Learning about the general bull****tery of my district/store, and reading about the same sorts of things going on on this forum has made me lose any respect I once had for this company.
However, I'm wondering if there is any chance that this is due to confirmation bias. Does anyone have anything positive to say about their jobs? Even small things like a nice breakroom or a manager who is personally nice?
Our front end team is absolutely stellar, we train and treat each other well, and our FE lead tries his damn hardest every day and every week to make sure we have the best schedule possible while accommodating as many requests as he can.
Most of our store managers are OK, some micro-manage too much but other than that they try to help and lead.
Corporate sucks as always but we all know that, so we do whatever "best practice" bs and recite the 3 A's and "feed the human spirit" once every few weeks to appease them, then get back to helping ourselves and our customers.
-- Edited by Going 4011 on Saturday 14th of July 2018 02:31:15 AM
I've been through A LOT of managers that just don't give a damn, but I absolutely love my current store manager and one of my ASMs. They go above and beyond to help when they can. I can ask them questions and come to them with problems and they are always ready to give me an answer, advice, or back me up on actions I plan to take. My store manager has also been heavily involved in the new "Uplift" system and the "Uplift Team" and we've been able to make some positive changes to the store, which has also helped boost associate morale. I wish we had more managers like him across the company.
I really like working with our store manager. He treats all the employees well and never talks down to us. I think he sets the tone for the whole store because all the employees get along rather well. Of course there is complaining here and there about each other but overall our store is really great to work in because of the environment.
Theres a few really hard workers here who help make the store a better place and an easier place to work. Id love to name drop them but I wont do that. And they deserve a lot more than a thanks. Thanks and an already deserved paycheck isnt enough for the **** some of us go through in this company. Remember that when someone doesnt really seem too chipper that you say thanks to them.
I keep trying to tell myself that grocery stores provide a necessary service and purpose in communities and I should be proud in helping in that. But Kroger doesnt deserve praise for being a massive coorporation and itd go on without me anyway. Meh.
The baler works well consistently here, which is a miracle in my experience.
Its easy to move up if you learn the basics and put yourself out there.
Working nights means none of the ****in management down my throat for my whole shift. Which is worth dealing with the quote benefits of not having customers in the store.
Im so ****in busy that my shift flies by every single time. I dont even care if that means I dont get as much done.
Oh, and my soul is already dead so generally the bull**** doesnt effect my home life anymore. If they start offering ot again, Im not doing it.
The work is hard and some of the people are a bit childish (will never grow up), but if you stay long enough, just deal with bull****, don't call in unless it is absolutely necessary and do your job, the benefits (health, retirement, job security, etc) are great.
We all realize that most associates are busting their butts day after day accomplishing a lot. Its just maddening the items that are completely controllable are not being controlled or looked at. For a company that has been around +125 years something is going right, it just we lose sight of the service we provide. Its hard to "Feed the human spirit" when your picked apart for little things.
We have some co-managers who seem to be decent people, but they are being corrupted by hierarchy, the compulsion they feel to go along with the store director, no matter how abusive and vile he is. The Six Empty Words mean nothing when the only effective "value" is Submit to the gang leader.
My store has come of the nicest Co managers ever, and another one isn't so bad either.
Most of our department heads are really good. The frozen lead is the friendliest guy you ever could work with and is always willing to help us pull our truck up in the morning.
I've made several really good friends in this company. I've had quite a few good laughs with the deli manager. We're a good team together in the deli/bakery.
I been around over the years. Some good experiences, some bad. The last few years I have not had a good experience. Multiple. Times I tried to take a educational leave, to which Kroger's states that my 4 week certification isn't college and doesn't apply.
Union won't help.
Soon as Kroger's top wages stagnate more to where McDonald's Pays better (they pay more than krogers now, but once my wage is offered), I'll be flipping fries and being taken care of better with less responsibility and headaches.
Everyday them outside wages go up, and every contract I'm walking away with less money than I had.
At this stage, I wouldn't recommend this company to my worst enemy.
If you are 16 years old and can walk there, it's a pretty good first job. It can be tough to get hired at 16, and experiencing the sheer awfulness of dead-end retail hell firsthand will hopefully inspire you to seek further education.
Some of my coworkers and occasionally even management are pretty cool.
Otherwise it's just sort of a continuous nightmare.
I've been promoted to a department head in less than one year working here. Nothing feels better than getting called back for overtime to my old store that constantly needs help while getting paid $25 an hour to do the same work I did while I was a grocery clerk there! Haha