The speaker announcement keeps on using the phrase "competitive wages." I'm half tempted to sue. I mean, how can minimum wage with union dues be considered competitive? It's literally the worst job you can get in the country money-wise (except for maybe commission).

Yeah, don't cha just love it? They should put a disclaimer on the end, "Actual experiences may differ by store"!

This one is worse than the one they played about cooking your pork til it was medium rare.

you for real... yeah they did

BagBoy wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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wageslave wrote:

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thedude wrote:

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hey wageslave - welcome to our forum. I just noticed your name. how do you see yourself as a slave to your wage? did they hold a gun to your head.

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 Well, let's see . . . I work 6 days a week to get 30 hours pay. (I usually work an extra day in a different department trying to survive.) It takes an extra 2 to 2.5 hours a day of commute time because I can't afford a car, and my one day off a week has to be spent doing all the errands I can't do on work days. Since that also has to be done on the bus, it takes the whole day. It doesn't leave much time for job hunting. The only jobs available in my area are part-time, minimum wage jobs anyway; and I've been at Kroger for 4 years and make a bit more than that, so I'd be losing money to take any of them (even 40 hours a week at minimum wage would be less than I'm making now.)

I'm over 50, have horrible credit because my husband has been out of work for most of the last 5 years, and can't get to most of the semi-decent jobs because their out in the burbs with no bus service. Throw in deteriorating health because I haven't been able to afford to see a doctor or take the medication I'm supposed to be on since I got downsized from the good job I used to have; and the physical stresses of being on my feet anywhere from 6 to 10 hours a day and constant blood sugar swings because I can't stop and eat when I need to, only when the customers stop long enough to get away . . . Now throw in an inability to afford actual nutritious food because we barely manage to pay rent and utilities (there have been a few weeks that I was actually eating dry cat food because that's all I could get.)

I am well and truly a slave to the wages I get, because I can't quit or I'll starve or wind up on the street, but I also can't count on a regular check so I can try to budget, either. Depending on what hours I'm allowed, whether they've screwed up my hours when they put them in, and if I've had to call out for some reason; my check can be anything from $0 to $250. (And depending on the most recent emergency, I may or may not be able to use that for bills and/or food. THIS week, we had to spend almost half of my check to take my husband to the dentist, and he lost a day's pay to go. He needs $1500 worth of dental surgery, which we can't get because we don't HAVE $1500, and don't have any way to get it.)

They don't have to hold a gun to our heads, we are all well and truly enslaved, no matter who we work for. At least if they actually owned us, they'd have some incentive to try to keep us alive and reasonably healthy, if only to protect their investment. The way it is now, there is no reason for them to give a sh*t what happens to us, because if one of us drops dead there's always another desperate person standing outside willing to take our place on the treadmill and keep the system going.

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 Quite possibly the best post ever here on the forums. I salute you.

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 You mean saddest, right?

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 Bagboy - I've actually left out the worst part of the story because I don't want or need anyone's pity (sympathy I'll accept any day, but don't pity me.)

The day after I took my husband to the dentist, I spoke to one of the co-managers about getting help from the emergency assistance fund to pay for the surgery. She immediately called HR to find out what the process is, and was told our HR person was in a meeting and would call back. When she finally got the call, she was told that the emergency fund was not intended to help pay for medical procedures that would be covered if we had insurance. It is only intended for "dire emergencies" like a death or hospitalization that makes it impossible to cover the bills.

Okay, wait a minute, let's take a look at this policy . . . I don't have insurance coverage for my husband because I'm a part time employee, and part-timers aren't allowed to cover dependents, only themselves. I'm part time because Kroger doesn't hire full time employees for non-management positions, and they've refused to make me full time every time I've asked, so he doesn't have insurance because of Kroger policies.

