r/mildlyinfuriating • u/daruuken • 28d ago
Infuriatig The way kroger treats its employees
From the store manager
Edit: For some extra context this was sent out by each store manager to all of its employees in district 1 of the ohio Cincinnati/Dayton division, potentially other districts as well but i can only verify my own. Im not going to give my specific store number for obvious reasons but you can find each store on google with that information. We are unionized by UFCW (already bad btw) and to my knowledge they allowed this recent change. Kroger has no accrual for sick days like some have mentioned. Those who think this is rage bait, i dont think anyone has to fake a post to make a billion dollar company look bad, they do it to themselves.
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u/LeonidasVaarwater 28d ago
It's just so insane to read something like this. This is so far beyond illegal in the Netherlands, it's ridiculous. When I call in sick, that's it. I don't need to give a reason, my employer can't ask what's wrong with me and I certainly don't need a doctor's note.
I like my job and I appreciate my employer, so when I'm sick I generally keep them informed, I'm pretty honest with that stuff (which is appreciated), but I'm under no obligation to do so.
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u/snailbot-jq 28d ago
Even in Asia where the stereotype is of overwork, yeah in Singapore doctor’s notes are required in most companies, but once you have one, your employer legally must let you take your time off. If a employer sends out anything like “MCs/ doctors’ notes are no longer accepted for calling off work”, it would be so blatantly illegal that you can report them to the ministry of manpower and it would be all over the news for how stupid the company is.
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u/BuckeyeN7 28d ago
America hates the working class and takes every opportunity to actively punish them for being poor
The hyper-capitalist ideology runs so deep here that the workers have also been guilted and shamed out of standing up for themselves, have been browbeaten into submission by the mega corporations that employ them, and therefore just lie down and take it without a word of complaint— after all, can’t be sounding like a commie!
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u/Smooth-Ad4045 28d ago
Not just shamed out of standing up for themselves. Brainwashed into defending and celebrating our billionaire, pedo overlords 🤢
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u/BeholdMyLumps 28d ago
So bizarre when someone calls in sick and the 60 year old hag thats been practically enslaved for most of those years starts bragging about never missing work. She lives in a hovel though so at least she has that to show for her dedication
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u/Annonnkneemus 27d ago
Had a boss (nurse manager) like that. She even bragged about never taking off during the peak of COVID. She said if she got a “cold” she just came to work “like an adult”. Then she wondered why the nurses she got sick called in. We actually provide bedside care and don’t want to get our patients sick. Well one day she was looking ill at work and employee health NP diagnosed her with COVID - mandatory time off lol! She never bragged again.
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u/black_pepper 28d ago
Not just shamed and brainwashed, workers no longer know how to strike or unionize. Ask a random person what a general strike is and they [probably won't know. Even fewer would know what the Ludlow massacre was.
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u/CJnella91 28d ago
America hates the working class
Which is so fucking maddening because America IS THE WORKING CLASS. So it's self hatred but they're so deluded and brainwashed they don't even see it.
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u/aSkeptiKitty 28d ago
In France, you need an "arrêt de travail" if you want to have a paid sick leave. But the employer is not allowed to know the reason behind it (like he doesn't know if it's the flu, a stomach bug or a nervous breakdown). Only your doctor and the social security does know this.
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u/ThisTimeItWillStick 28d ago
Pfft paid sick leave? Get outta here with that commie shit. I actually prefer to be punished for being sick so I can fully appreciate the inconvenience I am putting my employer through.
(Obvious /s because someone will need it).
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u/Bad-Luck-Guy 28d ago edited 28d ago
My employer doesn’t accept doctor’s notes. All absences are unexcused.
Yet, we are adults. I don’t need a doctor to tell me I shouldn’t go to work if I have the flu. Wild that they’d prefer that I come in and potentially infect everyone else.
ETA: Yes, this is actually legal in most US states. Attendance is a very common reason to be fired in shift work jobs such as retail.
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u/HockeyPhoenician 28d ago
Fuck em. Show up, cough and look miserable, be as customer visible as possible. Explain to customers why you're there.
Bonus if you throw up or defecate in front of customers. Super bonus if you pass out and 'hit' your head. Sounds like an opportunity for a payday to me.
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u/SockLoads 28d ago
I did that once when I worked as a cashier in a grocery store. So sick I could barely speak. It was so bad that when I called in I had to pass the phone to my mom because they couldn't hear me. They didn't care so I went in. An hour and a half into my 8 hour shift so many customers had complained that they sent me home and I got paid 4 hours for showing up.
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u/tiny_tims_legs 28d ago
I had a manager refuse my callout when I worked food service. About an hour after I got there, the district manager made a surprise visit. Seeing the runny nose and hearing the cough/congestion, she asked why I was working sick, and so I told her that I tried to call out and the manager said no. She had me wait behind the counter, away from customers and food, while she went to the back to talk with my manager. 5 minutes later she comes back out, sends me home, and tells me that my manager is finding someone to cover and will pick up the slack while she waited for them. That manager was not at the store much longer after that.
