I was originally posting this as a comment on another post about the same company, but it got too long so I figure why not share my story as it’s own post.
I worked at a very popular grocery-type store, as did my boyfriend, that’s how we met. One thing to note about working there (at least the ones in my area) is they are not afraid to embrace just how corporate they are and know damn well how easily replaceable each and every employee is. In my area it’s widely considered a good job to have… until you talk to the people who have worked there less than 10 years. The pay is a bit better than most grocery type stores around here, as long as you’re not seasonal you’re eligible for some benefits, and once you reach your 10y anniversary it’s almost impossible to get fired unless you steal. This is what has given the job such a pretty and shiny representation.
All that is wonderful… If you can put up with everything else. They will always have way more employees than they know what to do with, I tried to calculate how many are there at one time and it’s well over 100 at least. It’s honestly a miracle me and my BF met because we weren’t even in the same department. Because of this they constantly forget where employees are and end up leaving them where they are with a pointless and already finished job that you cannot leave the area of until someone comes to get you. I’m prone to heat stroke and I told them this and they feigned concern and insisted every time they put me on something outside on a hot day that I would be brought in within 2 hours, yet more than once I spent an 8h shift outside without a break. Oh, and speaking of breaks, they forget about those too. To avoid any kind of lawsuit, what they’ll do upon realizing they forgot to give you a break at the end of the shift is offer to let you stay behind an extra 15-30 min in the break room still clocked in so it’s like you still got your paid break. They did this more often then giving proper breaks.
On top of all that, anyone below supervisor has to just put up with any kind of abuse from someone higher up than them because they’ve likely been there for over 10 years and are therefore next to impossible to get fired. If you try to bring up being treated poorly the most you will get is “well the best I can do is move you or them to a different department.” But more often than not they’ll just tell you to “toughen up” but in more executive wording.
During my time there as a seasonal during COVID I had some health issues going on and needed to call in everyday for two weeks. I tried to talk to the highest ranked person for our specific store about this and though he claimed to feel sympathy for me and understand, he said there was nothing he could do because as a seasonal I didn’t qualify for any vacation time and no matter what calling in would reflect badly on me, especially if I have to do it multiple times. So every morning I’d have to spend 10 minutes going through the phone system to tell a manager that I was still sick and would not be able to come in. I tried to get a doctors note, but with COVID I couldn’t even get an appointment in until after my seasonal term would’ve ended, and with what was happening with me not being life threatening, I felt like going to the ER just for a note was a huge waste of resources at the time.
In the end, because of the two weeks I had to call in out of the 7 months I had been there I didn’t end up getting hired as part time. Full time at this place is near impossible to get. Immediately after that ended I applied for a different store of the same company that was also in my area and did the 2/3 interviews on the same day, and they loved me and told me to my face that they wanted to hire me on the spot and schedule me for that day if they could’ve, (rules wouldn’t allow this) but before I did my third interview they wanted to communicate with the previous store to see if they could have my experience transferred over so I wouldn’t have to start at the bottom again. I have no idea what the previous store said to them about me, but whatever it was, it must’ve been bad because the new store completely ghosted me. Not another word. I followed up twice with emails trying to get a date for the third interview they promised me and they never got back to me. Thanks to my connections with previous co workers and my bf still working there I was at least able to confirm that it was mostly about the two weeks sick leave.
Now, onto my boyfriend, this happened much more recently. Now he had been working there for 2 years as part time and almost made supervisor twice. So he had more credit to his name than I did. He has a heart condition, he was born with it and has been in an out of hospitals for it since he was a little kid. Back in what I believe was around February this year, he had some heart issues during a shift and had to be taken to a hospital where he found out his condition is significantly worse now, and he can not and should not work until we can get it back under control. Once receiving a doctors note from him, the store themselves told him he can’t come back to work until he has another doctor’s note clearing him to work again and put him on official unpaid medical leave. This note has not happened yet. He’s still trying to find the right medication combination for helping his condition and has come back with a new additional prescription with pretty much every appointment he’s had since.
One day, like a week ago completely out of the blue, they send him his severance. No email, no reason why, not the smallest explanation. Just that it was his severance so I guess he’s fired now? I don’t even know if this is technically legal because it’s not like he chose to miss so much work, he was told not to come back without a doctors note. I imagine with a company so good at covering their ass it must be technically legal but at the very least it’s completely unethical.
Long story short, this company is large enough and popular enough to get away with treating most of their employees like shit because they know the employees who don’t put up with the abuse are easily replaceable by the ones who will, and they will face no consequences for it because people will never stop coming in. I am certain that almost anyone reading this has been in one of these stores at least once.
Sorry this was so long, thanks for listening to my rant to those of you who read the whole thing.