Next let's look at how dire this emergency actually is. My husband has an impacted wisdom tooth that MUST be surgically removed. There is no other option because it's completely covered by his gums. Every day that it's not removed, the pain levels increase, and his blood pressure levels increase as well. (The pain is ALREADY so bad that he was looking for the vise grip pliers so he could pull it himself, until he discovered that there wasn't anything he could get a grip on.) The higher the pain levels, the higher his blood pressure goes, and the more likely it is that he will stroke out or have a heart attack. As the pain levels climb, and the hope of getting relief drops, the chance of suicide also increases. In addition, every day that the tooth remains, the chance of abscess, bone loss, and permanent nerve damage increases, as does the possibility of blood poisoning or other deadly complications. Now add in the fact that the extreme pain wakes us both up multiple times a night, so neither of us has gotten more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night in days, and we're both suffering from sleep deprivation that is only going to get worse until he gets the necessary surgery. (I won't bore you with the effects of sleep deprivation on an already stressed body - if you're interested, you can always look it up.) A serious condition that almost inevitably leads to death if left untreated sounds pretty damn dire to me.

Basically, what *I* get out of this policy is: "If he dies because you can't afford to get him the surgery he needs and you can't find anyone that will help you, we'll consider helping you out with a few dollars; but we WON'T help you keep him alive." Do they actually understand how serious the situation is? Probably not. However, they won't even let me apply for help so that I can explain it to them, and that's not right at all.

Now, is he GOING to die? Not if I can help it. I WILL find a way to get him the surgery he needs. Will it be in time to prevent serious, long-term damage from being done to his body? Maybe, maybe not. That's really not the point anyway. The point is, the company that made $26.5 BILLION in 2011 (http://www.marke****ch.com/story/kroger-profits-rise-16-beats-estimates-2011-06-16 ) won't spend $1500 to save a man's life. The fact is, they could afford to give every one of the 334,000 employees they had in 2009 $1500, and still have $26 billion of that profit left. (You're welcome to do the math yourself, it's fairly simple, but here it is: $1500 times 334,000 employees works out to $501 million, or right about a half a billion.) WE made that profit for them, but we'll never see a penny of it; not in benefits, not in bonuses, not in raises, and not even in more hours. Now THAT is sad . . .

-- Edited by wageslave on Friday 25th of October 2013 10:25:36 PM

wageslave wrote:

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thedude wrote:

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hey wageslave - welcome to our forum. I just noticed your name. how do you see yourself as a slave to your wage? did they hold a gun to your head.

---

 Well, let's see . . . I work 6 days a week to get 30 hours pay. (I usually work an extra day in a different department trying to survive.) It takes an extra 2 to 2.5 hours a day of commute time because I can't afford a car, and my one day off a week has to be spent doing all the errands I can't do on work days. Since that also has to be done on the bus, it takes the whole day. It doesn't leave much time for job hunting. The only jobs available in my area are part-time, minimum wage jobs anyway; and I've been at Kroger for 4 years and make a bit more than that, so I'd be losing money to take any of them (even 40 hours a week at minimum wage would be less than I'm making now.)

I'm over 50, have horrible credit because my husband has been out of work for most of the last 5 years, and can't get to most of the semi-decent jobs because their out in the burbs with no bus service. Throw in deteriorating health because I haven't been able to afford to see a doctor or take the medication I'm supposed to be on since I got downsized from the good job I used to have; and the physical stresses of being on my feet anywhere from 6 to 10 hours a day and constant blood sugar swings because I can't stop and eat when I need to, only when the customers stop long enough to get away . . . Now throw in an inability to afford actual nutritious food because we barely manage to pay rent and utilities (there have been a few weeks that I was actually eating dry cat food because that's all I could get.)

I am well and truly a slave to the wages I get, because I can't quit or I'll starve or wind up on the street, but I also can't count on a regular check so I can try to budget, either. Depending on what hours I'm allowed, whether they've screwed up my hours when they put them in, and if I've had to call out for some reason; my check can be anything from $0 to $250. (And depending on the most recent emergency, I may or may not be able to use that for bills and/or food. THIS week, we had to spend almost half of my check to take my husband to the dentist, and he lost a day's pay to go. He needs $1500 worth of dental surgery, which we can't get because we don't HAVE $1500, and don't have any way to get it.)

They don't have to hold a gun to our heads, we are all well and truly enslaved, no matter who we work for. At least if they actually owned us, they'd have some incentive to try to keep us alive and reasonably healthy, if only to protect their investment. The way it is now, there is no reason for them to give a sh*t what happens to us, because if one of us drops dead there's always another desperate person standing outside willing to take our place on the treadmill and keep the system going.

