Current Events > I almost flipped out today, but I controlled myself

(+) Yeah! (+)

tldr:
ordered groceries for 5pm and they didnt have my stuff until 8pm and it wasnt even what I ordered.

Yesterday at about 11am, I placed a grocery pick-up order at my local King Soopers (Kroger store). I placed the order for the next day (today) at 5pm. I would have ordered earlier, but everyone in town apparently is trying to use this service, so this was the only time.

Today at 4pm, I got a call saying that they were behind and that my order wouldnt be ready until 7:30pm. Well, I ordered steaks and sides, so that really screwed my plans up. I dont like getting home at 8pm and cooking, but I decided to be nice about it.

I showed up at 7:25 and hit the Im here button. About fifteen minutes later, they called my phone again to say that my order wouldnt be ready for another 45-50 minutes. By this time, I was really mad, but still trying so hard to not be a jerk. They actually got it out in about half of that time, considering my order only had about seven items, and thats where the shit hit the fan (almost remember, I didnt explode on them).

At 8pm on the dot, three hours after the agreed upon time, they finally brought out my order only to tell me that the steaks had to be replaced due to the fact that they took so fucking long with my order that all of the good steaks had been bought. I ordered two NY Strips ($8.32/each) and they replaced it with fucking shoulder chuck steak, which for those who dont know is soup meat. You cant cook it in a pan, which is what I wanted. If you cant give me a strip steak, how about a ribeye or a T-bone? Stew meat.

I told them to refund the entire order and take it back. They were fine doing that, but they started saying that it would take three weeks to get the money back on my card. I said they could pay me in cash if they had to, but I wasnt waiting until after Christmas for my money back. I actually said that if they couldnt make it work then I would call the police. I knew that they were so behind that having to deal with the cops for a half hour would make things go from bad to worse, so they brought my card inside and had the money refunded like that.

I asked like three times what managed to put them so far behind, but they wouldnt tell me. I personally am afraid that someone on the staff tested positive for COVID-19 and they sent that person home and sent all personnel around him/her to be tested, because I cant think of what else would cause them to be so short staffed in such a short time.

so... how was the rest of your day

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HighOnSolar posted...

so... how was the rest of your day

Ive been stressed over Christmas shopping because I have never done everything digitally before. I hate going in there store this time of year, but it stresses me out having to create so many store accounts, remember passwords, keep everything straight, pay money, try to get groceries without going in the store. I got most of the online purchases out of the way tonight and I managed to get a noon time slot at a different store tomorrow, so Im optimistic that there will be better meat at noon than at 8pm. It is going to be nice when everything is ordered and delivered, though.

good job on the self control and understanding

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Payzmaykr posted...

I cant think of what else would cause them to be so short staffed in such a short time.

It can be anything.

Not targeting you, but so many people are short-sighted in understanding how a lot of business are suffering. Employers may be downsizing, employees may have to move back to their parents or whatever. There's even very circumstantial stuff like the company I'm at we're busy as shit. Construction industry was on pause for a few months, then when the green light comes back, everyone's in a rush to catch up and demand everything from us.

I was in retail years ago, and much of the wait times to reach customers was mostly the company itself either didn't make allocations for more employees due to budgets or whatever, or didn't do enough to draw interest. I knew the store was going under in due time and 2 years later I saw that come true. I can't blame employees for being unable to keep up or kinda pitting you with being SOL. All that "red tape" and formalities does exist to help a company operate in an organized manner despite the performance it results in.

It doesn't fix the fact it costs people inconvenience, but in today's society one can't just Karen their way about everything. End of the day you're shopping at Kroger, not Gordon Ramsey's billionaire club bonanza market. Expectations can only get so high.


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Oh, I know its mostly corporate, which was the only thing that kept me from getting more pissed. I agree that theyre not allocating enough resources to properly do the job. Minimum wage is high where I live and these corporate pieces of shit are legitimately not okay paying us $12 when someone else gets $7. They make sure there are so few people on the floor that wait times are absurd. Same thing with fast food. They will have two people on the floor with upwards to a hundred customers and corporate will legitimately get angry at the GM when they say they need more people on the floor.

Even still, its not all on corporate. They should have told me that all the good meat got sold before I drove up there. Me ordering more than 24 hours in advance was me saying that I didnt want the leftovers after everyone cherry picked the best stuff. They called me about three times and they could have mentioned this before having me drive out after dark and park there and wait for another hour. They legitimately only have six spots to park, so this should give you an idea of how few personal shoppers corporate gives them.

Threatening to call the police is just as dickish as exploding on them.

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Corrupt_Power posted...

Threatening to call the police is just as dickish as exploding on them.

when someone tells me theyre not going to refund my order until after Christmas, Im well within my right to do so. It turns out they easily could have done it. This was a bluff that works every time.

If a corporate business ever tells you they cant refund something the same day, its a lie because it would make them do more work. I know people who have called the cops on stuff like this and they side with the customer 100% of the time. I just politely said, I know you have cash in there, so I will take a cash refund if I have to. If youre not going to work with me, though, then I can have the police sort it out.

That was fine.

lol

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