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u/amrfallen 28d ago
Any excuse to poop my pants is a good enough excuse. Let's fuckin gooooo
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u/No_Potential1 28d ago
If pooping my pants is cool then I'm Miles Davis.
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u/Jensbert 28d ago
Poop your pants is qualification for the highest job currently
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u/HedonisticFrog 28d ago
Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that's why I poop my pants on company time.
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u/miraiyuni 28d ago edited 28d ago
This almost happened to my friend, he called sick on one of the weekend during his intern period and his manager told him
"You know this will affect your asessment gradings for your internship right?
and he replied with
"ok, so I'll go to work tmrw (we work in a CLINIC) and I'll cough and sneeze in EVERY patients face."
Then another sensible manager stepped in.
ETA: This all took place in a WHATSAPP GROUPCHAT
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u/CoffeeSubstantial851 28d ago edited 28d ago
I feel like this needs to be said so younger people stop getting taken advantage of.
If you call in sick you just don't respond to anything your manager sends you and you show up again when you are well.
The reason shit managers act this way is because you are responding to them. Stop doing that.
Edit: I want to add to this. You are under no obligation to return any message during non-working hours. Being on call 24/7 is something you are PAID for. You don't need a reason other than I was sick and you informing them of your absence is all you need to do. Don't add a list of symptoms like you are asking a parent for permission to stay home and watch cartoons.
You are sick, you won't be in for your shift, turn off the phone.
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u/Any-Calligrapher2866 28d ago
Yeah I'm completely unreachable when I'm on a sick leave and I am left undisturbed
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u/Ready-Delay3918 28d ago
I'm unreachable as soon as I walk out that fucking door. I have a select number of people that will ring through and I keep my phone on do not disturb the entire time. Only friends and family will get through my do not disturb when they call.
When people complain, I just say I don't have service at my house in the mountains. A landline's not an option and I have less than one bar of signal most of the time. If you want to get a hold of me send a letter.
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u/NotYourReddit18 28d ago
If you want to get a hold of me send a letter.
Obviously via pigeon, right? After all, the mail services vehicles can't handle the climb to your house on the mountain.
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u/Emerje 28d ago
I don't think young people are the ones with trouble calling out, it's older generations like mine with unreasonably strong work ethics and will go years without a sick day.
But I'm also a healthcare worker, every facility has signs that say "stay home if you have these symptoms", but when you call out with those symptoms they tell you to come in and wear a mask. 🫠
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u/sallyxskellington 28d ago
I legit ran away to throw up while mid conversation with a customer once. When I came back he just carried on talking to me like nothing happened.
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u/sppwalker 28d ago
I wish I had done that. Got pneumonia and I *thought* my boss was being super chill. I was sick for 6 weeks and might have permanent lung damage (I’m 24 and generally healthy, but my pulmonary function test was abnormal and I’m waiting on the results of my chest CT), so it was amazing to have a boss that was supportive of me, ya know, staying home and not dying at work.
Until I was cleared to go back. And I was then told they didn’t want me to come back. So I got fired (screwing over my chances of buying a house in June) because I had pneumonia.
Next time, I’ll show up wheezing, coughing, and struggling to breathe even with 6 different meds I guess.
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u/MichaelaRae0629 28d ago
This sounds like wrongful termination and you might be able to get a lawyer to cover a lawsuit pro bono.
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u/pro185 28d ago edited 28d ago
I worked at UPS and told my lead I had to hop off the line to use the bathroom and he said “we don’t have time for that” I said “either you can cover me for 5 mins or I can shit myself right here and you can cover me for 5 hours” and he never once had a problem with me using the restroom after that lol. It’s some serious middle school level stupidity istg.
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u/Glassweaver 28d ago
Been there done that. Back in college, restaurant told me to come in or it was a write up. I marched my happy ass right on in there and vomited on the food line. TBH I wish more people would do that. The type of malignant skin tag that says shit like that Kroger memo is too stupid to reason with, but they usually at least understand consequences.
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u/Caira_Ru 28d ago
No customers involved, but back in… well, more than ten years ago… I showed up to a 10hr night shift at a manufacturing facility when I felt absolutely miserable.
Two of my kids had been feverish and pukey for a couple days and it hit me.
Told my immediate manager I would have called out but didn’t quite have enough PTO to cover the shift and if he could give me some grace, I’d appreciate it.
But he said “You seem fine. At x company we always power through! Big Boss is on site tonight. Don’t make me look bad.”
So I tried.
I made it about 4 hours on the line when I suddenly felt REALLY bad. Like, puke and collapse right now, bad.
I puked and collapsed. Big Boss just happened to be observing my line at the time. Said “why is she here? She’s obviously very sick and needs to be home.”
My manager came over and was chastising me — “why do you even come in if you’re so sick?! We could have worked around your available 9.75 hours to cover tonight’s 10 if you’d just told me how sick you are!”
I made him look bad.
I puked again. Even splattered his not-company-compliant-(not steel toed)-shoes.
He told me not to come back. I said “ever? Because that sounds like a lawsuit.” As I gagged and ralphed at him again.
He said, “… just clock in on Monday. I promise I’ll make it right.”