---

 Quite possibly the best post ever here on the forums. I salute you.

Anonymous wrote:

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wageslave wrote:

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thedude wrote:

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hey wageslave - welcome to our forum. I just noticed your name. how do you see yourself as a slave to your wage? did they hold a gun to your head.

---

 Well, let's see . . . I work 6 days a week to get 30 hours pay. (I usually work an extra day in a different department trying to survive.) It takes an extra 2 to 2.5 hours a day of commute time because I can't afford a car, and my one day off a week has to be spent doing all the errands I can't do on work days. Since that also has to be done on the bus, it takes the whole day. It doesn't leave much time for job hunting. The only jobs available in my area are part-time, minimum wage jobs anyway; and I've been at Kroger for 4 years and make a bit more than that, so I'd be losing money to take any of them (even 40 hours a week at minimum wage would be less than I'm making now.)

I'm over 50, have horrible credit because my husband has been out of work for most of the last 5 years, and can't get to most of the semi-decent jobs because their out in the burbs with no bus service. Throw in deteriorating health because I haven't been able to afford to see a doctor or take the medication I'm supposed to be on since I got downsized from the good job I used to have; and the physical stresses of being on my feet anywhere from 6 to 10 hours a day and constant blood sugar swings because I can't stop and eat when I need to, only when the customers stop long enough to get away . . . Now throw in an inability to afford actual nutritious food because we barely manage to pay rent and utilities (there have been a few weeks that I was actually eating dry cat food because that's all I could get.)

I am well and truly a slave to the wages I get, because I can't quit or I'll starve or wind up on the street, but I also can't count on a regular check so I can try to budget, either. Depending on what hours I'm allowed, whether they've screwed up my hours when they put them in, and if I've had to call out for some reason; my check can be anything from $0 to $250. (And depending on the most recent emergency, I may or may not be able to use that for bills and/or food. THIS week, we had to spend almost half of my check to take my husband to the dentist, and he lost a day's pay to go. He needs $1500 worth of dental surgery, which we can't get because we don't HAVE $1500, and don't have any way to get it.)

They don't have to hold a gun to our heads, we are all well and truly enslaved, no matter who we work for. At least if they actually owned us, they'd have some incentive to try to keep us alive and reasonably healthy, if only to protect their investment. The way it is now, there is no reason for them to give a sh*t what happens to us, because if one of us drops dead there's always another desperate person standing outside willing to take our place on the treadmill and keep the system going.

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 Quite possibly the best post ever here on the forums. I salute you.

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 Be careful. We've got people willing to defend Kroger here harder than a right-wing extremist nutjob would defend his "country".

 

Bet he's doing it for his stocks.

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 Be careful. We've got people willing to defend Kroger here harder than a right-wing extremist nutjob would defend his "country".

 

Bet he's doing it for his stocks.

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 That's okay, they're just as entitled to their opinions as I am, and I think I can defend myself.

Anonymous wrote:

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Sure, corporate isn't holding guns to our heads, but they use the whole "at least YOU have a JOB" as a way of keeping the employees down under their whim.

 

 

The union? lol, what union? The one who collect fees in exchange for walking around the store doing nothing for two hours and never be seen again? Ha.

 

 

And to those who say "you don't have to work here if you don't like it", then do tell, how easy would it be to get hired if you've got 20+ other people thinking the same thing and applying for a competitive store?

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 Uh-oh. You're going to have certain full-timers on here jump you because you dared to speak the truth about the union. Don't you know people are forced to join the union for their own benefit? The union is as only good as the people in it? That you can lodge "complaints" when you don't get your way?

For a lot of people, there may be no other place to get a job. Maybe there's no other jobs, they don't have transportation, or whatever reason. A lot of people, some even on this forum, don't seem to care and will tell you it's your own fault.

I just noticed a hiring sign in our store.  the first bullet point is "competitive wages" ... in ATL under local 1996? 

They're currently holding a job fair here at my area. I'm upset about the fact that they do not mention the pay at all. So much for "competitive", eh?

 

 

And yes, I'd know. I was hired through a job fair myself, and none of the people doing the process tell you what the pay is until you ask about it when you're hired and called for training.

