I would say "forgiving" as long as your attendance isn't an issue the other days. If Winter storms are an issues, make sure you offer to always work the "Snow Scares" before the snow hits.
I have had associates call off because the roads are bad that live 5 minutes down the street, but the person that lives 1 hour away made it to work.
I think my store managers and even DH are pretty understanding about the winter weather at my store. As I don't think they have much choice as we have so many people that don't even live in town working at my store. Heck it would actually surprise me if I could even count 5 of us that live in town.
Not to mention so many live out in the country and so forth. So as long as they at least call to let someone know they will be some kind of late or something. Then it's all good. As it's not like they can really expect you to be there in your usual time span when everything is uber iced over and you have to drive so carefully.
And yet, at the same time. If you know you are in an area where things can get pretty bad. I'd definitely make sure to be on top of the weather alerts and if you can try and leave out earlier than usual. What I've always had to do myself actually, being in a small town that doesn't have the best salt trucks in the area. And with me living 15 to 20 mins away from my store. And having to go a route that has a bunch of hills and sharp curves. Very advisable for me to get out earlier the better.
I think it depends on your dept manager really. My manager at the time was super chill and laid back. I called in twice last winter when the snow was bad because I am not that experienced driving in snow and ice and frankly a job at Kroger is not worth my life or getting into a bad car accident. However, there were other days that were just a tad icy where I didnt call in but got to work and realized I was one of the very few employees who showed up that day we had probably less than half of our employees on bad snow/ice days So Id say overall it doesnt really matter if you dont feel safe driving to work.
I would say "forgiving" as long as your attendance isn't an issue the other days. If Winter storms are an issues, make sure you offer to always work the "Snow Scares" before the snow hits.
I have had associates call off because the roads are bad that live 5 minutes down the street, but the person that lives 1 hour away made it to work.
The problem is the main roads and highways can be clear while the neighborhood streets are impassable. So I can see why someone who lives an hour away has no trouble getting to work while a person who lives only 5 minutes away is unable to. If you can't even get out of your own subdivision, it doesn't matter how clear the main roads are.
At my old Kroger a few years ago, people who lived in town had a harder time getting to work in snowy weather. This was because our city at the time had half the snowplow fleet broken down and they were doing a terrible clearing the roads. Most of the people who lived outside of city limits had 4 wheel drive vehicles.
How "forgiving" Kroger is in regards to not being able to come in during bad, winter weather will vary from store to store because it comes down to what kind of management a store has and also what kind of department head you have.
About five years back, we had a really bad snow storm and I had to call in two days in a row. The store was okay with it and didn't try to make me feel guilty about it.
About two years ago, after I had transferred to another Kroger store, I again had to call in for a day due to bad winter weather. Again, no problem.
That being said, I'm sure there are managers/department heads out there that will pressure you to come in/threaten you if you don't. I've just been fortunate to not have to deal with such a situation as of yet.
Some counties do a better job at plowing the roads, too, compared to other counties...I usually have to navigate between two counties to get to work...Some employees are not just a hop, skip and a jump away! And every time, on the bad days, I notice that one county does a better job of clearing the roads than the other one...And in some places, the roads are wider and there are more alternate routes...In some areas, your alternatives are limited and you have to take certain roads, even if they are backed up for miles some days...It depends on your location, too, how close you are to the store, as well as the car you drive, and any accidents you may encounter along the way...All factors that can come into play...
If you normally show up on time, usually this won't be an issue...There are times I'll call my boss and tell him I'm going to be slightly late...At least, I inform him if this will be an issue...They're usually good about it, if the weather is really that serious...That said, there's a very slippery hill on my street and the only way out of my neighborhood to the road as my street is a dead end street...If the rest of the neighborhood can't make it up the hill and slide back down, then I know I'm probably not going to have better luck...Of course, every situation is different...