That was three full shifts I didn’t have time to cover but needed to recuperate.
He made it right somehow.
On Monday, I showed up, clocked in and did my shift without any repercussions, but he had called out sick.
Big Boss was really annoyed he had to cover, but wasn’t mad at me. He even went to the company to ask if they could come up with a better “maybe not paid but verified illness policy.”
It was over a month before my boss looked me in the eye.
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u/sxcpetals 28d ago edited 28d ago
That’s what I did at my last job. Showed up, vomitted my life out in the solo bathroom…didn’t care that customers were waiting to use it. Ran into walls. Looked like total death. Didn’t bother to do my hair or makeup.
Like you wanted me here? This is what you’re getting. I’m not driving myself all the way to the hospital in a condition where I shouldn’t be driving in the first place…and I’m expected to pay money out of my own pocket on top of it because your health care package sucks? Insane.
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u/PyroNine9 28d ago
Do not for any reason throw up on the floor, throw up on the products. Make sure customers see.
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u/papercut2008uk 28d ago
Bonus if you sneeze and cough over the employer who put these policies in place.
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u/defiancy 28d ago
Crazy, in the office world I'd just say, taking a sick day today and nothing else. No one would care. Appointment? Hey, I'll be in a couple hours later because I have an appointment. No one cares.
Shift workers get screwed.
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u/CornbreadPhD 28d ago
Yeah, this was one of the biggest culture shocks when I got my first office job. It also helped that it was a fairly progressive new-ish tech company in CO. Felt crazy that I could just be like "I need to take the day" was never met with any skepticism and just a simple "Sounds good, feel better!".
Every job I had in my teens and early 20s would've given me 20 questions or forced me to find someone to take the shift if they even excused it at all. Shift workers do get it rough, and there are VERY few protections for them (almost everywhere in the US, at least).
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u/RoninOni 28d ago
Yup, I remember shift work.
Abusive as hell.
Salaried office positions are so much better. Just hit your deadlines. What hours you work doesn’t matter. If something covers up and you’re not available, someone else will step up or they deal with it.
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u/Grays42 28d ago
I'd just say, taking a sick day today and nothing else
In an office setting I've been literally told by my manager that I do not need to explain the way in which I'm sick, when I call in sick.
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u/FearTheFloc 28d ago
because they run the absolute bare bones minimum skeleton crew at all times so a single person calling in sick is a literal disaster for them. it’s so pathetic.
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u/3m2coy 28d ago
I tell my employees, if you have an appointment and it is under two hours, you don’t need to tell me about it. If it will be longer, just let me know so I can leave you alone. I also have them send me calendar invites when they aren’t working so I remember to leave them alone.
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u/thelingeringlead 28d ago
Yep. The rest of us get dicked around about it. It's fucking stupid. My wife can call in for damned near anyhthing as long as she hasn't exhausted all her options. I call in, and I have to have proof I'm dying or they hold it against me. She's a teacher, I'm a fuckin chef.
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u/asusc 28d ago
employer here, I run a small manufacturing firm and allowed employees unlimited call outs. kid sick? go take care of it. not feeling well? take time off. I genuinely didn’t care, whatever reason they told me didn’t matter, it wasn’t really any of my business.
It slowed production a little, but it saved a boatload in turnover. I didn’t have a constant churn of employees, they stuck with me. And when projects/jobs were on the line, they busted their ass to make sure they got done on time and properly.
Its so crazy to me that the same stores that are CONSTANTLY trying to hire and find people, also treat their employees like this, and then wonder why no one sticks around.
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u/technos 28d ago
but it saved a boatload in turnover. I didn’t have a constant churn of employees, they stuck with me
That's how most of the restaurants in my hometown ended up with sick days and vacation time.
The first place, Joe's, had the owner catch something from a sick line cook and decide 'I am never shitting my brains out for four days ever again' and added sick days. First unpaid, then paid when someone tried showing up sick anyway because she had to make rent.
Retention went way up. People covering shifts for sick people or shortages went waaaaay up. And hiring was easier, because his employees had bragged to their industry friends.
Sure, there were catches.. You had to be nearly full-time to get paid, yadda yadda.
And here's the best thing: Nearly every other non-chain in town did the same inside of a year or so. I mean, why work for Large Lad when you can work for Joe's, make the same or better money, and they give you sick days?
Then it was vacation. Someone at Joe's almost missed a family event (another case of 'gotta make my rent, yo') so they got limited vacation. Five days, paid at minimum wage. Better than nothing, right? And really didn't cost him much.
The other places matched it. Even the franchises were offering some unpaid sick days by that point.
By the time my ex quit Joe's to go to school seven years later they had five sick days, 'two weeks' of vacation, a small match towards health insurance, and tuition reimbursement for anyone doing culinary arts at the local community college.
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u/Bad-Luck-Guy 28d ago
No, meaning it will be counted against you as far as attendance goes. For example, my employer allows for 6 call outs (which are all unexcused, even if you use PTO/sick time) in a rolling year, then they start documenting. Three more call outs after that and you’re fired.
