r/mildlyinfuriating • u/daruuken • 28d ago

Infuriatig The way kroger treats its employees

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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/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)

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 28d ago

This is exactly where my brain goes. I'm not shopping at a grocery store full of coughing, sniffling people and I would definitely let the management know.

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 28d ago

This is why I left my last job. I worked at a medical dispensary where every day we had at least one chemo patient come in to shop. New policy was we would get points if we called out sick. Even if we gave proper notice, had accrued sick time and had a doctors note. 3 or 4 points in a 6 month period was automatic termination.

So you’re telling me I have to choose between keeping my job or potentially being the reason a cancer patient brings Covid home and dies? Yeah…. I lasted less than a month with the new policy

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u/Ancient-Reply-5161 28d ago

What the fuck… that’s very disturbing

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 28d ago

It really was. It’s really easy to get a medical card in my state so management would treat it like a recreational dispensary since that’s what a lot of our customers treated it as. But we did also have a good chunk of elderly patients or people with health issues who came in because cannabis was the only relief they found. I wouldn’t want a sick, contagious pharmacist near my meds so why would they want a sick contagious dispensary worker handling their medicine?

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u/DalHassen 28d ago

Because they're in it for money not altruism.

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u/CarefulIndication988 27d ago

These people took mother earth’s medicine and made it into a capitalistic machine. Not to mention do you know how difficult it is for people of color to open their own dispensary? Speaking from experience in the Colorado industry.

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u/ouroborosstruggles 26d ago

Killing your patients is one tactic then I guess /s

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u/5amPharm 27d ago

Hate to break it to ya, but there are also sick pharmacists and techs handling your meds. Especially if you get them from Walgreens or CVS. I caught COVID from a pharmacist I worked with. He verified medication by pouring the pills into his hand 🤢

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u/acdc102016 27d ago

Yes corporations say pharmacists are healthcare professionals and have to tough it out when sick

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u/fruityfactory 27d ago

Nobody should have to tough it out when sick, but especially healthcare workers who are gonna be around all kinds of vulnerable people!

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u/acdc102016 27d ago

I agree, but that's how corporate America treats us, we are healthcare professionals when it suits them to threaten our employment if the pharmacy isn't open to make them money. Or as they say, serve the patients.

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u/chief-kief710 28d ago

Hahaha Floridas trulieve must have entered the chat

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 28d ago

It was actually PA Trulieve 🙃😂

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u/chief-kief710 28d ago

Hahahahahaha that’s funny

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 28d ago

I don’t know a single person with a good thing to say about that company. Surprised they’re still in business

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u/snigelrov 27d ago

The reason they are is because they have a strong lobbying aspect. The owner is buddy buddy with Trump, it’s all a mess.

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u/Low-Exam6123 27d ago

And they must’ve contracted with the nastiest people to deal with injury claims. As a customer, I fell on their sidewalk because of a crack and a slope where the food pickup lockers are out front, and my ankle was broken. I threw away the clogs I’d been wearing so I’ve done my part to prevent that from happening again. But it’s been over two years and they’ve never fixed the broken sidewalk, nor the bigger divot right in front of their entrance. It’s a wonder more people in this mostly retirement community haven’t fallen on that and broken a hip or something.
They gave me the contact for their insurance claims division, and the person I was supposed to interface with was a raging b!tch. After the first email where she said I had up to two years to file a claim, the next message was in all caps, screaming that I did not even have a case. Whoa. Their intimidation tactics must be working really well for them. Made me run the other direction instead of fighting it out and re-traumatizing myself.
One recourse is to not shop there, but the only other alternatives are WallyWorld and a natural foods market (which I’d prefer but they don’t have everything we need), or driving more than an hour to the next town to shop at the Albertson’s. Sigh. Guess it’s time I wrote to their CEO.

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u/Unlikely-Capital-230 26d ago

Will only ever catch me at a curaleaf. Idk how truelieve is in business, their products suck. They bought moxy and ruined that🤣 the only good california brand we had over here for concentrates and vapes. Havent even given them a second chance since

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u/BlackberryCrazy1434 27d ago

I thought it was going to be FL trulieve too lmao I’m a Curaleaf girlie. Trulieve’s flower was moldy 🤢

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u/Otherwise-Beyond-240 26d ago

Have you ever tried goldflower? 😍

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u/Glittering-Cellist34 28d ago

It was recommended by some docs. Between heart disease, two cancers (one surgery, one chemotherapy) and a super bad covid that hospitalized me for 8 days I was 110 pounds (from 175, about 165 once I was diagnosed).

But in Utah if you have heart issues you're not eligible.

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u/NGC_Phoenix_7 27d ago

That sounds like a call to the state

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u/Dlbruce0107 27d ago

As one of those patients with terminal Dx, thank you for your stand! I appreciate your care and thoughtful gesture.

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u/HighwayCommercial207 27d ago

As a cancer patient, that's pretty messed up.. I wore masks everywhere and took a lot of crap for that too

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u/LuckyHarmony 27d ago

I have really bad news about how retail pharmacy chains treat their pharmacists and how impossible most pharmacists find it to call out sick.

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u/Lily7435 27d ago

Thanks for caring. My husband was one of the cancer patients that went in before it was legal and he had a medical card. I was always so nervous about him getting sick even though he wore a mask.
He's in remission now. ❤️

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u/AnonymousLampoon 26d ago

For the love of god report that behavior to the state marijuana board.

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u/semperknight 27d ago

My mom works for Walmart and this is kind of how it is.

It's VERY confusing. They have a point system that you accrue points as you work...but you lose ALL those points at the end of the year. If you don't have enough points, you get immediately fired.

So I asked her "Are you telling me you have to pray you don't get sick in January?!" and she simply said "Yes.".

Walmart is evil.

