I know that Kroger hasn't ever been good about hiring competent people, but it's gotten way worse here recently. Here are some of the geniuses that my store has hired in the past month:
- Cashier who is leaving in less than a month and can only work 12-16 hours a week for "medical reasons"
- 3 different dairy people who never got trained. They don't know how to do anything other than put stuff on the shelves (which they still mess up a lot). If you have something that you need them to do in their department (such as check if they have something in the back or pulling expired tags), you are best off doing it yourself.
- Fuel center person who calls the desk 5 times a day asking dumb questions. Stuff like how to put in a birthday on cigarettes. She'll ask the same question multiple times in a week. I've worked less than an hour in the fuel center ever and I can answer 99% of her questions.
- Bagger who doesn't talk. He yells. It doesn't matter if he is 3 feet away from a customer, he'll yell at/to them. He's been talked to it just about daily and nothing changes.
- Bagger who can't do anything but bag. If he is pushing carts, he'll complain that they are stuck and make us do them. If he is checking the rest rooms and there is something wrong (trash can full, mess on the floor, out of paper towels), he'll come and ask for help. If he's cleaning up a mess, he'll make it worse.
- Drug GM girl who doesn't know anything. My store has a lot of summer stuff (patio furniture, coolers, etc.) where we keep most of it in the back. If you call her and check, she'll come back 10 minutes later saying she can't find it. She also comes up front sometimes and tries to bag (which is against union contract, so we always send her back and tell her that she is never allowed to bag) and sometimes even answers our phone.
Does anyone else have these problems? We've always had those 1 in 100 awful employees, but it seems like they are getting worse and way more frequent.
I know that Kroger hasn't ever been good about hiring competent people, but it's gotten way worse here recently. Here are some of the geniuses that my store has hired in the past month:
- Cashier who is leaving in less than a month and can only work 12-16 hours a week for "medical reasons"
- 3 different dairy people who never got trained. They don't know how to do anything other than put stuff on the shelves (which they still mess up a lot). If you have something that you need them to do in their department (such as check if they have something in the back or pulling expired tags), you are best off doing it yourself.
- Fuel center person who calls the desk 5 times a day asking dumb questions. Stuff like how to put in a birthday on cigarettes. She'll ask the same question multiple times in a week. I've worked less than an hour in the fuel center ever and I can answer 99% of her questions.
- Bagger who doesn't talk. He yells. It doesn't matter if he is 3 feet away from a customer, he'll yell at/to them. He's been talked to it just about daily and nothing changes.
- Bagger who can't do anything but bag. If he is pushing carts, he'll complain that they are stuck and make us do them. If he is checking the rest rooms and there is something wrong (trash can full, mess on the floor, out of paper towels), he'll come and ask for help. If he's cleaning up a mess, he'll make it worse.
- Drug GM girl who doesn't know anything. My store has a lot of summer stuff (patio furniture, coolers, etc.) where we keep most of it in the back. If you call her and check, she'll come back 10 minutes later saying she can't find it. She also comes up front sometimes and tries to bag (which is against union contract, so we always send her back and tell her that she is never allowed to bag) and sometimes even answers our phone.
Does anyone else have these problems? We've always had those 1 in 100 awful employees, but it seems like they are getting worse and way more frequent.
1. Do you believe it's not for medical reasons? He might have just had surgery.
2. How the hell does a dairy with 3 untrained people even exist? They likely just need some help from the lead on how to scan backstock and check for holes.
3. Learn that phone number and do not answer it.
4. Does this person have a mental disorder? A lot of baggers do.
5. Just let nature run its course. This asshat will never move on to anything worthwhile. He will likely be promoted to cashier due to a union mandated promotion and stay there until he dies.
6. This I don't get. Bagging isn't banned in ANY cotract. Cashiering, yes. But bagging? What is it a skilled trade?
I know that Kroger hasn't ever been good about hiring competent people, but it's gotten way worse here recently. Here are some of the geniuses that my store has hired in the past month:
- Cashier who is leaving in less than a month and can only work 12-16 hours a week for "medical reasons"
- 3 different dairy people who never got trained. They don't know how to do anything other than put stuff on the shelves (which they still mess up a lot). If you have something that you need them to do in their department (such as check if they have something in the back or pulling expired tags), you are best off doing it yourself.
- Fuel center person who calls the desk 5 times a day asking dumb questions. Stuff like how to put in a birthday on cigarettes. She'll ask the same question multiple times in a week. I've worked less than an hour in the fuel center ever and I can answer 99% of her questions.
- Bagger who doesn't talk. He yells. It doesn't matter if he is 3 feet away from a customer, he'll yell at/to them. He's been talked to it just about daily and nothing changes.
- Bagger who can't do anything but bag. If he is pushing carts, he'll complain that they are stuck and make us do them. If he is checking the rest rooms and there is something wrong (trash can full, mess on the floor, out of paper towels), he'll come and ask for help. If he's cleaning up a mess, he'll make it worse.
- Drug GM girl who doesn't know anything. My store has a lot of summer stuff (patio furniture, coolers, etc.) where we keep most of it in the back. If you call her and check, she'll come back 10 minutes later saying she can't find it. She also comes up front sometimes and tries to bag (which is against union contract, so we always send her back and tell her that she is never allowed to bag) and sometimes even answers our phone.
Does anyone else have these problems? We've always had those 1 in 100 awful employees, but it seems like they are getting worse and way more frequent.
I'll be honest with you. I need cash coming in pretty bad, and the weekly checks WERE nice. But I couldn't go back to Front End (at least, at 'my' store) and work for the witch that was my boss. A different department, possibly. I'd even work stocking at night. But Kroger has trouble keeping employees for a reason.
Not necessarily because they are 'awful' in screening, but because people get in, see how the employees are treated as commodities rather than employees, blink in disbelief at the paycheck numbers and end up asking themselves how come they didn't see the responsibilities vs. what the company wants before they decided to try to find a job there.
Yea some of it is people getting in who shouldn't get in. But it's about 50-50 when it comes down to it.
6. This I don't get. Bagging isn't banned in ANY cotract. Cashiering, yes. But bagging? What is it a skilled trade?
Some of the union contracts forbid bagging based on conditions or circumstances, but I'm not entirely sure where or why. But since Kroger never hires Front End or works out hours well enough you are always going to get Floral, Dairy, Drug GM, even Produce coming up to bag.
6. This I don't get. Bagging isn't banned in ANY cotract. Cashiering, yes. But bagging? What is it a skilled trade?
Some of the union contracts forbid bagging based on conditions or circumstances, but I'm not entirely sure where or why. But since Kroger never hires Front End or works out hours well enough you are always going to get Floral, Dairy, Drug GM, even Produce coming up to bag.
When you consider the sheer amount of baggers the call in or mill around doing a shltty job, it is almost a guarantee that someone from another department will be pulled up to bag. That a union would even have the audacity to forbid people from serving customers in such a basic form is both shocking and further proof of their obsolence.
