[X]
Write ReviewJump to 
62
Helpful
Votes
Votes
Walgreens Complaint - Treatment as a Walgreens Employee - As an employee
As an employee - Complaint
VA BEACH, VIRGINIA -- My experience Working for Walgreens
More than one year ago I was hired at our neighborhood Walgreens's. All I can say is "wow. How did I last this long?"..
Let me take you on a short story journey, on what REALLY happens inside our little home away from homes, that we call work.
From the outside, it looks like a pretty good job, nice, organized, people seem polite to you. Everyone has on his or her smock, nice neat name tags, smiles…At least, that's how it was when I went to fill out my application at the Walgreen's closest to me… unfortunately, I didn't get hired at that one, but at another one in the area…
I was hired by one of the laziest EXA's I think I have ever met… She didn't do a whole lot, she brought her boyfriend to work sometimes and he stayed there for hours on end… while her husband would circle the parking lot.
Oh but once she got transferred out we got someone much worse. At first, he helped out, complimented us, was even polite…but after two weeks, that wore off. He is rude, makes lewd comments, is far lazier than our last EXA and in his own little remarks, discriminates, they might be very light when he says them, but now more and more people are catching on. He closes only once a week, and when he does, he mainly just sits in the office on his phone… he asks everyone else to clean his aisles, and gets an attitude if his are not straight, and if ours are not either. I have even made the comment to him about him being on the lazy side, and he told me "he didn't have to, he paid his dues".
And God-forbid you ever get pregnant while working there. At one point, I was put at main, with morning sickness, when I tell them I don't feel well, can I go home, I was told to just throw up in the trash can when I felt sick. I had to stay that whole night. The next day that I was there, I was approached by my store manager, after a few moments in the bathroom with morning sickness, these exact words "If you're going to be getting sick in the bathroom all day, then just go home, I'm not paying you to be sick!" I sure wish someone would have told me that the night I was working at main vomiting in the trash can…
And then of course, the morning I worked, while pregnant, was also the day loss prevention and district showed up… I bought some meds to calm my stomach so I wouldn't be getting sick, and when m y EXA asked "oh do you have the flu? You feel ok?"
When I told him "no, it's the morning sickness"
He Said "Oh...ok" As if having the Flu would have a better answer.
Needless to say, the medicine didn't work and I was in the bathroom most of that morning.
Not only was I sick, and tired, and having horrible mood swings, but it was also Christmas season!!... At one point, I was scheduled 2:00-12:30… and of course we never got out of there until closer to 1:00 or 1:30. So trust me when I say, it was hard on my body.
Now if that sounded bad, try miscarrying. Unfortunately, when this happened, I had to call out. Which wasn't bad but in the confusion of it all, I had forgotten to get a doctors note. (Which by the way is easy to forget when you're not all there after that experience.) My manager rudely, a week later, asked where my doctors note was, and that she wouldn't give me my three *yes only three* sick day I asked for. She told me she needed it by Saturday. So I came in Saturday, and got talked at again because she needed it before 12:00. Well I didn't know that, but she agreed to put them on my NEXT paycheck. And, she forgot to put them on that one… in fact, I lost the baby on December 5 2006. I didn't receive pay for my sick days until February 2 2007. So it was about four pay checks later, that I finally got paid because a payout was out of the question.
Don't get me wrong, I love the company I work for. I love what I do here at Walgreen's. But the people that are put into power are absolutely horrible. My store manager. Yes, when everyone comes for the V.P visits, she puts on a wonderful act. Talks sweetly to everyone and treats her employee like little angels. But when you all are not around, she is completely different. She has a habit of talking down on me and of course other employees, which could be why we have such a high turnover rate at our location. She has her over the top sarcasm that just kills the mood .I honestly can not say how I have lasted this long here. There were times I was ready to just up and quit too. There were times I would go home crying because I have never in my life been talked down on so badly. Even as a child adults had never treated me poorly or said things that would make me that upset. And here I thought Walgreen's was a professional business-like place to work.
