'You wrote me up for doing that very thing': Grocery store worker guards a puddle for hours while the store flounders without them

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 19, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

This employee is living the dream: they got out of work, and they also got to be a little sarcastic towards their boss. What a delightful combination! 

This person shared a story that happened when they were working at a grocery store, and they assured people that it was "by far the worst job I've ever had." They write that there were a few rules that always had to be abided by, and if not, it would result in a writeup. No matter how silly the rules might seem, they're there for a reason, and managers don't take kindly to employees who ignore the rules.

The rules at this store were made to keep customers from slipping and sliding all over spills. This seems to happen frequently at grocery stores. That's why a lot of them have "wet floor" signs that can be placed around the mess while an employee goes to grab a mop. Seems simple enough… but apparently not for this boss. I wonder if this person will inspire a change in their workplace. 

After that, cool off with some mildly infuriating moments of summer, like one person who spent all summer waiting for their homegrown watermelon to ripen, only to open it to a sad surprise. 

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    via Eduardo Soares on Unsplash
  • Never leave a spill? You got it. Quite some time ago I used to work at Walmart and honestly it was by far the worst job I've ever had. I could go on for hours about all the horror stories I have from that place. One story in particular I feel is a good fit here.
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • You see, the store I worked in had a rule that if you see a spill, you are to guard the area to keep customers from slipping and falling. You were not to leave the spill for any reason while you flagged down another employee so that they could fetch cleaning supplies (only managers and the cleaning crew had radios). I understand the logic here as a lawsuit would certainly cost much more than an hourly employee's time standing next to a spill until
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • it was cleaned up. However there are a few issues with this in practice. I worked the evening shift in the Meat Department and most days I was the only person in my department. I was situated between Frozen Foods and Produce, which more often than not only had 1 person shifts as well but they also closed much earlier than my department. This meant that I was the only person in my corner of the store for
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • about half of my shift. If I came across a spill there was no telling how long I would have to wait around for another employee to come by because there was literally nobody else working in or around my area. Also, being in the Meat Department, we had multiple cleaning stations all around. One was always a few steps away.
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • One day while working alone I noticed a small spill. So I stood next to it per procedure for about 10 minutes. In this time nobody, customer nor coworker, had even entered my view. I couldn't help but think how dumb this was as I could see a cleaning station just on the other side of a bunker. I decided to throw in the flag and just go get the cleaning supplies and take care of it myself because even if a customer did come around I could still see the
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • spill and easily call out to them to watch their step. Unsurprisingly, I was able to make the round trip without any incidents. As I was cleaning it a manager came walking up and took notice of me. Manager, "What happened here?" Me, "Just a spill. I've got it all sorted."
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • Manager, "Did you just happen to have cleaning supplies on you?" Me, "No, but they were just right there. I was able to fetch them without losing sight of the spill." Manager, "That's not how we do things! Someone could have gotten hurt!" Me, "No, as I could have called to anyone that came near it. I was never more than a few steps away."
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • Manager, "Doesn't matter. You should have stood next to the spill and waited for someone else to come by." This when on for a few minutes but the manager was not budging so I conceded. That was not good enough for him as he then proceeded to write me up for "Negligence and unsafe work practices". I was livid, but I was also a college student and needed the job so I just kept quiet and returned to my shift.
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • A week or two later as I was once again the only person working in my corner of the store, I happened upon another spill. This time I shrugged and decided to guard it as if my job depended on it. I checked my watch and noticed that I had about 3 hours left on my shift and had a small laugh at the thought that I might be standing in that spot guarding a puddle instead of closing my department.
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • 10 minutes passed. 30 minutes passed. 1 hour passed. Around this time I was bored out of my mind, but then I heard a call over the intercom system that made it so much more worth it. "We need an associate from the Meat Department to the back for a truck." This was followed by a few other calls for other departments for their trucks
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • arriving as well. I started laughing out loud at this because I knew that this meant that the very few people that were likely to come by my department were now at the loading dock unloading trucks while I stood guard over my puddle. A few minutes passed before I heard the second call, "We need an associate from the Meat Department to the back for a truck". I just stood there counting the lights on the ceiling.
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • 1 hour left on my shift and there still had not been a single fellow employee walk by. I assumed everyone was starting to finish up their own trucks by this point and would likely soon have to start unloading my truck as well. I was watching the minutes go by in anticipation trying to decide if someone would come find me before my shift ended or not.
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • I got my answer 15 minutes before the end of my shift as the very same manager from before came storming through the Meat Department furious. We made eye contact and he stormed over to me and started yelling about how they have been calling for me to unload the truck and how they are now behind schedule and so on. Once he took a breath long enough for me to speak I asked simply, "Can you go to a spill station and grab something
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • to clean this up? I've been here a while now." He glanced down at the puddle next to me and I thought he was going to explode. Manager, "You mean to tell me that you didn't unload the truck because you were watching a spill?" Me, "Yes." Manager, "Why didn't you just clean it up?"
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • Me, "But leaving the spill would be unsafe for any customers. Besides, you wrote me up for doing that very thing recently, right?" The manager tossed his hands up in defeat and walked the 15 steps away to the nearest spill station and returned with supplies, that he promptly gave me to clean the spill myself.
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • Manager, "Once you are done go back to the loading dock and start on your truck." Me, "Sorry, I have only about 10 minutes left on my shift and as I've been standing here guarding the spill I never got my second break. So I'm going to the break room for a bit before clocking out. You'll need to find someone to close down my department as well."
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • At this the manager just stomped off in a rage. I cleaned up the spill, played on my phone in the breakroom for a bit, and clocked out with a smile on my face. I know that the manager just made someone else do all the work and wasn't personally affected by this, but knowing that I could be a thorn in his side was enough for me.
    via u/Necrobiohazard
  • s-mores Upon reading this, a tiny little hole in my black heart was filled with contentment. This is the quality content I sub for. Absolute compliance, absolute malice, it warms my petty little cackles just to read it.
    via u/s-mores
  • deliverinthenight I feel like your security people must be as dumb as your manager if they watched you stand in one place for hours on cameras.
    via u/deliverinthenight
  • LonePhysicist We have this policy in the home improvement store I work at, none of my managers are asinine enough to enforce it though, thank goodness. None of my department work would get done if I wait by a puddle and for someone to show up with the spill kit. Plus I have the gates to block off the area while I get the spill kit So...
    via u/LonePhysicist
  • patrick95350 Now I want to go to all the nearby Walmarts late at night and make lots of little spills all over.
    via u/patrick95350
  • jetah i love telling stupids how stupid their process is.
    via u/jetah
  • thatsmistershayn... I toss my hands up in huzzah!! Well played
    via u/thatsmistershayne2u

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