[NOTE: Kroger gave up on their “bars”, probably due to the exact things I bitch about here. The one in Decatur closed in late 2019. Which is why I leave this post up. Guess I had the last laugh, eh?]
Today’s Daily Zen seems oddly appropriate:
Years of digging in the earth
searching for the blue sky,
piling up layer upon layer
of mediocrity.
Then one dark night
the ceiling blew off,
and the whole structure
disappeared into emptiness.
– Muso
The experiment at Kroger is going to end either this week or next. My standards are WAY WAY too high for this corporate culture of passing the buck, indecision, disorganization and sloppiness. The department head can’t handle my high expectations. None of them can. This is not a shock, mind you, but disappointing nonetheless. The suits LOVE me, but suits don’t work in the store that is jam packed with slackers.
I think fast, I walk fast, I get shit done. This is incongruous with the slovenly approach that Kroger has in general. I’ve never met such a bunch of unmotivated, lazy people in my life. They do the absolute minimum required. The culture of Kroger is to understaff chronically and have no oversight of anything. I could go in there and do nothing all day and no one would notice – or if they did notice, they’d not do anything about it. The schedule is just a suggestion. People come and go as they please. The department head is the worst of the bunch. It’s not unusual for me to be there an hour after my shift is supposed to end, between waiting for the next shift (chronically late) and then waiting (up to 20 minutes) for someone to take the fucking till. This is typical. I’ll bet Kroger’s payroll would reduce a good 10% if people were where they are supposed to be and things GOT DONE rather than employees riding the clock waiting for other employees. It’s stupid.
The level of disorganization is stunning. These people have no idea how to run a bar, nor do they UNDERSTAND that they have no idea. Nor do they care. They have no training in place for the bar and no manuals or anything to keep things consistent. The first thing I did when I came on was to ask the department head if he’d like to have me write up some basic documents (employee manual light) for new hires so that things will be consistent. He grudgingly said yes, but then when I did, he got butthurt about it and whined to HR that I was “too much”.
Um. HAVE YOU MET ME? Yes, yes he DID meet me, several times, in the THREE MONTHS it took for Kroger to get off its ass and hire me. THREE MONTHS.
I’m literally working 6.5 days a week between TEV and Krobar. FUCK THAT. The department head knows that I can’t work this much, yet, he does nothing to fix it. When I complain, as I have for the last 6 weeks, he says he can’t do anything about it. Yet, YET, when I speak to HR, they’ve got “people lined up” to work at Kroger. ORLY? Well, that is called passing the buck and that is bullshit.
What is happening is that the department head is not telling HR that he needs to get someone in ASAP. Therefore, HR does nothing. Even when I tell HR directly that we need another person. Why? Oh, because HR won’t listen to anything an employee has to say, it has to come from the department head. Again, ORLY? So you fuckheads sit around blaming each other while your fucking bar is run like shit and you’re about to have only TWO employees rather than the FOUR it takes to staff it? Good luck with that.
Whatever, Kroger. I’m OUT. We’ve signed the paperwork to get our project going and I do NOT have time to deal with this stupidity. I like the money, and I even like the job itself, but I will not sacrifice my dreams for a bunch of assholes who will not do their jobs.
I am on time, get ALL the work done and I’m great bartender – so the customers and my tips tell me. Oh and that pooling of tips is bullshit, too. The two other bar employees are sloppy and inconsistent. One of them – the BFF of the department head, whose only training is fucking Burger King – flat out said that it’s not her problem if the glassware is not cleaned and table cleaning protocols are not used. They use handy wipes rather than real bar towels (because that’s what BK does!), they do not dispose of them, either, they are reused until they fall apart. NASTY. They use the sanitizer that is supposed to be for glasses for the table wiping water. YUM! They haven’t been properly washing the glassware since the damn place opened. Glasses have been rinsed in hot water ONLY, no detergent or sanitizer. And every one of them from department head down, has argued with me that this is fine. NOPE. I bitched about that enough to get them to use the Hobart as it’s intended, as a dishwasher – WITH CHEMICALS – not just a rinser, since the girls that work there are afraid to put their hands in water and properly wash the glasses. But it’ll probably take them a month or two to figure out how to drill a hole in the cabinet to attach the chemicals. Because that’s how Kroger works. They are slow, inefficient, ineffective and no one there EVER feels an sense of urgency. They are all secure in their belief that Kroger is right and the rest of the world is wrong about the standards of running a service bar. Alrighty, then. Everyone who drinks there should know that Burger King protocols (aka, NONE) are in place. Good thing alcohol will kill some of the germs…
I have no idea how they passed the health department. I think it’s because the inspector didn’t see them actually in action. They have the correct washing sinks and all that, but the procedure is not followed, which tells me that the health inspector was probably there before they opened. The only ding they got dinged for was fruit flies, which are everywhere. That would certainly not be the case if an inspector watched a typical shift. No way they’d pass. But Kroger is always right and they don’t want to hear anything different.
My standards are way too high and my sense of urgency to do things right is incompatible with a place like Kroger. I can’t wait to be rid of this job. This week or next and I’m done. Nick and I will need to start spending a LOT of time on our project and I need my weekdays back. Buhbye Krobar assholes!! Good luck with your shitty bar. You’ll need it. :D