Excuse the rant, but I just left work early because of the work conditions my coworkers and I just experienced. To say that I’m rattled would be an understatement.
I work in a well-known grocery store that is known for “treating its employees well” and “organic, natural food”… you can probably deduce the one I am talking about.
To understand the context, you have to understand the layout of the building. We have three restrooms total in our store. There’s one in the employee area, which includes our break room, our fridge/freezer, and pallets with produce & dried/shelf-stable goods… you get the gist. The other two bathrooms are accessible to customers, and occasionally employees use them if there’s a line for our bathroom. With that being said, here’s the story.
I clocked in today at 3 pm and was supposed to be working until 11 pm. When I walked in, I noticed a huddle forming around the employee bathroom; it REEKED of sewage. We all joked about it, but it wasn’t too serious yet. However, we had to close that bathroom by the end of the hour because sewage began bubbling through the drain and soon flooded the bathroom. We noticed that whenever a customer toilet was flushed, it sent a wave of raw sewage up through the drain. It began leaking into the hallway, and by 5 pm, despite our efforts to use a Zamboni and air spray to minimize the flooding and the smell, we could not walk in the hallway without stepping in raw sewage. The stench was UNGODLY. It was so strong that we were wearing masks and breathing through our shirts and jumping onto any dry parts of the ground we could find to avoid stepping in the sewage.
We expected for them to close the customer bathrooms and to then close the store so that we could go home and avoid the stench – as well as stepping in sewage. The managers (my store has multiple managers and one big boss) talked about closing the store, and then called the big boss. The big boss never came in to assess the situation, instead telling the managers that as long as the sewage wasn’t leaking onto the sales floor or affecting customers that we should stay open. Well, the sewage never reached the floor and the guest bathrooms were never affected. However, a few customers who were shopping in the sections closest to the employee area complained about the stench. Still, nothing was done.
Any complaints by employees were met with “the plumber will be here soon, hang tight.” The plumber didn’t arrive until around 7:30 pm, and the issue wasn’t fixed until around 8:30 pm. Still, the stench persevered.
I attempted to take a video of the sewage flooding the employee area, but a manager caught me and firmly told me to not take pictures or videos of the incident. I sneakily took a video of it before the plumber came, and thank god that I did. Even after the sewage was cleaned up, the stench was everywhere. We reeked of sewage. Our shoes were covered in waste.
One coworker left because the constant inhaling of ammonia was causing averse mental affects. Almost all of my coworkers have migraines as of now. I left because I nearly passed out and became extremely dizzy, as well as having what I assume was heart palpitations. My headache was so bad that I had a panic attack and was sent home. My eyes, as well as many of my coworker’s eyes, were swollen and irritated.
I tried mentioning that hydrogen sulfide poisoning was a huge concern to my managers, but was shrugged off with “the plumber will be here soon, calm down” time and time again over the three hours it took for a plumber to arrive. I’m at home now, still with a migraine, and wondering what I can do about this.
I have never felt so low and so disrespected in my life. I feel like I lost part of my dignity by staying as long as I did. The smell was still there when I left early. I’m at a loss. All I have is a video of the working conditions, and I’m googling how to contact OSHA because I know that HR will never take me seriously.