Posted on 12/16/2021 5:10:27 AM PST by Kaslin
With Christmas approaching so quickly, I’m like most people: scurrying from store to store…looking for bargains on just the right gifts for my family and friends…and, of course, making the occasional stop at the grocery store.
Until this week, that included our neighborhood Kroger. But thanks to the absurd decision Kroger’s corporate leadership just announced, I’m adding them to my Naughty List and will henceforth spend our grocery dollars elsewhere.
In case you missed the news, “woke” executives at Kroger announced they will “end some benefits” for employees beginning January 1st… including removing paid emergency leave for unvaccinated employees who contract the China Virus. Additionally, the giant grocery chain—one of the biggest employers in America—plans to add a $50 “monthly surcharge” on its employee health plan for all unvaccinated workers.
Oh, wait a second. Did I say ALL unvaccinated employees? Strike that from the record. I meant they are slapping that additional $50 monthly surcharge on all NONUNION employees who are unvaccinated. This, of course, is nothing less than Kroger groveling at the feet of our Shop Steward In Chief in the White House, “Lunchpail Joe” Biden. He babbles on nonstop like an elderly parrot about all the “good, high-paying Union jobs” his bloated Build Back Better plan will create. But for the untold millions of American workers who—thank you very much—have no interest in joining a labor union, Build Back Better amounts to little more than a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings.
But I digress. Kroger—at least in Texas where I live—has already devolved into something in a scene right out of a George Romero horror film like “Dawn Of The Dead.” Most hours of the day—or night—they make customers do Self Checkout, or they have ONE human checker on duty who handles both the scanning and bagging…just throwing stuff into grocery bags because the line waiting behind me is 10 people deep. Code: smushed Wonder bread and a minimum of one or two broken eggs in the carton when we reach home.
That’s assuming you actually have items with which to check out.. because the store aisles are clogged with yahoos pushing little 3-car trains (like ones your toddlers ride at Six Flags or Disney World) as they fill “online orders” for customers who—wisely—opt not to set foot in the actual store.
But these somnambulant mopes working their way up and down the grocery aisles seem incapable of moving their portable cubbies out of the way, so actual human customers can’t get to the Kroger Soy Sauce. And to add insult to injury, they often ask visitors if they know where an item might be located.
Bottom line: I’m not sure I understand why Kroger even needs employee mandates because---as far as I can determine – Kroger has very few visible employees. However, per this week’s announcements, if you are one who exists… you might consider quitting and working at a new place which would treat you with respect. Otherwise, you had better hot-foot it to your store’s union shop steward and sign up for membership…or the bosses will slap a $50 “monthly surcharge” on you until you submit to the China Virus vaccine. Good luck, future picketers.
As for me, I’ll be voting with my feet when it comes to spending our family’s grocery dollars.=
Same goes for buying coffee: Starbucks workers in Buffalo, New York, recently voted to join a union…and now baristas* in Boston are following suit. (*Barista, in case you are not familiar with that term, literally translated means “White Guys In Dreadlocks With Bad Attitudes And Piercings Who Get Your Order Wrong Every Time.”) All unionizing will accomplish will be boosting the cost of a Vanilla Latte at Starbucks from $6 north to eight bucks. But rejoice: there are plenty of vestpocket, independent coffee shops all over the USA which will be happy to sell you coffee (and a blueberry muffin) without forcing you to foot the bill for union dues paid by the person handing your order to you.
As for Mr. “good, high-paying Union jobs” in the Oval Office…at least the clock is ticking—mercifully—toward the end of his first year of taking a battering ram to our oil industry and our economy, having delivered the highest inflation rate on four decades.
I just have to keep reminding myself—as my buddy, SRN’s Mike Gallagher (appearing onstage as Daddy Warbucks in ANNIE in South Carolina) belts out at the final curtain—“The sun’ll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow…there’ll be sun.”
Sure hope he’s right!
Yep
we have several publix stores here in my town, but they are to high priced as what we could afford.