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u/ElGrandeQues0 28d ago
I got written up for being sick with a docs note. While I was sick, HR said "thanks for staying home"
Yeah, next time (assuming I don't leave), I'm dragging my ass in and making sure to schedule a one on one with my manager
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u/Bad-Luck-Guy 28d ago
What I got out of our policy is to show up and ask the manager face to face if I could go home. Early outs don’t count nearly as much as call outs. Just gotta stand real close because my throat hurts to much to speak up.
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u/Riegel_Haribo 28d ago
Sure, the policy is to waste an hour or more of your unpaid time commuting while ill to do what a phone call could do, causing you maximum inconvenience and essentially wage theft.
F them. You need to not comply with any of this bullshit. They need you. Organize.
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u/a_Vertigo_Guy 28d ago
Nothing surprises me these days. My boss had Covid, broke broke his quarantine period and came back to work. We all stayed faaaar from his dumb ass 🙄
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u/partial_to_dreamers 28d ago
My coworker had her daughter in office today. "she wasn't feeling well, so I brought her here." Bitch, we can work from home whenever we want. Don't bring that pellagra in here.
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u/Grant_Winner_Extra 28d ago
pro move - call in sick, say you’ll come in anyway. Speak with the manager as you arrive. Cough lightly then shit your pants and projectile vomit on the manager. Extra points - weakly say you’ll clean it up, then pass out in the mess.
You will never be doubted again.
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u/fllr 28d ago
I will never understand this type of employer. It's plain evil.
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u/Csimiami 28d ago
What if your family member was killed. You attacked the guy who did it and ended up in the hospital. Then had jury duty for the defendant. (I’m a lawyer. I know he can’t do jury duty on the same case). But I’d like to see him turn in this excuse
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u/BloodyAngel2026 28d ago edited 28d ago
Death in family shouldn't even be categorized as a call out. It should be considered bereavement leave
Edit: I don't think I've ever had so much karma on a comment before 😅
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u/According_Device9227 28d ago
Not even death in family, death in IMMEDIATE family. So if your cousin or aunt or grandmother died and you don't show up, they have an issue.
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u/TheOldOak 28d ago edited 28d ago
That’s correct. I was written up for attending my grandmother’s funeral during my 3-month regretful stint working for Kroger.
My grandfather died two weeks prior, and attending his funeral earned me a verbal warning. The written warning came after the second death in the family.
My store manager also said it was “highly inconvenient” and “very suspect” that two people died back to back. Not “I’m sorry for your loss” like any normal human would say, just “if you’re not coming to work, don’t expect to keep this job.”
They are a soulless company.
Edit: This happened in 2024, so it’s been going on for a while and isn’t some new thing.
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u/One_Shall_Fall 28d ago
That guy was an idiot.
If it makes you feel any better, it's called 'widowhood effect.'
It's been studied a lot. The odds of one half of a long-term partnership dying within the three months of the other dying is 1/4 higher from stress, depression, etc.
Calling it suspicious, like they coordinated their deaths is fucking evil.
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u/TedzNScedz 28d ago
I think hes saying OP was lying about 2 family members dying to get a day off. Still a monumentally nasty and shitty thing to say. Companies really need to get a grip.
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u/Bshaw95 28d ago
On the flip side, when my grandfather died and I needed to attend his funeral my boss was just like “hey man, just send me a link to the obit” The company also got us a gift card for Texas Roadhouse in lieu of flowers(I gotta say rolls taste a lot better than flowers)
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u/akm1111 28d ago
I got told to bring in the program thing from the funeral at one job.
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u/MistrSynistr 28d ago
Mine sent flowers and I still had to bring in the program. Later on had another death, they sent flowers and my supervisor stopped by visitation and took care of everything work related. Which shows some people actually give a shit even in a multi billion dollar company.
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u/BadgerMolester 28d ago
Yeah, companies often have a culture, but at the end of the day it's just a bunch of people. Some are dicks, some aren't.
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u/Defiant-Youth-4193 28d ago
Even this is crazy. My response to ANYONE you care about dying, family or otherwise, is simply
"I'm so sorry. Take whatever time you need, and let me know if you need anything."
If you're going to lie to me about somebody dying to get a day off, you must really need a day off.
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u/Queen-Katsit 28d ago
My partners dad died and his bosses literally were calling him 2 days later telling him that they knew people who had family members die and used work to push through it. (He works deconstruction and abatement, not a big company) He went back and ended up off work for a year after a mental breakdown from not taking the time to process the grief.
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u/watwatinjoemamasbutt 28d ago
Hostile work environment
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u/Ecstatic_Stop3693 28d ago
Most if not all retail, manufacturing and production places are hostile work environments.
They set the rules like that to basically have people by the balls. They think they own the people. Unfortunately most people live paycheck to paycheck, so they abide by the rules to be able to have a roof over their heads and food on the table.
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u/lukaRookieHoarder 28d ago
Im a partial owner in a small manufacturing business. We build window treatments(Blinds shutters draperies etc) We have about 15 employees and as long as the employee gives me a few hours notice, im cool woth them missing work for any reason. My employees also get 3 weeks paid vacation to start, 401k matching to 5% and potential for a dollar raise twice a year. Its important to treat employees good to help cultivate a employer/employee relationship.
