In short, with the exception of being arrested and thrown in jail, my 10 years at Albertsons was the most humiliating experience of my adult life.
Stifling suppression and discouragement of innovative and creative thinking by micro meddling managers in fear of better ideas by people under their supervision and compelled by their personal insecurities and egos to impose their own will no matter what.
A toxic and oppressive atmosphere, incomprehensible incompetence and lack of accountability, double standards and hypocrisy, favoritism and nepotism.
Inadequate communication among peers and non at all between upper management and us lower tier drones. "Need to know" information depensed reluctantly by power tripping managers only after a crises occurs because we weren't told in advance.
Most feedback is negative. Hardly any positive reinforcement nor encouragement. I received no performance reviews in 9 years and only 2 thereafter. Motivation by intimidation and threat of termination.
No Human Resources presence at the store level. Definitive written policies & procedures have been hard to find for lower tier retail people so they don't know when their rights and priveleges are being abused.
Corporate personnel were often in the store but they might as well be in another world walking around distant and aloof, dismissing us hourly workers as peons.
Ludicrous policies & procedures mandated by clueless corporate clowns with no regard to the operational nightmares they created on the sales floor that actually aggravated the customer experience.
Schedules changed every week and every day of every week and posted in as little as 36 hours in advance. "Full Time" doesn't mean 40 hours/week, as little as 30hrs/week. With few exceptions only management and associates with decades of seniority can expect 40 hour weeks.
My accrued vacation hours disappeared after Albertsons merged with Safeway in 2016 and neither management nor Human Resources could or would fix it.
My experience at Albertsons bespeaks a company that will treat their retail grunts in the trenches like trash and arrogantly presume we don't have the courage, will or savvy to challenge them.
