'I stopped doing everything extra': Grocery employee lets store fall into chaos after bosses remind them they're 'just a cashier'

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 21, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

This grocery store is going through changes, and its employees are not happy about it. 

A working environment is really defined by your bosses. You can have the best workplace in the world, but if management is poor, people won't stick around. This grocery store is going through something like that right now, as one employee, u/bugme143, explained. 

This employee had been working at the same store for quite some time, and it seems like their managers saw potential in them. They allowed the OP to work in the meat rooms with the deli crew, as well as work the cardboard baler (the big machine that squishes all the boxes for recycling). The OP didn't mind doing these extra things, because they knew that everyone around them was grateful for it. Then came a reorganization… and as you can imagine, it did not go well for the store's current employees. The new management started questioning employees, implying that they were being disrespectful and not doing their job. Say no more, bosses---you've told your employees exactly how little you think of them. 

Check out this entire story down below. Then, these people shared the moments of utter cringe that are keeping them up late at night, like one person who surprised their grade school teachers when they "offered to do the worm across the stage." 

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  • 01
    Font - Oralty Ovesqu TERBA Hote 'So I get pulled into the office by the new hire assistant manager... $14. She starts questioning me, asking why I'm constantly "wandering off" and why I don't respect her, and I snapped.' Breakfast PRICES DROPP
    via Franki Chamaki on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - I'm just a (dumb) cashier? Aight, you got it boss! LOC TL;DR: Insult me and insinuate I'm just a dumb cashier, despite constantly doing extra work around the store? Sure thing, I'll stop doing my extra s
    via u/bugme143
  • 03
    Font - Background: So this happened recently. I work at a slightly upscale grocery store that's owned by an investment group who constantly make dumb decisions because they think they can buff out the damage that occurs when you yeet a car off a cliff at 90mph and will come out on top. Recently, we got "official" uniforms that do nothing but make everyone more annoyed, for example.
    via u/bugme143
  • 04
    Font - I work at the front end. Cashiering and bagging. Things sometimes get slow, or we have too many people scheduled for the given flow of customers, so I started occupying myself by refilling cases as needed or helping other departments when they got slammed or went on smoke breaks. I had originally started in Deli, and the current deli manager knew I knew my sh The meat manager knew I could be trusted to pull from the case and cut (thought he wouldn't allow it for insurance purposes) and le
    via u/bugme143
  • 05
    Font - either refill the cases or help unload shipments. I regularly went into the produce back rooms to help restock some of the shelves up front too. Everyone was grateful for the help because the investment group is pinching pennies. I'm also one of the very few who can empty the cardboard baler without issues, speedily, and get the Ford Model T floor machine to work properly.
    via u/bugme143
  • 06
    Font - We recently had a reorg where multiple front end assistant managers were "demoted", and we had one outsider and a new hire get promoted. That soured most everyone's mood, especially since the new hire was pretty useless in terms of managing people, doing any sort of tasks, sending people to lunch on time to not screw up the front, and micromanaging, to name just a few issues. The other one was new but actually put his back into it, and didn't swing his
    via u/bugme143
  • 07
    Font - weight around when other people up front knew how to fix issues with the registers (which were created when Moses was walking around) or with customers (many of whom were there when Washington crossed the river). He quickly figured out I knew what I was doing, and let me do my thing and trusted me to come back to the front when it was busy, or when I was called. He also used "please" and "thank you", which helped.
    via u/bugme143
  • 08
    Font - The MC: So I get pulled into the office by the new hire assistant manager, in front of a store ASM. She starts questioning me, asking why I'm constantly "wandering off" and why I don't respect her, and I snapped. I told her that nobody respected her because she threw her weight around and didn't put any effort it, that I'd rather have two of the other new ASM over her, and that I wasn't just running to the back to have a w I was actually working, unlike some of the other front end cashier
    via u/bugme143
  • 09
    Font - to my cashiering duties. Around this time, my schedule started getting f up. I'm not a morning person, but I started getting 10am and 9am shifts. I stopped doing everything extra. Walked by the baler when it was full? Oh well, not my job. Deli department is slammed and one of the guys is in the back trying to pull lasagnas out from the overloaded freezers? Da, that s bro. S
    via u/bugme143
  • 10
    Font - Not too long ago, I get pulled into the office with the front end Manager, and the Store Manager. I explained exactly what the issue was, how much extra work I did, how many more customers I took over the other cashiers, and explained that I wasn't doing anything else and was treating people with the respect I was receiving. To make a long story
    via u/bugme143
  • 11
    Font - short, we quietly agreed that the other manager was out of line, and that things will change (pfft bulls). I plan on not going back to doing what I do until I renegotiate my contract with the store manager, because jack s has changed.
    via u/bugme143
  • 12
    Font - GoboBot Definitely don't change back to what you did until you get benefits out of it.
    via u/GoboBot
  • 13
    Font - TooAnxiousAboutMoney. Yeah, I wouldn't do anything until they up your pay by AT LEAST 2.50/hr. H, I'd prolly ask for more and for a different position since you're doing more than that AM, you can prolly do their job.
    via u/TooAnxiousAboutMoney
  • 14
    Font - TexAgJake Sounds like it's time to go job hunting because your about to get fired for whatever bogus reason they can think of.
    via u/TexAgJake
  • 15
    Font - [deleted] I would not bother concerning yourself with basic level retail jobs. Do the job for as little time as you can and find something else. They are like fast food jobs. They want people in, they want people out. It's a revolving door and your easily replaceable at a moment's notice. Seriously, right now start applying for anything else. You'll thank me later.
    via u/deleted
  • 16
    Font - Also protip: Dont talk to anyone, it just makes your life h. Your co- workers are not your friends at these places. Your bosses are also not your friends. Retail and food service industry is like a real life Game of Thrones environment. Just do your job and leave.
    via u/deleted
  • 17
    Font - Mumen_Trider this kinda reminds me of my time working for a supermarket. I got offered a promotion to manager that never eventuated. about a year after that they again offered me a management position. I declined and put in my resignation at the same time.
    via u/Mumen_Trider
  • 18
    Font - Merry_Piper If they really agreed with you on this? The ASM would've been sitting in there with you and all this would have been said in front of both of you. They are trying to appease you without upsetting her. Watch yourself. and that things will change (pfft bulls Trust that feeling. This smells like yesterday's fish.
    via u/Merry_Piper
  • 19
    Font - wooden_seats This is completely accurate. Bosses talk about other bosses behind their backs and immediately will tell the other boss about it afterwards. It's how they operate, knowing that at all times at least one of them has to be the bad guy.
    via u/wooden_seats
  • 20
    Font - lunameow Back in my grocery store days, I was "being trained for management" which means that I did all the managers' work for them, but at a cashier's pay.
    via u/lunameow

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groceries boss workplace-stories jobs manager job bosses work coworkers food service deli workplace food grocery store
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