I've worked for Kroger for almost six years now and in those six years, I've helped out at a few other stores besides my home store. It seems in the past couple of years, maybe the past year in particular, employees have become less and less hesitant to freely and openly complain and bicker (among each other) about management, other employees, the workload, understaffing, overall store conditions, etc... while out on the sales floor where customers can hear and see it all. Before, a majority of the complaining and anger/frustration over how poorly Kroger treats its workers and mismanages its day-to-day store operations was restricted to the backroom/break room/upstairs, but now, it's seemingly increasingly out in the open, for all to see and hear. It's not just where I work, either, it seems.
Yesterday, for example, I stopped in a Kroger store other than the one I work at to pick up a guy I used to work with to give him a ride home after his shift. He jumped ship from the store I'm at now due to verbally abusive management, among other things that are truly screwed up at my store (and I assume at most other stores, too). I was early, so I hung around in the main entrance a bit and browsed over at the big "Now Hiring!" display to just see how bad this particular store was in need of help (suffice to say, to save time, the person that listed all the openings should have just put now hiring for all positions... because pretty much every position was listed, anyway lol). Anyhow, a courtesy clerk in his late teens that had just brought some carts in walked up to me and asked me if I was thinking about putting an application in and working here. Before I could say anything, he continued and said, "don't. This place sucks. Management doesn't care about us." I was kind of shocked how freely he expressed himself, lol. When I told him that I already work at another Kroger store, he really let it out then, lol, again out in the open where any passing customer could hear.
One of the grocery guys at my store keeps talking about him and one of the co's are fixing to "go at it" and "exchange blows" because the co-manager keeps getting on him constantly for stuff that he says is out of his control and while he didn't seem to be joking, I don't think he'd actually hit the co-manager, but with how angry and frustrated people are getting at my store... who knows what this bad morale could lead to.
I try to watch my tongue when I'm out on the sales floor, and while I'm probably better at doing so than a lot of my other co-workers, I can't say I haven't slipped up from time to time. It's getting more and more noticeable at my store, though, with even department heads and management openly out on the sales floor going at it with other employees/complaining how terrible things look/are in the store.
Has really, really low morale at your store led to employees no longer caring what customers hear?
I've worked for Kroger for almost six years now and in those six years, I've helped out at a few other stores besides my home store. It seems in the past couple of years, maybe the past year in particular, employees have become less and less hesitant to freely and openly complain and bicker (among each other) about management, other employees, the workload, understaffing, overall store conditions, etc... while out on the sales floor where customers can hear and see it all. Before, a majority of the complaining and anger/frustration over how poorly Kroger treats its workers and mismanages its day-to-day store operations was restricted to the backroom/break room/upstairs, but now, it's seemingly increasingly out in the open, for all to see and hear. It's not just where I work, either, it seems.
Yesterday, for example, I stopped in a Kroger store other than the one I work at to pick up a guy I used to work with to give him a ride home after his shift. He jumped ship from the store I'm at now due to verbally abusive management, among other things that are truly screwed up at my store (and I assume at most other stores, too). I was early, so I hung around in the main entrance a bit and browsed over at the big "Now Hiring!" display to just see how bad this particular store was in need of help (suffice to say, to save time, the person that listed all the openings should have just put now hiring for all positions... because pretty much every position was listed, anyway lol). Anyhow, a courtesy clerk in his late teens that had just brought some carts in walked up to me and asked me if I was thinking about putting an application in and working here. Before I could say anything, he continued and said, "don't. This place sucks. Management doesn't care about us." I was kind of shocked how freely he expressed himself, lol. When I told him that I already work at another Kroger store, he really let it out then, lol, again out in the open where any passing customer could hear.
One of the grocery guys at my store keeps talking about him and one of the co's are fixing to "go at it" and "exchange blows" because the co-manager keeps getting on him constantly for stuff that he says is out of his control and while he didn't seem to be joking, I don't think he'd actually hit the co-manager, but with how angry and frustrated people are getting at my store... who knows what this bad morale could lead to.
I try to watch my tongue when I'm out on the sales floor, and while I'm probably better at doing so than a lot of my other co-workers, I can't say I haven't slipped up from time to time. It's getting more and more noticeable at my store, though, with even department heads and management openly out on the sales floor going at it with other employees/complaining how terrible things look/are in the store.
