shopping at a grocery store, not receiving charity.

Even on the days when, behind the scenes, we were scrambling.

So if you volunteered with us on a summer morning that felt heavier than it should have, now you know why.And if nobody noticed how hard you were working, that might be the best compliment you could have gotten.

Thank you for standing in the gap.

Our October through December volunteer shifts are open now.

If you'd like to be the reason somebody doesn't notice, we'd love to have you.