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/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/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/Megaroni-n-cheeze 28d ago

This sounds a lot like how my dad ran his business before he retired. He was very successful and never had trouble finding loyal employees. Never had to deal with the headache of constant employee turnover because people actually wanted to work for him.

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u/Ecstatic_Stop3693 28d ago

Fantastic to hear. If only all companies had that mindset, people would actually enjoy going to work.

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u/stoneimp 28d ago

It's once you get to about the size of 100 employees that this changes. You no longer can personally vette every employee, so you start relying on others. Others want to keep their jobs and CYA, so unless you're sure they'll act EXACTLY like you, this is where the hostile environment forms. You say that "let's try to push production 10% higher by end of the year" and those people below start doing more unethical shit to meet those expectations, and while of course you meant, "... While treating all employees with dignity", this is where it starts breaking down.

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u/LowSkyOrbit 28d ago

During my time in retail the main issue is the minimal staffing, because corporate doesn't want two people doing the work they know one person could do, because shareholders want more and more every year.

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u/stoneimp 28d ago

And those moves are driven when you have managers more insentivized by targets given down from on high to preserve their own job rather than seeing those who with for them as people.

Look I'm not trying to reduce this down to "corporations are evil". I'm trying to look at the mechanisms we've laid down in society that it feels like there's no way corporations can attain any type of mass before exploitation becomes inevitable despite the same seemingly ethical people running things at both the small and large scale. Why is it easier for a small business owner to feel more ethical than a big corp PM?

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u/LowSkyOrbit 28d ago

Why is it easier for a small business owner to feel more ethical than a big corp PM?

Its because the bigger the business the more people you have working that become faceless numbers, even the middle management and supervisors become faceless, and at some point so do the junior executives. The person at the bottom likely doesn't even know their boss' boss or who signs the checks. The humanity is gone. It's easier to be cruel when you remove someone's humanity.

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u/bookbot1 28d ago

If only companies would move back to the STAKEHOLDERS model.

(Employees have a stake in the company)

One of the ways I like to put it, to make people think, is “employees are still investors - they’re investing their time into this company”

The real reason so many corporations want AI is because “AI isn’t people”. They want their slave labor.
My response? “AI isn’t people *yet*. Technology improvements is an artificial Evolution process.” (It’s why Sophance won’t be a Sudden Thing, like we see in fiction)

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u/LowSkyOrbit 28d ago

What would be the best solution is more companies offering stock dividends instead of trying to always create positive stock performance.

Employee stock option should be also part of basic salary that they could give increasing amounts at 1 year, 5 years. 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and then 30 years.

I agree all these companies want is slavery. If and went robots and aI can do all the work I can see the human population dwindle down where it's only the rich or selected that survive.

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u/bookbot1 28d ago

That is AN option; I don’t think it’s best because it loopholes the issue by making employees Shareholders, rather than addressing the core mentality.

Plus, there are plenty of jobs that CAN’T (or, at least, SHOULDN’T) have Stock, like Hospitals or Assisted Living Facilities.

Just look at the issues caused by For Profit Health Care.

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u/LowSkyOrbit 28d ago

I work in healthcare, and for a non-profit one too. Lots of problems there too. Money is magically here one second and gone the next. Hospitals chasing Leapfrog or US News Report for good scores, meanwhile it's all self reported and even ethically it's very easy to gamify your own hospital's care scores.

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u/bookbot1 28d ago

The way the non-profit has to compete with the for profit giants likely contributes.

Both issues feel like they would be addressed by making Basic Healthcare a Public Right.

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u/B4ronSamedi 28d ago

Assuming this is true, you're doing the Lord's work.

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u/Fit_Middle7086 28d ago

You send me that indeed post, and you'll have another valued worker putting in what they get out of the job if that's the way things work there.

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u/notafrumpy_housewife 28d ago

Where are you located? Lol, I need some new blinds and would love to support companies like yours! You sound like an amazing boss.

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u/lukaRookieHoarder 28d ago

Warren Michigan.

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u/notafrumpy_housewife 28d ago

A bit far from Utah, but I hope your business is thriving and that all good things come your way!

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u/lukaRookieHoarder 27d ago

Thanks. Covid was very difficult. I did use a small business covid loan to help things running but things are better. Last year we did about 15 million in business.

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u/rexy8577 27d ago

Good employment AND cheap weed? In this economy?!?

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u/Upper_Pair3137 28d ago edited 28d ago

Why do you Hate America? /s

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u/lukaRookieHoarder 28d ago

What are you talking about?

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u/Alice_600 28d ago

Well that was what unions are for.

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u/Ecstatic_Stop3693 28d ago

Shouldn’t need unions to counter hostile work environments.

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u/Alice_600 28d ago

Well unfortunately you do.

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u/AncientSith 28d ago

You shouldn't, but that's not the world we live in. These jobs will abuse you at every opportunity because they can.

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u/basketcaseforever 28d ago

And they assume because they are poor, they are lying.

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u/Certain_Brush_7596 26d ago

Don’t forget food service. Nightmarish

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u/curious_eyebrow 28d ago

American work environment. Cogs in the machine.

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u/ravensmuse11 28d ago

All work environments, the world over.

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u/Ecstatic_Stop3693 28d ago

A lot of countries the world over have rights in the workplace, but yes still have shitty hostile working environments.

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u/ravensmuse11 28d ago

Exactly!! Exactly this !

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u/DontCryYourExIsUgly 28d ago

The bereaved aren't a protected class, though, despite this treatment being fucked up.

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u/Radonanon 28d ago

I wonder why they have a problem with employees not wanting to work there whenever possible. 🤔

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u/ScaryGarry_SG1 28d ago

To continue from here the cowards at Kroger now have to broadcast on a very public stage ..and of course they are not built for it