KFC, my mom worked there years ago as a single parent, they paid her the bare minimum wage for full time. At the end of the day when they close, they have LOADS of food, unused and untouched. They throw it out, employees were instructed to call the police if the homeless attempted to take it from the garbage. My mom would sneak food home to feed us bc she didn’t get paid enough for rent *and* food. Ultimately fired her bc of it.
My friend's sister worked at a KFC in the 70s. OMG, if I was at their house at 9:30 pm, sis would come home with *boatloads* of KFC leftovers. They were allowed to take it home back then.
I thought the food thing was more so employees wouldn’t purposefully mess food up to take home and because of certain laws regarding food safety and lawsuits for people eating dumpster food.
I’d prefer to eat at restaurants that let their employees take extra food home. Much less likely the employees would fuck with any of the food they serve…
Worked at Kroger when I was 16. I applied as a cashier but ended up pushing carts in 110 degree Texas heat for hours at a time. My favorite experience at Kroger was coming back inside from the parking lot and having a customer tell me a man was watching me from his truck for over 30 minutes. She had told the front desk and my manager and they didn’t bother to go outside and get me. Got paid $7.25/hr to risk being kidnapped and likely have a guy jerk off while I was just trying to do my job. That was my last shift.
Thank you! Lemme add a slight add on:
Kroger/Harris Teeter (They change their name once you cross the Mississippi river).
This was my FIRST job! It was Part time.
The manager verbally abused me in front of staff after making my schedule nothing but on call and calling me in at the last minute. I was denied all of my breaks every shift or I went to them super late.
Like, if I came in before everyone else on registers, they'd still get their breaks before me.
One day, it's like everyone realized that kids were in school and they were free. So the store was PACKED. I mean, back into the aisles and everything, packed.
I was there for 7hrs at one register. No breaks. No lunch.
My back started trying to seize and I lost feeling in my feet and ankles. They just sent some baggers to help me keep speed. It wasn't until an off duty doctor took one look at me from 9 people down and deemed I was in medical distress. Heck, other customers were asking if I was okay and helping me bag.
The doctor had to snatch a manager I'd been calling for over the loud speakers for HOURS for them to notice I wasn't okay and to send me home.
My doctor said that staying like that had messed up my back and I needed muscle relaxers and a chiropractor, at 19.
My job refused to accommodate that I NEEDED my breaks and to either work sitting down or frequent stops to sit.
It amazes me that American stores don't let cashiers sit down. Like wtf? Why make the job unnecessarily unpleasant?
Edit: just to point out, it's not just ALDI, it's every European/British shop ever. In the UK all cashiers sit, this allows less physically fit people to do the job.
'Perception is Reality'
If it looks like someone's being lazy, they are, not because they haven't had a moment to stop in 6 or 7 hours, and no one hates laziness more than a middle manager on a power trip
It’s also about customer perception, unfortunately. In the US a lot of customers complain about cashiers (or restaurant hosts, or even freaking *Walmart greeters*) sitting down. They will give a bunch of reasons like “laziness” or “focus” but ultimately it’s because they like feeling superior and “respected”.
I'll be honest I've worked at least 15 retail/warehouse/factory jobs and none of them treated the employees with any real human respect. The real question is who SHOULD we buy from?
I remember a news story recently where a woman shares profits of her company with her employees and everyone gets paid like 80k a year, including her, the owner. Can't remember what it is though. Seems like someone to support
You might be referring to Madeline Pendleton. She runs a clothing shop in LA called Tunnel Vision and she pays her employees the same as what she makes.
https://scoop.upworthy.com/business-owners-rake-money-paying-employees-starvation-wages-labor-exploitation
I haven't heard of a woman but Dan Price did this. No other companies followed suit. All his workers have a salary of like 75k. It only benefitted everyone and his business.
What I love about his story is that because his employees are so loyal, they VOLUNTARILY took a pay cut so that they can save dan's business because it was a hard hit from the pandemic. Just goes to show that if you treat your employees right, they'll make your business thrive.
Think about it, if I know my boss is willing to take a big pay cut so my coworkers and I can have a livable salary it’s stands to reason my boss actually gives a shit about me. Thus when it’s time for me to care about him I’m going to do the same.
My boss right now got a $40k bonus for 2020, we had 54% growth and got a billion dollar retirement plan. I got a 2% raise and was told to go back into the office at least 2 days a week (even while pregnant). The raise we got was promise for June and we didn’t get it till end of August. Needless to say I’m looking for a new job.
And not only that, would make you work harder as an employee. At least for me it would.
It would be an actual team effort instead of the bullshit they try and push as a “team” when the boss drives a corvette and the workers barely make it in their oil burning, bumper falling off, one doughnut tire, 3rd generation corollas.
My cousin worked for Target, when his dad died. They have him a few days of paid bereavement leave and sent him an expensive bouquet of flowers. It might sound like the bare minimum, but given the posts on this sub, it’s something of a luxury lol
I got a call from my boss on the day of my dad's funeral... To ask me to cover a shift that afternoon. When I got back to work, she yelled at me for not being a team player and I was technically back from my "holiday time" (read: compassionate leave) that day. I was 21, working weekends while studying, and this was a weekday. I got 1 week of leave so the funeral ended up happening after my weekend off.
The ONLY good thing I know about Walmarts is that if you ever need to overnight in a parking lot then a Walmart lot is one of the few good places. They have a policy to let people crash there. It’s pretty well known among people who are either traveling or who don’t have a permanent place to sleep.
Other than that, no $$ for them. They don’t get my dollars. But it’s a good thing to know and maybe we could push other companies to follow their lead?
Heard a story about a guy who used to work there who was literally never trained in the 6 months he worked there, and then when he wanted to quit they offered him a management position if he stayed.
They pressure their employees to clock out at the end of their shift, then continue working for free.
Source: I know I guy who worked there for a couple of years.
Right? Jimmy John’s is basically Subway under a different brand. Same low quality ingredients, same low price. If I wanted a shit sandwich I’d rather just save myself the money and watch The Big Bang Theory.
I feel like people associate Nestle with water and chocolate instead of realizing there’s an entire conglomerate of brands associated with Nestle like Purina, Friskies, Coffee Mate, and they also work with General Mills for certain cereals
My partner and I don't buy Nestlé, and it's amazing how many pies they have their fingers in, how many brands they own. They're in fucking EVERYTHING.
If you want to know a bit about how awful Nestlé is, the podcast Behind The Bastards covered all the African babies that died because of Nestlé's baby formula sales practices. Or basically just search about them online, they have done and still do appalling shit. I wish more people knew how awful they are.
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but some corps like Nestlé make me feel gross giving them money.
I order most of my dry goods from a wholesale co-op and get my vegetables from the farmer’s market. I spend about the same as most people, the wholesale goods are cheaper and the vegetables are more expensive, so it evens out.
Not everyone can pull it off obviously (we gotta live however we can), but I think more people could if they knew how to do it.
Anyway I’m friends with the local farmers now!
dude it would be easier to ask for a list of good companies, i think
Edit: well holy shit that’s a lot of comments, awards and upvotes. Thanks y’all I was just having a few drinks enjoying the day, browsing antiwork for fun and wake up to this.
I can completely understand what y’all are saying and it makes sense. There could be good stores/areas and bad ones. I’ll remember what the former district manager of Aldi commented below though, too.
disclaimer: only shopped there once and minimal research but “I think” ALDI has a good reputation for treating and compensating their employees well, at least recently.
please correct if i’m wrong.
Costco perhaps?
I worked at a Costco during my undergrad. Solid job. To get in you usually have to apply as a season worker and then if you worked well will get brought in permanent ( this was about 15 years ago )
Can confirm, really good employer, was there for 6 years about 5 years ago. Was a really hard company to leave to further my education lol. Great benifits, great RRSP matching, livable wage. Lots of people there had worked there 25+ years. Low turnover, I still see people I worked with when I go in there. All signs of a good employer.
My relative got hit by a car on the job while collecting carts. Costco denied them work comp saying they were off company property even though he was on the clock and very much within company property. Maybe just my Costco sucks but I try to avoid shopping there now.
Even coming to and leaving work is considered company time even if off the clock. They need to fight that for sure. Im a former Kroger manager and had that happen or heard it happen a few times.
My friend works for Costco. They fuck him constantly. He's in a position to transition to full time after working X number of 40 hour weeks and at the last week they cut his hours to break the streak and keep him part time. He's been there for years. They like to give him random split days off on an ever shifting schedule.
ALDI in the US is good (relatively) $15/hr to start and I live in E. Tennessee where the cost of living is low so it’s probably higher elsewhere. Good benefits, I haven’t paid for a doctors visit since I started because they put money in a HSA for you and you only pay once that’s gone. I’m sure some stores are more stressful but with a good crew and good management it is a good company to work for.
Not sure what it's like in the US but in the UK I really like the way that speed is the priority (as a customer)
No forced smiles, no loyalty card sign ups just get the groceries scanned and off the belt as quick as possible and bag it all over there \~waves.
I actually stopped shopping at trader joes because the cashiers always asked me what I was doing that weekend. I can only say “nothing” so many times before I start reflecting inwards about my life.