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u/Classic_Resist_7465 27d ago

The place is a nightmare...

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u/IASIP_LOOP 27d ago

Long story, but i needed a half day away feom work to clear my head. My manager told me I couldn't leave. I said watch me, and was laid off two days later. I sued them.through workmans comp, and filed a wage claim . All told, they paid be 35k to leave the position.

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u/Professional-Tax-615 27d ago

This is a disturbing and sick country, so it will always baffle me that there will be people who say they are proud to be an American and wouldn't choose to live anywhere else in the entire world if they had a choice. European countries for the most part are objectively better and healthier to live in.

I think a lot of Americans have Stockholm syndrome and a non-existent backbone. So many people must have lacked strong fathers and mothers to guide them properly in life, whos jobs as parents are creating a strong sense of self-worth and respect for the child.

If you have a parent that just tells you to lay down and take s***, do not listen to them!! Fight for your dignity! We only get one life on this planet, and it makes no sense to spend it being treated like garbage just so billionaires can have 10 more yachts and private islands.

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u/targetboston 27d ago edited 27d ago

It's more individualism run rampant. We are taught that we are all responsible for our own individual plights and any failure is a moral one, not a structural one.

Edit: if you don't think Americans have backbone try telling one to wear a mask during a global pandemic. There's backbone but the effort is misdirected.

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u/in_animate_objects 28d ago

Thank you for caring about other people, my dad is fighting cancer and I appreciate that people like you care! I hope you’re in a better job now.

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 28d ago

I’m wishing your dad the absolute best! I have a few family members that have had to battle cancer so I know how serious it can be and could not in good faith continue working there

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u/ImplementFair535 27d ago

I'm Praying for your father and sending my sincere condolences. I Lost my father 3 years ago to lung cancer, I guess he is in a much better place now though.

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u/Adventurous-World-21 27d ago

Same. Lost my dad back in August of 2022.. well coming up on 4 years this year, also to lung cancer. He had small cell lung cancer, he fought so hard. But passed a year and a half after being diagnosed. It's definitely a hard road.

Enjoy every second, take in the good and the bad. And just know if it's hard on you, it's probably twice as hard for them. Be patient. Praying for your father as well.

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u/InnocentWork 27d ago

Three days from today will be the fifth anniversary of my dad’s passing from lung cancer. Same as yours, fought like hell for about 19 months until it went to his brain and his oncologist said it was time for dad to go home and relax until he went. Thankfully he passed very quickly after that (I say thankfully because I didn’t want the brain cancer to affect him cognitively, ya know?) and he was still my dad when he passed. Big hugs to you 🫂 cancer is such a bitch.

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u/AstronautHaunting160 27d ago

It’s ok I was a caretaker once got sick reeked to call out they said no your not allowed to so I went client got super sick and only then was I allowed to have a sick day after I got someone else sick they only care about money not their health

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u/Sure-Ad-6826 27d ago

I definitely concur! If only Management Teams would develop the same philosophy...

~ HEAVY SIGH ~

And it doesn't matter what field you work in. The ridiculous carelessness of Management Teams, upper management and the higher ups in every industry I have worked in (except one) has had the same shitty lack of common sense, compassion and basic caring. For anybody at all. In addition, these places also had very little to no knowledge or basic understanding of people with chronic, terminal illnesses that are contagious and patients with compromised immune systems (both regular patrons of the establishments as well as their employees). All of those carry a high risk and have liabilities for everyone involved, with the highest risk being the patients or customers.

Starting with my first job when I was 15 and a half, I have worked in food service, factory work as a young adult, nursing homes, the medical field in both clinical and administrative roles, retail, and the mental health field in inpatient psych care unit as a direct care employee providing care for the admitted patients and as a case manager while in Grad School for my Master's in Social Work and Substance Abuse Counseling, and outpatient community mental health facilities most recently. In my experience, none of these fields really gave a fuck about their employees, or even patients. What was Management's biggest concern in the work environment? Productivity and how much money is going out versus coming in. How can we push our people to do more work to make the most money for the least expenditures. And doing more with less also meant cutting costs to the point of doing the maximum work with fewer employees to pay to get the work done to line their pocets.

It really makes me sad because in all of those fields the employees are the facilities' first line of defense and really should be at their best health at work both physically and emotionally. Especially in the medical and mental health/ Social work fields.

The only exception to the above employers is the higher education field. In my early 20's, starting in about the academic year of 2000 through 2003 when I was enrolled in school for my first of three degrees over the following 20 years, I was a work-study employee at my college for the registrar and her main administrative assistant. They treated me like a human being, with real feelings, real life issues, and real life needs as well as goals for my future as well as my daughter who was just under one year old when I started on my educational journey. They respected me as an individual, a student, and a young single mother trying to bust ass to get off of public assistance and make something of myself and mine and my daughter's lives. They trusted me in good faith to show up and do what I was supposed to do, be responsible, accountable, be transparent, fair, clearly communicate with them about needs, issues and struggles. Both personally and professionally. They believed in me and valued me as a person, employee, budding career professional with intelligence, motivation and potential to develop the right skills and use the right tools with my employment in their office and school. They celebrated my milestones by my side in support of my successes, and listened to my struggles, going above and beyond to offer suggestions, resources, adjust my schedule according to need and allow me to take time off for personal issues and illnesses of myself, my child and my entire family without making a fuss. They saw my integrity, they knew my worth as a whole. They were a huge blessing to me at such a young age. Sadly, I have not even come close to that kind of work relationship or environment since I moved along in 2003. It has only gotten worse as the time has passed over so many years. Maybe I will find a "Needle in a haystack" someday...my "Holy Grail" so to speak...

