Complaint Review: Metropolitan Market Retail Store - Tacoma Washington

Metropolitan Market MM an overpriced bowl of bullies…

To my loved MM customers: The purpose of sharing my story is to tell the truth of what happened; I feel I have the right to tell the truth and as long as I speak the truth, God is on my side. I trust good will prevailed at this times when corporations and the country is moving away from equality and freedom. Everything I say here I told MM and not only they refused to listen, they refused to act.

After punching the clock and while wearing my while coat, behind the seafood department, I prayed. I prayed that I could ignore the harsh environment I knew I was going to face behind the swing door. I prayed I could concentrate in doing a good job; and I could show a happy face to the world. I prayed I could control my negative emotions of being targeted… for the only reason I was different.

 Immediately after I pushed that door I felt the eroding negative energy I was so familiar with. I ask myself why I was here, where I was not wanted. My answer was that I had to stand up and earn my place at the table. Because I still believe in equal opportunity and that if I consistently perform my job well, I have nothing to fear.

I felt I was not wanted because when I said good morning only Chris, Bruce and Rob, the older meat cutters answered. All the other younger males Luke, Zac and Mike did not answer. What is more, Luke will tell Brandon –have a good lunch Brandon- and will not say anything to me. One time Kelly, the store director, was at the department talking to me, and when Zac decided to leave, he said –good night Kelly– totally discarding me. Kelly ignored Zac’s intention to exclude me, and answered back – good night Zac –. I felt I was not wanted when I had five customers at the counter, and no one of the males offered to help; when I was carrying heavy boxes into the cooler and no one offered to help. When I ask Zac and Luke about caviar and they did not share any information. All information, communication and training were denied to me only. Why? I asked myself, because I was different? All the males in the department born in Washington grow up in close neighborhoods and lived very similar lives. I was born in a foreign country and from a different social class, my childhood was very different. And different is unaccepted at MM, I was excluded from the group and to make it worst the group of white young males told other co-workers in other departments, not to speak to me.

And the worst I was treated by the white males at the seafood and meat departments, the better I treated my customers shopping at MM. My customers appreciated my efforts and their trust grew with each day. They said nice things about my service, they told me I was a joy, they even wrote positive reviews about me on the store’s feedback forms. I knew then that creating good karma eventually will heal the negative behavior from my male co-workers towards me, their target.

Besides striving to provide the best service at the store, I tried everything to bring light to my dark days at the Seafood Department. I tried to be funny, I tried to say hi, I tried to be humble, I tried to be helpful, I tried to belong, and I tried to speak up.  But no matter how hard I tried, I still was different. An educated immigrant woman with different values; values on work ethic and animal kindness, poles apart from the people I worked with.

My work ethics were a threat to my some of my male co-workers like Brandon, Zac, Luke and Mike whom during working hours will play, scream, punched and pinch each other, kick boxes, etc to finish their work early afternoon. At the end of almost every day, while my meat market co-workers would pace back and forth, talk to anyone passing by, or look at their cel phones until it was time to go; I was working at my top speed on the closing process. No other department at MM exhibited this odd playing behavior; the meat department cutters are untouchable.

Besides the silent treatment, my male co-workers will call me over the speaker phone if I took more than usual serving the soups, or will shout across the room if I did not see a customer at the counter, because I was focusing on something else. Far from being corrected, any small mistake I made was magnified and brought to the management attention.  I had no team support or respect at any level, except from Chris, Rob or Bruce. At the beginning there were occasional attempts to help by the other meat cutters, but the efforts vanished after the first Seafood Manager Andrea Baker was transferred to another store.

Not only my work ethics, but my compassion for animals was also a threat to my co-workers. I did challenge the common practice to starve the crabs and lobsters for weeks because” they polluted the tank and clogged the filters”. I challenged the idea because I proved that a simple $4 dollar hand net could clean the tank in a few minutes. At night I covered the crabs with my apron, so they could rest from the bright white lights.  I observed many times that my small acts of kindness created healthier/happier animals which translated in better product for my customers. I did challenge the cruel practice to have the crabs and lobsters in an unnatural environment for months. Management told me to move to another department, I could not bear to abandon the animals to detached people, and I had to be there for them...even in a small way. I had no allies on animal kindness.

