Termed For Eating Cookies?

Date: May 13, 2020

Termed For Eating Cookies?

Date: May 14, 2020

Kroger doesn't care what amount of money something costs. This is definitely a clear cut suspended pending case particularly for someone in deli/bakery.

They would probably want to check your file to make sure you've signed the purchase policy and signed off that you read the handbook but yeah, most managers I've worked with would drop the hammer on this.

You're fortunate they were offering to move you to fuel.

Date: May 14, 2020

Anonymous wrote:
Kroger doesn't care what amount of money something costs. This is definitely a clear cut suspended pending case particularly for someone in deli/bakery.
They would probably want to check your file to make sure you've signed the purchase policy and signed off that you read the handbook but yeah, most managers I've worked with would drop the hammer on this.
You're fortunate they were offering to move you to fuel.

Yeah, you're right. I am a lucky man.

Kroger-Employee · Guru

Anonymous wrote:
Well I was not terminated but this has been a strange affair. I was called into the conference room at my store and an assistant manager with a loss prevention person said that I had been eating cookies that were left on one of the bakery tables. Now, our rule on "sample cookies" has been very lax, basically associates and management eat them on or off the clock, does not really matter. Now, a fellow employee had been reported for abject theft and the footage of me eating some cookies that were lying around caught L.P.'s attention so I was told that "I was warned before by my supervisor" (no, I was not), and that they had to fire me on the spot. However, the manager did give me an option to transfer to Fuel Center, which was an agenda she tried to push on me a month prior. Back then it was because apparently I was "too much of a dictator" for some Deli employees when it came to getting some work done. Normally, isn't there supposed to be a SIR given in this instance as the theft was below a certain amount of money? The union steward was in the room and he said that most people would have been fired in the instance. I am leaving it up to you. Questions are welcomed.

Read between the lines. The agenda is: They want to force you to go to Fuel, and this is the way to get you over there. End of story.

Date: May 14, 2020

Eating product even scanned out product is still owned by the company and is basically a theft. In your contract it states that if employees are caught grazing they can be written up or fired. Samples or not it's theft. This is why I only eat sample foods in the break room. I know it's safe and there's no video cameras in our break room to question it. This product should of been scanned out immediately and tossed. Rather than sampled out as "free".

The link below is the contract we all have to sign when we are hired into kroger:

This is separate from the union.

https://www.thekrogerco.com/newsroom/statements-policies/

My last location - The deli staff decided to take home the food at the end of the night they were to scan out and toss instead. They thought it was a waste to throw out perfectly edible food every night. After a week loss prevention fired the entire deli for theft.

If a cashier runs into a product that doesn't scan. Legally they can get fired for just going oops and not charging the customer for it. I generally charge a $1 for the inconvenience unless I know the price. Technically you are to price check the item, fill out a not on file form and continue. Even if it makes the customer inconveniently wait 30 seconds.

If a regular requests you to price over ride items all the time you can tell them no. If it's a one time we'll make it right it's fine but if it's all the time then it's another thing. I feel obligated to make it right in a customer first job but some times it takes loss prevention to stop it all together.

We had a c.c. at my last location graze on the sample products through out the store. I feel for impoverished individuals but it's in our contract we sign in provided by kroger not union that grazing is forbidden. He got investigated and fired for stealing product. He was sampling more than just one item in the bin. He started to eat merchandise without paying for it. He started sampling food in the deli without paying for it. He got written up for grazing.

Date: May 16, 2020

I love how THIS is a problem in this day and time...Nobody even questions how much food Kroger THROWS AWAY each year...Nobody even wonders how many food banks are out there STRUGGLING to obtain food and give it out, especially for homebound seniors who can't even get out to the store to begin with, which has been made worse with this crisis...I get that there are rules to be followed, but at the same time, we've got to get our priorities straight!!! The funny thing is...Our bakery is constantly putting samples of cake, cookies and whatnot up in the break room...Sometimes, they have too many...Sometimes, they have a cake made up and for whatever reason, the customer didn't want it or maybe something was misspelled or it's not the right color or whatever...No use letting that whole cake go to waste...Problem is...Sometimes, they have too much of that stuff, they can't even GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE!!! But, it's still up in the break room for anyone to eat, along with all the other samples, complimentary pizza and whatnot for us "FRONTLINE" employees, who are RISKING OUR LIVES coming in to work every single day...

