Last year, we faced some financial stress so I took a part-time job at Publix grocery store as a cashier to relieve some of the pressure. This is what happened to me at Publix.
I was not going to write this but changed my mind when I remembered that abuse does not go away if we are silent about it.
There were numerous things that were difficult at Publix, but none of those things caused me to resign. I will briefly mention those things. The office staff are bullies. They seem to think they have authority over the cashiers and would often instill "punishments" toward us, which made our work very inefficient. Another thing that was difficult was the general manager's constant use of the Lord's Name in vain. It was frequent and very disturbing. She also gaslit me. I was bullied by two other cashiers, one going so far as to take me to a manager and cause a ruckus. The manager dismissed it.
But, as hard as those things were, I found a workaround and did not quit. But I cried every night at dinner and could not stop. (More on the crying later.)
You may not realize that Publix does not have janitorial staff; the cashiers do the cleaning. One hour a cashier will be cleaning toilets and the next they are checking out your groceries. This is how Publix works, I didn't mind cleaning at all. I rather liked it because I wasn't dealing with stress or customers or the bully staff. However, here's where things went south very quickly.
Every time I cleaned the men's room, I had a male cashier check the men's room to make sure it was empty, then I blocked the door open with the large cleaning cart and proceed to clean. One day while I was cleaning the men's room, a man walked right in, past the cleaning cart and me, and proceeded to do his business. Stunned, I ran out of there as fast as I could and immediately told one of the office staff. They laughed it off. Another cashier said it's happened to her, too.
Ok.
A few weeks later, it happened again. The same thing. A man walking in on me while cleaning and proceeding to do his business. I got out of there as fast as I could and reported it immediately to another supervisor. They laughed it off and said, "Oh, well!"
Hmmm.
I was realizing this might be a chronic problem. I asked for some signage or something to make it more obvious that the bathroom was being cleaned. I was asked repeatedly by the supervisory staff if I was blocking the door with the cleaning cart. I was; the men walked in anyway.
Then it happened a third time. Clearly, no one was taking it seriously. I went to an assistant manager at this point and asked for some specifics to deal with the problem. I asked for a large sign to make it more obvious that I was cleaning. I suggested a cone to put on the floor. Anything. She said they'd see what they could do.
But, they did nothing.
When I was scheduled to clean again, I went to a manager and told him I will clean everything but the men's room and I told him why I would not clean the men's room. He was appalled when I told him why and had no idea this had ever happened or was happening. No one had told him about my complaint. My take away from that is never rely on a supervisor or assistant manager, go to the top first.
However, in my case, the damage was done. Because I have a condition that makes me cry uncontrollably at times (Pseudo Bulbar Affect), the stress of this situation activated my condition and I could not stop crying whenever I was in the store. I had to quit. This was months ago and I still can't go there as a customer.
Publix is not a safe place for their employees.
Do better, Publix.
Tricia