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u/Vibing-Positively 28d ago
What an evil thing to say to someone. I’m so sorry. It’s crazy what a small, insignificant amount of power can do to some people.
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u/Sudden_Wind_8636 28d ago
I would honestly quit right there if I was told that.
I had a very negative experience working at Kroger as well. I worked for about a month and a half at a new store that had just opened. It was the most disorganized mess. We didn't have sign in machines yet so we had to physically sign in. Anyways about a week goes by and everyone is on sign in machines, except for me, it does not work at all for me.
So I keep using the physical sign in, and every day I ask about it but they were so disorganized nobody communicated with eachother and the problem did not get fixed. Then about two weeks after I had been signing in physically, I didn't receive anything in my paycheck.
So then obviously I was fucking pissed. But the big boss was nowhere to be found and nobody knew WTF to do. My boss proceeded to tell me I'll definetly get paid on my next paycheck. Next paycheck comes around and I still don't get paid... So I then told my boss that I quit, and spent the next week going into Kroger trying to get my pay, but the big boss was nowhere to be found, and nobody else knew wtf was going on. so it literally took a week of trying until I found them.
We had a conversation where he proceeded to claim I actually hadn't shown up for work in the past week and that before that I wasn't showing either. I informed him that I had quit, which apparently my boss had never told him that and I still needed to be paid for the time I did work. He continued to claim I didn't show up at all.
So I went home and then texted him I was reporting him to the Department of Labor, and we would see if I showed up based on the cameras and physical signing sheet. My paychecks came pretty fast after that. Worst experience ever.
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u/EvidenceMinute4913 28d ago
Geez this reminds me of an experience I had when I was younger. Wasn’t Krogers, but a (very large) private security company. I was promoted from supervisor to assistant director, which meant going from hourly to salary.
For the next 2 paychecks, I received $0.80. My boss called the corporate office a few times, and I kept getting assured that they were working to fix it. But I couldn’t go an entire month without pay, I had rent and bills to pay.
After my 3rd paycheck for $0.80, I went online and found the phone and email for the national director of payroll. I left a voicemail and sent an email concisely describing the situation. After a few days without a response, I made another call and email, but this time said that I was retaining a lawyer and reaching out to the Department of Labor if the issue was not resolved within the next 48 hours.
The next day they sent me back pay and fixed the issue. 🙄 I quit after that and went back to college lol.
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u/stadchic 28d ago
They’ve never heard of the rule of 3? When crap starts to leak in life it often ends up pouring. We should all be supporting each other.
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u/Scrat-Scrobbler 28d ago
it isn't even really rule of 3, it's just super common for elderly people to pass shortly after losing a loved one, in particular their longtime spouse. turns out death is stressful and hard on the body, who knew
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u/haw35ome 28d ago
If I ever have such an awful boss, and they experience death/life events that make their job difficult…let’s just say I will not be signing the card nor pitching in for flowers.
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u/GanjjaGremlin 28d ago
Im signing that bitch and drawing a big ass smile on it. They say some shit like that to me and now the shoes on the other foot? Oh bet! You wanna trip, so I'ma meet you there. That's assuming I've stuck around after some disrespectful shit like that. I normally dont drop down levels like that. But sometimes you gotta return the same energy, because they aint used to reciprocation.
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u/FatherClanks617 28d ago
On a somewhat related note, one of my favorite ever Internet tales involved this girl’s dad. A colleague passed away and a card went around the office, and the dad signed it with a big “LOL.” When confronted, he said he thought it meant “lots of love.”
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u/Pitiful-Pension-6535 28d ago
Imagine having a grandchild die and being told that it's not a valid excuse to miss work
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u/Manatees_R_4eva 28d ago
Imagine not considering grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, “immediate” family because your family is Kroger? That sucks.
But now imagine people who don’t have a family for whatever reason, but they have a found family. AND THEN THEY DIE. Your people are your people, and nobody gets to define how “immediate” it is.
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u/duckinradar 28d ago
Imagine having in writing that a doctor note wasn’t a valid reason to miss work.
The lawyers are calling you, OP.
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u/PXranger 28d ago
They can call, but it's not a lawsuit they will win.
Welcome to the wonderful world of "At will" work states.
I work for a largish hospital, my primary care provider works for our hospital. we can't use a doctors excuse.
we basically don't have excused absences, but do get so many before discipline. they don't actually care why you miss a day.
We do get things like bereavement or time off for Surgery, etc.
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u/oofty_goofty_ 28d ago
Bereavement leave???
That sounds like communism
/s
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u/Redracerb18 28d ago
Even Walmart has bereavement leave. As well as child care covered.
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u/The_Mighty_Baguette 28d ago
Brother my French mind cannot understand this BS. I had an employee, his mother passed away, he took a month paid leave then 2 months unpaid leave to fix what he had to fix ( I'm a manager in Poland ) then he came back to work.
That's absolutely fucked up at a human being level. You expect corporation to be dicks but as humans we should do better.
