I was hired in January to work part time in produce. I did all the paperwork and was being trained. My third shift, my high school aged trainer called off last minute because he had a school project due so I was left by myself to run produce with no training and no assistance whatsoever for a 5 hour shift.
A week later I got this flu going around and called off appropriately twice and was fired. They said it didn't matter that I was sick, that it was company policy to fire anyone who calls off on probation. I'm more than a little stunned. I'm retired from working for the state of Ohio, I only had two jobs in the past 30 years. This seems pretty unreasonable especially when people are dying from this flu and I was working with produce.
It just goes to show that you have people in management positions that simply don't belong in such positions. A good manager would not only understand, but want, you to call in when sick because if you come to work with the flu, you could get other employees sick. On top of that, you would be working around fresh fruit and vegetables while sick. And on top of all that, the perception is just plain bad for business. How does it look to customers who are shopping the department if one of the guys stocking the fresh fruits and vegetables is coughing, sneezing, and so on? But nope, the brain dead empty suits running a lot of Kroger stores nowadays and the company in general would rather you show up regardless of what viruses/germs you might be carrying. This is why so many Kroger stores have so many problems these days.
So yeah, it is kinda normal for Kroger to have incompetent, short-sighted managers making stupid decisions like this one regularly. It sucks, yeah, but unfortunately you have no options here. Good luck elsewhere, though. At least the odds are strongly in your favor that you'll make more money elsewhere.
Unfortunately, yes. You can be let go for anything during your probation period. After that, its hard for Kroger to fire you. Sounds like you just had an asshat manager.