All around the office and back there are little reminders of our dress code, what we can and cant wear… well I sure wish district would have shown up on the day my manager decided to wear her Walgreens-bought skirt and high-heeled-backless clogs, that by the way, she could not even walk in. And since she could not walk in them, half of the day she walked around wearing grandma bedtime slippers she bought over in the sock aisle...And while wearing this, made a comment that my smock needed to be washed, actually, it had been, it had just become so faded it was looking messy. But then again, that how it almost always is… Once she hears higher up are coming things get rushed. She starts noticing imperfections. Of course, she doesn't notice them any other time…
Like I said before, don't get me wrong, I love my job… but the people that are put in power need to be re-evaluated. If anything goes wrong in that store, if the store fails and audit, guess whose fault it is… OURS. Not really hers, its ours. We are the ones who messed up. At least that's how it's made out to be. And if we get written up, it's normally for something we didn't even know we did wrong. We don't get a warning or anything like that. Unfortunately, we are poorly trained and when we see lazy people who are our higher ups how is that going to inspire us to work harder and perfect ourselves? It's not. I'll be the first to admit that I do slack off. Why not? I see my Manager and EXA doing it.
I'm not saying I'm a perfect person because I'm far from it… but I don't think I deserved to be treated like dirt when I am not. I am a good person. I am honestly not stupid and when it comes time to work, I do get most of my work, if not all of it done.
I also don't feel right signing my name to this, only because if it gets back to my manager on who wrote this, I will only be treated worse than I am now…and I honestly don't think I could take much more of it. But I am going to anyway. For I was off the clock when this was written, and if something is done off the clock I should not be punished for it, especially when I'm voicing my opinion
More than one year ago I was hired at our neighborhood Walgreens's. All I can say is "wow. How did I last this long?"..
Let me take you on a short story journey, on what REALLY happens inside our little home away from homes, that we call work.
From the outside, it looks like a pretty good job, nice, organized, people seem polite to you. Everyone has on his or her smock, nice neat name tags, smiles…At least, that's how it was when I went to fill out my application at the Walgreen's closest to me… unfortunately, I didn't get hired at that one, but at another one in the area…
I was hired by one of the laziest EXA's I think I have ever met… She didn't do a whole lot, she brought her boyfriend to work sometimes and he stayed there for hours on end… while her husband would circle the parking lot.
Oh but once she got transferred out we got someone much worse. At first, he helped out, complimented us, was even polite…but after two weeks, that wore off. He is rude, makes lewd comments, is far lazier than our last EXA and in his own little remarks, discriminates, they might be very light when he says them, but now more and more people are catching on. He closes only once a week, and when he does, he mainly just sits in the office on his phone… he asks everyone else to clean his aisles, and gets an attitude if his are not straight, and if ours are not either. I have even made the comment to him about him being on the lazy side, and he told me "he didn't have to, he paid his dues".
And God-forbid you ever get pregnant while working there. At one point, I was put at main, with morning sickness, when I tell them I don't feel well, can I go home, I was told to just throw up in the trash can when I felt sick. I had to stay that whole night. The next day that I was there, I was approached by my store manager, after a few moments in the bathroom with morning sickness, these exact words "If you're going to be getting sick in the bathroom all day, then just go home, I'm not paying you to be sick!" I sure wish someone would have told me that the night I was working at main vomiting in the trash can…
And then of course, the morning I worked, while pregnant, was also the day loss prevention and district showed up… I bought some meds to calm my stomach so I wouldn't be getting sick, and when m y EXA asked "oh do you have the flu? You feel ok?"
When I told him "no, it's the morning sickness"
He Said "Oh...ok" As if having the Flu would have a better answer.
Needless to say, the medicine didn't work and I was in the bathroom most of that morning.
Not only was I sick, and tired, and having horrible mood swings, but it was also Christmas season!!... At one point, I was scheduled 2:00-12:30… and of course we never got out of there until closer to 1:00 or 1:30. So trust me when I say, it was hard on my body.
Now if that sounded bad, try miscarrying. Unfortunately, when this happened, I had to call out. Which wasn't bad but in the confusion of it all, I had forgotten to get a doctors note. (Which by the way is easy to forget when you're not all there after that experience.) My manager rudely, a week later, asked where my doctors note was, and that she wouldn't give me my three *yes only three* sick day I asked for. She told me she needed it by Saturday. So I came in Saturday, and got talked at again because she needed it before 12:00. Well I didn't know that, but she agreed to put them on my NEXT paycheck. And, she forgot to put them on that one… in fact, I lost the baby on December 5 2006. I didn't receive pay for my sick days until February 2 2007. So it was about four pay checks later, that I finally got paid because a payout was out of the question.