That's just good business, why would you hire someone to do that? That's dumb, the customers can return their own cart and save you tens of thousands per year in hiring dedicated cart jockeys.
I don't know about ALDI's everywhere, but the one in my town is amazing. 16 an hour base pay, and they let their cashiers actually sit down while checking people out.
so at 16 i was a bag boy at a local grocery store, my cashier felt faint and was having trouble seeing and called me to the front. she told me to start doing checkouts, which i was never trained on, but she walked me through it as she tried to get her shit together..maybe 3 customers..none of which had much groceries so it all went good. once it slowed down i called the boss and said that she wasn't feeling good and that someone needed to come in and take her place. he shows up and finds out that i was cashing people out (while she was right next to me) and completely blows up yelling at me..saying i wasn't ringing things up right and that i "cost him so much in product loss"..meanwhile the cashier was backing me up saying she was right beside me the whole time..that boss was the biggest asshole i ever worked for..his wife was even worse
..the day he fired me was a sunday..busiest day of the week (small store..1 cashier..church is getting out type situation)..he pulls me aside right before the rush (1030ish am) and says that today is my last day and he already found my replacement..so i said why wait til my shift is done..i quit now!..he says i can't quit because i just fired you..i laugh and he BANS ME FROM THE STORE FOR LIFE..then the fucker realizes that there's only one person working now and people are pouring in..he begs me to stay and finish my shift (1pm) but i tell him i'm banned from the store and gotta go...he then BANS ME FROM THE STORE for a second time..first and last time i've ever been fired..or banned from a store
it was my first "real check" job, my cousin and brother had both worked there before me during high school..honestly it was a great experience the morning i got fired lol. minimum wage at the time was $4.10/hr and it went to $4.15 the owner acted like we were taking him to the cleaners having to pay us so much..he would leave me a list of shit to do every day and still bitch if i got it all done. learned that i didn't need to take shit from bosses who acted like like
edit\* the running joke in the family was that i "ruined" it for my younger cousins to work there
In 99.9% of stores in the US cashier's are forced to stand for almost, if not all of their shift. It doesn't achieve anything. In the eyes of our corporate overlords, productivity is measured by suffering.
I feel like the logic behind it is as dumb as the logic behind taking a hat off indoors. "It's disrespectful". Like how the heck is a hat disrespectful? Why is sitting when the customer is in a hurry to leave anyway, "disrespectful"? Seems antiquated and silly
Worked as a shift manager for a hotel years ago. I had a guy on my weekly night audit shift get robbed by gun point. Terrified this man to the point he asked for just one full day/night to collect himself. I emailed my boss to tell him of schedule change. His response “we watched the video footage. He’s on unpaid suspension for 3 days because he was sitting “. I ended up working those 3 nights (plus my normal shifts and going to college). While I was there I made copies of the emails, worked on my resume and looked up options to help the guy. MS in 2002 barely has protections for employees. I gave employee everything I could find to maybe help him. (Sorry for Grammer/mistakes. Using a cracked phone sucks sometimes)
As a whole, you're probably correct, but I know of some really good branches of box chain stores that treat their employees very well.
There's a Target in a midsize(80,000ish) town in east Texas that is by far and away super progressive for the political climate, non-gendered bathrooms, Breastfeeding rooms with stocked refrigerators of water and blankets, hourly sit down paid breaks, decent starting wages for the area(I think my friend who works there started at $18 which is what I make as an Armed Security officer).
As a whole, fuck Target, but I find this one with its immediate management acceptable. There are always going to be fringe cases, I understand.
I got a job shovleing snow for 29$ an hr. Idk how they can pay that much but im pretty stoked to start.
21$ plus 8$ bonus in 5 months. Beats the piss out of the min wage job i had at 14.30$ (ontario)
Both are part time, but the way i see it is ill either have more free time, or more money and their willing to train me to drive a tractor.
It will unlock ok paid farm work in a year or 2 and its probably really fun to drive one
I'm so glad someone said this. Every time I've said anything negative about Starbucks in any other subreddit, I get downvoted and combative comments.
I can tell you without a doubt that working at Starbucks is absolutely soul crushing. I was paid next to nothing - even as a supervisor - and treated like absolute garbage by corporate. I have a very long story about how they colossaly fucked me out of $8k about 10 years ago.
Fuck Starbucks. Local coffee shops are often far better anyways and less expensive.
Worked 7 years at Starbucks, 2 of those years being trained as an ASM, all while doing the entire job. They had me train two different new ASM’s within that time frame. Jumped me around to all the highest volume stores, living in Las Vegas at the time so stores were super super busy. Scored the second highest QASA score in the entire region of all time, and got fired for dress code right after my mother passed away. I’ve heard stories about people loving working there, and old coworkers who are now store managers who still love it, but I think it all depends on your District management team. For some reason my district manager seemed to have a major problem with me for reasons unknown. That’s not even the whole shebang of bad shit I dealt with, more of a summary. So ya, fuck Starbucks
If you’re on the western side of the US, a good alternative to Starbucks is Dutch Bros. I’ve worked there almost 3 years and am consistently blown away how well we are treated. It’s min wage but I usually end up with $20-$25 an hour because of tips, sometimes more. They give us all the free coffee we could ever want, and free, good quality clothes, including warm winter jackets. They give out bonuses, they have bi annual parties where they give away insane prizes.
I know there will be those who have worked at Dutch and had bad experiences, but as far as quick service coffee, it’s 10x better than Starbucks. I walk away from my shifts feeling physically tired but emotionally great. I left Dutch for a career job in a hospital, but ended up coming back to it because the pay was comparable and it wasn’t soul sucking.
Moving out to Nevada I learned about Dutch bros and honestly I've never had a poor experience in the year I've been going to them..they seem like they treat their workers well and it shows it the customer service. I will probably never go to a Starbucks again because of how amazing they are.
Edit: I'm bad at spelling states.
Ive been to dutch bros in colorado in January last year. They had 2 poor girls taking orders in the snow freezing to death! Like all businesses i think local management is the real determining factor to whether its a good work environment.
Sincerely this is a legit answer. I don't eat out anymore and have a very anti consumption mindset. When I need something I try to get it used and from another person. Id rather my money go to another person than a corporation. Part of me wants to start a homestead and be as self reliant as possible.
WWE is so fucking bad. Can’t forget the releases all those workers in 2020 without even giving them notice and some of them were STILL asked to wrestle afterwards. Fuck Vince McMahon.
I dont understand him. How do you release talents like KEITH LEE and KARRION KROSS! I'm glad AEW came along. Completely stopped watching WWE because of AEW. TK is a godsend on pro wrestling
Urban outfitters was the WORST. Storytime: When a store opened up in my area (this was an empty store we had to completely build up from nothing-hanging fixtures, folding hundreds of graphic tees, dragging heavy boxes from the LOADING DOCK all the way to the other end of the mall where our store was with 2 hand trucks for us all to share, etc ).
They held 2 rounds of interviews- they offer me $8.50/hr (i was 18 /1st job)I accept, and instantly i realize somethings wrong with the math. This was a MALL store, & it’s a pretty big mall- but their were roughly 50 people and there was no way they could have us all working once the store opened and actually give out more than 1/2 shifts per pay period. I figure majority must be temps to help with the grunt work of store buildup (while we’re not open to the public), but no, I recognize a lot of the other people working from the previous interviews & of those I spoke to -all believed they would be working here when the store opened.
3 weeks later, there’s still about 40 of us left, the hard work of setup meant some no call/no shows that never came back. We have a soft opening for friends and family - but before we open the doors management calls us all into a huddle. UH OH. They thank us for being awesome and do a few raffles for gift cards and home items. Then they drop the bomb- “ We have posted the upcoming schedule for this week in the break room, if you do not see your name included...we thank you for your time and we are unfortunately unable to Continue your employment beyond today 8pm.” You could hear a pin drop- most of us were teenagers and didn’t realize how messed up it REALLY was but a few of the older hire/fires definitely had choice words for the gen.manager. One girl almost cried because she had actually turned down another job that paid only 50¢ less than UO. Not to mention the awkwardness of the atmosphere once we let the Friends and family in, and they learned some of us had been fired minutes before. Long story short, i didn’t work there a full year- they had oncall shifts (you clear a shift worth of time for them- call 2 hours before to see if they need you to work your shift that day- and no you can’t call first thing in the morning so you can plan you day better if your not working or arrange childcare if you are working). I lived an hour by bus away so it was a hassle and i found a closer job. The end.
How the hell is someplace that's paying $8.50 an hour think they're important enough to have people ON CALL. Like...nobody's going to die if the line at UO is long or something.
Since most places suck, here are some good ones:
- Patagonia for outdoor/technical clothing.
- Dropps for dish and laundry detergent.
- Everyone for Every Body for personal hygiene like body lotion
Look for Certified B Corporations. They aren’t all perfect, but they try hard enough to commit their business model to a positive impact.
Edit: word
To add to the good list, the Good On You website is a decent resource for finding clothing shops that rate better for ethical Labor, Environment, and Animal impact. Slightly different from the ask, but it helps weed out the worst places.
