I work in Drug/GM as the asst.dept head and our cosmetitian who has worked here for about 5 years now, has been stealing candy (for atleast the past year, that we know of). She will just go and grab a big bar of kit kats, reeses, or even makes her way to the bakery for a box of donuts and even some pringles occasionally. She (as well as everyone in the store) has been told repeatedly that when you buy something for break or whatever, you need to either have your receipt with you, or taped around the item you bought. I am the one who has brought this to my dept managers attention. He then watched for a week or so and also saw the same behavior. We then went to our risk management undercover guys and they were watching her but she knows who they are and obviously won't do anything while they are in sight. I then brought it up to our Drug/GM co-managers' attention. She kinda just shrugged it off and said "we'll just watch her for a few weeks.." uh, okay. riiigghht. Nothing was ever done. So I then bring it up to my store managers attention, he said he would watch it and handle it accordingly. BULL****. There has been several times we have said something and she gets away with it every single time and i'm really getting tired of it because this woman gets away with everything and honestly, i believe people are intimidated by her. She has a way of "talking AT people" instead of TO them. Very hard person to work with.
I mean, yeah these are petty items to be stealing....but after a year (that i know of) that stuff adds up.....There is so much drama at my store, people are getting fired over marking things down too cheap, being late too much....blah blah blah. but she gets away with this EVERY DAMN TIME and im sick of it because if it were me doing that, i would have been fired after the first complaint!!!!
So my question to you all is, do you know of any kind of number or email that you can do a "stealing at the workplace" time of thing? I would imagine if they got something like that, that they would have to follow through on it. I would also like to try and do it Anonymously (but if not no biggie). I really didn't want to have to take this above managements' head but i've gone to them a few times already and nothing.....so what else? ya know...
Sorry for the big ramble fest, lol but thank you in advance :)
I am so glad to hear that you have ethics and a good moral compass! Stealing products can not be tolerated and you absolutely have the right to speak up and adress this with store management & above! Good for you!
So yea... here is what I suggest doing. Every time you see this person taking product and consuming it w/o paying for it, immediately stop what you are doing; take out your pen and piece of paper and write down something to the effect of "I just saw so and so take a kit kat bar off the shelf at 10:45am on sunday april 10th, 2011 then she consumed it without paying for it". Go take this note to the co manager (if s/he is there) that sort of agreed with your accusations. Hand it to that person saying something like "hey here you go" and walk away or just stand there and say nothing until he reads it and says something. stay calm and dont act crazy irrate. DO THIS EVERY FRICKEN TIME YOU SEE HER STEAL! Go give the note to another co-manager maybe the next time, etc. DO NOT SIGN IT. Sometimes don't even bother with the note part - just go to them and tell them in person. Persistance will pay off. Document all this at your home for your own protection and good. Go tell your union steward what is going on.
Now I dont know if you feel intiminated by her like the others do but I would do something "unorthedox" like when she DOES steal something GO UP to her and say something to her like "hey i know what you just did. here is a dollar, take it please and either put it in your pocket OR go do the right thing and pay for the item." then walk away. what a potential mind **** to her. does she know already that you know?
So please pllleaaaase stay vigilant on this. Also - kroger can not accuse her of stealing until they actually witness it. I am surprised the cameras are not used by the LP to catch her red-handed! Ask the LP sometime -'hey how is the theft investigation on so and so going?' just keep mentioning it ad nasium and I assure you that one day they will go do what needs to be done.
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I am no longer part of the oppressed, evil workforce of Kroger! Can you say "Hallelujah"
One moe thing..... if any of you employees and just plain old humans who come across this post are also stealing stuff PLEASE LOOK INTO YOURSELF AND REALIZE THAT IT IS JUST PLAIN FLAT OUT WRONG! It is never too late to accept that your behavior is bad and as Michael jackson once said "MAKE A CHANGE!"
Good Luck
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I am no longer part of the oppressed, evil workforce of Kroger! Can you say "Hallelujah"
I would address it anonymously, especially if you are working under this person from the sound of it. Otherwise you are going to be facing retaliation, especially if the company keeps looking the other way.
If it were me, I would go upstairs to your managers office and take one of the times you have documented and ask to show them on the security camera. If they see that you know and that you and the manager both have witnessed actual proof, it won't be long before something is done about it. If nothing else is done after this, report it to the Loss Prevention hotline or go to your district manager.