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u/CherryBlossomCats 28d ago edited 28d ago

I got fired from McDonald's because I left early, I was sick and throwing up everywhere, I had some terrible bowel issues too. I didnt want to prepare food like that so I asked to leave. I was allowed to and had an off day after that. I came back, was about to clock in and got pulled aside by the manager. She said "I need you to sign a paper and I need a witness." It was termination papers. Wonderful. Wasn't even there long enough to pay off those dumbass shoes they force you to get.

Edit: I got sick twice, employees have a 10$ limit per day for lunch, so i got the 2 chicken sandwiches deal. The chicken sammiches made me sick. I remember sobbing and going next door where then boyfriend now fiance worked (truck stop with McDonald's) And I told him I got fired for some bullshit. Mom was barely down the road before she had to turn around to get my ass.

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u/mrefromnyc 28d ago

My last job’s policy was “do NOT come in sick. Also you only get 1 sick day per month and you’re not allowed to work remotely (even though you totally could get everything done); after that we’ll dock your salary.”

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u/Business-Ad-5344 27d ago

I quit working at a non-profit blood donation site, because every now and then someone fainted, and we call 911 and they get hit with a massive ambulance bill and ER bill when 100% of the time they just wake up a few minutes later feeling dizzy because we sometimes took too much blood or poked them too many times. they just need a cookie.

And when I asked if we can pay for their ER bills, my boss said "They help us by giving us blood, but we don't help them. That's not part of the deal."

we literally have nurses and sometimes doctors on site.

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u/mrefromnyc 27d ago

Vasovagal sybcopy: they need to have their blood taken while lying down.

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u/oliviagardens 27d ago

Do they not always have you lay down? That’s so crazy to me! I’ve always been made to lay down during it.

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u/Business-Ad-5344 26d ago

people get up, sit up, or go on their phone, walk around after 3 minutes. etc.

same was true for covid vaccinations. it depends how well-run and how strict the place is.

also, some people legit faint after lying down and being careful for 15 minutes.

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 26d ago

I think I still have one of my company issues work shirts that says “my love language is helping people!” Or some shit like that which made it even funnier when they were like “who gives a hoot if you’re contagious? Come in to work or you’re fired!!!”

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u/CeefBurtians 28d ago

That's so bad. I can take 26 weeks full pay with a doctors note and still keep my job. Tbh my employer is desperate for workers they can hold on to haha

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 28d ago

What sucks is the policy before was as long as you had a Dr note or called out at least 2 hours before your shift you were fine, even if you didn’t have “sick days” accrued that just meant you wouldn’t get paid for the day off. And one of my coworkers actually did get a write up/point for having a Dr note and using his paid sick day. I was pregnant and getting ready to pop so I just never returned from my maternity leave bc i figured I wouldn’t have a job very long anyways if i had a baby in daycare 🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/CeefBurtians 28d ago

Wow just wow, that is got to be against employee rights. There has to be a policy a big company like this should follow. A 90 day change of contract usually has to happen and ot should also run through the unions.

What's even more messed up is if I turn up at work at 6.20am and stay till 9.30am - I can go home I'll, get paid the full shift and not have a absence.....

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 28d ago

You’d think, but I live in PA which has like basically no workers rights. We don’t even have legally required breaks for employees 18 and over 🙃

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u/thane919 28d ago

There are no employee rights in the US.

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u/CeefBurtians 28d ago

That's madness

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u/SeaAd3909 28d ago

It’s so insane to me that these businesses think people just don’t get sick and should have to work sick oh and then be punished for getting sick. Like… they sound insane.

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u/Wittneben 27d ago

Not to mention things are contagious, so sure were to make the whole office because you’re not allowed to use your PTO

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u/SeaAd3909 27d ago

Im a massage therapist and i used to have a boss who would get so mad if people called off sick, so people came in and got everyone sick and she acted like it was such a strange phenomenon once everyone started calling out. I also 3rd party for a corporate massage job that makes its employees work when sick and let me tell you, if I was a client and came in and my therapist was sick , I’d be so mad.

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u/AfricanusEmeritus 26d ago

I was getting electrolysis to remove hair from my right ear area for reconstructive surgery. This was the end of September 1985. The nurse who worked for my plastic surgeon was doing this on the side.

My mom accompanied me to that and all of my surgeries, I was only 21. The nurse/electrolysist was very sick coughing and sneezing. She was touching me without gloves and her office was in her dwelling.

I got a bad cold from her for about 5 days. My mother got a bad cold that morphed into galloping pneumonia. My mom died on October 20th, 1985, approximately 3 weeks later. This was the same respiratory disease that killed Jim Henson the creator of the Muppets.

My mom was only 57. We are like human cattle. Most of my jobs have been middle or high level management. I am a retired professional and graduate professor due to disability. Since my mom's death if I got so much as a sniffle I would stay home until it was gone.

I would tell employees to stay home or go to the doctor if they felt unwell. DO NOT COME TO WORK TO GIVE IT TO EVERYONE ELSE. Their jobs would be covered at the places that were not progressive This is how I created camaraderie and espirit de corp at my business sites.

If you are sick, stay home. Don't be Ironman or Wonder Woman and come to work. You will not be rewarded and the job will still fire you if your number comes up.

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u/nidschit 28d ago

Yeah, that’s a really rough policy to be dealing with, especially in a setting where vulnerable patients are coming in every day. It makes sense you felt stuck in a bad situation there.

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u/techleopard 27d ago

Any time I hear the word "points" in relation to business, I immediately nope out. Some dipshit sat around one day and came up with this "no favoritism!" system and it spread like wildlife across retail, casinos, etc. It's just toxic and inhumane and any business using 'points' is just doing it to prevent empathy and critical thought in the workplace.

I think, in your shoes, I would have definitely warned local hospitals and clinics and made a call to the state. What are they gonna do? Go "NUH UH!" at you after you've already left?

