I've been with my store a mere year and four months... But I opened the store... And am one of the few still there that were originally hired...
Lots of people came and went, and quite a few got 'moved up the chain'... I'm one of the few to yet do so.
People who even came in waaaaay after me have been moved up higher... But not I.
To be honest, I'd actually hoped to eventually get moved up to supervisor... A bagger even was a few months prior! So I knew it was possible!
Hell, getting moved to the service desk would have been awesome as well (being a cashier and all)!
Today... I honestly thought that happened.
I came in, as per usual, and got immediately pulled to the side. Was made to sign papers... and was given a 'Manager's Override Key'... I may have looked pretty blase about it... But in truth, I was pretty excited!
Even though the one main supervisor seemed pretty annoyed by it all... She's one of those supervisors that just can't stand people below them and is always on a power trip, so... I just assumed she felt like I didn't deserve it. I even asked 'Why? Why am I getting this...' because at first I was thoroughly confused... She said she didn't know, and then walked away. Again, she seemed realllly put off by my getting a 'key'.
So! I asked the other supervisor! The 'nice' one.
At first she seemed confused, looks at the paper I signed, pulls me over and says she didn't quite understand why either... And then, after a while... she seemed annoyed? Miffed? Which shocked me, she's one of the few that actually seems pretty easy going! But after asking her, later, if I needed help or asked her a question... she'd either give me short answers or be completely silent and ignore me...
And all I thought was, wow... is this really bothering her...? I initially felt a tad bad... Maybe this isn't such a good idea then, y'know?
I'm not gonna lie, for the first 3 hours I was riding high! I was going the extra mile! Doing extra stuff! Being extra nice to customers... I wanted to prove I was deserving of such a thing!
Cut to 3 hours... I'm about to go on break, the first supervisor is going home... But the other, the usual nice one turned evil... she apparently went 'investigating'... turns out? I'm not moving up. They gave it to the wrong person. It was meant for another girl, with the same name... who's been there around 3 months and came from a shipyard job (not even a customer service job)... she's getting to move over to customer service.
Not me, who's been there from day one and has nothing BUT retail experience... yeah. And I really didn't mind it but.. . yeah. It sucked. I felt pretty awful... Made worse by her practically grinning ear to ear. No longer being a total ass... all fake apologetic... yeah.
Best part? After practically humiliating me in front of customers to dig it out of my wallet and hand the key back to her (they were all 'hush hush' about giving it to me originally too.) A customer actually over heard and felt bad for me. One that's always asking when I'm gonna move up... Ironically...
And the supervisor? She was all nice and smiles after that for the rest of the night!
Talked to me like she usually would. Even went out to get carts and handed me her override key 'in case I needed it' she fake sympathetically said...
Wow... I must have had THE quickest promotion ever... And let me tell ya, after handing it back, I've never felt so awful at work...
I still feel awful. It felt like a slap to the face.
I know it's not even a huge deal- and it's not! Not really... but finally getting something you've been hoping for... for it to be a mistake? Ouch. I KNOW I shouldn't feel the least bit bad. It's pretty stupid, I logically think to myself... but be damned if I can't shake off the feeling of being insulted and just plain old being let down...
Don't take it personally. There is something ''not right'' with all this. For some reason they were put to shuffling roles around. Probably because they can't hire anyone or get them to stay. Pretty obvious why.
You're bright and motivated. Look outside of Kroger for a place to be a real professional!
Good luck!
This is about the Kroger speed. The people in charge have no clue what they are doing most of the time.
Pretty bad when a comanager mistakes you for someone else. Surely, it was just the same first name and not the exact same first and last name. I could understand the error then.
I am embarrassed for that Kroger store allowing that kind of mistake. I apologize to you.
You didn't do anything wrong and shouldn't feel bad about anything.
I hope you get the move you want in Kroger. Or, excel at school out of Kroger. Unfortunately, I am starting to believe Kroger is trying to dumb down the work force and that is one program they are definitely succeeding at.
Quite a few of our supervisors have never been trained to do service desk... some are actually training on it now! Because of so many call outs... And then they'll ask ME what to do (which naturally I don't know.) Hell I've actually had to 'train' supervisors to do SCO, because that's what I mainly do, and they've no idea how to work it...
I can laugh about it now, I guess. It is pretty funny, getting my first promotion ever and it lasting a mere 3 hours... The only thing that sucks now is, going in knowing that they've likely thrown all those papers I signed away. And that no one will ever even remember this happened save me and the two supervisors and I have to try and basically pretend it never even happened... Thank god I'm off today, because I really need it.
I'd be so ****ing pissed off. I'm supposed to be trained in the office because supervisor came to me before Christmas telling me he wanted me in office but hasn't done **** about it yet
That's the thing about Kroger. You don't really move up for accomplishment, you move OUT. The sheer depression this story made me feel makes me question for a moment its authenticity, but it does not stray too far from what I have experienced.
You've put in over a year with the company now and I think you should try to explore other companies. Don't get in a rush to quit, but definitely be on the lookout for something more promising. I want to hire someone like you who has as much self control and professionalism as you did.