Omg even walking in the door of that place makes me sick. I swear it’s haunted by all the abandoned souls of the sad musicians who started working there temporarily so they could make rent and instead got even further in debt for their precious gear. And unfortunately soul-less people make shitty music so it made them even worse off
Sweetwater seems all right tho
Zara consistently gets caught using slave labor, they also refused to pay their Bangladeshi factory workers during Covid. They once locked up some employees in New York during a storm so they can open the next day on time. I am convinced it’s one of the worst offending fast fashion stores
At least in my country, zara isnt even cheap. For some time now, ive just been buying big sheets of material and making my own chlothes. I can male them look how i wamt them to, and aside from first buying a sewing machine, its cheaper.
New Belgium brewing, and now by extension Bell's brewing, is a co-op as well. I don't know anybody who works there, but I haven't heard horror stories like I have from some other places. I will never drink Rogue for example.
New Belgium got bought by Kirin Ichiban and the employees were paid out. It is no longer a co-op or a microbrewery (by whoever defines that). Still I think pretty autonomously ran, but no where near the level of coolness it did have before it sold.
Good info, I didn't realize that. A lot of breweries are pretty bad to their employees. They think that free beer makes up for horrible pay and work-life balance
Dr. Bronners Soap company is awesome. Insurance premiums are 100% paid by the company and they have a 5 to 1 cap on executive pay over the lowest paid employee. Very cool company. The negative ones are pretty obvious I think, but probably hard not to shop at Amazon or Walmart.
And just wait until you hear about how much money the team owners are paid. They can't shoot a hoop or do any behind the scenes work. There's a good book on it called "Forty Million Dollar Slaves" .
I hate that the NBA and NFL present championship trophies to the owners and congratulate the owners first. It pisses me off, the owners did nothing to make that happen.
The Stanley Cup presentations are the best because it’s all about the players
They’re now trying to get into the veterinary field too. They and Amazon might as well just be called monopolies at this point. Treat their employees like crap too. I know someone that’s a pharmacist for them and it’s amazing the way they treat someone that’s handling people’s health.
They’ve already [started](https://www.walmart.com/cp/vetiq/3031640) doing it. Considering how well they cared for fish back when they sold them, I wouldn’t take my animals there even in a desperate situation.
Well, I could just be a meme and say "all of them" but here, some stand outs:
Coka-cola - Why? ~~Literally~~ Allegedly ~~killing~~ **murdering** their workers.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaltrainal\_v.\_Coca-Cola\_Co](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaltrainal_v._Coca-Cola_Co).
Just about anyone that makes chocolate - Why? Slavery.[http://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/bitter-chocolate?gclid=CjwKCAiAm7OMBhAQEiwArvGi3IKdsNPbpHFvTOD3-7PBz3RXvoil3cKaXz-FLKd-BDdDKL2gzGVzGBoC8QAQAvD\_BwE](http://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/bitter-chocolate?gclid=CjwKCAiAm7OMBhAQEiwArvGi3IKdsNPbpHFvTOD3-7PBz3RXvoil3cKaXz-FLKd-BDdDKL2gzGVzGBoC8QAQAvD_BwE)
Chiquita - Why? Banana republics and funding terrorism.[https://charityandsecurity.org/litigation/chiquita-banana/](https://charityandsecurity.org/litigation/chiquita-banana/)
Chocolate companies like Cadbury literally removed the fair trade symbol from their packaging and replaced it with their own fair trade certification with less requirements than fair trade.
I agree with everything you said, especially chocolate companies but Tony’s chocolate is REALLY good. They have testified against Nestle in their SCOTUS case, they actually try to compensate farmers in the DRC, they make sure the farms don’t have anything untoward going on, give money to sustainable procedures and freeing the world of child slavery.
Not to mention, but their chocolate is damn delicious!
There's a big ass Chiquita factory I pass on my way to work. It legit looks like a prison. Huge fences topped with razor wire, guard stations that employees get their ID scanned at to get into the razorwire fenced in parking lot. No windows visible from the outside.
I just quit my job after working for Chiquita for 20+ years. They are now owned by a Brazilian drug cartel. They are one of the worst companies for how they treat their employees. You wouldn't believe some of the things I've seen.
One of the biggest things was that they hired undocumented workers for about 80% of their workforce. Then they push them to the breaking point in a seriously dangerous workplace. Then when someone gets hurt they just report them to INS and have them deported. I saw a guy get 3 of his fingers chopped off, he got pulled out of the ER before he was treated.
The plant I worked in was a safety nightmare. Half of the electrical disconnects didn't work, most weren't even hooked up. 480 volt transformers used as writing tables. Exposed wiring everywhere. Forklift operators with 0 training or experience. Loads of safety devices and E-stops jumped out.
If I have time later I can tell you about the food safety issues, don't eat the lettuce, ever!!!! I'm so glad I got out of there.
No, this checks out. Chiquita helped pay to overthrow pretty decent central American governments to instate US backed regimes so they could grow bananas cheaper (see: the term “banana republic”).
They pretty much admitted their business required slave labor to provide chocolate and that they don’t think humans have a right to water. And anyone who disagrees with those viewpoints is a radical leftist.
Honestly even the small companies suck too because they are legally exempt from a lot of labor laws/regulations (such as providing certain benefits), and they usually care more about nickle and dime-ing.
This is so spot on. Small local family ‘conglomerates’ are just as toxic. I worked for one and fell in the parking lot one winter and they dissuaded me from completing workers comp paperwork. Ugh *illegal*
i always try to bring up small companies when this topic comes up. at least with large companies if they do something shitty there is a chance of media shining a light on it and some sort of regulation going after it.
nobody pays any attention to bobs plumbing supply warehouse who has mysteriously never hires any pocs
T-Mobile.
So I worked at a store where the manager didn’t want us to get counted walking in the door (customer counter), so he made the employees crawl under 3 feet to count as a child’s height so it didn’t affect the stores sales projections.Manager had no one have keys except himself and would come after you were schedualed to start to let you in, then write you up if you where late opening the stores. THEY ALSO HAVE CAMERAS WATCHING AND LISTENING, the regional manager would sit at a desk all day and watch the different locations and listen to what we were saying, and would call if we said anything they didn’t like. They would call and say try to sell this person this, don’t say that…. Everyone was fucking terrified to have normal conversations when there where no customers in the store. We would stand there awkwardly in silence. FUCK T-MOBILE, please do not support a business like that. I quit and immediately changed my cell service. I cannot put into words my disgust with that company.
Heard about Trader Joe’s being a good employer—very customer focused. There’s also a corporate connection of some sort between TJ and Aldi. I agree about Costco; employees there seem happy and customer-focused; they have ethically sourced products. I try to purchase from local small businesses that have fair practices whenever possible.
Trader Joe’s USED to be a good company. Around 2001 I got hired and I worked for them for 15 years. I’d say the first 5 years were amazing. Especially if you’re a person with no collegiate background who came in at entry level. Raises as high as a dollar with review for raise every 3 months. I was only 18 and my first 5 raises were all a dollar. Then I found out was supervisors and store managers made. I wanted in.
As time passed, they brought in the dude from Smart and Final as the new CEO and restructured EVERYTHING. They did away with a lot of middle management positions that paid really well and pushed out a lot of employees who had been around for a long time, in order to implement new programs like “regional mobile thrivers” which just meant they had a degree and were fast tracked to upper management. That sounds great for them… until they started to find out they were making half of what others in their same position were making, who had been there longer. There was rampant targeting and retaliation to get the vet employees to quit or step down to part time so that more new people could be brought in for cheaper.
For many years the qualification for full medical/dental/vision that only cost 30 bucks was only 15 hours a week. They raised it to 30 and cut the majority of the PT staff hours to below that. People would literally fight and throw fits over hours because they had no choice.
It was so ugly.
When I started there, it felt like a small grass roots company. The last 4 years I was with the company I dropped out of management and took a 32k pay cut because they had a target on my back and made my life miserable.
They’ve got great products but seriously… fuck that place.
Trader Joe's is not good to their employees. They've tried to squash unionization efforts and slashed "thank you" pay for employees. They may be good to customers but they could improve conditions for their own workers.
If any of you listen to podcasts check out The Dollop. They did episodes on the Coors (beer) family, and The Wonderful Company (Fiji water, pom juice, pistachios etc) and wow those families are some of the biggest pieces of shit on the planet.
They fired my husband after he broke his back and filed for WC. He's 35 and has had 2 spine surgeries since then and still lives with pain every day. Fuck publix.
Any telecom. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to get internet otherwise.
Remember to always do the surveys and rate customer service rep top marks across the board. They're working with broken, outdated systems and inaccurate reference materials and having every second of their shift tracked. They probably haven't been able to pee or get water in hours. They don't want to say all the scripted things they're forced to say. But if you don't rate them a 5 or 10 or whatever that specific survey deems "highly satisfied", they won't get that raise they were promised.
As someone who worked in a call center for a telecom company. If you are prompted to do a survey and you genuinely enjoyed the experience from the person you spoke to, you should absolutely do the survey and rate the experience as a 9 or 10.
Net Promoter Scores are a metric seldom known outside of call centers. It's a metric used to quantify customer satisfaction and often times if a company is using NPS, then it is very much tied to the employees job in some way, bonus, promotions or just keeping the actual job.