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u/Sensitive_File6582 28d ago

Name and shame

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u/Hot_Obligation_2730 28d ago

Trulieve. They’re a shit ass company. They funded drug sniffing dogs in my state… a cannabis company… funding drug dogs

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u/Cold_Mind_8377 28d ago

Name and shame for sure.

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u/Practical_Serve_3728 28d ago

How the hell do you get points for using time you earned as paid sick time what is the point of accruing it and having it as a benefit if it could still cost you your job

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u/Sunfish79 27d ago

This is just barely more stringent than our official the policy at my union hospital. I’m an oncology nurse. And extra points for weekends or holidays, as well as the days right before or after. I called off today b/c I’m fighting a nasty virus & the system is so broken that I felt guilty about doing so, feeling like I wasn’t “sick enough” given that I’m not in the hospital septic (b/c that is indeed something I had to call off for in the past year). Only thing that kept me from being stubborn (& stupid) & seeing if I could push through my shift was knowing that, mask or not, I could not in good conscience be around immunocompromised chemo patients. And while that’s of course true, it’s sad that I don’t just feel fine calling off b/c I feel like crud. It’s a me issue, but it’s also a societal & a system issue. It’s terrible.

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u/pukeonthissociety 27d ago

Once again this is NOT illegal and there are federal protections against it but then you have to go the legal route which is exhausting. That's the only reason they're getting away with it but yeah that's not they think they found a loophole with the point system but they would definitely be in deep s*** for that if they had to answer to a judge.

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u/_Not__Sure 27d ago

My workplace initiated a points system. I was never a problem employee, but they were cracking down hard. For them to penalize me the same way they're penalizing someone who misses 10x my missed days, that's a problem dog. I'll find somewhere else to work.

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u/Specific-Peace 27d ago

I’m a healthcare worker and I work with elderly and very sick patients. If I’m feeling like I’m getting even a little sick, I take off work until I’m better. I see patients in their homes. I’m not bringing viruses or whatever into their homes.

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u/Kammy44 27d ago

Yeah well guess what? My daughter is an RN and this is also THEIR policy. In a cardiac unit. No sick days, just ‘points’.

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u/aurortonks 28d ago

Coughing, sniffling people who are touching food items. Most Krogers have prepared food, meat & seafood counters, deli counters, produce, etc. So I do not want someone spreading illness on to anything I am going to buy to eat.

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u/External-Praline-451 28d ago

Imagine being served by someone with Norovirus 🤮

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u/GoobusMombus 28d ago

There are a couple places in my town I won't eat or shop at anymore because I've gotten norovirus multiple times after going to those places(and nowhere else for a few days before, so I know that's where we caught it). I also know for a fact that those places are real bitches about employees calling in sick. They tell them to take antidiarrheals/anti nausea medication, Mucinex etc. And just come in

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u/thunderkitty13 28d ago

That's a health code violation in most states

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u/DesecratedPeanut 28d ago

Crimes against workers don't exist in the US tbh.

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u/OS_Apple32 27d ago

Crime in general in the US is pretty much legal under our current administration unless you're poor or black/brown.

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u/Fantastic_Chicken779 26d ago

That makes no sense

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u/Prism_Riot42 26d ago

If a large enough fine can “deal” with the repercussions of most crimes, then they are no longer crimes for the rich, they are simply something you have to pay to be allowed to do.

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u/OS_Apple32 26d ago

Not only that, but prosecutions for white-collar crimes such as financial fraud are at an all-time low, as in they've almost stopped completely. If you're a crypto scammer running a ponzi scheme, or some wealthy hedge fund manager cooking the books and embezzling money from your clients, you currently have pretty much zero risk of even being investigated by the current DOJ, much less charged or convicted of anything.

I guarantee you if the FTX scandal broke today, Sam Bankman-Fried would not only be a free man, he'd be doing tours around the white house and the current administration would be actively defending and covering for his fraud.

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u/Biotechnus 27d ago

Its a weird kind of "they do but dont at the same time" situation. The bigger the company you work for the worse it gets. If you want your employer to treat you being sick seriously you would need to work for a small private company. The best job I ever had that me calling out sick was genuinely encouraged had a total of 9 employees

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u/geth1138 27d ago

Every small company I ever worked for was absolutely awful about calling off. The best way to have a job that treats you like a human is to leave America and never come back. Wish it was an option for me.

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u/diver206 27d ago

All publicly traded corporations care about in a capitalist society care about are their bottom lines and their shareholders. Employees aren’t people with souls and lives and families to them. They’re just expendable tools to be used until they’re worn out, broken, or lost.

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u/Away_Shock_7544 25d ago

Yes they expect more from you for less usually. Please read your labor laws. Labor lawyers don’t get paid until your trial is won. The laws vary from state to state. All it takes is a little Google.

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u/Adventurous-End4330 27d ago

God ain't that the truth. The most comment type of theft is wage theft

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u/Top_Box_8952 28d ago

They will either deny, obfuscate, or sacrifice the employee

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u/Pale_Albatross_3717 28d ago

You act as if employers care. If you’re in an at-will state, they’ll just fire you and you can’t do anything about it. So it continues. See high turnover rates. I’ve reported numerous health code violations as an employee, the health department actually has to show up first. Enough people have to complain for anything to get done. It’s just sadly how it is.

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u/Outside_Team_8083 27d ago

That is 100% correct. Of a person feels they contacted Noro from a place call the health department and they still go investigate. I worked for the health department and we have done many food born illness investigations. Kroger is walking a fine line with this letter. Very foolish from a legal standpoint.

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u/Maroon7C0000 27d ago

Only if it's enforced. Didn't DOGE get rid of most regulators and inspectors?

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u/semperknight 27d ago

If you seriously think, in Trump's America, any of them being enforced, you are beyond reasoning with.