After eight months at the Seafood Department at MM and with very small pieces of training by my co-worker Mitch, and pieces of information from watching videos and talking to suppliers and fisherman visiting the store, I mastered all the tasks at the seafood department so I asked Kelly Heinzinger the store director for a salary increase from the $ 14.35 an hour I was making. Time passed by without any response. A month later, one early morning I was opening the department and Kelly came to see me with Steve. Kelly was highly critical of my display, I was confident. I remained calm while she was attempting to verbally destroy my creativity and effort. When she finished I simply answered…”I think it looks beautiful”.  She told me she got my letter and evasively added that MM salary raises happen in June and added that she was hiring a new Seafood Manager. Steve stood there with his calm demeanor as an angel watching a display of the lowest human behavior but unable to interfere.

Brandon my closest co-worker at the Seafood Department is lazy. He works only when the managers are watching and he work fast and sloppy, he does not care about the store, the department or anyone but himself. He can be charming or a jerk accordingly to his convenience. He got in trouble when he ordered the Deli department to close the cioppino/clam chowder soup area one busy Saturday afternoon. So he blamed me. In his anger he throw my gloves across the room, behind the small desk. That night, I was washing the dishes and Zac came back to the department, after punching out, and he pushed the swing door with all his strength. A customer passing by got startle, I got frighten, but did not say anything to Zac. I only warned him with my eyes: do not get any closer. I only told Mitch what had happen; he was the only one that listened to me.

Zac is an extremely introverted man with close friendship to the former Seafood Manager Andrea. When Andrea decided she did not like me Zac joined her in her bullying. I have never had a conversation with Zac, but he seems to be well liked among locals. He has a great influence among the other young meat cutters and Brandon seeks his advice.  I suspect Zac was the mastermind of everything that happened to me.

One late afternoon Steve came to the Seafood Department to confirm the company was hiring a “strong new manager”, he added -I promise things will get better. - I had tears on my eyes. I trusted Steve. I did not trust Kelly. Steve, the Assistant Director is a kind manager with a strong desire to turn around the company’s bullying culture. But if the head of the store, displays a bully behavior, her management style will trickle down creating a whole culture of toxic control.

And toxic control was my experience when I meet the new Seafood Manager Sheila Cosby.  Then things truly started to escalate. On the first time I saw into Sheila’s eyes, I suspected her intention. She was hired as an assassin is hired. Her intention was to find a cause to push me out of the MM door. On the first day she choose Brandon as her favorite employee. She covered up and made excuses for the poor work of her incompetent favorite.  Brandon could disappear; talk on his cel phone or text inside the cooler all he wanted. Despite I had seniority, Brandon got better schedule and more hours. All Sheila’s attention was on Brandon, leaving me cold on my familiar place of the excluded. Mitch my only supporter was drifting away as he saw the imminent coming. I was going to be fired.

Sheila created several situations at the department that were fabricated with the purpose to provoke me. She knew by my co-workers my compassion for crabs and that was her stronger weapon.  On May 27th I came to MM Seafood Department at 930AM. As I walk around the department to see what processes are being done (due to the lack of communication from co-workers) I see in horror that the crab tank is a soup of death crabs in an orange color warm soup. All the crabs are dead, about 50 crabs on a stiff unnatural position.  I look at my co-workers hoping to find comfort. Can anyone feel compassion I ask silently? Do you have any compassion for the crabs or compassion for my distress? I repeat in silence.  No one looks at me. I know this is a set up and I am going to be accused guilty although I did not work the night before, Brandon did. I ask Brandon what happened. He is evasive; I see fear in his eyes.  The guy from Aquatic Enterprise comes in and says that someone sprayed water in the outlet and the tank shut down. I was more than $1000 loss for the company. Next day I told Mitch about the crabs and shared my fear with him on being blamed for the incident. Mitch is also evasive. I never saw that side of him. He has always spoken the truth and he has always being on my side. Something has changed. I worry he join the majority, I lost my only ally.