 

 

That's IF you're lucky enough to receive training and not just be tossed in with a department from the get-go.

Anonymous wrote:

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I like how "wage slave" basically blames Kroger for the state of his/her life.

You had to have known that Kroger doesn't hire for full time nor do they start out hire than minimum.  If you didn't figure that out on day one, than certainly within the first six months.  You have had plenty of opportunities to find something more suited to your lifestyle before the last four years passed.

To the rest of you who think it's funny to demean your employer in front of the person funding your paycheck (customers), don't show up for your next shift. We don't need you.  It actually just makes you look like an a-hole to those people.  Walmart will be more than happy to hire your kind.

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Hahahah, exactly like one of those people whom I've mentioned about before. xD

 

 

Seriously, get a life you extremist, union-sucking leech and get off your high horse.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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I like how "wage slave" basically blames Kroger for the state of his/her life.

You had to have known that Kroger doesn't hire for full time nor do they start out hire than minimum.  If you didn't figure that out on day one, than certainly within the first six months.  You have had plenty of opportunities to find something more suited to your lifestyle before the last four years passed.

To the rest of you who think it's funny to demean your employer in front of the person funding your paycheck (customers), don't show up for your next shift. We don't need you.  It actually just makes you look like an a-hole to those people.  Walmart will be more than happy to hire your kind.

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Hahahah, exactly like one of those people whom I've mentioned about before. xD

 

 

Seriously, get a life you extremist, union-sucking leech and get off your high horse.

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Absolutely I am.  But if you are really this miserable, what's stopping you from going out there and finding something that won't make you feel so jaded?  Seems like you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

If that last line was directed to me, you must not know me.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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I like how "wage slave" basically blames Kroger for the state of his/her life.

You had to have known that Kroger doesn't hire for full time nor do they start out hire than minimum.  If you didn't figure that out on day one, than certainly within the first six months.  You have had plenty of opportunities to find something more suited to your lifestyle before the last four years passed.

To the rest of you who think it's funny to demean your employer in front of the person funding your paycheck (customers), don't show up for your next shift. We don't need you.  It actually just makes you look like an a-hole to those people.  Walmart will be more than happy to hire your kind.

---

 

Hahahah, exactly like one of those people whom I've mentioned about before. xD

 

 

Seriously, get a life you extremist, union-sucking leech and get off your high horse.

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 I don't blame Kroger for the state of my life. Blame is a waste of time and energy, and doesn't help a damn thing. Sh*t happens and you deal with it. (And b*tching about it usually makes you feel better.) I DO however, blame them for lying to me. I was hired as a part-time employee, at minimum wage, and I've got no problem with that either. The problem is that I've been told over and over, "work hard, learn everything you can, and we'll make you full-time."

I can do everything in my department except the ordering, I'm basically the "closing manager" for the department, and usually work close 5 nights a week. (Before you jump my a$$ for complaining about working nights, I LIKE working close, and I prefer night shift.) If the department manager or assistant manager aren't available, *I'm* the one the cooks ask about how much they should cook so we don't have a lot of stuff left over when we shut down the hot bar, or whether to go ahead and put pack-outs on the wall or in the cooler for the next day. I'm the one people ask if they aren't sure whether a piece of meat is small enough to be thrown away, or if it should be re-wrapped and put away, or how much stuff to slice for the sandwich bar. I'm also the one they call to deal with customers if the managers are unavailable, and the one that comes in when someone calls out. I'm the one that points out that the floor needs swept, or the cooler door needs cleaned, or we have cookies that need to be boxed when things are slow, and the one that makes sure leftovers are marked down and put in the henhouse at the end of the night instead of being thrown away. I do the markdowns for the department on days that the managers don't have time to do it; can do truck; and help with stocking, rotation, and putting out or pulling sale tags whenever it's needed. I've worked with migraines so bad I was puking in the trash can, broken bones, and a sliced open hand so they wouldn't have to find someone to cover my shift, and I haven't called out in almost a year. I think by this point I've learned enough, and put in enough time and effort, to deserve full-time employment.