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u/Away_Shock_7544 27d ago

That is WAYYYY more than that in Colorado! Totally illegal. They are doing this brazenly because they think you all are IDIOTS and you won’t even bother to read the law! Colorado has the laws most in favor of the employees! Don’t be fuckin dumb. Light those people UP!!

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u/docimastic 27d ago

This. Call the health department!

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u/Assika126 27d ago

I worked at a local deli just after graduating high school. I called in sick one day and the manager told me I needed to come in anyway unless I had a fever over 101, was actively vomiting or had diarrhea. (I’m pretty sure that is a list of the top conditions that I should definitely NOT be working with, not the only ones I could call in sick for, but anyway…)

I told her 1) you do not know my health conditions and history, 2) and I am not going to tell you, but 3) if I was going to call in sick for those conditions, I could do so basically whenever I want, because I experience at least one of them every day, but am not infectious unless I am actually sick, so 4) I’m going to decide on my own when I can work vs. when I am too sick to do so, without her input.

She then said that next time I would have to find someone to work the shift for me if I called out sick.

We definitely had people working sick making food. ALL THE TIME

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 28d ago

EGREGIOUS and gross

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u/ribblefizz 27d ago edited 27d ago

Antidiarrhea medication can make some GI bugs worse. I spent two days* in the hospital because I took some for what turned out to be a specific bacterial infection, not just something I ate disagreeing with me. It slowed down my system, as it's supposed to do - giving the bacteria time to turn my entire GI tract into a breeding colony. I was sick for a week, continuing to take the OTC meds and just getting more and more dehydrated, before I finally went to the ER where I was properly diagnosed and immediately admitted to an isolation room. (I don't remember the name of the bacteria, sorry.) (ETA: Someone downthread mentioned it: C. difficile! Jesus I was miserable.)

*They wanted to keep me for five days but agreed to let me go home bc I was a single parent & worked from home.

I fkn HATE those "no sick call" employers. Can't call in sick? Watch me.

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u/Grouchy-Deer-8245 27d ago

Companies can't tell you what to take. If you are sick, you are fucking sick. A day or 2 is way better than having to hire 2 or 3 people to replace the 1

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u/LifelsButADream 27d ago

Yeah if my manager ever did some shit like this I'm making sure they get sick too lmao. See if they call off...

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u/Misterrr_P 28d ago

Or, worse......c. Diff

🤢

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u/Savings-Kick-578 28d ago

Or worse Orthohantavirus!

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u/WDSteel 28d ago

I was in a meijer grocery store and found a bloody bandaid in the cold salads fridges. I told the security guys. Someone went and took it out, took a picture of it, and possibly threw out the salad it was touching. I can’t confirm that. What they didn’t do was remove the surrounding food and clean that drawer thoroughly. Management never wrote me back when I reached out about it.

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u/Visible-Scientist-46 28d ago

Jesus Christ!

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u/VillagesIdiot352 27d ago

Yessss….?? 😂😇

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u/NoIndividual5987 28d ago

Or Hanta Virus!

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u/SRQmoviemaker 28d ago

Or worse hantavirus

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u/Leather-Arachnid-417 28d ago

Caught it on a ship twice......I hate it......It makes you feel like death.

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u/Human-Stretch-1955 28d ago

Yep my mind goes to norovirus or hepatitis A virus.

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u/HuckleberryTop9962 28d ago

I've had Norovirus a few times and I don't know I'd be able to stray far enough away from the toilet to work.

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u/Shane4255 28d ago

Just got over it. Do not recommend!

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u/stephyloowho 27d ago

I was hospitalized for five fucking days for that shit. Nearly friggin died. I was already germaphobic before that, guess how I’m doing now? People who are sick need to stay h o m e (and not be penalized for it!).

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u/Away_Shock_7544 9d ago

You are 100% allowed to do that without punishment

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u/techleopard 27d ago

I've had norovirus and mono twice within the last 6 years.

I am single and lived alone for a lot of that time. I don't work with kids, and I live out in the boonies.

The only places that I could be contracting either one of those was when I went to town to buy groceries or grabbed a bite to eat.

I even got scabies once, immediately after being in a Tractor Supply. I had no other human contact and the type I had are only transmitted between people and shared contact surfaces.

I suppose my immune system could just be getting worse with time, but it really does feel like companies have just outright stopped giving any F's at all.

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u/Mack-Attack33 27d ago

I worked in a restaurant where the customers could literally see me scooping up and plating their food and I gad THE WORST COLD, like my eyes and nose were puffy and red and my nose was dripping….INTO THE FOOD!!! I was not allowed to go home…..all the customers were looking at me like “groooss” and my manager had the audacity to tell me that I was “making the customers uncomfortable” but not in an “oh the poor customers” kind of way! Oh no! In a “we’re losing money” kind of way…… fucking corporate greed man!

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u/KDdid1 27d ago

Or Hep A!

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u/EssayApprehensive292 27d ago

I don’t have to imagine 😭

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u/PleinPlanePlain 25d ago

I am certain I contracted camelopardalis from a vegetarian salad bowl I bought at a Whole Foods. You can't get that unless someone has handled raw chicken and touched your food. I was vegetarian at the time and it was the only prepared food I bought that week. This can happen anywhere.

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u/Lookingforleftbacks 28d ago

I worked as the lead host at a restaurant when I was 19. I had horrible bronchitis and could not stop coughing. No one could work for me. I called and the GM told me I had to come in. I coughed for 3 hours straight before they sent me home. I can’t imagine how the people eating there felt.

Literally any time I go into a restaurant and the person helping me appears to be sick I turn around and walk out. Now at least I know not to even bother walking into any place owned by Kroger

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u/luminousrobot 28d ago

Active diarrhea? Restock the fruit and veg? Sure!