Don't get me wrong, I love the company I work for. I love what I do here at Walgreen's. But the people that are put into power are absolutely horrible. My store manager. Yes, when everyone comes for the V.P visits, she puts on a wonderful act. Talks sweetly to everyone and treats her employee like little angels. But when you all are not around, she is completely different. She has a habit of talking down on me and of course other employees, which could be why we have such a high turnover rate at our location. She has her over the top sarcasm that just kills the mood .I honestly can not say how I have lasted this long here. There were times I was ready to just up and quit too. There were times I would go home crying because I have never in my life been talked down on so badly. Even as a child adults had never treated me poorly or said things that would make me that upset. And here I thought Walgreen's was a professional business-like place to work.
All around the office and back there are little reminders of our dress code, what we can and cant wear… well I sure wish district would have shown up on the day my manager decided to wear her Walgreens-bought skirt and high-heeled-backless clogs, that by the way, she could not even walk in. And since she could not walk in them, half of the day she walked around wearing grandma bedtime slippers she bought over in the sock aisle...And while wearing this, made a comment that my smock needed to be washed, actually, it had been, it had just become so faded it was looking messy. But then again, that how it almost always is… Once she hears higher up are coming things get rushed. She starts noticing imperfections. Of course, she doesn't notice them any other time…
Like I said before, don't get me wrong, I love my job… but the people that are put in power need to be re-evaluated. If anything goes wrong in that store, if the store fails and audit, guess whose fault it is… OURS. Not really hers, its ours. We are the ones who messed up. At least that's how it's made out to be. And if we get written up, it's normally for something we didn't even know we did wrong. We don't get a warning or anything like that. Unfortunately, we are poorly trained and when we see lazy people who are our higher ups how is that going to inspire us to work harder and perfect ourselves? It's not. I'll be the first to admit that I do slack off. Why not? I see my Manager and EXA doing it.
I'm not saying I'm a perfect person because I'm far from it… but I don't think I deserved to be treated like dirt when I am not. I am a good person. I am honestly not stupid and when it comes time to work, I do get most of my work, if not all of it done.
I also don't feel right signing my name to this, only because if it gets back to my manager on who wrote this, I will only be treated worse than I am now…and I honestly don't think I could take much more of it. But I am going to anyway. For I was off the clock when this was written, and if something is done off the clock I should not be punished for it, especially when I'm voicing my opinion
Comments:
Posted by lunaan on 2008-02-18:
I am very sorry to hear about your miscarriage.
Posted by justcuz3993 on 2008-02-18:
I am sorry to hear about it as well.
If you are concerned about the way employees are treated, there are steps that you can take. First you should voice your concern to your direct supervisor/mgr. If you do not feel comfortable going to them or your concerns are not appropriately handled, then you should follow the next step in Walgreens company policy, which may be talking to your supervisor's manager or the HR department. Good luck
If you are concerned about the way employees are treated, there are steps that you can take. First you should voice your concern to your direct supervisor/mgr. If you do not feel comfortable going to them or your concerns are not appropriately handled, then you should follow the next step in Walgreens company policy, which may be talking to your supervisor's manager or the HR department. Good luck
Posted by Britty on 2008-03-12:
I work for Walgreens also. I have been there for a year and about 6 months. OH MY GAH I WANT OUT OF THERE!!!!! It sucks so bad. Of course everyone thinks im lying when i tell them how badly i am treated, but it really is horrible. And the customers arent any better than the managers. So, I feel your pain! And I am very sorry to hear about your misscarriage as well. i have been sick with the flu and strep throat for about 4 weeks now. I called out for 1 of my sick days and they wouldnt let me they made me come in, and of course EVERYONE is now sick...and guess who got blammed..me! well, they shouldnt have made me come in. i can go on and on about this. I get really worked up and mad. and our STORE manager he is a back stabber all they do is talk bad about you behind your back I AM SiCK OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! uhhhhhh........!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by gowiththeflow on 2008-11-12:
I'm sorry for your loss.Your manager sounds like a monster.I can see why the employees at my walgreens are not happy.