I've said this before, too...If the company wanted to fire every employee that made an infraction, however minor, they would literally have to fire 75-80% of the people in our store and that's just the honest truth, like it or not!!!

Instead of just firing people for eating this stuff, they really should look at how much they're throwing away...If you were to look at the REAL numbers, it would not be very good...

My dad belonged to the "Great Depression" generation...When I told him once how much our store throws away in reusable, recyclable or still edible product, he used to just shake his head...Back in THOSE days, people saved and rationed everything...If it was usable, they wouldn't throw it out...Of course, he lived on a rural farm where money was not as easy to come by...Now you're seeing shortages in things like hand sanitizer, toilet paper and meat and a lot of panic buying...But, shortages are nothing new...

The bottom line, though, is that we have MUCH bigger problems than this...

Date: May 18, 2020

Anonymous wrote:
I love how THIS is a problem in this day and time...Nobody even questions how much food Kroger THROWS AWAY each year...Nobody even wonders how many food banks are out there STRUGGLING to obtain food and give it out, especially for homebound seniors who can't even get out to the store to begin with, which has been made worse with this crisis...I get that there are rules to be followed, but at the same time, we've got to get our priorities straight!!! The funny thing is...Our bakery is constantly putting samples of cake, cookies and whatnot up in the break room...Sometimes, they have too many...Sometimes, they have a cake made up and for whatever reason, the customer didn't want it or maybe something was misspelled or it's not the right color or whatever...No use letting that whole cake go to waste...Problem is...Sometimes, they have too much of that stuff, they can't even GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE!!! But, it's still up in the break room for anyone to eat, along with all the other samples, complimentary pizza and whatnot for us "FRONTLINE" employees, who are RISKING OUR LIVES coming in to work every single day...
I've said this before, too...If the company wanted to fire every employee that made an infraction, however minor, they would literally have to fire 75-80% of the people in our store and that's just the honest truth, like it or not!!!
Instead of just firing people for eating this stuff, they really should look at how much they're throwing away...If you were to look at the REAL numbers, it would not be very good...
My dad belonged to the "Great Depression" generation...When I told him once how much our store throws away in reusable, recyclable or still edible product, he used to just shake his head...Back in THOSE days, people saved and rationed everything...If it was usable, they wouldn't throw it out...Of course, he lived on a rural farm where money was not as easy to come by...Now you're seeing shortages in things like hand sanitizer, toilet paper and meat and a lot of panic buying...But, shortages are nothing new...
The bottom line, though, is that we have MUCH bigger problems than this...

I am the original poster. I have grandparents that all lived through that time. I carry that with me everyday. That's why I work so hard. The management knows what I do everyday and I guess that is why they were willing to give me another chance. However, I really do not feel like I should have been sat down and made to feel like a criminal because of an infraction that everyone does. The amount of waste makes me sick too. I actually encouraged the reuse of expired or close-dated products as food for hungry employees in the break room and that was going great until the management got loss prevention breathing down their necks...

mega-kitteh · Guru

What does it matter if you eat leftover food from deli at the end of the day? You can't sell it, it's going to be tossed anyways, so what's the big deal if its eaten...

Date: May 19, 2020

mega-kitteh wrote:
What does it matter if you eat leftover food from deli at the end of the day? You can't sell it, it's going to be tossed anyways, so what's the big deal if its eaten...

I can think of two reasons. The first is food safety. If someone eats food that was suppose to be thrown out and they get sick, the health department could shut the store down, or at least the deli. The second reason is it keeps employees from making extra food to set aside for themselves at the end of the day.

Date: May 19, 2020

I used to steal thousands in GM from the Kroger I worked at when I was a teenager. Never got caught. You all are ametures.

Date: Jun 11, 2020

Food, items, or both? evileye

Date: Jun 13, 2020

Anonymous wrote:
I can think of two reasons. The first is food safety. If someone eats food that was suppose to be thrown out and they get sick, the health department could shut the store down, or at least the deli. The second reason is it keeps employees from making extra food to set aside for themselves at the end of the day.

I get the issue of food safety, esp. with this pandemic...Food safety is always TALKED about, but where were all these people who talk about food safety when we continued to have recall after recall of romaine lettuce??? And don't for a minute think I've forgotten about THAT! THAT'S what I want to know!!! Someone could also get sick from pizza that's been left in the breakroom all day, non-refrigerated or from something else that wasn't kept cold...