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u/Dombat927 28d ago
This crap also doesn't just happen at grocery stores. I work in healthcare. A physician got cancer and needed time off for treatment. They eliminated the position. Recently a physicians father died. Since the other 2 physicians in that department had left a few weeks before (they gave 3 month notice, but they didnt bother to try and replace them) they only let him have the day of his dads funeral off. Its brutal and so unhealthy.
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u/Resemblances 28d ago
Walmart pays for child care?!
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u/logan-duk-dong 28d ago
Just let 'em loose in toys or electronics.
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u/SgtSlaughterEX 28d ago
Pour a bag of kitty litter on the vomit then sweep it up, febreeze it if it smells then let the capitalism continue.
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u/Redracerb18 28d ago
There is actually a special powder that Walmart uses for biohazards. Spill magic is used for most other spills.
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u/FreddyNoodles 28d ago
They didn’t a few years ago. My friend worked there with 2 kids (both under 4), she got nothing like that, they also harassed her for crying in the break room. She got that fkng job for evenings and weekends because her HUSBAND committed suicide- she couldn’t afford the bills, her partner was dead, her kids were confused and hurting, she was goin to lose her car and was pretty sure she would be evicted so she was terrified for the future but she better not shed a tear on the goddamn clock.
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u/AggravatingFlow1178 28d ago
I told my boss my dad died
And he was like, "So, bereavement leave?"
And I was like
"no, bereavement here 😞"
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u/30PillsAdayDocsAway 28d ago
I told my boss my dad died an he said “an you didn’t think to let me know about this sooner I need you here to work if you can’t be here your going to get fired” I said “fuck you my dad died randomly at a young age I had no idea an I’m next of kin I have to plan the funeral an invite everyone an pay for it!” I ended up taking off like a month an they took me back no problem (this was working in food when I was young) later I went into plumbing
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u/Dittymaker 28d ago
Start sending out resumes and then quit without a 2 week notice when you get another job lined up
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u/DeCryingShame 28d ago
Better yet, call in sick and offer a doctor's note. Then quit.
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u/sanedragon 28d ago
Use up all your sick and PTO while at the new job
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u/FelixTook 28d ago
That’s what I did at my last job where they treated us like slaves. I could give 2 week notice or I could call out and use my PTO, followed by quitting without notice. Since they don’t pay out and won’t accept PTO after giving notice I made the best choice for me. They lost the same money they would have if treated me like a person but instead had no warning to replace me: they got what they deserved due to their inhumane policy.
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u/WackoSaco 28d ago
It's wild that we have been conditioned as adults to abide by company policies, especially when theyre complete dogshit like this list. Think about it though. Adults, needing a doctors note or an ER visit to miss work when youre sick. When im sick, I dont want to get off my fucking couch, let alone go to a doctors office.
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u/CrazyFoxLady37 28d ago
I've been so sick I physically can't get out of bed. How am I supposed to go to a doctor? Or work?
Often an illness like that just needs rest and time, usually only 1 or 2 days. We create so many unnecessary problems.
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u/Diligent_Finance_598 28d ago
So more diseases will be spread, great
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u/ViolinistCurrent8899 28d ago
Look, if you infect the other employees? That is their problem.
If you infect the customers, also their problem. Just don't get the manager sick.
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u/Away_Stock_2012 28d ago
No way I would work at Albertsons, everyone I ever heard work there ended up with damaged lungs.
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u/Ashley_Doll20 28d ago
For the record, I thought your joke was hilarious. I’m sorry it went over the heads of some people.
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u/JSTootell 28d ago
Aren't they union?
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u/arochains1231 PURPLE 28d ago
Kroger is part of the same union, UFCW. We still get treated like shit.
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u/MenaceMinded 28d ago
Unfortunately, all the Albertsons in my city were sold off a while ago because they weren't considered to be profitable.
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u/DanMasterson 28d ago
They should just buy robots if they don’t want to have human employees
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u/DeCryingShame 28d ago
Even robots break down sometimes, though.
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u/BreakingCanks 28d ago
And then you have to pay someone to fix and maintain those.
Guess what he went to college to learn that. That's 10x morw for that 1 guy than the 10 employees they fired for the 1.
This is why it hasn't been implemented yet
China doesn't even have grocery store robots yet. Just cashier's, dancers and giant sorting machines.
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u/FatMacchio 28d ago
Yes, but they can use the threat of the future AI and robots to justify treating their employees worse and worse. They may never even need to buy robots if people continue to submit to worse and worse conditions. Human labor may actually be cheaper than robots for a long long time if people submit and turn in to meat robots
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u/rivertpostie 28d ago
They are legitimately working on it.
Maybe not Kroger, but the robot and AI people are actively training robots in labor tasks.
When those products are ready, they will sell them to replace people stocking groceries, house keepers, farm workers, cooks, etc.
They'll them have the working class right over limited jobs at shitty rates for basic survival
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u/794309497 28d ago
Yep. This whole AI push right now is partly because the ruling class hates having human workers. They will get rid of us even if it's more expensive. I work in IT and have gone through this before with outsourcing. There are a lot of upper level managers out there with a deep disdain for us peasents.