I've been with Kroger for over three years now and i've seen five employees let go during that time for five finger discounts. Everything from Red Bull to movies to marking stuff down really cheap.
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"The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Kroger Co. family of stores."
Thieves, grazers and the people who (for whatever reason) think they just have the right to take whatever they want make me sick. The crap they take, no matter how small or petty you think it is, comes out of OUR pockets! Report it to loss prevention AND your district manager! If the managers are looking the other way, they obviously need to be dealt with as well!
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Quote from the Boss: I didn't say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame it on you.
Thedude, you are awesome! Thank you for your advice and the time you spent to respond, to all of you :)
I am actually above her, I am the assistant manager and she is the cosmetitian. It's always been in her mind & in mine who is over who. But management has cleared that issue up a few weeks back. Lol! I would LOVE to confront her, the only thing is, i don't think i can. I am a little intimidated by her, which i would never admit that to her! She feeds off of drama. I'm 23 and she is 51, her and i are NOT on good terms. Havent been for the past 3 years! There's a long story to that, but that is beside the point lol
Oh, and you guys wanna know something? Our camera's inside the store? yeah, THEY DON'T HAVE TAPE IN THEM!! Know why? One, that would just be another "costly expense" to them. And two, they are lazy and could care less about viewing it everyday. Matter of fact, my car was in the parking lot one morning when i was working my shift (about 3 years ago) and it was broken into. I got my gps and ipod stolen (learned my lesson there) and i was parked right in plain view of the camera that is out looking over the parking lot. So when i got home, i had my mom call up there (because i was crying and didnt know what to think really) and she said i would like for you all to view the footage that this occured at such and such time today because her car was broken into. Yeah well they called back like 2 minutes later and said "uhhhh we didn't see anybody break into any car..." RIIIGHT! whatever.
So, i'm at a loss as what to do. It's just hard to talk to this woman simply because she disobey our dept manager. She disobeys store/co- managers. They expect ME to "put her in line because i'm over her" wellllllllll YOU ALL ARE TOO! and if she doesnt mind you all, why in the hell is she going to mind ME??? ugggh, sorry guys. Maybe i am dragging this out more than it really should be, i just cannot stand this.
ok ok i see more clearly your actual issue. so here is what i would do now. just one day out of the blue go up to her and say "hey look... i know you are a thief. steal all you want you little ****." walk away and just remember that you really can not control all situations in an utopian way. we live in this very crazy secular world and well people steal.
best of luck!
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I am no longer part of the oppressed, evil workforce of Kroger! Can you say "Hallelujah"
lmao at those thinking they are experts in dealing with these kind of experiences.
Well, she didn't seek out or ask for expert advice. She came to this message board and asked us for advice. I don't recall seeing where any one put the "Ask me! I'm the expert!" sign out either.
Just so you know.
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Quote from the Boss: I didn't say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame it on you.
right now at the sharonville store, there is a mager investagasoion going on and a whole bunch of deli employee got fired just for eating popcorn chicken and stuff back there so watch out
Well in that case, I guess it really doesn't matter what we say. We could tell her to jump off a cliff and it wouldn't. Anyways, I think she has done enough. Just let it go. Best not to get involved in scandals.
Making $7.55 an hour and not resorting to theft is hard, but morally right.
Hey Kroger, providing living wages would also be morally right!
I only make $7.25 an hour. Theft doesn't really go through my mind because I don't believe enough in our store to steal from it. Besides, our products are mostly overpriced crap.
As a Front End courtesy clerk, we have had a cooler of bottled water over these hot months. I wonder how much longer in this Atlanta market that front end management will let us do that. Back on topic, sometimes when I have clocked out and am leaving, especially after a long day, I will grab one or two of the bottled waters out of the cooler to take home. I figure I deserve it since I can barely have the time to chug a single one once I am off 'lot duty. They expect us to somehow magically be chipper and of normal body temperature with no sweat and jump right back into bagging as soon as our replacements are out there. And it's typical on a hot day that I drink two of those pint-filled bottles.
So, if that's considered theft...guess I'm a thief. I look at it as more of taking the water I should have had time to stop and drink but didn't earlier in the day. It's all glorified tap water run through a purifier anyway and slapped with a Kroger label.