Posted by traceyexa on 2009-07-12:
I am really glad to have read your entry. I am an exa, and recently a new mgt has acused me of being too "nice" and lenient on my employees. He said that at all his other store the hourly employees were afraid of the mgt. We get all our work done, are up in sale, everything runs really smoothly. I believe you should treat people as you want to be treated. Whether you are an exa or senior vp. I was just beginning to wonder if I was being too nice.
Posted by BrianC on 2009-08-24:
You should go to the District Manager about the problem.. Or you could see if you could trasfer to another store
Posted by sweet cheeks on 2009-08-27:
i am sorry that you had to go thru all that but i understand. that's how walgreens works, as long as they have a body at a station then they can care less about anything else. i actually heard a manager tell another manager--atleast it's a body to stand there. how stupid is that? it's more than stupid, it's very sad!
Posted by LeLee8 on 2010-01-03:
I am also a walgreens employee an have been for almost 2 years. I have never had a worse job in my life. The company treats there employees like crap. And trust me I would have gotten out along time ago but the economy is so bad I couldn't find another job and I'm a full time student. I have had many bad experiences at walgreens. I was sexually assaulted by another employee a man much older then me, I went to management, an still had to work with him by myself closing at night. When LP did finally come an talk to me, they treated me like I was lying, because they couldn't see him doing it on camera but they could see him touching me. This guy had just been hired, he had only been with the company for 2 weeks. So what did those pieces of sh** do... they transfered him TO THE STORE LESS THEN A BLOCK FROM MY HOUSE! Where I used to shop. This matter was supposed to be confidential only my asst.manager an store manager knew about it, well now everyone knows. Its very embarassing. My store manager is the worst manager I have ever worked for. She could care less about you or any other employee. She sits in the office all day an just talks crap about everyone. I have wanted to take my concerns higher up but there all buddy buddy an I just feel like it would make things worse for me.
Posted by Zappo on 2010-01-15:
So sorry, I know someone who also works at Walgreen's. The most horrible company in the entire world work for. If you are experiencing harrassment contact the EEOC and REPORT WALGREENS. That behavior should not be tolerated and WALGREENS is VIOLATING YOUR RIGHTS for ignoring your harrassment complaints. No one should have to tolerate that and Walgreens is NOT EXEMPT from EEOC LAWS Despite what they think. Go For It!
Posted by Yukiderawr on 2010-01-30:
I currently work at walgreens and I know the feeling of being talked down to. I feel like it's the worst job I have ever had. For starters I was told that I would be hired for 8:75 an hour. So I start thinking okay I can deal with that. and low and behold my first paycheck comes in and I am only getting 7:25. So I went and asked about it and then they said I would get the extra dollar when I got coded in comsmetics so I continued to work at main. Lets put it this way I will be working there for a year in main and I am still not coded. They have me working in photos when I have no training then I get yelled at because I have no clue what i am doing. Then when I confront a manager about it he say's "I assumed you knew how too" Like I am magic or something. I am sorry to hear that you miscarried and I know how heartless they can be. I hope that you find a better job were they will treat you better.
Posted by FarfalleAlfredo on 2012-01-04:
I've been at Walgreens for 6 months and it's taken me all that time to get Sunday off for church. During the interview I was told "Oh no problem, we respect that you go to church", but never gave me the time off to go. I requested an early shift on New Years Eve so I could attend a church service in the evening. My request was denied so that the rest of the crew could go to a party and get drunk. If I request anything off for religious reasons, it's denied.
And why be open on Thanksgiving and Christmas? There's no need to be except to further line corporate pockets. What about the employees? Don't they deserve the holidays also.
And why be open on Thanksgiving and Christmas? There's no need to be except to further line corporate pockets. What about the employees? Don't they deserve the holidays also.
Posted by jo on 2012-08-11:
Im sorry to hear that you had a miscarriage. Walgreens does not care about their employees especially the good and hardworking ones thats been in the company for decades.
Posted by Marissa on 2012-11-29:
I am so sorry about your miscarriage! I miscarried when I worked at a Family Dollar store a couple years ago, and I know how that can be. I ended up quitting from the emotional trauma. I am so glad the Walgreens I work at doesn't have managers like that. They are friendly, helpful, understanding and fun. I love my job.
