With Christmas approaching so quickly, I’m like most people: scurrying from store to store…looking for bargains on just the right gifts for my family and friends…and, of course, making the occasional stop at the grocery store.
Until this week, that included our neighborhood Kroger. But thanks to the absurd decision Kroger’s corporate leadership just announced, I’m adding them to my Naughty List and will henceforth spend our grocery dollars elsewhere.
In case you missed the news, “woke” executives at Kroger announced they will “end some benefits” for employees beginning January 1st… including removing paid emergency leave for unvaccinated employees who contract the China Virus. Additionally, the giant grocery chain—one of the biggest employers in America—plans to add a $50 “monthly surcharge” on its employee health plan for all unvaccinated workers.
Oh, wait a second. Did I say ALL unvaccinated employees? Strike that from the record. I meant they are slapping that additional $50 monthly surcharge on all NONUNION employees who are unvaccinated. This, of course, is nothing less than Kroger groveling at the feet of our Shop Steward In Chief in the White House, “Lunchpail Joe” Biden. He babbles on nonstop like an elderly parrot about all the “good, high-paying Union jobs” his bloated Build Back Better plan will create. But for the untold millions of American workers who—thank you very much—have no interest in joining a labor union, Build Back Better amounts to little more than a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings.
But I digress. Kroger—at least in Texas where I live—has already devolved into something in a scene right out of a George Romero horror film like “Dawn Of The Dead.” Most hours of the day—or night—they make customers do Self Checkout, or they have ONE human checker on duty who handles both the scanning and bagging…just throwing stuff into grocery bags because the line waiting behind me is 10 people deep. Code: smushed Wonder bread and a minimum of one or two broken eggs in the carton when we reach home.
That’s assuming you actually have items with which to check out.. because the store aisles are clogged with yahoos pushing little 3-car trains (like ones your toddlers ride at Six Flags or Disney World) as they fill “online orders” for customers who—wisely—opt not to set foot in the actual store.
But these somnambulant mopes working their way up and down the grocery aisles seem incapable of moving their portable cubbies out of the way, so actual human customers can’t get to the Kroger Soy Sauce. And to add insult to injury, they often ask visitors if they know where an item might be located.
Bottom line: I’m not sure I understand why Kroger even needs employee mandates because---as far as I can determine – Kroger has very few visible employees. However, per this week’s announcements, if you are one who exists… you might consider quitting and working at a new place which would treat you with respect. Otherwise, you had better hot-foot it to your store’s union shop steward and sign up for membership…or the bosses will slap a $50 “monthly surcharge” on you until you submit to the China Virus vaccine. Good luck, future picketers.
As for me, I’ll be voting with my feet when it comes to spending our family’s grocery dollars.=
Same goes for buying coffee: Starbucks workers in Buffalo, New York, recently voted to join a union…and now baristas* in Boston are following suit. (*Barista, in case you are not familiar with that term, literally translated means “White Guys In Dreadlocks With Bad Attitudes And Piercings Who Get Your Order Wrong Every Time.”) All unionizing will accomplish will be boosting the cost of a Vanilla Latte at Starbucks from $6 north to eight bucks. But rejoice: there are plenty of vestpocket, independent coffee shops all over the USA which will be happy to sell you coffee (and a blueberry muffin) without forcing you to foot the bill for union dues paid by the person handing your order to you.
As for Mr. “good, high-paying Union jobs” in the Oval Office…at least the clock is ticking—mercifully—toward the end of his first year of taking a battering ram to our oil industry and our economy, having delivered the highest inflation rate on four decades.
I just have to keep reminding myself—as my buddy, SRN’s Mike Gallagher (appearing onstage as Daddy Warbucks in ANNIE in South Carolina) belts out at the final curtain—“The sun’ll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow…there’ll be sun.”
Sure hope he’s right!
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