all gender references were changed to neutral "the employee"
For all i know ill get in trouble for this too.
we have a employee with ...issues, the employee went on sick leave for 6 months, came back for 2 weeks, then went on sick leave again for over a year, then came back, now that the employee is back, the employee is bumping hours, refusing to do specific work, claiming everyone is out to get the employee, putting a huge workload on all the other employees and being a all around nuisance. We have taken this up with the store manager, who insists we let the employee be and do whatever the employee wants with the simple phrase "leave the employee alone"(ive also heard "we need to work with the employee"). So we did, we wrote the employee into the schedule and the employee had 1 night shift. Somehow that night shift disappeared and the schedule was reworked moving around 4 people so the employee would have all the shifts the employee wants. the employee continues to harass the employees claiming the employee does everything, knows how do do things better and make snide remarks constantly (ie, bumped someones hours, then knowing the employee took their shift, the employee continues to ask them what time they get off in underhanded manner, fully knowing).
the employee disappears for hours at a time, and always has a phone glued to the employees head.
I have spoken with the union rep and was told only the company can hold the employee responsible for the workload, which they are refusing to do.
A month or so ago i spoke to the union rep about the harassment and belittlement, after speaking to the rep in about 20 minutes i was paged to the office and told that they didnt believe me, that we need to "look into the mirror" cause the employee says we treat her badly.
the employee knows how to play the game, the employee crosses all the T's and Dots every single i twice.
Id have no issues if it wasn't for the fact the employee is severely detrimental to our department and above all else DOESN'T DO THE JOB.
At this point, what do we do now?
Our numbers are suffering, morale is at a incredible low, everyones workload has increased dramatically. This is not sustainable.
same anon, i feel the need to mention the employee was not injured nor sick, they just found someone else to support them for a while, then needed money again, but they faked being injured. (it was denied after about 10 months)
Not uncommon to have one of these folks in your store...some have 3 or 4. Mgmt. has been coached plenty to accept any and all forms of employees- they would get in deep trouble if they coached u folks to use peer pressure or constantly shadowed anyone. You are a victim of "caring too much" about ur store appearance and workflow. You can take the high road in all this and tell ur peers to do the same. The person u speak of sounds like they have a lot on their plate physically and maybe mentally- no one would wish to be sick and physically lame- but it happens to all as they age and will to you someday if ur lucky enuf to live that long. It's hard to be compassionate to anyone that claims ur hrs. or underperforms but if u let it affect your well being and morale then ur just making matters worse. IT'S ONLY GROCERIES NOT BRAIN SURGERY SO WHAT IF A FEW AREAS AREN'T 100% ALL THE TIME- DON'T LET IT DEPRESS YOU - YOUR JOB SHOULD ONLY BE A SMALL PART OF YOUR LIFE NOT THE CENTER OF IT! BE HAPPY!
A month or so ago i spoke to the union rep about the harassment and belittlement, after speaking to the rep in about 20 minutes i was paged to the office and told that they didnt believe me, that we need to "look into the mirror" cause the employee says we treat her badly.
Looks like you missed one. At least we all know it's a female now. Transferring departments seems like the easiest fix if it possible. Or you could just try ignoring her, and refuse to do her work while doing only your own. She might move onto somebody else.
__________________
My posts on this site are mine and don't necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Kroger Co. family of stores.
Can I ask what department you two work in? It's easier to avoid people in some departments more than others... I mean it'd be hard to ignore someone in the bakery/deli/meat dept. but you could avoid them a lot better in grocery or dairy.
i would like to know the department too. i sympathize with your situation. i am in the same situation. i am in fuel. our department head is a constant problem. sick leaves are one of the most oved vacations for her. she takes two or three or more a year. we were short handed workin our butts off. overtime left and right. saw where she told someone she was in florida on vacation. management was told and he said it was her sick leave she can do as she pleases. she is also mental. suicides, crazy talk, just laziness. i actually thought this was someone in our department.lol. but i do feel for you. its been a constant struggle for four years for me atleast. the first two years i didnt know her because she supposedly injured herself at work and was on medical leave. two years! wow..management is not wanting her to try and sue again. she has twice. i cant believe it.
A month or so ago i spoke to the union rep about the harassment and belittlement, after speaking to the rep in about 20 minutes i was paged to the office and told that they didnt believe me, that we need to "look into the mirror" cause the employee says we treat her badly.