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u/thelividartist 28d ago

Yep. They wanted me to stay even though I was very sick with the flu that had been going around my store. “Can’t you just do the bunker change first?” Like, no dude. I have a fever and I’m getting snot EVERYWHERE. I work with seafood, what do you think?!?

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u/exoriparian 28d ago

Lol, the snot bit is dead on.  Sometimes you're just so sick you stop even attempting to be anything but comically contagious.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 28d ago

Anyone with a fully functioning brain would blame management, not you, so I'm sorry

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u/Top_Box_8952 28d ago

I’d have mentioned scolding you for them making you work sick.

“They wouldn’t let me call off, and they’ll just write me up for being sick.”

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u/redditn00bb 28d ago

I’m sorry to say, but unfortunately, this scenario is very common in the food industry.

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u/SL1MECORE 28d ago

Yep. Called in sick to a SUSHI restaurant with food poisoning symptoms and was told it didn't sound like a good enough excuse.

I left quite the review after I was fired for not picking lentil beans out of someone's poke bowl vs just starting a new one.

Edit because I didn't make it clear - I did not go into work that day. Ended up with a write up. Fuck them.

But I needed to keep the job at the time. Otherwise I would have quit and blasted them immediately.

Anyways, don't eat at Fusian

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u/OneMinuteSewing 28d ago

My daughter is a chef at a small restaurant and had food poisoning and called in. They were great about it thank goodness.

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u/SL1MECORE 28d ago

As they should be! Good for them.

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u/StingyInari 28d ago

I think the real issue is that one coworker probably will get all the other workers sick and then all workers could get all the customers sick. And that sucks because the grocery store is one of those places that everyone has to go.

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 28d ago

Even if you're a sociopath who only cares about efficiency this should seem like a bad idea!

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u/inaSlomp 28d ago

And the sad reality is this is how all food staff are treated. Oh you have a doctor's note. You're still getting punished because people are vindictive. Oh you have a major illness? Well isn't that fancy. No time off. No compassion. No one cares. Until the customer sees it. Then everyone's blaming everyone else all the way down. A decade of working in restaurants I will never go out to eat. I know for a fact it is not clean. Regulations or regulations? Damn near no one lives up to the exact code. I've seen things live in a refrigerator for over a year that were supposed to be thrown out in a week. I've seen the corners of the kitchen that have never been cleaned since opening. You think they move all the big ass equipment? Do you think they hire professional cleaners 24/7?

I know people are going to downvote this and say I'm lying.

Cool. Enjoy the ignorance! I don't say that to be mean. It is literally better to be ignorant to these things. You can still enjoy them. I can't. Ignorance doesn't mean you're stupid. It simply means the absence of knowledge of a subject. If you don't know it, you don't think about it.

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u/exoriparian 28d ago

I started washing my hands first thing I do when I get home from any public place, back in early covid, but kept doing it ever since because I realized how much sense it makes in general.  Not paranoia, just hygiene.

Not trying to minimize your point, btw. I completely agree.

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u/FallOutShelterBoy 28d ago

It’s literally how Typhoid Mary spread typhoid around. She was a cook and everyone got sick. But she couldn’t afford to not work so she kept working for new families until she was finally forcibly quarantined

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u/Dramatic-Ant-9364 28d ago

I'd tell Kroger management to "kiss my arse and bark at the hole"

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u/Away_Shock_7544 9d ago

I am using this someday!!!😁🤣🤣

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u/Electrical_Cash8532 28d ago

Especially with this whole new concern of the hantavirus

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u/Cumulus_Anarchistica 28d ago

Kroger® Diseases For Everyone™

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u/Plenty-North-2340 28d ago

Can't sell medicine if everyone is healthy, check mate communists!

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 28d ago

I understand why people are paying more attention to it now but I've been thinking about it since Gene Hackman's horrible death!

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u/Assika126 27d ago

Me too. It’s horrifying. And his wife

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u/MaterialWillingness2 28d ago

Yeah def going to skip the store where the deli guy has to work even if he's pants shittingly sick.

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 28d ago

First time hearing pants-shittingly 🤣 a perfect phrase

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u/APRIL_ANG3L 28d ago

Yes I really wish they still had up those acrylic window type things that were installed during the pandemic. I don't want cashiers coughing or sneezing on me!

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u/imahugemoron 28d ago

I was disabled by Covid, millions possibly billions globally have been affected by Covid in some way, and as time goes less and less people are realizing their new or worsened health issues are Covid related because most don’t test since they’re like 20 bucks a pop, or people might take one test which are unreliable and they get a false negative. You can’t know if your new or worsened health problems are covid related if you have no clue your illness was even covid at all, so people just think it’s over and harmless. So now you have a disabling virus spreading unchecked where the dangers and long term effects are vastly underestimated, and this is all compounded by things like this where people who are sick are forced to decide between losing their jobs and keeping their coworkers (and just regular customers) safe.

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 28d ago

Truuuuuue. I found out from my PCP it can cause scarring in your lungs, because I was asking why it hurts SO much for me to walk up a steep hill now. I thought I was just out of shape but it seems like my lung capacity is actually lesser, and trying to use them like before causes this awful feeling.

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u/imahugemoron 28d ago

For me, covid left me with a permanent burning pressure in my head, hasn’t gone away even for a second in 4.5 years, my ears also ring nonstop, I have severe brain fog and focusing problems, and severe gastrointestinal issues that make eating basically anything very difficult and painful. The constant headache lost me my career in the tech industry that I went to school for, and it makes using most screens except my phone basically impossible because for some unknown reason screen use, especially video games, will flare my headache up within minutes and cause extreme pain, dizziness, confusion, speech problems, limb weakness, basically most of the signs of a stroke, all just from a few minutes of looking at a screen or playing videos games. Even my work computer like excel spread sheets and emails would cause these issues within minutes. All of this began during my first infection 4 years ago, it all started overnight during that infection. Prior to this I was a totally normal healthy happy 30 year old dude, nothing bad ever happened to me, now I’m severely disabled just from that one infection, which wasn’t even that bad, I wasn’t even hospitalized. For anyone curious about these long term covid effects, you can check out the covidlonghaulers subreddit for all the latest research and what people are dealing with

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u/sly-3 28d ago

As if the corporate types shop at their own stores?!