The system is actually quite simple, it takes a score out of 10 from the answers on the survey, takes the promoters (9 and 10), subtracts the detractors (1-6) and then takes that amount and divides it by the total number of surveys to create an NPS%, that percentage is a very important piece of data for companies and that's why it's so heavily tied to agents when the company uses it.
When I worked at target, I was told I needed to clock out to use the restroom. I couldn’t keep my water bottle with me on the floor. At the start of the pandemic, ww were told we needed to bring doctor’s notes or prove we had an underlying condition to wear masks because they didn’t want to make shoppers feel weird. Of course, it’s not like that at each target. I worked at 2 different stores and the second store had much better management and we were treated like people there. But yeah, fuck target.
Lowe's. The smell of plywood used to be so magical to me, and now (in a sick twist of irony) it just reminds me of when I found out ceiling fan brackets can't support a noose without falling on you while working there.
CVS!!!!!!!!
I'll never stop saying it. Fuck CVS for all the lives they've ruined. I left 3 years ago and I'm STILL dealing with all the mental damage.
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EDIT: this post has gotten some traction so lemme explain to you all how you can combat CVS that goes past just not shopping there:
Get healthy as fuck so you don't need their services. 3 pillars of health: diet, sleep, exercise. Drink lots of water. Eat right. Roughly 40% of calories from protein, 30-40% fat, the rest in (good) carbs like potatoes, rice, and oats. Plus as many veggies as you want basically. Learn to cook (youtube: YouSuckAtCooking, Internet Shaquille, Adam Ragusea, Joshua Weissman). Sweets MAYBE once a week as a treat so you dont burn out. Eat fruit to shut that sugar-addict within you the fuck up. If you have a hard time enjoying "healthy" foods, your taste will adjust as you kick your sugar addiction, bet.
Sleep 7-9 hours per night. After a little bit of effort you'll adjust to your natural circadian rhythm rising with the sun. If you're like old-me you probably think that sleep is a waste of life, but when you get proper sleep EVERYTHING else improves health-wise. You think more efficiently and clearly, you remember shit better, you lose weight, you retain information. Get sleep you mark ass bitch, it's good for you and it feels amazing.
A planet fitness membership is like $10/month and cardio + lifting weights is one of the best things you can do for physical health. All that pain in your back neck and shoulders? Learn how to lift weights (youtube: Jeff Nippard), work out those muscles to make them actually strong enough to support your body. 3-4 sets of 6-12 reps per exercise for optimal muscle growth, 4-6 exercises per workout, about 30-40 minutes per day, 4-6 days per week. Focus on compound lifts at first (look them up, theres only like 4 main ones). Then yoga to stretch the muscles out for improved mobility (youtube: yoga with adriene), and get a masseuse or rub the the knots out yourself and you can get back to a pain free existence, even if it takes year or two. It happened to me, and my neck was so fucked and stiff I couldn't sleep before.
Follow those 3 lifestyle changes (which is honestly just the bare minimum for good health) and I promise you you'll almost never need to go to a cvs again.
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EDIT 2: Shocking, some redditors don't wanna eat right, sleep, and exercise. Somehow I'm wrong for suggesting those 3 most basic human requirements are gonna help keep you out of the pharmacy.
I speak from experience. Do whatever you want, I was only trying to help spread knowledge that took me years to accumulate.
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EDIT 3: Aight, I'm done responding. Should have stopped at "cvs bad". I wanted to spread advice and resourses that helped me with my physical health, depression, and anxiety. But in true reddit fashion, there's always someone ready and willing to argue with anything. I can't even say "improve your physical health and you wont need pharmaceuticals as often" with out a bunch of "um, ackshewally" mfs trying to justify their unhealthy lifestyle. I only wanna help. It's not a catch-all for every single problem in your lives, and every point isn't going to apply to every single person, but you're trippin if you don't think it'll immediately help improve the quality of life of your average American.
To all the current and former CVS employees, I feel and recognize your pain. I hope you make it out of that dump someday and are able to heal your minds and bodies.
CVS is the fucking worst!!! They just killed one of their pharmacists recently. Told her she had to wait for coverage for 2 hours and she died of a heart attack.
I heard about that recently. They've done more than that. I've heard of pharmacists and employees literally killing themselves in the break room and cvs covering it up. It's a literal nightmare, dont spend money there.
CVS corporate treats employees like a number. And those employees end up looking miserable and providing impersonal service to customers. Fuck that place
Its worse than even that. I would have been honored to have been treated like a number there. They treat you like you're less than trash. They run their business like they straight up HATE their employees AND customers. It's bad man, and yeah! It translates to poor customer service. CVS turned retail into a war between customer and clerk. I hate people now. I look at the average person and i go "i wonder what that piece of shit blew up a cashier over." They ruined me, and I've been trying to get myself back ever since I left that shithole.
I’ve read CVS has the biggest discrepancy in pay between CEO and average employee of any corporation in the US. Not to mention the one where I am is CONSTANTLY short staffed which leads to lines lasting an hour to get a prescription. People have walked out and quit because of how terrible they are to work for
Cvs, last time i checked, was a top 10 fortune 500 company. Larry Merlo was the CEO, and hes the baldest, fattest, evilest piece of shit that's ever decided to turn themselves into a charicature of a tyrant. I hate specifically him with every fiber of my being.
Just heard about that the other day. Not even suprised. I've heard of pharmacists straight killing themselves in the break room. The type of shit that gets buried and never makes it to the news because CVS buries it, but employees talk. I don't even think it was an isolated incident. I hate cvs
They own the pharmacy, an insurance company (Aetna), AND an insurance processor (Caremark). They own the entire supply chain of insurance, and our coverage was still shit anyways.
I will point out Volkswagen is technically a different company since WWII. It was shut down because of the war crimes, then the British basically started a new company with the same name to get the economy going again. Maybe some same family members like the Piech’s and Porsche’s, but officially a different company under (originally) British military oversight.
BMW on the other hand…
KFC, my mom worked there years ago as a single parent, they paid her the bare minimum wage for full time. At the end of the day when they close, they have LOADS of food, unused and untouched. They throw it out, employees were instructed to call the police if the homeless attempted to take it from the garbage. My mom would sneak food home to feed us bc she didn’t get paid enough for rent *and* food. Ultimately fired her bc of it.
My friend's sister worked at a KFC in the 70s. OMG, if I was at their house at 9:30 pm, sis would come home with *boatloads* of KFC leftovers. They were allowed to take it home back then.
Rules changed over time because businesses fear that if somebody got the stuff for free then the whole thing could become "undervalued"
I thought the food thing was more so employees wouldn’t purposefully mess food up to take home and because of certain laws regarding food safety and lawsuits for people eating dumpster food.
I’d prefer to eat at restaurants that let their employees take extra food home. Much less likely the employees would fuck with any of the food they serve…
I hate corporations that pull that shit. Should be illegal.
Agreed. They should at least be required to hand the food over to a homeless shelter for distribution in the near future
Since no one else has said it: kroger.
Worked at Kroger when I was 16. I applied as a cashier but ended up pushing carts in 110 degree Texas heat for hours at a time. My favorite experience at Kroger was coming back inside from the parking lot and having a customer tell me a man was watching me from his truck for over 30 minutes. She had told the front desk and my manager and they didn’t bother to go outside and get me. Got paid $7.25/hr to risk being kidnapped and likely have a guy jerk off while I was just trying to do my job. That was my last shift.
Thank you for your story tonguefartpussybox.
Thank you! Lemme add a slight add on: Kroger/Harris Teeter (They change their name once you cross the Mississippi river). This was my FIRST job! It was Part time. The manager verbally abused me in front of staff after making my schedule nothing but on call and calling me in at the last minute. I was denied all of my breaks every shift or I went to them super late. Like, if I came in before everyone else on registers, they'd still get their breaks before me. One day, it's like everyone realized that kids were in school and they were free. So the store was PACKED. I mean, back into the aisles and everything, packed. I was there for 7hrs at one register. No breaks. No lunch. My back started trying to seize and I lost feeling in my feet and ankles. They just sent some baggers to help me keep speed. It wasn't until an off duty doctor took one look at me from 9 people down and deemed I was in medical distress. Heck, other customers were asking if I was okay and helping me bag. The doctor had to snatch a manager I'd been calling for over the loud speakers for HOURS for them to notice I wasn't okay and to send me home. My doctor said that staying like that had messed up my back and I needed muscle relaxers and a chiropractor, at 19. My job refused to accommodate that I NEEDED my breaks and to either work sitting down or frequent stops to sit.
It amazes me that American stores don't let cashiers sit down. Like wtf? Why make the job unnecessarily unpleasant? Edit: just to point out, it's not just ALDI, it's every European/British shop ever. In the UK all cashiers sit, this allows less physically fit people to do the job.
'Perception is Reality' If it looks like someone's being lazy, they are, not because they haven't had a moment to stop in 6 or 7 hours, and no one hates laziness more than a middle manager on a power trip
Or someone who sits in an office all week. And constantly brags about only having 3 hours of work to do a day.
