Last Saturday evening I popped into my local Kroger to do some last minute shopping for a little get-together at my house, and I overheard a conversation between a Kroger employee and a customer which set my blood to boiling. Because I needed to get back home quickly before friends arrived, I resisted the temptation to blow my top then and there, and instead sent the following comment from the Feedback portion of their website.
My name is [my name], and I've frequented your location at [address] in Spring, TX for years. Even though it has higher prices than some competitors, it's literally right around the corner and very convenient. I'd estimate I spend at least $200 dollars every month there.
I was just in the store picking up a few items (about 7pm on Saturday evening), when I overheard a conversation in passing between a customer and one of your associates, an older woman with red hair who works in the beer and wine dept. They were obviously talking about New Orleans, and I heard the Kroger employee say this (paraphrased, but pretty close to verbatim): "Y'know Katrina was the best thing that ever happened to that city; it cleaned out some of the 'unsavory' element."
That made me angry the second I heard it, and I've gotten more and more angry the more I've thought about it.
In case you need a small refresher on Hurricane Katrina: Eighteen hundred people lost their lives in that storm and its aftermath -- most of them by drowning -- including the mother of a friend of mine.
Another friend did a lot of computer consulting in New Orleans, and the ensuing economic apocalypse caused him to lose his business, his house, and the stress of that eventually cost him his marriage.
The entire region was devastated, with hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes and scattered to the winds. Families were broken apart, some members never to be seen alive again. Untold misery and chaos resulted from the storm and from the fumbling and lackadaisical response to the disaster.
Now everyone is entitled to their own opinions -- regardless of how appallingly ignorant and callous they might be -- but expressing such heartless opinions in your store ... while on duty ... while wearing your uniform is absolutely unacceptable. It lends the appearance of Kroger's unofficial endorsement to her awful statement.
Considering Houston's proximity to New Orleans, many of those displaced people ended up here. How do you think one of them would have felt if they were the ones overhearing that toxic conversation? That they were considered part of an "unsavory element" by your employee? That the thing that drove them from their home and perhaps killed of their loved ones is considered "the best thing that ever happened" to the city that used to be their home?
Do you think it might make them think twice about shopping at Kroger again? It's sure as hell making me think about it.
I want to make it clear that I am not calling for that woman to be fired. However, she (and other associates) should be made aware expressing such loathsome opinions while on duty could have an adverse effect on Kroger's reputation and bottom line.
[my name]
[my phone number]
[my email address]
Spring, TX
PS: Just so we're clear, we all know exactly what "unsavory element" really means, now don't we?
I received an autoresponder message immediately saying that their staff would address my concerns soon. That was Saturday night. This is noon on Tuesday and I have yet to hear a peep back from them.
One of the friends who came over on Saturday night is a conservative libertarian and even was shocked when I told him what I'd overheard. "Jesus! Some people just don't fucking get it, do they?" was his response.