Posted by Diane on 2013-01-09:
Walgreens is by far the most ruthless, uncaring company. They are the new poster child for bullies. I lost my job at 57 years of age because of a bullying manager.
Posted by jjj on 2013-03-08:
Hey guys--33 year employee here. Loved my job for years--in fact if you go to the indeed site and read the positive comments, most of them are from former employees.The company now wants to use Walmart as their model. They want less full-timers,more part-timers so hence they do not have to pay benefits.This is the future for all of us and we basically have to take it if we want a job here. Yes, bullying and a dictatorship attitude has been encouraged by upper management--especially towards the long-term employees who they feel are raping the payroll. I have been a loyal employee and had great bosses up until a year ago. Now I feel I have to watch for any little mistake I may make that could give them the opportunity to marginalize me and cut my hours.I see this happening with many of my co-workers that have 15 or more years in.Start documentating everything to protect yourself and hope you have a clean record thus far--because you will lose credibility if you don't. So sorry about what happened and not surprised.
Posted by Dee on 2013-04-02:
I am so sorry to hear this happened. I understand about the managers. My son called me from the hospital..just being diagnosed with cancer.(he was 24) I had just gotten to work.(night shift) I was very upset and went to my manager about my son. She commented "OMG I have been here from 6am (truck day). I can't stay any later". She asked me what kind of cancer. When I told her....here was her comment "oh don't worry..all they are going to do is cut his balls off". Few years later..worked for another manager...my son we thought the cancer had traveled. I needed to leave work my son was very upset. We had gone to the emergency room. Thank God the cancer didn't travel. When I came back to work, all the employees told me he said my son was old enough to handle this on his own, he didn't need mommy by his side.When I approached my manager with this comment I heard from employees. He actually told me the truth he said it. well as a mother or father yourself...I will leave the rest to your imagination of what I said.
Posted by as on 2013-04-05:
I work at Walgreens, and I hate it. It makes me physically ill to know I have to go in. No job should make a person feel this way. I asked for a transfer, and all of a sudden I am getting written up almost every day. I am doing nothing different then I have done the entire time of my employment. It has become a constant campaign of terror since I asked. Saying anything to anyone who works for this company does no good as retaliation is the rule, not the exception.
Posted by frustrated on 2013-04-12:
Walgreens on bay st.san francisco...has the upmost lazy front register cashiers..i went to shop there a few times..susan...and jane..are the main cashiers..they are like statues..while other cashiers are busy ringing other guest...susan and jane..will just stand there..staring out to the mall...not bothering to call the next customer....
Posted by mistreated on 2013-04-12:
I work for walgreens too...they care nothing bout their employees...treat them bad...cut hours..take away ot...cut christmas bonus...haaaa..and they call themself a family company..who is money hungry..and treat their employees like crap
Posted by ex las vegas walgreens cashier on 2013-04-25:
I see a pattern here. I myself was harassed and of course they didn't see anything on camera (he touched me directly under a camera).. I hate when people say tell a manager or call the number in the breakroom, 1st of all it's a known fact that most managers and loss prevention are the best of friends. Using their open door policy will do nothing but get you fired. As another poster stated, her complaint was confidential yet the entire store knew about it.. Same exact thing happened to me. My work environment became extremely hostile and one by one all of my co workers turned against me. I worked in a tough area and during graveyard we had security .. Anyway, one night a problem customer grabbed for my breast and made a vulgar coment. Security witnessed this and reported it to the day manager tamara who made the comment "im not worried about her because she has a bad reputation" little did she know I was friends with the guard she said that too and he repeated it to me. September 2012 I was fired for harassment (the same thing I complained about months prior) . Go figure. It is nv state law that if you get fired for gross misconduct you are not eligible for unemployment ... Yet I got unemployment my first try because there was no proof of what I was accused of not to mention I was never verbally warned ever not once about anything . I also filed a complaint with the EEOC. That was a success as well. After all this B.S. I Iearned to never give up and fight fight fight ! Walgreens is a awesome company with POOR management who shouldn't even be aloud to herd sheep.. I would not recommend this place as a job to my worst enemy. Also to the original poster I am very sorry for your loss!
Note: All comments are reviewed by a moderator before being published. Please be sure to read our guidelines before commenting.
Company Reps: Post your company response!
