I'm going to post anonymously. Anyway, I've been dealing with an on-going conflict with the company for a considerable duration of time. I'm twenty-one and have had the fortunate privilege of representing the company for approximately nine months. I absolutely adore the concept of working and have always revered those who work diligently and possess a high degree of integrity. Heck, I guess you could say I even enjoy working at kroger (Shocker, right?) However, lately it appears as if my boss has developed some animosity towards me. I work in the meat department, am always on time and never called in a single time so far. I would like to re-iterate that I am a highly self-sufficent worker and am capable of handling the department. my department mangers motto has always been "work intelligent but dont work too hard, and she has a tendency to criticize her employees based on personal taste. My department has co-workers who are, to put it simply, perfectionists in every aspect of the word. for whatever reason, they set a high standard and expectation, and for a person like me, even though i consider myself a good worker, makes me look worse in comparison.
I'm actually considerably worried that I might be fired very soon, and it seems like it all started when I got a "Significant incident report" for supposedly failing to clean the meat room. Now I know, maybe I think I should have been given a significant incident report anyway (is that even a write up or an acknowledgement that an incident has happened?) , which I understand, and I won't proceed to use any excuses. That was about two months ago but since then it has gotten worse. My boss has become increasingly agitated with me, every move I make and decision I tend to follow through with is micromanaged, and it seems like my boss is oblivious to the good work I do now and pays more attention to my faults more than ever. The other day she said she would write me up for a minor mistake such as leaving empty boxes in the bunker in my department, and that i left some meat in the meat room cwhich apparently is only supposed to go all the way back in the cooler. She keeps saying "I dont know what im going to do with you" and "you need to focus and stop apologizing, you sound like a broken record" even though I have held myself accountable and agreed to improve myself. my relationship with my manager has always been on a professional level, and she used to say bye when she was clocking out for work, but today and the days before she didn't even say bye to me. (warning sign of termination?)
She has put an emphasis on my work in terms of quality and tells me to THINK and FOCUS, and has been telling me to do so. lately all I have heard from her has been negativity despite my attempt to prevent the mistakes i have made. So today, I was working with a new employee who was hired and He made a crucial mistake the night before because i worked with him then as well. My boss questioned me about over-filling the bunkers with product, and for some inexplicably ridiculous reason, I took the blame for him. I don't know why I did it, I guess i just got so used to accepting responsibility for nearly everything. but the worse part was that my co-worker was standing right next to me and she asked me "did i do this?" My coworker said nothing, he didn't correct me and say "well actually to eb honest I did that." he just shut his mouth and let me speak. I feel really stupid for doing that, but I guess i just didnt wan't him to get in trouble. so later in the day, my boss and the store manager are talking to me, and they tell me start focusing and thinking. they put such a strong emphasis on the focus adn think part, talking about all the mistakes i have made and almost warning me to not screw up again supposedly or else. it was almost like they were threatening me to FOCUS or be fired. talking about how they are going to write me up.
so I have a question to ask.
Do they have to sit me down in the office to tell me I've been written up and have a document in front of my face for that to count as a write up?
or are they able to just write me up and tell me face to face without any written documentation?
how far along the termination continuum would you say I am? and lastly, do you think I am going to get fired based on what I stated?
I really don't want to get fired. I work so hard to make sure my family has money to buy food, because my dad is unemployed and my mom literally needs to borrow money from me so we have food in the fridge. I just can't take this.
If you were going to be written up, you would be taken into the manager's office. There would be written documentation as well. i would suggest if this does occur, request your union representative, unless you union steward is well informed and will back you. DO NOTsign anything. Perhaps working in another department would be beneficial too.
Thanks for the response, I highly appreciate it! Not to sound cheesy, but comments like yours still give me hope that there are people who still sympathize for the employee and not big business. I don't have a highly cynical mentality, but I do believe that with this job, you are highly expendable. at this point I just want to make sure my family can eat and live less stressed, my mother is getting older and I don't want to supply her with a heavy burden she can't afford to take on.
I had no intention of initially signing any document, if I get sent into the office I will begin by stating "I would like my union representative to stand beside me before I read & sign this document." I'm going in today to receive my pay for the week, then head into work the next day for an 8 hour shift. Again, thanks for the comment.
Just be thankful you work in a union store and have someone that can stick up for you. In my store i have seen people get fired for not filling U-boats all the way up with water. When they state that they are too heavy to push while full and they'll come back and get more if needed everyone in management go's into an uproar. I actually got told to "grow some muscles" once, when lack of muscles wasn't the problem, it was an injured back that i told them about when hired! Just FYI, that store is #73 and i do the work of 4 people in the grocery department and actually run the department in the evenings from 4p-12am because im the only one in grocery at that time. Get this, i only get paid $7.60/hr!
I'm currently having a problem with a co-manager that just came to the store recently. I ended up getting a verbal written warning by which I do not agree with since I was working my butt off with steam orders. We were getting alot of traffic and stupid questions and requests... anyhow the counter was a wreck and I told my inexperienced co-worker who hasn't worked fresh meat often to stop working frozen and help me get things in order. Well by the time I had seafood broken down and the cutting room cleaned it was already time to go. They called me up there and told me that it was unacceptable for the department to look like that even though I explained the situation to them and they actually wrote me up. I'm going to fax a copy over to my union representative tomorrow of the written verbal to get it thrown out. My coworker will also be getting one too. I just think its bull crap because they make me feel like im being lazy which isn't the case. If I don't have something out its because I ran out of time. If thats the case and I keep getting written up im going to exercise my seniority and take another meat cutters schedule to avoid night time work. His schedule is basically 6 -2 everyday except one day where he works 12 -8.
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My Views and Opinions do not reflect that of the Kroger company. I'm an indivdual expressing my 1st amendment right.
