I ask this because of my son's experience there. We live so near to Kroger that we treat it like a 7-11. Not only do we buy most of our groceries there, but most of our gas, all of our prescriptions, etc...But I'm thinking that maybe I should take my business elsewhere because of a recent experience my son had there.
He interviewed & was offered a job there on May 10th. In the interview where he really connected with his interviewer ("Leo"), and was asked about his plans for the future, and (maybe too) enthusiastically disclosed his plans for our family vacation in August, and his plans to attend college in the fall. Leo, who is apparently no longer with this Kroger, was apparently okay with it, and suggested that he might be able to transfer to one of Kroger's newly acquired Harris Teeter stores after he moves. He was hired, took and passed all of the required background checks, etc.., and was told they would be contacting him soon to notify him of his official start date. But instead they strung him along for well over a month. He had to call to confirm his hiring several times, which Kroger did, but he didnt actually start until this week. He successfully completed Kroger's lengthy 2 day training program and showed up for his 1st day of actual work on time today. He was in the process of being introduced to his new coworkers, when he was called into the manager's office where they informed him that they didn't realize he would be leaving for college in the fall, and that they had erred in hiring him, then let him go.
This may be an honest mistake on the part of Kroger, but I'm still more than a little angry that they strung him along for well over a month, which undermined his ability to get a summer job elsewhere this late in the summer. And then after putting him through the lengthy training program, let him go for something he readily disclosed in the very 1st interview. I called "Marla" to get Kroger's side of the story, but she very curtly informed me that she was prohibited from discussing it with me because Ben is 18, which is entirely understandable. But she was also pretty rude, and practically hung up on me. It isn't exactly how I expected to be treated by a business where I literally spend thousands of dollars a year.
My question is this...Is this an isolated incident, essentially an honest mistake on the part of Kroger? Or is this how they normally treat their employees?
I'm not sure what to tell you. At our store we have so many employees that go to high school and they work around their school schedules. Then when summer comes the get different or more hours because they are out of school. We also have employees who work during the summer only, then go to college and return to their same position during holidays and summer. I'm in the Southwest Division. It appears that it's this one managers decision since your son was told it was ok during his interview. What they've done to your son is definitely wrong, I just don't know how you should pursue it. Hopefully someone will come along with some good advice for you. I would fight it, I just don't know how.
He was on his probation as it was his third day of work. It's not morale or honorable that they let him go just after training him but they were within their rights to do so. The fact that they screwed your son out of several thousand dollars after telling him that they would be able to work around his schedule is appalling at the very least.
You being "hung up on" after being told that there was nothing they could tell you is just you being huffy. Frustration understandable.
You're well within your rights to take your business elsewhere and everyone here would understand if you did so.
Sorry you had a bad experience... all I can offer you is that, however.
-- Edited by BagBoy on Friday 19th of June 2015 02:53:22 PM
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Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
The waiting a month thing is not abnormal, most people wait at the very least a few weeks. From what I understand, corporate HR needs to do a lot of stuff so you will always be stuck waiting.
I would have your son call the corporate HR people. Your store has made it clear they will not be hiring him, and since he is 18, they can't talk to you. It's a bad situation but I don't think anyone acted maliciously.
He could also call the store and talk to whoever fired him. Between the drug test, the uniform, the time of the in store people, and the time of corporate HR, they have hundreds of dollars invested in him. Once they've done that, it seems kind of silly to stop there when he is ready to work. Kroger usually doesn't treat their employees extremely well, although I can't say that this is normal. Usually they will take all the help they will get.
He was on his probation as it was his third day of work.
-- Edited by BagBoy on Friday 19th of June 2015 02:53:22 PM
It was not his third day. His hire date was way before that however if his contract is 45 days probation then yeah, he was just inside probation. But this is BS. I can't imagine why they did this unless they over hired.
What they did was crap but do you really want to fight for your son to work for a place like that? Also, I understand you are his mom and want to help/protect him but he is 18 and will hit a lot of bumps in the road in life and this one isn't worth bringing out the mother bear in you.
It is still bull****, even if he was still on probation.
It just sounds like they just didn't want to deal with the fact that they hired someone who will have a conflict in scheduling. Education will ALWAYS > Kroger.
One question though. Since he got strung along for a month, why didn't he just chalk it up as a loss and look for another job elsewhere? It's also still early enough to where he can get hired somewhere else, but if it's in retail, that trip might mess up his chances. :(
If someone screwed my kid over like that I'd be damned if I ever shopped there again. Had Leo just said no, OP's son could have used that month to look for another job. If your son is 18, let him know that warehouses usually have room for box throwers on all shifts. He might be able to swing $10 an hour and have a job that keeps him in shape.
In my experience, Kroger isn't a bad company. Maybe it's just my store, but I haven't had those issues. Regarding your situation in particular, unless you have any reason to believe otherwise, I'd assume there was an error in communication somewhere and details didn't get passed along that should have been. No business wants to tie up a position just to screw with someone for fun, not when they can hire someone they're actually planning on keeping. So it seems unlikely there was intentional malice on the part of the company. It sounds more likely that HR put him in, but a department manager didn't want to, and somewhere there was a mix-up.
Now, is Kroger a good place to work if you're looking to make good money? No. It's great for a first-time job (Everyone should have to work at least a year in Retail tbh). If you can impress them early on, there's potential to move up and make real money, if you can get on the clerk pay scale. Otherwise, it's best used as a job to gain experience so you can go elsewhere.
It isn't exactly how I expected to be treated by a business where I literally spend thousands of dollars a year.
The problem is, companies get a lot of people trying to scam information. We've done that with people calling up about certain things too, where we tell them the policy and hang up. It's not that we want to be assy to our customers, it's just that we know a lot of people out there call with bad intentions. You also have to consider the individual who answered the phone and talked to you. They may simply be really busy. It's hard to say. If you really want answers, I suggest going in there with your son and (being polite about it) ask to speak to their HR person and just explain to them your confusion with the situation.
As long as you're polite and show that you're just confused about what happened and that you feel like he was strung along, they'll likely take a few minutes to talk to you about it.
I remember a few years ago in the meat dept they would hire people and train them and not give them any hours. But Kroger can be a good place to work if you have the right management and team behind you.