Looks like you missed one. At least we all know it's a female now. Transferring departments seems like the easiest fix if it possible. Or you could just try ignoring her, and refuse to do her work while doing only your own. She might move onto somebody else.
Well **** dropped the ball, sorrry. Trying to keep sex out of it, but regardless. I am in the meat department.
--
Also to the anon regarding her actually being injured. She wasn't and never has been, she found a man to live off of for a while. She is one of those people who love to always claim ****, for instance, all her kids have mental disease, but none that can measured, such as ADHD and the new buzz, "Autism" (i don't believe these disease even exist, its a discipline issue, i was diagnosed with autism and ADHD as a kid and it was just a excuse to drug the "child" out of me, but this is a entirely irrelevant issue). She has a small pain and is immediately "doctor shopping" till one gives her what she wants to go away. She is always talking about how the doctors she has been to are stupid and dont know what their doing, she can easily go to 10-15 different people till one just writes **** on paper to get her out.
So allow me to clarify, all this stuff she claims, is complete and fabricated lies.
Another thing that blows my mind, is she drives a car until something on it breaks, and has a new car the next day. Something stupid or simple, last one the tire went flat, she has about 4 cars in the parking lot broken down. Its ****ing crazy how she just gets a new one.
--
so as i was saying, im in meat. I rather not go into job details as I'm currently on my way up and don't want a lot of this on record. I may alter some time frames or details, but the facts are still there in their integrity.
If a employee actually loses 1/2 their seniority when they go on leave, this might be a way to resolve the issue, as she is literally stealing hours, time, and productivity from people who actually care.
Pretty much everyone in the department, as of yesterday, is refusing to bother with her unless its business or customer related, no one wants to talk to her, everyone is sick of it, and when i say everyone, i literally mean everyone. Me and about 3 or 4 others gave her a chance when she came back, thinking she has grown up, or she needed this, but in roughly a week she was back to her old ways, phone glued to her head. Department head started leaving lists for everyone so we had some semblance of organization, but she just does whatever she wants. A few days ago we refused to just do the list on her side, it was left, department head came in the next day, furious, not at us, he didn't say a word to us... he knows. But he was warned to let her be.
Honestly at this point I think she is having an affair with someone higher than store level. But this is all just speculation.
I do care about my job, significantly, more so than i really should, more so than what some might consider healthy. I take alot of pride in my cuts, im deeply worried about centralized cutting, after that happens we will all just be glorified stock boys. I feel like they are gonna take our livable wage and cutter premium. Alot of the older guys are jumping ship.
Sorry that all those thoughts are so scattered brained, i ended up writing it over a pretty big period of time, had priorities elsewhere in the house.
I honestly appreciate you guys brain storming and the information that has been provided thus forth.
Going off topic a bit but I'm curious, how can you not think autism exists?
I have a 21 year old cousin who is autistic and I don't think it's a "discipline issue" at all. All the "discipline" in the world won't change him.
I misspoke, i dont believe it exists in the quantity people think, a child who throws a fit, is autistic, a kid who has too much energy? OBVIOUSLY ADD. I dont believe it doesnt exist, i just dont believe it is as prevalent as people claim, i believe it is far more about children raising children and lack of discipline. After being one of the many cases of being diagnosed when it was nothing more than me being bored at school, as i am a kinesthetics learner, they tried to force me to believe i had a problems, if i ended up believing this it provides a perfect excuse for almost anything.
"sorry he hit you in the face, he is bipolar"
"Sorry he threw that at you, and started that fire, he is autistic"
"Sorry he wont sit stil for 9 hours a day in a chair, he has ADD"
I think its just a method to drug people into conformity, such as anti depressants, i went through a period in my life where i felt suicidal, i cried for no reason, i had no interest other than laying in bed, but i didnt need a pill to fix me, it was hard, and it took a long time, but i managed to lift myself, to contemplate life and its pursuits, why was i here? what was i doing? why should i do what i should do? Who am i? why am i? (I would like to note for me, religion was never a answer, not trying to start any debate or any form of conflict, but i managed to come to inner peace completely on my own)
I think its just a method to drug people into conformity, such as anti depressants, i went through a period in my life where i felt suicidal, i cried for no reason, i had no interest other than laying in bed, but i didnt need a pill to fix me, it was hard, and it took a long time, but i managed to lift myself, to contemplate life and its pursuits, why was i here? what was i doing? why should i do what i should do? Who am i? why am i? (I would like to note for me, religion was never a answer, not trying to start any debate or any form of conflict, but i managed to come to inner peace completely on my own)
None of this can be fixed with a pill.