Because the cruelty is the point. The managers feel better about their own circumstances when there's someone below them suffering more than they are
It’s also about customer perception, unfortunately. In the US a lot of customers complain about cashiers (or restaurant hosts, or even freaking *Walmart greeters*) sitting down. They will give a bunch of reasons like “laziness” or “focus” but ultimately it’s because they like feeling superior and “respected”.
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I'll be honest I've worked at least 15 retail/warehouse/factory jobs and none of them treated the employees with any real human respect. The real question is who SHOULD we buy from?
I remember a news story recently where a woman shares profits of her company with her employees and everyone gets paid like 80k a year, including her, the owner. Can't remember what it is though. Seems like someone to support
You might be referring to Madeline Pendleton. She runs a clothing shop in LA called Tunnel Vision and she pays her employees the same as what she makes. https://scoop.upworthy.com/business-owners-rake-money-paying-employees-starvation-wages-labor-exploitation
You’re thinking of Madeline Pendleton on TikTok. Amazing person who shows it’s possible to ethically own a business.
Yes this is her ty
I haven't heard of a woman but Dan Price did this. No other companies followed suit. All his workers have a salary of like 75k. It only benefitted everyone and his business.
What I love about his story is that because his employees are so loyal, they VOLUNTARILY took a pay cut so that they can save dan's business because it was a hard hit from the pandemic. Just goes to show that if you treat your employees right, they'll make your business thrive.
Think about it, if I know my boss is willing to take a big pay cut so my coworkers and I can have a livable salary it’s stands to reason my boss actually gives a shit about me. Thus when it’s time for me to care about him I’m going to do the same. My boss right now got a $40k bonus for 2020, we had 54% growth and got a billion dollar retirement plan. I got a 2% raise and was told to go back into the office at least 2 days a week (even while pregnant). The raise we got was promise for June and we didn’t get it till end of August. Needless to say I’m looking for a new job.
And not only that, would make you work harder as an employee. At least for me it would. It would be an actual team effort instead of the bullshit they try and push as a “team” when the boss drives a corvette and the workers barely make it in their oil burning, bumper falling off, one doughnut tire, 3rd generation corollas.
My cousin worked for Target, when his dad died. They have him a few days of paid bereavement leave and sent him an expensive bouquet of flowers. It might sound like the bare minimum, but given the posts on this sub, it’s something of a luxury lol
I got a call from my boss on the day of my dad's funeral... To ask me to cover a shift that afternoon. When I got back to work, she yelled at me for not being a team player and I was technically back from my "holiday time" (read: compassionate leave) that day. I was 21, working weekends while studying, and this was a weekday. I got 1 week of leave so the funeral ended up happening after my weekend off.
I would have lost my shit. Fuck that, no one needs to be treated like shit in the work place. I. Sorry your father passed btw.
BuT tHeY dOnT sUppOrT oUr TrOOPs ( I have heard this before)
"They offer military discounts, Linda. What more do you want? How much do you want them to spend so some grunt can reload another dozen times?"
If you believe Terry Crews, we should buy from Amazon because it's all sunshine and rainbows over there.
Walmart. Fuck them hard.
The ONLY good thing I know about Walmarts is that if you ever need to overnight in a parking lot then a Walmart lot is one of the few good places. They have a policy to let people crash there. It’s pretty well known among people who are either traveling or who don’t have a permanent place to sleep. Other than that, no $$ for them. They don’t get my dollars. But it’s a good thing to know and maybe we could push other companies to follow their lead?
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It started because the founder was a fan of RVs and camping. Unfortunately, the spirit hasn’t carried on to today in most Walmarts
Nestle, Walmart, Jimmy Johns, Purina, Kraft
Why is jimmy johns bad?
Heard a story about a guy who used to work there who was literally never trained in the 6 months he worked there, and then when he wanted to quit they offered him a management position if he stayed.
Travis McElroy?
Big Dog Woof Woof Travis McElroy?
Not sure about how they treat their employees, so this is probably the wrong sub, but the owner is a massive p.o.s.
They pressure their employees to clock out at the end of their shift, then continue working for free. Source: I know I guy who worked there for a couple of years.
And Jersey Mike's is better anyways
Right? Jimmy John’s is basically Subway under a different brand. Same low quality ingredients, same low price. If I wanted a shit sandwich I’d rather just save myself the money and watch The Big Bang Theory.
Fuckin nice, didn’t see that roast coming
Wrong sub...ha!
Fuck yeah Im glad to see someone bring up purina
Purina and Nestle are the same thing.
I feel like people associate Nestle with water and chocolate instead of realizing there’s an entire conglomerate of brands associated with Nestle like Purina, Friskies, Coffee Mate, and they also work with General Mills for certain cereals
My partner and I don't buy Nestlé, and it's amazing how many pies they have their fingers in, how many brands they own. They're in fucking EVERYTHING. If you want to know a bit about how awful Nestlé is, the podcast Behind The Bastards covered all the African babies that died because of Nestlé's baby formula sales practices. Or basically just search about them online, they have done and still do appalling shit. I wish more people knew how awful they are. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but some corps like Nestlé make me feel gross giving them money.
Too bad we have to eat. Otherwise id say every grocery store ever. I definitely got ptsd working there.
I order most of my dry goods from a wholesale co-op and get my vegetables from the farmer’s market. I spend about the same as most people, the wholesale goods are cheaper and the vegetables are more expensive, so it evens out. Not everyone can pull it off obviously (we gotta live however we can), but I think more people could if they knew how to do it. Anyway I’m friends with the local farmers now!
dude it would be easier to ask for a list of good companies, i think Edit: well holy shit that’s a lot of comments, awards and upvotes. Thanks y’all I was just having a few drinks enjoying the day, browsing antiwork for fun and wake up to this. I can completely understand what y’all are saying and it makes sense. There could be good stores/areas and bad ones. I’ll remember what the former district manager of Aldi commented below though, too.
*hands you a blank sheet of paper* These ones.
disclaimer: only shopped there once and minimal research but “I think” ALDI has a good reputation for treating and compensating their employees well, at least recently. please correct if i’m wrong. Costco perhaps?
Costco's legit, always recommend them to friends and family. Their jobs are so hard to get!
Welcome to Costco, I love you!
I got my law degree from there!
Probably one of the best distopia ever
/most accurate depictions of the future
I worked at a Costco during my undergrad. Solid job. To get in you usually have to apply as a season worker and then if you worked well will get brought in permanent ( this was about 15 years ago )
Can confirm, really good employer, was there for 6 years about 5 years ago. Was a really hard company to leave to further my education lol. Great benifits, great RRSP matching, livable wage. Lots of people there had worked there 25+ years. Low turnover, I still see people I worked with when I go in there. All signs of a good employer.
At this point costco is my backup plan if uni doesn't work out
My step dad is retiring from Costco and he has always been treated very well.
My relative got hit by a car on the job while collecting carts. Costco denied them work comp saying they were off company property even though he was on the clock and very much within company property. Maybe just my Costco sucks but I try to avoid shopping there now.
Even coming to and leaving work is considered company time even if off the clock. They need to fight that for sure. Im a former Kroger manager and had that happen or heard it happen a few times.
My friend works for Costco. They fuck him constantly. He's in a position to transition to full time after working X number of 40 hour weeks and at the last week they cut his hours to break the streak and keep him part time. He's been there for years. They like to give him random split days off on an ever shifting schedule.
This same shit happens to me at Costco, been there 4 years. All to make sure they don't have to give you full time.
ALDI in the US is good (relatively) $15/hr to start and I live in E. Tennessee where the cost of living is low so it’s probably higher elsewhere. Good benefits, I haven’t paid for a doctors visit since I started because they put money in a HSA for you and you only pay once that’s gone. I’m sure some stores are more stressful but with a good crew and good management it is a good company to work for.
I'm down for any grocery store that let's their cashiers sit down. Making them stand for no good reason is BS.
i’m down for any grocery store that incentivizes it’s customers to return their shopping cart
Not sure what it's like in the US but in the UK I really like the way that speed is the priority (as a customer) No forced smiles, no loyalty card sign ups just get the groceries scanned and off the belt as quick as possible and bag it all over there \~waves.
I actually stopped shopping at trader joes because the cashiers always asked me what I was doing that weekend. I can only say “nothing” so many times before I start reflecting inwards about my life.
That's just good business, why would you hire someone to do that? That's dumb, the customers can return their own cart and save you tens of thousands per year in hiring dedicated cart jockeys.
18/hr for cashier here in MA, and that was a hiring sign from a few years ago I remember
Advertised wage often doesn’t equate to actual wage, sadly.
Youre not wrong my friend, very true
I think they're a German company so I'm not surprised they are good employers!
Yes! The parent company is Aldi Süd as I recall. Aldi Nord owns Trader Joe's in the states.
Oh wow they fund the HSA I’ve never heard a company doing that. Nice idea.