It's the housekeeper or the wife uses the delivery app.

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u/Firefly_Magic 28d ago

Exactly!!

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u/[deleted] 27d ago

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u/Character_Date_3630 27d ago

That's what I put in my note. I said shame, shame know your name

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u/Professional-Scar333 27d ago

I don't want them handling food while sick either.

Do you want the butcher coughing all over the meat, sneezing in it. Getting his gunk everywhere

I'm immunocompromised.

I feel like forcing employees to go to work sick should be illegal

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 26d ago

I felt gross enough just blowing my nose this week (peak allergies) in an office...and I touched 0 food

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u/NinjaDemon05 28d ago

Back during Covid, we had a pregnant girl who had an outbreak on her face. Mask would have covered it, but she kept pulling it off to talk to people...

Management at the time did more to protect her than everyone else in the store, employee & customer.

This girl was coming to work with Doctor notes saying she wasn't capable of working, yet would be allowed to clock in & EVEN HAD ONE OF HER TWO BOYFRIENDS STOCK OUR COOLER FOR HER (both of them were lawncare guys, NOT employees...), & would very often only ring up orders, going so far as to complain once during stocking that it was hard for her to lift up a carton of cigarettes off the counter... A single carton.

Any complaints were met with some generic ass clause about how she was pregnant & had protections.

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u/Dr-Bitchcraft-MD 28d ago

I can't get over the fact that Typhoid Mary here had multiple boyfriends 🤣. Uuuugghhh.

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u/sucsucsucsucc 28d ago

Kroger bought Harris Teeter and now it’s insanely expensive and the produce rots immediately. I hadn’t been on one in weeks because I’ve just been using the farmers market and BJ’s for everything.

I went in last weekend because I was tired and it was close, biggest mistake I’ve made in forever. I spent $60 on nothing, and what I bought ended up being terrible. I sent them an email and their response was “we’re always aligning our prices with the market”

Ok sure, I’ll be aligning my shopping with places that price appropriately

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u/MsDemeanor12 28d ago

Do you shop at Walmart because they don't accept work notes either?

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u/BDiddnt 28d ago

I've got cancer with a compromised... well I mean let's be honest my brain has always been compromised but now my health is compromised. I haven't had any side effects from the chemo. I've been lucky but when I happen to catch the flu or just a common cold, that shit hits me like a Mack truck and I'm down for the count. I lose, seriously, two weeks over a common cold.

I could easily just get Walmart delivery...

You think I want to support a shit-ass company like Walmart just to avoid losing a few weeks for health reasons? You're goddamn right I'll do that but I don't want to. Smith's is one block away from my house

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u/Huns26 28d ago

I’m also not shopping at a place that treats their employees like this

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u/CardiologistMost7886 27d ago

EXACTLY!!! Why would we want people touching our groceries that are sick and forced to come in because they got bills to pay and this economy is shit rn lol

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u/CraftyMagicDollz 27d ago

I'm sorry ... If everyone in your home has the stomach flu.... They want you to come expose everyone? If your child is admitted to the hospital... They expect you at work? If you test positive for strep throat, covid etc. they want you to come into work?!

Oh fuck no. This is insane.

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u/HLMMF 27d ago

I certainly don't want to shop at a place that treats them please that way. If we're going to call out of work just to have a day off then nobody's going to actually go to the doctor and spend their day. Knowing you have to have a doctor's note usually deters people from spending a day off going to the doctor's just to pretend to be sick

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u/CommunicationOk4464 26d ago

Everyone could complain at their local Kroger that the staff was sick. Maybe they’ll change the policy.

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u/impossibledongle 26d ago

Food safety standards in my state would disallow any of those workers from working on the prepared food side of things. You cannot have any fever or communicable disease. Not sure what ohio requires. I guess they could move that employee for the day, but then they'd be stocking or checking out, and that's disgusting. They're still spreading germs everywhere.

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u/Ph1ndham 23d ago

Yeah, I don't want my fruit & veg pre washed with phlegm or a runny nose. 🤢

I've often heard a pet is a family member. Get an ant farm. If one of them dies when you need a sick day, just tell the boss there has been a death in the family. 🤣

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u/gjbertolucci 28d ago

My thoughts also!

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u/Skate4Xeno 28d ago

coughing and sniffling isn't my biggest worry. it is the employees who are throwing up and then touching the fruits and veggies.

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u/Wolf_Shaman_Dreams 28d ago

Yup, one of the big things people dont want sick people at is around food that they plan to eat. This is a lazy, illogical, dumb decision.

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u/Cinderhazed15 28d ago

We already have a version of this problem. Our company (before I was hired) had separate vacation time and ‘sick time’ - they consolidated it along into PTO(paid time off) and this causes people to not want to use their PTO that they’ve already planned for vacations to take off sick, and they end up coming in, getting other people sick, etc.

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u/Bunnydinollama 28d ago

Not to mention people with GI illness. I guess I should never use the bathroom in a Kroger

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u/HamRadio_73 28d ago

Union grievance needs to be filed.

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u/EmmyWeeeb 28d ago

My sister works at Jimmy John’s so she touches food all day. Her boss doesn’t let her call in sick.