Zero interest in standing in a line or waiting to pay.
I have a friend who has been a checkout worker at my Publix for over 20 years. She always bought company stock when she could afford it and lived within her means. She's also set to retire a millionaire next year.
Yeah. I was in a Sam’s about 8 months ago but their cashier’s were keeping the lines moving.
Nice story
Agreed. I am a fan of Sam’s Scan-n-Go. It has increased my patronage of the store significantly by reducing a lot of frustration.
I shop at Safeway because my mother did, as did my grandmother before her. How’s that for brand loyalty?
I buy alcohol there because the price is the same with or without their stupid card, which I don’t have.
For everything else, which they mark-up 20% for those without a card, I go other supermarkets (other than Walmart, of course, which is always a dump).
Up here in NH & MA there is a local grocery store chain called Market Basket. It is owned by a local family. IMHO it is by far the best grocery store around. Their pricing is almost always cheaper than the others: Shaws , Hannaford, Star Market, Wegmans, Trader Joes and Whole Paycheck. They are even cheaper than Walmart and comparable to Aldi.
A few years ago the board tried to raid the pension fund of all the long term employees. They all wear name tags that state how long they have been with the company. People over 30 years are common. These employees typically have over a million in their profit sharing pension account.
When this happened the President of the company was against it. He supported the employees. There were picket lines out in front of all their stores. It was the only time I did not shop there. Eventually, the board changed their mind and the employees won out.
I’m glad my town has a Publix
I wish Costco had the app as well. I prefer Costco to Sam's, and the checkout lines at Costco, while long moved very fast. But, since COVID, Costco does not keep as many lines open and they try to funnel everybody into the self-checkout lines. If you are buying wine or beer you have to wait until someone comes over to approve the purchase, which holds up the line for everybody else. I may let my Costco membership lapse and keep Sam's.
I saw a YT the other day on difference between England and USA. One thing the American mentioned was that in England they do not bag the groceries. You have to do that yourself.
Wonder if that will be coming here. Hope not.
I love the USA
Kaslin, you should be very proud of your son.
My son does our grocery shopping for us, at Walmart or Kroger because I have a degenerative Disc decease, and a degenerative hip joint decease which make it very hard for me to walk. He says I don’t want to drag you around. This is getting tiresome
I was going to suggest getting a mobility scooter at the store, but I hardly see any of these at stores. One of the regional grocery stores I shop at did away with hand baskets and the scooters.
We moved to Texas three years ago. HEB instantly became a staple. But when we first got here, most of their stores had no self-checkout. I much prefer it to waiting in a long line for just a handful of items. I was glad to see they added them soon after we got here, but the 10-item limit is sometimes completely ignored. Saw a couple this weekend with three bags of groceries in their cart, and they were still pulling groceries to be scanned.
All the Whataburgers, too. Even an In and Out here and there!
Liked Whataburger when we first got here, but after a while, we noticed their burgers had changed. Drier, less flavorful. Changes were also noted for their shakes/malts. We thought we had imagined it, until a search on the Internet indicated they had sold off a majority of the company to Chicago investment firm in June 2019. It was later in 2019 we noticed the difference in their food. :(
So, In-N-Out and Mighty Fine it is!
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/us/texas-whataburger-chicago.html
Business as usual at my Publix....
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Here in Punxsutawney, PA we have Save-a Lot and we have Wallies. I think Wallies tried to put Save-a-lot out of business but they haven’t been successful yet. All the other grocery stores that were here are gone. Even the store called Yoder’s is now an antique store.
What Kaslin has described is how you get groups within our civilization with their own unique history of the observance of anything (but not Brandon’s group of dishonest and the ungodly) to switch to anything else.
The actual quote from ‘Josey Wales’ was akin to “Senator, just don’t pi$$ on my back and tell me it’s raining.”
VERY appropriate for these days and times.
On the run or I would post a link to the clip.
Uh, they're gunna fix that one too by making gas $10/gallon. ;o)
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