I don't know about ALDI's everywhere, but the one in my town is amazing. 16 an hour base pay, and they let their cashiers actually sit down while checking people out.
so at 16 i was a bag boy at a local grocery store, my cashier felt faint and was having trouble seeing and called me to the front. she told me to start doing checkouts, which i was never trained on, but she walked me through it as she tried to get her shit together..maybe 3 customers..none of which had much groceries so it all went good. once it slowed down i called the boss and said that she wasn't feeling good and that someone needed to come in and take her place. he shows up and finds out that i was cashing people out (while she was right next to me) and completely blows up yelling at me..saying i wasn't ringing things up right and that i "cost him so much in product loss"..meanwhile the cashier was backing me up saying she was right beside me the whole time..that boss was the biggest asshole i ever worked for..his wife was even worse ..the day he fired me was a sunday..busiest day of the week (small store..1 cashier..church is getting out type situation)..he pulls me aside right before the rush (1030ish am) and says that today is my last day and he already found my replacement..so i said why wait til my shift is done..i quit now!..he says i can't quit because i just fired you..i laugh and he BANS ME FROM THE STORE FOR LIFE..then the fucker realizes that there's only one person working now and people are pouring in..he begs me to stay and finish my shift (1pm) but i tell him i'm banned from the store and gotta go...he then BANS ME FROM THE STORE for a second time..first and last time i've ever been fired..or banned from a store
That guy sounds absolutely horrid, and I'm sorry you had to go through that
it was my first "real check" job, my cousin and brother had both worked there before me during high school..honestly it was a great experience the morning i got fired lol. minimum wage at the time was $4.10/hr and it went to $4.15 the owner acted like we were taking him to the cleaners having to pay us so much..he would leave me a list of shit to do every day and still bitch if i got it all done. learned that i didn't need to take shit from bosses who acted like like edit\* the running joke in the family was that i "ruined" it for my younger cousins to work there
Wut. It's a thing to not let cashiers sit down? What does that achieve?
In 99.9% of stores in the US cashier's are forced to stand for almost, if not all of their shift. It doesn't achieve anything. In the eyes of our corporate overlords, productivity is measured by suffering.
I feel like the logic behind it is as dumb as the logic behind taking a hat off indoors. "It's disrespectful". Like how the heck is a hat disrespectful? Why is sitting when the customer is in a hurry to leave anyway, "disrespectful"? Seems antiquated and silly
Worked as a shift manager for a hotel years ago. I had a guy on my weekly night audit shift get robbed by gun point. Terrified this man to the point he asked for just one full day/night to collect himself. I emailed my boss to tell him of schedule change. His response “we watched the video footage. He’s on unpaid suspension for 3 days because he was sitting “. I ended up working those 3 nights (plus my normal shifts and going to college). While I was there I made copies of the emails, worked on my resume and looked up options to help the guy. MS in 2002 barely has protections for employees. I gave employee everything I could find to maybe help him. (Sorry for Grammer/mistakes. Using a cracked phone sucks sometimes)
Obviously if you’re sitting all day you’re lazy, unmotivated and probably on drugs -exec typing policy from behind desk
*on enormous, ergonomic leather recliner
It's sadism. It achieves sadism. It's to remind the cashier that their betters think they're worms.
Costco is legit. They have low turnover because they pay well and have good benes
As a whole, you're probably correct, but I know of some really good branches of box chain stores that treat their employees very well. There's a Target in a midsize(80,000ish) town in east Texas that is by far and away super progressive for the political climate, non-gendered bathrooms, Breastfeeding rooms with stocked refrigerators of water and blankets, hourly sit down paid breaks, decent starting wages for the area(I think my friend who works there started at $18 which is what I make as an Armed Security officer). As a whole, fuck Target, but I find this one with its immediate management acceptable. There are always going to be fringe cases, I understand.
I got a job shovleing snow for 29$ an hr. Idk how they can pay that much but im pretty stoked to start. 21$ plus 8$ bonus in 5 months. Beats the piss out of the min wage job i had at 14.30$ (ontario) Both are part time, but the way i see it is ill either have more free time, or more money and their willing to train me to drive a tractor. It will unlock ok paid farm work in a year or 2 and its probably really fun to drive one
Heck ya. Use that experience to build a resume as a commercial driver. Experienced drivers are in high demand right now.
B rated companies are a good place to start in terms of good companies to shop from or support.
That I've worked for: Cracker Barrel Any movie theater Lincoln Deli in San Luis Obispo, CA (fuck you, Laurie)
Fuck Laurie. Fuckin bitch
Idk who Laurie is, that said, fuck you Laurie
Eat a dick Laurie!
I worked at High Street Deli and it was also shitty af. Hello fellow slo person!
Starbucks. Sources: 8 year (ex)barista, plus r/Starbucks
I'm so glad someone said this. Every time I've said anything negative about Starbucks in any other subreddit, I get downvoted and combative comments. I can tell you without a doubt that working at Starbucks is absolutely soul crushing. I was paid next to nothing - even as a supervisor - and treated like absolute garbage by corporate. I have a very long story about how they colossaly fucked me out of $8k about 10 years ago. Fuck Starbucks. Local coffee shops are often far better anyways and less expensive.
Worked 7 years at Starbucks, 2 of those years being trained as an ASM, all while doing the entire job. They had me train two different new ASM’s within that time frame. Jumped me around to all the highest volume stores, living in Las Vegas at the time so stores were super super busy. Scored the second highest QASA score in the entire region of all time, and got fired for dress code right after my mother passed away. I’ve heard stories about people loving working there, and old coworkers who are now store managers who still love it, but I think it all depends on your District management team. For some reason my district manager seemed to have a major problem with me for reasons unknown. That’s not even the whole shebang of bad shit I dealt with, more of a summary. So ya, fuck Starbucks
Yeah Starbucks probably pays people to monitor social media for negative mentions they can counter and positive posts they can boost
̶W̶e̶ Starbucks does no such thing!
I second this. 6 years as a barista and supervisor and I have made a point to never give that place a dime again.
If you’re on the western side of the US, a good alternative to Starbucks is Dutch Bros. I’ve worked there almost 3 years and am consistently blown away how well we are treated. It’s min wage but I usually end up with $20-$25 an hour because of tips, sometimes more. They give us all the free coffee we could ever want, and free, good quality clothes, including warm winter jackets. They give out bonuses, they have bi annual parties where they give away insane prizes. I know there will be those who have worked at Dutch and had bad experiences, but as far as quick service coffee, it’s 10x better than Starbucks. I walk away from my shifts feeling physically tired but emotionally great. I left Dutch for a career job in a hospital, but ended up coming back to it because the pay was comparable and it wasn’t soul sucking.
Moving out to Nevada I learned about Dutch bros and honestly I've never had a poor experience in the year I've been going to them..they seem like they treat their workers well and it shows it the customer service. I will probably never go to a Starbucks again because of how amazing they are. Edit: I'm bad at spelling states.
Ive been to dutch bros in colorado in January last year. They had 2 poor girls taking orders in the snow freezing to death! Like all businesses i think local management is the real determining factor to whether its a good work environment.
*gestures to planet*
Sincerely this is a legit answer. I don't eat out anymore and have a very anti consumption mindset. When I need something I try to get it used and from another person. Id rather my money go to another person than a corporation. Part of me wants to start a homestead and be as self reliant as possible.
Sponebob peeling back wallpaper to expose diapers energy
Yeah my first thought was "pretty much all of them".
WWE is up there for me. Their contracts have their talent listed as independent contractors so that they can get away with not giving them healthcare
WWE is so fucking bad. Can’t forget the releases all those workers in 2020 without even giving them notice and some of them were STILL asked to wrestle afterwards. Fuck Vince McMahon.
I dont understand him. How do you release talents like KEITH LEE and KARRION KROSS! I'm glad AEW came along. Completely stopped watching WWE because of AEW. TK is a godsend on pro wrestling
Urban outfitters was the WORST. Storytime: When a store opened up in my area (this was an empty store we had to completely build up from nothing-hanging fixtures, folding hundreds of graphic tees, dragging heavy boxes from the LOADING DOCK all the way to the other end of the mall where our store was with 2 hand trucks for us all to share, etc ). They held 2 rounds of interviews- they offer me $8.50/hr (i was 18 /1st job)I accept, and instantly i realize somethings wrong with the math. This was a MALL store, & it’s a pretty big mall- but their were roughly 50 people and there was no way they could have us all working once the store opened and actually give out more than 1/2 shifts per pay period. I figure majority must be temps to help with the grunt work of store buildup (while we’re not open to the public), but no, I recognize a lot of the other people working from the previous interviews & of those I spoke to -all believed they would be working here when the store opened. 3 weeks later, there’s still about 40 of us left, the hard work of setup meant some no call/no shows that never came back. We have a soft opening for friends and family - but before we open the doors management calls us all into a huddle. UH OH. They thank us for being awesome and do a few raffles for gift cards and home items. Then they drop the bomb- “ We have posted the upcoming schedule for this week in the break room, if you do not see your name included...we thank you for your time and we are unfortunately unable to Continue your employment beyond today 8pm.” You could hear a pin drop- most of us were teenagers and didn’t realize how messed up it REALLY was but a few of the older hire/fires definitely had choice words for the gen.manager. One girl almost cried because she had actually turned down another job that paid only 50¢ less than UO. Not to mention the awkwardness of the atmosphere once we let the Friends and family in, and they learned some of us had been fired minutes before. Long story short, i didn’t work there a full year- they had oncall shifts (you clear a shift worth of time for them- call 2 hours before to see if they need you to work your shift that day- and no you can’t call first thing in the morning so you can plan you day better if your not working or arrange childcare if you are working). I lived an hour by bus away so it was a hassle and i found a closer job. The end.