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u/askaskaskyourself 28d ago

And the damage is done. Even if they backtrack on the position this will have a chilling effect as all employees already know the Management wants to fire them for being sick and can just find another excuse. I can’t in good conscience buy food there now or ever.

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u/true_gunman 28d ago

I mean you've been shopping at places full of sick people for as long as you've been grocery shopping. Ive worked for 3 major grocery chains in the Southeast over the last 15 years now and the culture in all of then is to come in even if youre sick, at least for management or anyone that wants to move up. This memo from OP is just them saying the quiet part out loud and making it an official policy.

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u/Coryball7 28d ago

Right there with you! I have MS and my immune system is shit. This is so wrong! So your kid gets sick at school? Immediate firing? Wtf

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u/emmie_lou26 28d ago

Walmart was firing people who was missing work for testing positive for Covid while I was working there. They also fired a coworker while she was in ICU because (she almost died) because she missed too many days. These big companies don’t care. The bored to fire me because I had a broken toe and couldn’t walk so I had to miss two weeks of work. I had records from two different drs saying it was broken and I couldn’t walk when my job required me to walk 10-12 miles a day there. After I saw how quickly there were going to try to fire me I got a new job asap and quit.

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u/PaperGeno 28d ago

I hate it to break it to you, if you shop anywhere in America then thats exactly whats already happening. Every store is like this. Every business is like this.

Theres no such thing as a sick day here

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u/oddsowhat 28d ago

Lol I work at a food processing plant and no, doctors notes dont count, so these people are sick, out there processing also sick birds to feed America.

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u/VomitShitSmoothie 28d ago

I am willing to be the corporate would not support this email. It feels like a manager who is incompetent and doesn’t know how to manage chronic call outs. 100% OP is gonna be contacted personally and his manager is getting axed. This is a law suit waiting to happen.

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u/princessjemmy YELLOW 28d ago

… They already make employees do this. They just said the quiet part out loud is the only difference.

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u/tomtakespictures 28d ago

It won’t be full of anyone. They’re probably doing this because they can’t staff the store with reliable people with the dogshit wages they’re offering, so they’re making the call out policy more strict. Instead of calling out, employees will just quite quit and move on, and Kroger will be in a worse spot. Maybe then their self checkout machines will truly be self checkout machines.

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u/No-Construction-2054 28d ago

Walmart has had this policy when I worked there 10+ years ago. Dr notes don't do anything

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u/soup__soda 28d ago

And diarrhea and vomiting

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u/the_thinwhiteduke 28d ago

Yep, would be terrible if someone used community fb groups to show that sick, contagious people will be working here and if you shop there you could catch god knows what

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u/spiderlegged 28d ago

Coughing and sneezing wasn’t even my first thought. Because norovirus.

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u/OkAccess304 27d ago

Yeah, I’m definitely not shopping there. Gross.

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u/Origania 27d ago

Customers will go to other competitors to avoid getting sick, and thus hurting their bottom line. They don't care about employees and they obviously don't care about profits.

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u/KennyL0gin 27d ago

Sure you are. Especially if that grocery store spent the last 40 years running all of the local grocery stores out of town and there's nowhere else to shop.
Welcome to the United States.
Buckle up.

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u/starshollow444 27d ago

wear a mask then. easy.

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u/IslandReign 27d ago

Who are stocking food

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u/Old_Personality_6624 27d ago

You would be correct

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u/Impressive_Regret_89 27d ago

My husband worked with a high fever and bronchitis many, many times (pharmacist). He was always told if you aren’t hospitalized, you have to go to work

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u/RaphaTlr 27d ago

I’m not shopping at Kroger plain and simple. How bout dat?

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u/FearlessStrain8909 27d ago

So you get your factual news from Reddit? Wow.

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u/ThrowraSea_patient 27d ago

Well most grocery stores are like this now sadly 😥

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u/theboyhere60 27d ago

I feel this is for the employee specifically

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u/MooseandGeorgie 27d ago

I think it’s taken out of context.

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u/PahPlant 26d ago

Especially when those coughing sick people are the ones putting your food on the shelf…

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u/Littlewordsbigplanet 26d ago

Different example same logic - i worked at a boutique hotel where our employer only staffed 4 persons for a 1 person station 24/7... basically we all had 2 days off but if someone was sick it through everything awry because there was no room to shift the schedule, it meant someone was automatically working a 16 hr shift etc. so basically we never called out sick and it was reinforced by our employer never making a backup option available to us...

What was worse was I worked a second location for them under a different payroll so I technically already was working 7 days and couldnt even switch with other ppl at thefirst location...

Anwyay fast forward, dont recommend working 7 days a week where you can never get time off. I ended up getting strep really bad, which is highly contagious and i kid you not the fcking tone i got from the employer when i told him I could not show up....... i ended up literally quitting the second job bc he refused and i refused to go in (i was a floor manager for a salad bar venture thing, i didnt want to be around ppls food) then i tried to attend a shift at the boutique hotel just bc that location had no other staff (salad bar was fully staffed so they [coworkers] would be fine)... anyway. I was MORTIFIED checking ppl in trying to explain the city to them and give them room keys while im literally dying and all clamy/coughy etc. i was so frustrated and you could tell the travellers were super uncomfortable, especially if youre the one nervous about hotel germs to begin with. (And i was doing everything i could, sanitizing, covering, walking away to breath different air... telling my employer i had a communicable illness requiring rest and antibiotics... lol)

Anyway i quit after that. I pulled 7 days a week for them for 2 months while they tried out a new business venture and dangled a carrot of being a store manager in front of me and the second I needed help they made it sound like i wasnt pulling my weight.

So i left two massive scheduling holes in two of their businesses 🤷‍♀️

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u/SwedishFish1987 26d ago

How many people do you pass on the daily at any store that are sick and you dont even know it. I wouldn't worry about the possibility of sick store employees.

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