Apparently you missed (or ignored) the part of the post that talked about working 6 days a week not leaving much time for job hunting, as well as the bits about my age and the fact that the only available jobs in my area that I can actually GET to are retail jobs (basically, the same **** without the union, seniority and 4 years worth of raises.)

What I really like about your post though, is how you blame me for not going out and getting another job when there are 4 unemployed or underemployed people applying for every job posted, and the majority of openings are filled in-house without ever being advertised at all.

Still it couldn't hurt to TRY to apply at better places. I'm not saying it's easy - i'm just saying you shouldn't give up and be stuck with a job if you aren't happy with it.

Anonymous wrote:

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I like how "wage slave" basically blames Kroger for the state of his/her life.

You had to have known that Kroger doesn't hire for full time nor do they start out hire than minimum.  If you didn't figure that out on day one, than certainly within the first six months.  You have had plenty of opportunities to find something more suited to your lifestyle before the last four years passed.

To the rest of you who think it's funny to demean your employer in front of the person funding your paycheck (customers), don't show up for your next shift. We don't need you.  It actually just makes you look like an a-hole to those people.  Walmart will be more than happy to hire your kind.

---

 

 

How's Krogers ass taste? stfu.

 

And walmart? you mean the company that more often than not pays more than Kroger, yeah great logic.

4hourrush wrote:

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Still it couldn't hurt to TRY to apply at better places. I'm not saying it's easy - i'm just saying you shouldn't give up and be stuck with a job if you aren't happy with it.

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 Right. I didn't address the other four people you were talking about, but all I was saying is if you are really unhappy and feeling as though you aren't getting a fair shake, try to find something else.  At 30 hours per week, you have a little bit more time available than an averge full timer does.

Those who outwardly complain to customers about their working conditions probably shouldn't be employed. Anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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I like how "wage slave" basically blames Kroger for the state of his/her life.

You had to have known that Kroger doesn't hire for full time nor do they start out hire than minimum.  If you didn't figure that out on day one, than certainly within the first six months.  You have had plenty of opportunities to find something more suited to your lifestyle before the last four years passed.

To the rest of you who think it's funny to demean your employer in front of the person funding your paycheck (customers), don't show up for your next shift. We don't need you.  It actually just makes you look like an a-hole to those people.  Walmart will be more than happy to hire your kind.

---

 

 

How's Krogers ass taste? stfu.

 

And walmart? you mean the company that more often than not pays more than Kroger, yeah great logic.

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 Tastes great and feeds my family.  If that's true about Walmart, seems like you should be on such a forum complaining about them as an employer.

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Ramen noodles and krogers cheap red sugar water kool aid can only get you so far. Pretty sure your family would want more than that.

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 They get plenty more than that. Maybe someday, you will too!

Anonymous wrote:

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Now, if they set up some sort of rainy-day fund to help the employees with the most need, then that'll be nice.

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There actually is an "Emergency Assistance" fund for associates - However, you either have to know it exists, or be desperate enough to go to your manager and ask if there is one, because they don't make any effort to let us know it's there. Then it's almost impossible for your particular emergency to qualify . . .  The majority of financial emergencies involve medical expenses, but the fund is "not intended to assist with medical expenses that should be covered by insurance." (According to the HR rep for our store.) This means you're pretty well screwed, because the biggest reason our expenses aren't covered by insurance is that as a part-time employee, I can't cover dependents, only Kroger won't hire full-time employees, or ever make part-timers full-time.

 

The other reason that was given was, "it's intended to help in cases of "dire" emergencies like death or hospitalization that make you unable to pay your bills." The problem is, when someone I know lost her husband and asked for help with the part of the bill their insurance didn't cover, she was told to take the money out of her 401K . . . She doesn't HAVE a 401K, because she makes less than $200 a week. If she put part of that into a retirement account, she wouldn't be able to pay her bills NOW. Even if she had one, an early withdrawal would cost her a "penalty for early withdrawal" as well as a huge chunk for income taxes on the increased income for the year.

 **EDIT - I was wrong about them not making any effort to let us know about the emergency assistance money. There's a page on greatpeople.me that talks about it. I was just randomly browsing the various links, clicking on all of them to see what they were when I found it.**

-- Edited by wageslave on Saturday 2nd of November 2013 06:33:33 PM