Not everyone can find an inner peace by themselves. Sometimes it's just too all encompassing and there are meds that can help people.
I think its just a method to drug people into conformity, such as anti depressants, i went through a period in my life where i felt suicidal, i cried for no reason, i had no interest other than laying in bed, but i didnt need a pill to fix me, it was hard, and it took a long time, but i managed to lift myself, to contemplate life and its pursuits, why was i here? what was i doing? why should i do what i should do? Who am i? why am i? (I would like to note for me, religion was never a answer, not trying to start any debate or any form of conflict, but i managed to come to inner peace completely on my own)
None of this can be fixed with a pill.
Not everyone can find an inner peace by themselves. Sometimes it's just too all encompassing and there are meds that can help people.
We should get on topic, cause what i have to say about this would not be very well received.
We had an employee, once, like the one you are describing. They had put her on light duty, because she got hurt at work and was threatening to sue. She was pretty much doing anything she wanted and getting in everyone's way. I told her off one day because she took the spray bottle that I was cleaning with to use on one of her "projects". She gave me a little bit of attitude, so I told the supervisor. This supervisor said that she had been a thorn in everyone's side and to just bear with the situation for a while, hinting that she would be gone soon. I don't know what ever happened to her...
We had an employee, once, like the one you are describing. They had put her on light duty, because she got hurt at work and was threatening to sue. She was pretty much doing anything she wanted and getting in everyone's way. I told her off one day because she took the spray bottle that I was cleaning with to use on one of her "projects". She gave me a little bit of attitude, so I told the supervisor. This supervisor said that she had been a thorn in everyone's side and to just bear with the situation for a while, hinting that she would be gone soon. I don't know what ever happened to her...
After another incident recently where she destroyed a few hours worth of work (of mine) and then decided to stay for hours upon hours of overtime (without permission), i plan on confronting her in the most professional way i can. I plan on telling her that she seems to have some issues staying focused and it is hurting the rest of the team, i plan to offer her some advice on how to better stay focused on the task at hand and how to do these tasks in a more timely and professional manner.
If this fails ill just explain that she is detrimental to me, as i can only speak to myself, and that if it was my choice i'd think she would be better suited with another department, if not a entirely new company and that id prefer not to be spoken with unless it is business related.
If nothing else this should at the very least get her to either be overly aggressive, and more focus put on her, or leave me the hell alone. Or it could backfire and she could get resentful and spiteful and sabotage ****, but im not worried about this cause i have never once got in trouble for someone she has done to cancel out, destroy, or impede my work. Management asks (co managers) and i explain to them that she has impeded the work, and they tell me to do what i can.
yea I like your plan. the only other thing you might want to do is to have a memo ready to give to management stating that you feel you are in an unhealthy work environment because of this particular individual and that management needs to correct the situation for the better of all parties in a timely manner. if this is unachievable then you wish to be transferred to another department of your choosing. or some bullsh+t like that....
__________________
I am no longer part of the oppressed, evil workforce of Kroger! Can you say "Hallelujah"
yea I like your plan. the only other thing you might want to do is to have a memo ready to give to management stating that you feel you are in an unhealthy work environment because of this particular individual and that management needs to correct the situation for the better of all parties in a timely manner. if this is unachievable then you wish to be transferred to another department of your choosing. or some bullsh+t like that....
Id love to, but this is where I'm in between a rock and a hard place, if i request the transfer its already been stated i wont be promoted as fast as i would if i didn't, cause it would show some inability to work with people. Also management is scared of her, and would refuse to acknowledge a unhealthy work environment, or somehow "lose" my memo, in which case it would be a he said she said situation in which i claim management got it, and they claim they did not.
I need this promotion to survive, the sooner, the less likely i am to sink (i have no debt, i have no credit cards, i got a 740 credit score), but my income is to the penny of my bills, ie i have 3 dollars at the end of the month after everything, if i so much as even chip a tooth i sink.
I'm fortunate to still be in a district that hasn't been sold out by the unions yet, so i am looking at making a "livable" wage with this promotion, around 17-18$ a hour with time and a half OT and time and a half legal holidays.
Contract is soon so i need to get in before they sign my life away.