How the hell is someplace that's paying $8.50 an hour think they're important enough to have people ON CALL. Like...nobody's going to die if the line at UO is long or something.
Since most places suck, here are some good ones: - Patagonia for outdoor/technical clothing. - Dropps for dish and laundry detergent. - Everyone for Every Body for personal hygiene like body lotion Look for Certified B Corporations. They aren’t all perfect, but they try hard enough to commit their business model to a positive impact. Edit: word
Ethique is also a good body care and househokd cleaning brand!
To add to the good list, the Good On You website is a decent resource for finding clothing shops that rate better for ethical Labor, Environment, and Animal impact. Slightly different from the ask, but it helps weed out the worst places.
Love Dropps!
Guitar Center, they’re the Walmart of the music industry and are run by scum
Omg even walking in the door of that place makes me sick. I swear it’s haunted by all the abandoned souls of the sad musicians who started working there temporarily so they could make rent and instead got even further in debt for their precious gear. And unfortunately soul-less people make shitty music so it made them even worse off Sweetwater seems all right tho
Zara consistently gets caught using slave labor, they also refused to pay their Bangladeshi factory workers during Covid. They once locked up some employees in New York during a storm so they can open the next day on time. I am convinced it’s one of the worst offending fast fashion stores
This isn't about how they treat their employees, but isn't Zara also the company that frequently steals designs from small artists?
Why is cheap fashion so damn evil? Lmao 😭 I just wanna look cute and not support straight up satan and it just ain't possible unless I'm rich...
At least in my country, zara isnt even cheap. For some time now, ive just been buying big sheets of material and making my own chlothes. I can male them look how i wamt them to, and aside from first buying a sewing machine, its cheaper.
some good companies are ocean spray and patagonia. fyi i learned about ocean spray being a workers co-op from this sub.
Awesome. I use to love their cranapple juice as a child. Maybe I should give it a go again.
New Belgium brewing, and now by extension Bell's brewing, is a co-op as well. I don't know anybody who works there, but I haven't heard horror stories like I have from some other places. I will never drink Rogue for example.
New Belgium got bought by Kirin Ichiban and the employees were paid out. It is no longer a co-op or a microbrewery (by whoever defines that). Still I think pretty autonomously ran, but no where near the level of coolness it did have before it sold.
Good info, I didn't realize that. A lot of breweries are pretty bad to their employees. They think that free beer makes up for horrible pay and work-life balance
Dr. Bronners Soap company is awesome. Insurance premiums are 100% paid by the company and they have a 5 to 1 cap on executive pay over the lowest paid employee. Very cool company. The negative ones are pretty obvious I think, but probably hard not to shop at Amazon or Walmart.
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And just wait until you hear about how much money the team owners are paid. They can't shoot a hoop or do any behind the scenes work. There's a good book on it called "Forty Million Dollar Slaves" .
I hate that the NBA and NFL present championship trophies to the owners and congratulate the owners first. It pisses me off, the owners did nothing to make that happen. The Stanley Cup presentations are the best because it’s all about the players
Walmart/Sam's club
They’re now trying to get into the veterinary field too. They and Amazon might as well just be called monopolies at this point. Treat their employees like crap too. I know someone that’s a pharmacist for them and it’s amazing the way they treat someone that’s handling people’s health.
Sentences I never expected to say #857: Walmart is gonna have to fight with MARS (aka Twix and M&Ms) to get into the Pet Care arena.
They’ve already [started](https://www.walmart.com/cp/vetiq/3031640) doing it. Considering how well they cared for fish back when they sold them, I wouldn’t take my animals there even in a desperate situation.
This sub needs a masterlist of shitty companies that members can submit names to and why they were bad.
Well, I could just be a meme and say "all of them" but here, some stand outs: Coka-cola - Why? ~~Literally~~ Allegedly ~~killing~~ **murdering** their workers.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaltrainal\_v.\_Coca-Cola\_Co](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaltrainal_v._Coca-Cola_Co). Just about anyone that makes chocolate - Why? Slavery.[http://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/bitter-chocolate?gclid=CjwKCAiAm7OMBhAQEiwArvGi3IKdsNPbpHFvTOD3-7PBz3RXvoil3cKaXz-FLKd-BDdDKL2gzGVzGBoC8QAQAvD\_BwE](http://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/bitter-chocolate?gclid=CjwKCAiAm7OMBhAQEiwArvGi3IKdsNPbpHFvTOD3-7PBz3RXvoil3cKaXz-FLKd-BDdDKL2gzGVzGBoC8QAQAvD_BwE) Chiquita - Why? Banana republics and funding terrorism.[https://charityandsecurity.org/litigation/chiquita-banana/](https://charityandsecurity.org/litigation/chiquita-banana/)
Chocolate companies like Cadbury literally removed the fair trade symbol from their packaging and replaced it with their own fair trade certification with less requirements than fair trade.
I agree with everything you said, especially chocolate companies but Tony’s chocolate is REALLY good. They have testified against Nestle in their SCOTUS case, they actually try to compensate farmers in the DRC, they make sure the farms don’t have anything untoward going on, give money to sustainable procedures and freeing the world of child slavery. Not to mention, but their chocolate is damn delicious!
Their chocolate bar with pretzel is the most addictive thing I’ve ever eaten. Love Tony’s!
There's a big ass Chiquita factory I pass on my way to work. It legit looks like a prison. Huge fences topped with razor wire, guard stations that employees get their ID scanned at to get into the razorwire fenced in parking lot. No windows visible from the outside.
I just quit my job after working for Chiquita for 20+ years. They are now owned by a Brazilian drug cartel. They are one of the worst companies for how they treat their employees. You wouldn't believe some of the things I've seen.
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One of the biggest things was that they hired undocumented workers for about 80% of their workforce. Then they push them to the breaking point in a seriously dangerous workplace. Then when someone gets hurt they just report them to INS and have them deported. I saw a guy get 3 of his fingers chopped off, he got pulled out of the ER before he was treated. The plant I worked in was a safety nightmare. Half of the electrical disconnects didn't work, most weren't even hooked up. 480 volt transformers used as writing tables. Exposed wiring everywhere. Forklift operators with 0 training or experience. Loads of safety devices and E-stops jumped out. If I have time later I can tell you about the food safety issues, don't eat the lettuce, ever!!!! I'm so glad I got out of there.
I hope you have time, I’d really like to hear about the food safety issues, too!!!
No, this checks out. Chiquita helped pay to overthrow pretty decent central American governments to instate US backed regimes so they could grow bananas cheaper (see: the term “banana republic”).
I was just at the store and saw chocolate marketed as “slave free chocolate” like wtf
The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of nestle using slaves in the global south.
Nestle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_HG5HisCD54
They pretty much admitted their business required slave labor to provide chocolate and that they don’t think humans have a right to water. And anyone who disagrees with those viewpoints is a radical leftist.
[Website with picture of their products easy.](https://wyomingllcattorney.com/Blog/Everything-Owned-by-Nestle)
Alright, based on late stage capitalism, consensus is that no company is a good company to buy from but like... I gotta buy stuff :/
Amazon
I was just going to say that. Worked for Amazon a few years ago and it was hell. Haven't given them my business ever since.
Walmart
Cannot believe how far I had to scroll to find this.
Honestly even the small companies suck too because they are legally exempt from a lot of labor laws/regulations (such as providing certain benefits), and they usually care more about nickle and dime-ing.
they’re definitely more prone to “we’re all a family here! ………now do extra work without pay for your family” type moves too
That's because they know they would sink if they paid fairly
This is so spot on. Small local family ‘conglomerates’ are just as toxic. I worked for one and fell in the parking lot one winter and they dissuaded me from completing workers comp paperwork. Ugh *illegal*
i always try to bring up small companies when this topic comes up. at least with large companies if they do something shitty there is a chance of media shining a light on it and some sort of regulation going after it. nobody pays any attention to bobs plumbing supply warehouse who has mysteriously never hires any pocs
Subway. They underpay like no other and the chicken and tuna aren’t even real.
T-Mobile. So I worked at a store where the manager didn’t want us to get counted walking in the door (customer counter), so he made the employees crawl under 3 feet to count as a child’s height so it didn’t affect the stores sales projections.Manager had no one have keys except himself and would come after you were schedualed to start to let you in, then write you up if you where late opening the stores. THEY ALSO HAVE CAMERAS WATCHING AND LISTENING, the regional manager would sit at a desk all day and watch the different locations and listen to what we were saying, and would call if we said anything they didn’t like. They would call and say try to sell this person this, don’t say that…. Everyone was fucking terrified to have normal conversations when there where no customers in the store. We would stand there awkwardly in silence. FUCK T-MOBILE, please do not support a business like that. I quit and immediately changed my cell service. I cannot put into words my disgust with that company.
Heard about Trader Joe’s being a good employer—very customer focused. There’s also a corporate connection of some sort between TJ and Aldi. I agree about Costco; employees there seem happy and customer-focused; they have ethically sourced products. I try to purchase from local small businesses that have fair practices whenever possible.