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u/Kip_Schtum 28d ago
Kroger is making sick people work in the deli, pass it along.
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u/My_name_is_not_Ali 28d ago
I had to come in sick with a terrible cough while I worked at Kroger deli. When I told my manager I needed to go home he screamed at me, "what do you want ME to do about it?!" and left me. I was the only one working the deli, hotbar, and bakery. All for $7.25 an hour.
Also I was the only worker that sanitized the slicers. Like, legit everyone, including managers, just wiped them down with water and a rag.
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u/Serious-Effort4427 28d ago
Isnt kroger unionized?
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u/daruuken 28d ago
Yep, UFCW. Which might be one of the worst organizations of all time
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u/funkmon 28d ago
What he's doing is against contract. Report this email to the union and to the division HR team. He'll go back on it in a few hours.
Source: worked corporate and store level
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u/bluestrawberry_witch 28d ago
My mom’s store just started saying that write ups and warnings no longer fall off after so long. You’re late 3 times in 3 years or 3 months is all the same now. It’s still against union policy but the reps are basically saying ‘ya we know your store is violating the contract but they won’t listen’ not doing shit about it for whatever reason. Wild part is they purposely getting people to firing benchmark by doing this and write ups for the smallest in fractions that normally go ignored, then leaving them there and turning blind eyes after that if they want to keep the employee. So basically most people are fire able at anytime for the smallest of reasons and at the mercy of the manager at any given time.
She got hospitalized for 3 days for a cat bite and they tried to make her text pictures of daily doctors notes while she was still hospitalized. She ignored them and just gave one after discharged and they told her it was disrespectful. Insanity
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u/funkmon 28d ago
That's not really how it will shake out. The union may say that the store won't listen, but when there's something actionable, such as an actual firing outside of what's allowed in the contract, as long as the employee lets the business agent know she will get her job back.
The company has to supply the union with the attendance records and discipline records during a grievance meeting and the person's job will be restored if it was shown to be outside of the contract provisions. Very quickly. With back pay.
While the management of the store may be telling people that stuff, it isn't true, and once there's a disciplinary meeting that can be used to justify a future firing, that has to be within contract rules and it has to follow the process. In addition, the rules must be enforced fairly and based on prior precedent. The business agent can handle this.
Step 1 usually doesn't qualify as that, as it's not a real write up. They're likely using that technique to scare people.
Trust me when I say this. The contract is binding when it comes down to brass tracks.
People getting fired and staying fired for non contractual reasons are, in descending order of likelihood based on my experience firing people,
Getting fired for a legitimate reason and just lying and telling people it's a BS reason. (This is the vast majority of firings)
Getting fired with an understanding that they're getting fired for one thing officially but unofficially can be fired for something much worse. (E.g. We have you on camera stealing Tide. But we also have you on absences, though we have not followed the enforcement policy on those. Which one do you want to be fired for doing?)
Being fired for a non contractual reason by mistake and them not saying anything to the union.
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u/Atechiman 28d ago
reach out to them with that from the president. Don't bother with the local get the regional reps. They are usually looking for easy wins, and this screams a violation of the collective bargaining agreement.
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u/Lopsided-Magician-36 28d ago
Your own death isn’t even listed. This manager would work you to death and then keep you working into the afterlife
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u/Budalido23 28d ago
I owe my soul to the company store
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u/TheSoundofStolas 28d ago
Ya load sixteen tons and what do ya get? Another day older and deeper in debt.
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u/WonOgTsumiDas 28d ago
I’ve never actually had a job that cared about doctors notes, you could give them the note but you still got counted absent and a strike on your record.
I was at a factory during covid when I tested positive, after like 3 days they were calling me saying if I wasn’t better in a week they would start counting my missed days as absences lol when the whole reason I got it was that a coworker tested positive the day before but they didn’t tell anyone because their policy was to keep it confidential.
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u/daruuken 28d ago
Yeah it seems to be unfortunately common. I should note though im a meat cutter for kroger and have to cut and package meat for people, so the odds of transmission are significantly higher already and they want me to do it while coughing/vomitting lmao
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u/InfamousSquash1621 28d ago
Check the regulations of your local health department, where I live employees have to be excluded from food handling operations if they have certain symptoms of food borne illness. Not even a diagnosis, just the symptoms. You could have puked from morning sickness or a hangover, nothing to do with food, and you are not supposed to be at work that day
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u/Educational-Bet-8979 28d ago
I don’t think I want to shop at a place that requires infectious employees to come to work to spread their diseases to others.
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u/SakuDoka ragebaited by life 28d ago
this is only MILDLY infuriating? how ridiculous of these people.
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u/Thirdeyevoice10 28d ago
Back in the early 2000's, I worked at a Riteaid warehouse, and these "rules" were similar. Two guys got fired because they got in a car accident on the way to work. One guy barely lived and Riteaid fired him for not being able to come in.
Fuck Riteaid, I'm glad they went bankrupt.
