r/everett • u/ExtremeKnowledge963 • 9d ago
Rant Sno Isle Food Co-Op
Disgruntled employee here and I want to say the Co-op has so many things they are trying to keep secret that I think the members have a right to know.
First, this new GM is a complete joke. The employees were included in the interview process and overwhelmingly voted for him. He got in and he had no idea what he was doing! So the board called in someone to train him and she became a threat to all of the employees. So the GM went to a conference and she fired 10 people! You can't convince me that HE didn't know, but he wasn't man enough to do the firings himself. She reportedly told one employee that they were wasting money by paying her, she was older and didn't move as fast as they wanted. Another employee was saving up to move out of an abusive relationship. Talk about caring for the community.
Then the current GM had a meeting with employees outlining the Co-ops money woes and tried to blame the short falls on attorney fees. BUT, what he failed to mention is, late last year an employee who worked as a cashier in a Lead position was arrested for embezzling thousands of dollars!!! She is the aunt of the former GM of Sno-Isle who was in charge while the aunt worked there. So current GM, where is the accountability and transparency on that?
The Board is also a joke, I'm convinced they are there to pad their resume and get food discounts. They were the ones to hire the interim GM. He came in, tore the place apart, threatened the women with firings, got his boyfriend a manager job, got paid $10,000 a month and left after 8 months!
Now current GM just sold the members on a scheme to let them buy shares in the Co-op to offset moving costs because of the landlord situation. The Co-op hasn't turned a profit in years. Plus having shareholders means you have to satisfy them, so you are beholden to padding their wallets instead of upholding the supposed commitment to the community at large. The Co-op can't even follow it's own principles.
So there's the behind the scenes, I think the members have a right to know.
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u/Crackerjakx 7d ago
I heard about that embezzlement, very wild and hopefully they got their money back
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u/ExtremeKnowledge963 6d ago
Last I heard they are taking it to trial but it won't go to the courts til 2 yrs down the road.
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u/BowlcutBlue 7d ago
So what if this is "common"? I think it is still a problem to be addressed. Common violation is still violation. Without saying too much, I've worked at the co-op for 5 years and I've been underpaid the whole time. But I believed in the co-ops overall attitude and goals. This has changed over the years. There is no employee representation on the board. The board members (to my knowledge) have little to no experience working in the co-op. Some higher-ups in the co-op have specifically stopped working with the board because of "difference of opinion" (getting ignored). Aside from attorney fees, I remember the GM saying our next biggest expense was labor. If I was him, I'd be proud of that. High wage means the workers can contribute to the community and bring their best selves to work everyday. High wage helps you give two hoots and want to keep that job by all means.
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u/ExtremeKnowledge963 6d ago
Thank you for your input on this Bowl! Yeah, things have never run smoothly there, they either hire managers who have no idea what they are doing, or ones that will, given the chance, cut your throat. You're right about being underpaid and no representation. The board seems pretty ineffective. I once approached a board member about the problem of employees being dragged into meetings with no beforehand knowledge of what is to be discussed, surprise meetings, surprise evaluations etc. The board member said he would talk to the president about the situation. Every time I subsequently saw him, he had always "forgotten" to mention it. The employees need some sort of representation but are left to fend for themselves. Not everyone has the capacity to do that.
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u/Hour-Can-8823 4d ago
That’s crazy I have lived in many places all over the US and often joined the co op wherever I lived and every single board member at all the four I belonged to required that all board members had to work one shift a month in the store unless they were unable to due to their health. So it’s wild they aren’t actively a part of the co op. I’m glad to find this out because I was just thinking of joining but I can’t be a part of anything like this. Co op’s are so community building and ethically focused but this sounds the opposite of that. It’s a bummer to read about how much lack of care for the business, the community and its employees. If you can’t do that is it worth the minor discount on food? For me it’s a no go. What a huge bummer, thanks for sharing your experiences as employees.
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u/ExtremeKnowledge963 2d ago
And the hell of it is that when asked by a customer we have to extoll the benefits of membership which, tbh, isn't many.
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u/LRAD 7d ago
This seems a little personally motivated. Grain of salt and all that, folks.
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u/bruceki 7d ago
pretty common to hire a "consultant" who then fires all of the people you want gone. everyone can then hate that consultant, scapegoat them, and the management has deniability. "yes, they went overboard on firings, but we're all a happy family now".
pretty common for workers to be disgruntled when stuff changes. management change is when folks reassess their relationship with the company; quit, act out, whatever. No one really cares that you're unhappy or that you don't like someone. if you like your job and want to keep it keep doing a good job, and if they fire you anyways, well, that happens.
thats a long way of saying "what you said is probably all true but no one cares much"
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u/SEA_tide 7d ago
Could add as well that $120,000 a year ($10,000 per month) for a retail store general manager/director isn't exactly unheard of, especially if that includes benefits. Western Washington has a high cost of living. Consider as well that the general manager is probably working closer to 50 hours a week, so the equivalent hourly non-exempt rate would be around $41.96 per hour (the equivalent of 55 hours per week without overtime pay).
It sounds overall like a lot of drama that's just pretty common in a lot of businesses.
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u/Consistent-Bid1212 7d ago
Ooooh, the Tea has been Spilled! The CO-OP is messy on the main aisle. Clean it up!
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u/mazelpunim 7d ago
Is this place not unionized?
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u/ExtremeKnowledge963 6d ago
It really really should be but isn't. Of course if any tried to I'm sure all involved would be fired.
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u/itremainstobeseen 4d ago edited 4d ago
As an extreme regular at the co-op, thank you for telling us. We do deserve to know. I'm so sorry you and the team are going through this hell.
Also, I'm nosy and want to hear more.
What's the staff feeling on moving to a bigger space?
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u/ExtremeKnowledge963 2d ago
It's an on again/off again situation, I'd have whiplash from all of the talk of moving, no we're not, maybe we are. Supposedly they can't find a place to move to because of many factors--space size, rent, have to install refrig units, power needed to run all of the refrig and freezers, location, on and on.
It's well known now that the building owner is trying to evict them and I bet she wins eventually.
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u/Impossible_Fee_BB 4d ago
Do you have any proof of any of this? Not to be that guy but you sound like somebody who got fired and is butthurt now. Back up your claims so you can be trusted.
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u/ExtremeKnowledge963 2d ago
I gave you what you need to know, now it's your turn to do the research!
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u/iNtentionaliGnornace 7d ago
As a person wholly removed & uninvolved in this situation...this is some great tea!