I'm praying I didn't do something wrong and get a grocery worker fired yesterday.

I am almost on a first name basis with all of the grocery workers at my local chain store, and yesterday I was shopping, and I could not find what I was looking for, and the gentleman who stocked that aisle, who I have seen for years, said he knew what I was looking for, and he guessed it was a kind of cheese. He was right. He said it had probably been discontinued by the company, but he wasn't sure.

When I went to the checkout, my checkout guy happened to be the manager, who I also kind-of know, and I thought this was an innocent question, since I'm fascinated by even minor changes in food corporations, and he is the manager of a grocery store.

"I'm just curious. I was chatting with a worker here and I'm fascinated by what it means when a major company specializing in a particular area of food discontinues its most popular product..."

And he kept asking me, "Who told you this?"

And my stomach dropped. The last thing I wanted to do was get anyone in trouble.

I just said, "A gentleman who works here", or "a gentleman who was stocking that aisle." I couldn't think of a way out of being honest. Also, I was so taken aback, I didn't think to say anything like "It was my fault" or "he noticed I was looking for something that wasn't there, and to his credit he was observant enough to know what it was." I was just blindsided.

It would kill me if what I asked or said resulted in anyone getting fired or even lectured.

That discussion was my fault, because I was curious enough to make a comment about why the cheese was gone.

IF anyone here is in the grocery business, please tell me if anything that happened would result in this man being fired, because I need to know.

He did nothing wrong but speculate about the availability of that particular product, and I don't know why the manager was so focused on "who" this was. It was an innocent conversation.

I would seriously doubt he would get fired over that. It isn't like that was confidential information or a company secret. And particularly because you seem to like their employees, it wouldn't make sense to fire someone for something so small. I don't even think the manager was angry - he may not have known that this product was being discontinued, and his asking you was trying to verify your source as informed or otherwise.

your post.

I think in general I don't want to "chit chat" with anyone who is employed at one of these chains for danger of putting their jobs in jeopardy.

There are such stringent codes about what they can and cannot do.

at the grocery chain I worked at.

Customers frequently make more out of comments than are actually communicated. Managers question no customers, they just get embarrassed and the "make things right." If you know what I mean.

And actually, I could wish for a manager who is that involved in our supermarket!

He would only get fired over that if it were his stock answer to "where is the XXX".

I wouldn't worry about it.

Are there rules that prohibit this information being given to customers?

I have had similar conversations with people in grocery stores about things I couldn't find.

A couple of weeks ago I asked someone where the smoked salmon was because it wasn't in the same place from the last time. Well, that someone was the fish department manager and he pointed it out to me. So I took it out of the case and I innocently said "There is no date on this". He says "Oh, really" and "So and So was supposed to put the date on because it is the law that perishables have to have dates"

I said "Did I just get someone in trouble?" He said no and kind of chuckled. I know this guy and I believe that nothing bad happened.

But the truth is that you really can't think out loud in someone else's workplace. You never know what the politics are, who is an a-hole, who is a backstabber, etc. We all need to know that when you complain about someone over how they did their job you could really be putting someone's job in jeopardy.

the health dept. inspector come through and write them up with a violation.

I'd be more concerned with how this grocery store does business.

No decent boss would fire a good employee over what you have described.

I would bet money that the employees are taught never to say that the store is out of stock on a particular item. They're probably trained to try and get the customer to take a rain check or order the item, or they may be trained to steer the customer toward an alternate product, with the idea being that reffering to an item as "out of stock" is too negative.

I am surprised the manager would be that upset about it, but then again, it does sounds like the scary corporate hyper-management model is in place.

Do you think, perhaps, that the manager asked who told you that because he wanted to know more about it himself? That's what questions are for - to get information. I don't know how you decided there was some sort of nefarious plot behind the question.

It sounds like you're off the wall about this perfectly reasonable and innocent exchange. If I had an employee who knew that something had been discontinued, I'd ask who it was, too, so that I could find out the details.

You're right. It was an innocent conversation, but I think you're putting a gloss on it that's completely out of thin air. You see "sinister" where there was nothing. A simple question.

Someone getting fired because he told a customer that he thought a product might have been discontinued?

Seriously?

Come on.

Mountain, meet molehill..............

Major grocery chains hold quite a sway over what is stocked in their warehouses.

If a wholesaler, producer or distributor balks at some of the 'slotting fees' charged by that warehouse to actually allow the manufacturer to ship to that warehouse, certain items, no matter how popular, will not be allowed into the warehouse, and from there onto the retail shelves.

If you don't pay the large retail houses to sell your product, they don't stock it until you pay up.

And sometimes a retail chain will tell you that a certain product is no longer made by the manufacturer, when in reality it is still very much available, but they don't make enough profit on it to justify shelf space.

But they won't tell you that, as they don't want to lose a customer.

Got the t-shirt.

a missing product. I thought for a long time it meant the manufacturer had stopped making the product. Not so as it turns out. It means the grocery chain stopped buying/stocking it.

Why wasn't the manager more concerned that you couldn't find what you wanted?

That would be more damaging to his business, since you might go away and look for it somewhere else.

(just kidding, I doubt they lost their job)

Who knows if or why the manager has it out for the employee, or if he just doesn't want staff interacting with customers that way? Was it true that the item was discontinued?

You admit the worker said he wasn't sure and it sounded like you presented the information as if it were vouched as a certainty, so maybe that's where the managerial hackles went up, at the speculation on everyone's part?

I think the worst probability is that the worker gets a bum rap. Why don't you invent a reason to go in to shop and check it out? Talk to the manager and say, "You know, on further reflection, I have to admit I pressed him and he didn't really say exactly that."

If it's bothering you that much, I'm sure you can think of something to smooth things over. Tell him how much you like/d the product and if it's gone, ask for his recommendations to replace it on your menu.

Good luck.

After I made it clear I didn't care to tell him with whom I had the conversation.

Who the hell is he to "demand" that you, a faithful customer, tell him this information?

I don't know about by you, but in the Chicago area most grocers are union shops, so he might have some means of protection.