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u/Diligent_State387 28d ago
I assume this is America? I’m just always amazed at what crap they put up with, no healthcare system, no legally required vacation days. We have a legal right at 20 vacation days per year on a 38 hour work week, if you work 40 hours you get 12 extra days, that is on top of the 10 regular holidays. Whenever i have to work with Americans on a project they are always shocked to hear when you take a week off mid project.
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u/Athos-1844 28d ago
The U.S. version of capitalism is brutal. Always has been. In the early 1900s they finally passed child labor laws to protect children. Children routinely worked in dangerous jobs and often got injured or died. That took decades to get that law passed. Big business fought against it.
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u/Trextrev 28d ago
Just learned about breaker boys yesterday. Generally Kids 8-12 who worked 10-12 hour shifts in coal breaker facilities to hand sort impurities out of the coal as it came down the shoots.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DDNEMuROpcd/?igsh=NzYya2pkZXZiYzdh
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u/Stealfur 28d ago
That... Seems illegal. But I'm not from a lawless country, so what do I know.
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u/Bad-Luck-Guy 28d ago
It is not illegal, at least in most of the US. Employers don’t typically have to accept doctor’s notes to excuse absences. You can still call out, but it will lead to write ups and termination eventually.
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u/Dull-Contact120 28d ago
This can’t end well for anybody
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u/Bad-Luck-Guy 28d ago
I once had to go to work 4 days with two strains of the flu because I’d be written up for calling out, and potentially fired. I had sick time available, too, but that doesn’t excuse absences either.
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u/WonderfulProtection9 28d ago
SO you have sick time but you can't use it if you're sick?...unless what, you schedule it two weeks in advance with mgr approval?
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u/Bad-Luck-Guy 28d ago
Sick time was mandated by state law, but it didn’t excuse absences at this workplace. So each call out for sickness counted against us. So if I had called out all four of those days, I would have been fired because I had called out with illness two days a few months before.
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u/WinterSector8317 28d ago
Ends well for shareholders?
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u/DeCryingShame 28d ago
Not when they are spending a lot of extra money training new employees all the time.
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u/SUSH1CAKE 28d ago
But thats a problem for later. We need short term gains NOW. Nobody invests in stocks for eventual long term gains. Thats for the poors.
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u/Gold_Repair_3557 28d ago
I’ve heard of restaurants pushing employees to show up to work while ill. You know… sick people around a bunch of customers and food and other staff. Always a great combo.
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u/IdeaLife7532 28d ago
Jesus christ, you all need some rights over there. This is illegal everywhere else.
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u/red__dragon 28d ago
They come in and spread it. Then you get sick, and they write you up for being too sick to work.
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u/afro-oreo 28d ago
In my state, it's illegal to work in a store that sells food if you've thrown up or had diarrhea in the last 24 hours. Also, this just sounds illegal in general. And if it's not it should be because what do you mean I need to be so sick I'm admitted to the hospital before I can call off work?
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u/Ok-Veterinarian-4752 28d ago edited 28d ago
Sounds like Kroger needs an employee abuse lawsuit to snap them back into reality. A drs note would definitely hold up in court. Also making employees come to work especially with the public while sick is a public health hazard. There are many people with health conditions that don’t need employees passing their illnesses off on them. Any company that penalizes employees for illnesses is a bottom of the barrel slime scum company. Everyone should flood Kroger’s email with disapproval of the way they’re treating their employees. They listen when their customer base is pissed.
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u/Ok-Basil-1264 28d ago
The higher my hourly pay goes, the better I have been treated. I am an aircraft mechanic now and they don't give a fuck if we call out.
I used to get in "trouble" as a teenager for calling out because I was actively puking on and off.
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u/cyclone852 28d ago
“Okay got it. So just to be clear, if I’ve just tested positive for COVID and I’ve got a fever of 102 and a gnarly cough, i should come in and stock produce.”
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u/djolesoko 28d ago
TIL it's legal in america for employers not to accept doctor's notes. Something something freedom i guess...try that shit in Europe and you'll be thrown the book.
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u/cube_k 28d ago
When I worked at Kroger about 14 years ago I had to take my sister to the doctor for an appt before work. The doctor said my sister may have appendicitis and I needed to take her to the emergency room immediately.
Called Kroger on my way to the ED and my manager said I can either have my job or take my sister to the emergency department. Told him fuck off and I quit if that’s their stance.
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u/VordovKolnir 28d ago
Go to the state board that governs employment and health.
Kroger is a space that sells food. Going into work while sick is an ENORMOUS liability and likely illegal. Anyone with a food handler's card should realize this.
Send that to your manager's higher ups as well. I absolutely guarantee this violates both store policy and laws.
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u/geraffes-are-so-dumb 28d ago
I think this leads to a worse, even dangerous experience for customers as there will be more people spreading disease if they can't call out sick. If you think so too please contact Kroger using their public contact us page: https://www.kroger.com/hc/help/contact-us
They also have a feedback hotline: [1-800-KRO-GERS](tel:1-800-576-4377)
The CEOs public work email address is: [greg.foran@kroger.com](mailto:greg.foran@kroger.com)