Has really, really low morale at your store led to employees no longer caring what customers hear?
was the store you visited in the midsouth division by chance? The sign you described is also at my store. They sure seem desperate for people- at least it seems that way!
What you described sounds about right; we talk about it a lot. I think part of the reason we discuss it openly is because the customer doesn't see the bad, they only hear good things, so to hear how things really are could change their perspective.
No, I'm not in the mid-south. I think most Kroger stores have signs like these up in the entrances, so it's no wonder it sounded familiar to you.
I honestly don't think the majority of the people that shop at Kroger care whether we're happy or not. We have customers that supposedly hate our store (they complain endlessly in person and then go home and type out a hate-filled essay when they take the survey which shows up on the receipt tracker) yet for some unknown reason keep coming back even though they could easily shop elsewhere. Regardless of what their perspective is of Kroger or its employees, they seem to keep coming back time and again.
The irony. Kroger, where Manager, Worker, and Customer all hate the store but are compelled for some reason to show up.
Part of that freedom of speech can be attributed to being a union setting as well. A union rep or steward worth their salt would probably be able to thwart punishment for such a comment.
As the existence of this forum does indicate, Kroger inspires a very particular kind of bad work environment.
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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.
The Associate Handbook forbids speaking negatively of our fine, upstanding employer, yet one of the company's core values is Honesty. Just a tad in conflict, don't you think, and it would be interesting to see it adjudicated through the grievance process.
. . . to hear how things really are could change their perspective.
It could, and there are many folks who do want to make ethical consumer decisions.
Why should a company have to be forced to do the right things, though? This corporation could choose to lead with more living wages for more associates and by providing a safe, humane work environment; you know, might just be good for business.
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Anonymous
Date:
RE: Are employees at your store becoming more vocal about their dissatisfaction with Kroger in front of customers?
A customer and I were talking about how it was much friendlier lately to go in the Walmart(mostly white) near us and she said I bet it is because their part timers get paid better than yours. At least one or two of our customers are not complete idiots. But yeah most customers don't care about friendliness they just want their stuff in stock and no waits.
But yeah most customers don't care about friendliness they just want their stuff in stock and no waits.
I'm starting to think this is very true. Looking at customer comments, there are several about friendliness of employees, but most are negative about out of stocks. It's a shame because we really don't have as much control of these as they think we do. Warehouse scratches and misspicks make up a good amount of OOS. Even if we do have the product, we don't have the manpower to keep the shelves filled.
Don't forget that not only do we not control a large number of those out of stocks and the customers are ignorant of that, but Kroger high command also is ignorant of that. There is some disconnect where they don't have anything connecting out of stocks and warehouse not shipping good to the store. All stocking issues are, by default, assumed to be the fault of whomever ordered. Laughable when one can watch a sale week go by where product hasn't been shipped to the store for the whole sale period, causing an empty shelf.
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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.
I have had it the opposite---I have a very vocal regular customer who gets upset when I have to be by myself on the lot at night. She wanted to call Corporate and file a complaint. I reassured her I was fine.
I have had it the opposite---I have a very vocal regular customer who gets upset when I have to be by myself on the lot at night. She wanted to call Corporate and file a complaint. I reassured her I was fine.
We need more customers like her. If more customers were like her, Kroger would be forced to give in to the pressure and actually make an effort to staff its stores properly.
Don't forget that not only do we not control a large number of those out of stocks and the customers are ignorant of that, but Kroger high command also is ignorant of that. There is some disconnect where they don't have anything connecting out of stocks and warehouse not shipping good to the store. All stocking issues are, by default, assumed to be the fault of whomever ordered. Laughable when one can watch a sale week go by where product hasn't been shipped to the store for the whole sale period, causing an empty shelf.
That's why I keep track of everything I order. I work in the bakery department. Whenever I need to have something ordered, I write it down in a notebook with the date it gets ordered. The bakery manager or someone else, sometimes me, will then order whatever is written down. I've had the worst time lately trying to get in the right Labrea and Private Selection Artisan breads. Stuff is either scratched, or it's mispicked, or it doesn't even show up on the bills even though ISP says it was ordered. So if someone asks why are we out of something, I can show them the notebook saying the item was ordered but the warehouse screwed up.
We need more customers like her. If more customers were like her, Kroger would be forced to give in to the pressure and actually make an effort to staff its stores properly.
