Im a long time Kroger Employee and I love Kroger and think we are a great company. My post is more about a Customer First culture in general. I love having happy Customers, making my Customers happy makes my job more rewarding, happy. Customers are more pleasant than angry Customers. However, I feel like a Customer First culture sometimes go too far. Customers now feel entitle, to the point that they belittle and abuse employees because they want something. They feel like because they are the Customer, that employees are beneath them. When employees are being subject to emotional abuse from Customers it leads to low morale and disengagement and causes worse Customer Service. I want to be able to give good customer service. I want to solve peoples problems and help make their days better. I dont want to be treated like dirt by total strangers. I think managers need to take a look at how rude customers effect customer service, and try to foster a culture where I dont feel like my customers are bullies that Im powerless to fight back against because they are Customers and if they complain Ill get written up.
I agree with a lot of this. Customer first leads to a lot of problems that hinder and hurt not only us, but the company and the other customers as well. But at the same time, we cant blame Kroger too much, because denying that business philosophy or mission statement or what have you, will lead to a loss of their base, bad PR, and could possibly lead to entitlement in employees, which would only make the problem waterfall.
That being said, Kroger can control their employees behavior much more than customers. But that doesnt mean theyll ever get rid of it. Customers made my paycheck, remember? Not me, being at work, and working, and not getting fired, and creating a shoppable or even pleasant experience for guests and leading/helping a crew which stocks 30 to 40% of the store income. Nah.
It extends beyond just the within-means customer service. It makes an excuse for any and all management to use it as a control tactic to force processes that dont make sense in the name of satisfying the unsatisfiable customer. Pulling the 1 product on the shelf forward to cover a hole is more important than putting up the one or two cases to fill the hole. All it takes is one customer to wreak havoc and create holes that cannot be filled for the whole rest of the day. But lord forbid that customer have to bend or reach or ask for help so I can stock the 15 cases of pumpkin that will sell that day. Ive said it before on here, you could help everyone and have the perfect day, but that doesnt mean youll get recognition, or wont be complained about, or that youre scores will go up. Likely itll be the opposite, because some mom had a long night with her sick kids and then she came to Kroger and her margaritas are out of stock.
Mostly its due to bad store-level management, though, I think. Some of these people are just completely spineless and will throw you under the bus at their first chance to keep them from looking too bad.
I got off on a bit of a tangent.
All Im saying here is retail is a bitch and its the nature of the beast to be treated like garbage, which is a problem that must be solved by more than Kroger for it to be effective. The stress some people go through in retail and specifically customer service can put people in very early graves. I dont know how to help you much outside of just telling you to pick your chin up and know youre worth more than how people use you and treat you so they can go home with another buck or a chip on their shoulder. Perhaps request a transfer elsewhere so your management can change and you could maybe see what other leaders are like.
I used to love customer service at other jobs Ive had when I was much younger. I liked to solve peoples problems. One day I didnt, though. I think sometimes you just get demeaned one too many times.
And have been working night shift for 9 years, ever since. I worked a dayshift for like a week. No thanks.
