What would you do if you were expected to ignore health and safety guidelines in order to do your job?

Would you look for a different job, or would you take ibuprofen and do the literally back breaking work to keep your job?

In today’s story, one grocery store employee eventually decides to look for another job, but in the meantime, he gets back at the store by following the rules.

Let’s read all the details.

Followed Health and Safety, Coworker Complained

So I got two stories here for y’all, both from the same job and within a month of each other.

The story begins with me working at a large grocery store chain as a cart pusher.

Day in, day out I would be outside bringing carts in.

That position had the single highest turnover rate in the entire store.

They ignored the health and safety recommendation.

We had to bring all the carts in manually without one of those electric pushers.

Because I had other duties as well (i.e. Helping cashiers) we would often be bringing in anywhere from 7-15 carts a load.

Health and safety stated we were not to do more than 5 a load.

The store tried to cover up what they were really doing.

I was a naïve teenager.

Plenty of my coworkers developed back problems, and one of the cashiers started giving me Advil out of pocket so I wouldn’t complain.

When regional visited, they pulled from other departments to make it look like we were following code.

If you don’t like it, quit.

I took the issue to the union rep, but she was a supervisor who didn’t care.

I took it to my department’s manager, and she told me I’m welcome to find a new job.

So I did just that.

Time to follow the health and safety recommendation.

About a year into COVID I decide enough is enough and I’m not breaking my back for minimum wage.

I put my 2 weeks in the moment I had another job lined up.

For those last 2 weeks, I followed Health and Safety to the letter. 5 carts a load.

Suddenly, ever reliable me was hardly ever in the store.

The boss wanted to see him.

I remember one day towards the end I get called into the store manager’s office for a complaint.

One of my coworkers complained that I wasn’t pulling my weight and he had to pick up the slack.

I told them that I am simply following the safe limit as stated by the guidelines.

I could see the steam coming from boss man’s ears, but he couldn’t do anything.

He told other guy that I was right and he would send someone else from a different department to help.

That was one of the most satisfying days of that horrid job.

He was required to get a COVID shot.

The second one happened about a month before, again during peak COVID.

We were allowed 1.5 hours of paid leave (during scheduled hours) to get our vaccine shot, mandated by the local government.

This was when I was already looking for a new job, so I had no real love for the store.

I scheduled my shot on the busiest day of the week, just after my half hour unpaid lunch.

Didn’t seem to be a problem.

As we were instructed, I told my immediate supervisor about it when I walked in (it was the Union rep supervisor).

No issues.

I go for my break around noon, no issues.

Now there’a a problem.

I come back down to the store floor and get told by the supervisor that carts need to be done urgently.

I tell her I can’t because I’m getting my vaccine, as we discussed this morning.

She asks me why I couldn’t do it during my break.

She couldn’t do anything about it.

A smile shot across my face as I informed her I’m just following the mandate, and that she would have to deal with the carts in my stead.

She was furious but relented.

I got my shot within 20 minutes and spent the rest of my paid leave eating a pizza.

I’m going to feel more empathy anytime I see an employee push multiple carts into the store by themselves.

I never realized it was such literally back breaking work.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Some grocery stores follow the rules.

According to this person, there are many crooked managers.

Pushing carts sounds like a great workout!

Not all union reps are helpful.

It’s not worth hurting yourself for minimum wage.

Just say no.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.