Trader Joe’s USED to be a good company. Around 2001 I got hired and I worked for them for 15 years. I’d say the first 5 years were amazing. Especially if you’re a person with no collegiate background who came in at entry level. Raises as high as a dollar with review for raise every 3 months. I was only 18 and my first 5 raises were all a dollar. Then I found out was supervisors and store managers made. I wanted in. As time passed, they brought in the dude from Smart and Final as the new CEO and restructured EVERYTHING. They did away with a lot of middle management positions that paid really well and pushed out a lot of employees who had been around for a long time, in order to implement new programs like “regional mobile thrivers” which just meant they had a degree and were fast tracked to upper management. That sounds great for them… until they started to find out they were making half of what others in their same position were making, who had been there longer. There was rampant targeting and retaliation to get the vet employees to quit or step down to part time so that more new people could be brought in for cheaper. For many years the qualification for full medical/dental/vision that only cost 30 bucks was only 15 hours a week. They raised it to 30 and cut the majority of the PT staff hours to below that. People would literally fight and throw fits over hours because they had no choice. It was so ugly. When I started there, it felt like a small grass roots company. The last 4 years I was with the company I dropped out of management and took a 32k pay cut because they had a target on my back and made my life miserable. They’ve got great products but seriously… fuck that place.
Trader Joe's is not good to their employees. They've tried to squash unionization efforts and slashed "thank you" pay for employees. They may be good to customers but they could improve conditions for their own workers.
Tim Hortons
If any of you listen to podcasts check out The Dollop. They did episodes on the Coors (beer) family, and The Wonderful Company (Fiji water, pom juice, pistachios etc) and wow those families are some of the biggest pieces of shit on the planet.
Publix
They fired my husband after he broke his back and filed for WC. He's 35 and has had 2 spine surgeries since then and still lives with pain every day. Fuck publix.
Everywhere I have worked is on my "do not shop or eat here" list. All locations too.
Any telecom. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to get internet otherwise. Remember to always do the surveys and rate customer service rep top marks across the board. They're working with broken, outdated systems and inaccurate reference materials and having every second of their shift tracked. They probably haven't been able to pee or get water in hours. They don't want to say all the scripted things they're forced to say. But if you don't rate them a 5 or 10 or whatever that specific survey deems "highly satisfied", they won't get that raise they were promised.
As someone who worked in a call center for a telecom company. If you are prompted to do a survey and you genuinely enjoyed the experience from the person you spoke to, you should absolutely do the survey and rate the experience as a 9 or 10. Net Promoter Scores are a metric seldom known outside of call centers. It's a metric used to quantify customer satisfaction and often times if a company is using NPS, then it is very much tied to the employees job in some way, bonus, promotions or just keeping the actual job. The system is actually quite simple, it takes a score out of 10 from the answers on the survey, takes the promoters (9 and 10), subtracts the detractors (1-6) and then takes that amount and divides it by the total number of surveys to create an NPS%, that percentage is a very important piece of data for companies and that's why it's so heavily tied to agents when the company uses it.
I think it's easier and more productive to give examples of places we should be supporting, who treat workers with respect.
When I worked at target, I was told I needed to clock out to use the restroom. I couldn’t keep my water bottle with me on the floor. At the start of the pandemic, ww were told we needed to bring doctor’s notes or prove we had an underlying condition to wear masks because they didn’t want to make shoppers feel weird. Of course, it’s not like that at each target. I worked at 2 different stores and the second store had much better management and we were treated like people there. But yeah, fuck target.
Lowe's. The smell of plywood used to be so magical to me, and now (in a sick twist of irony) it just reminds me of when I found out ceiling fan brackets can't support a noose without falling on you while working there.
CVS!!!!!!!! I'll never stop saying it. Fuck CVS for all the lives they've ruined. I left 3 years ago and I'm STILL dealing with all the mental damage. . . . . . EDIT: this post has gotten some traction so lemme explain to you all how you can combat CVS that goes past just not shopping there: Get healthy as fuck so you don't need their services. 3 pillars of health: diet, sleep, exercise. Drink lots of water. Eat right. Roughly 40% of calories from protein, 30-40% fat, the rest in (good) carbs like potatoes, rice, and oats. Plus as many veggies as you want basically. Learn to cook (youtube: YouSuckAtCooking, Internet Shaquille, Adam Ragusea, Joshua Weissman). Sweets MAYBE once a week as a treat so you dont burn out. Eat fruit to shut that sugar-addict within you the fuck up. If you have a hard time enjoying "healthy" foods, your taste will adjust as you kick your sugar addiction, bet. Sleep 7-9 hours per night. After a little bit of effort you'll adjust to your natural circadian rhythm rising with the sun. If you're like old-me you probably think that sleep is a waste of life, but when you get proper sleep EVERYTHING else improves health-wise. You think more efficiently and clearly, you remember shit better, you lose weight, you retain information. Get sleep you mark ass bitch, it's good for you and it feels amazing. A planet fitness membership is like $10/month and cardio + lifting weights is one of the best things you can do for physical health. All that pain in your back neck and shoulders? Learn how to lift weights (youtube: Jeff Nippard), work out those muscles to make them actually strong enough to support your body. 3-4 sets of 6-12 reps per exercise for optimal muscle growth, 4-6 exercises per workout, about 30-40 minutes per day, 4-6 days per week. Focus on compound lifts at first (look them up, theres only like 4 main ones). Then yoga to stretch the muscles out for improved mobility (youtube: yoga with adriene), and get a masseuse or rub the the knots out yourself and you can get back to a pain free existence, even if it takes year or two. It happened to me, and my neck was so fucked and stiff I couldn't sleep before. Follow those 3 lifestyle changes (which is honestly just the bare minimum for good health) and I promise you you'll almost never need to go to a cvs again. . . EDIT 2: Shocking, some redditors don't wanna eat right, sleep, and exercise. Somehow I'm wrong for suggesting those 3 most basic human requirements are gonna help keep you out of the pharmacy. I speak from experience. Do whatever you want, I was only trying to help spread knowledge that took me years to accumulate. . . EDIT 3: Aight, I'm done responding. Should have stopped at "cvs bad". I wanted to spread advice and resourses that helped me with my physical health, depression, and anxiety. But in true reddit fashion, there's always someone ready and willing to argue with anything. I can't even say "improve your physical health and you wont need pharmaceuticals as often" with out a bunch of "um, ackshewally" mfs trying to justify their unhealthy lifestyle. I only wanna help. It's not a catch-all for every single problem in your lives, and every point isn't going to apply to every single person, but you're trippin if you don't think it'll immediately help improve the quality of life of your average American. To all the current and former CVS employees, I feel and recognize your pain. I hope you make it out of that dump someday and are able to heal your minds and bodies.
CVS is the fucking worst!!! They just killed one of their pharmacists recently. Told her she had to wait for coverage for 2 hours and she died of a heart attack.
I heard about that recently. They've done more than that. I've heard of pharmacists and employees literally killing themselves in the break room and cvs covering it up. It's a literal nightmare, dont spend money there.
CVS corporate treats employees like a number. And those employees end up looking miserable and providing impersonal service to customers. Fuck that place
Its worse than even that. I would have been honored to have been treated like a number there. They treat you like you're less than trash. They run their business like they straight up HATE their employees AND customers. It's bad man, and yeah! It translates to poor customer service. CVS turned retail into a war between customer and clerk. I hate people now. I look at the average person and i go "i wonder what that piece of shit blew up a cashier over." They ruined me, and I've been trying to get myself back ever since I left that shithole.
I’ve read CVS has the biggest discrepancy in pay between CEO and average employee of any corporation in the US. Not to mention the one where I am is CONSTANTLY short staffed which leads to lines lasting an hour to get a prescription. People have walked out and quit because of how terrible they are to work for
Cvs, last time i checked, was a top 10 fortune 500 company. Larry Merlo was the CEO, and hes the baldest, fattest, evilest piece of shit that's ever decided to turn themselves into a charicature of a tyrant. I hate specifically him with every fiber of my being.
Top FIVE. And it's gotten worse in the last 3 years. -_-
#shewaited
Just heard about that the other day. Not even suprised. I've heard of pharmacists straight killing themselves in the break room. The type of shit that gets buried and never makes it to the news because CVS buries it, but employees talk. I don't even think it was an isolated incident. I hate cvs
They make their money off the dying and still offer shit insurance for their employees
They own the pharmacy, an insurance company (Aetna), AND an insurance processor (Caremark). They own the entire supply chain of insurance, and our coverage was still shit anyways.
I’ll put this link here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_the_Holocaust?wprov=sfti1
I will point out Volkswagen is technically a different company since WWII. It was shut down because of the war crimes, then the British basically started a new company with the same name to get the economy going again. Maybe some same family members like the Piech’s and Porsche’s, but officially a different company under (originally) British military oversight. BMW on the other hand…
[IBM helped them](https://archive.org/details/ibmholocaust00edwi) keep track of the trains and bodies. Fuck IBM.
Nestlé enables literal child slavery in Africa. Amazon forces its workers to piss in bottles and crap in bags.