June 24^th one month pass and somehow I am still holding to my job at MM. I lost hope to get a salary raise, I am now fighting to get my normal working hours which are being cut more consistently, as Brandon is on vacations from college.  I share my sorrows with Bruce and when I go to lunch, Brandon ask him why he is talking to me. Bruce replies that he is not a kid to be told how to act. He tell Brandon -I like Veronica and I will talk to her.-

 Sheila my manager puts several live crabs in a square plastic tub and goes upstairs. I see the crabs in the tub and my heart shrinks. I know they are going to die. I feel ashamed to be human. I wish I could take the tub and run to the ocean to let them free. But as human living in today’s world, my mind stops my feelings and I just look at the crabs trying to understand our cruelty. I feel pain.

Sheila interrupts my deep reasoning and asks me to put the live crabs in the boiling water cooker. I cannot reason that. Killing is against my core values. I declined. She push her orders and tells me is my responsibility. I can feel tears coming out of my eyes. I respond –Kelly told me I don’t have to kill because I am sensitive to that-. Sheila stomps out of the Seafood Department and (you guess it) goes upstairs. My heart collapses, I am losing the battle. I fear soon I will be out of a paycheck and insurance.  But I cannot be who I am not….even with a gun over my head.

Last week in June I do what I do every day I work at MM. After punching the clock and while wearing my while coat, behind the seafood department, I pray. I pray that I can ignore the harsh environment I know I am going to face behind the swing door. I pray I can concentrate in doing a good job; and I can show a happy face to the world. I pray I can control my negative emotions of being a target. I push the door and before I could say good hello or hola, my manager Sheila tells me to go upstairs. I have a knot in my stomach. The end is approaching. Sheila and Kelly found a “cause” to have me fired. The accused me of not wearing a glove while cutting a piece of celery for the tuna salad. Brandon took a picture. The picture shows my hand on the knife handle, I am not touching the celery. The Union representative was called. I confront Kelly and tell her I know why she hired Sheila. She hired Sheila with the goal to fire me. Kelly reacts with anger and leaves the conference room. MM says is a 3 days suspension, but MM leaves me two weeks without a job (and pay) because Lisa Cole needs to come from Seattle. I ask the Union if I can work until Lisa can come to Proctor. MM declines.

I called my closest ally: Mitch. I needed compassion and support. Mitch turn the tables and denounced my call to MM HQ HR. Lisa Cole said do not call teammates - they feel uncomfortable- she added. And how do you think I feel? I responded silently.

After two weeks we meet again. In an accusatory voice Kelly repeats the same phrase, over and over by memory, as if she have say it many times before “…knowingly and willingly chose to violate the company’s Food Safety Policies and Pierce County Health Department Regulations. Her actions demonstrated gross misconduct and placed both customers and team members at risk for food borne illness”. Steve stood there with his calm demeanor as an angel watching a display of the lowest human behavior but unable to interfere.

This statement sounds very accusatory but if we go behind the strong words, it does not mean anything. For example, I talked to the Pierce County Health Department representative Kitty Lot and she told me that it is OK not to use gloves to cut celery as long as I don’t touch the product. I can use tissue paper, tongs, brown paper, etc. as I did when the picture was taken. When I share this information, Kelly brings more statements for the same males that bullied me every day for almost a year.

Moreover, the use of gloves in MM is very inconsistent. For example the Seafood Department in the Queen Ann store uses tissue paper to handle product. Also, there are several witnesses that saw Kelly making a potato salad using her bare hands and I saw the Deli manager Josie making an apple salad using bare hands.

At the end all my arguments are discarded. All the hard work, the long nights, the happy customers, the profitable sales, the beautiful fish displays, the careful closing procedures and my compassion for the crabs and lobsters does not matter. I am being accused, ashamed and destitute from my livelihood.

My experience at MM has been a big disparity. The darkness of some of my immediate co-workers and managers’ behavior and the radiance of my cherished customers that supported and trusted me; the great feeling of making the crab’s horrible life in a tank better  and the bad sensation of not being in the right place.

I lost my fight to my place at the MM table.

"You've got a problem with those Americans fighting for their place at the table. You got a problem with them because you feel like -- what's Rep. Steve King's word for it? -- subgroups of America are being divisive"…”Those fighting to be included in the ideal of equality are not being divisive; those fighting to keep those people out are," John Stuart

Letter sent to MM HQ December 2015

Hi Lisa,

Today is the last day of 2015. I hope you are celebrating with your family. My family lives in Mexico and in Chicago so I am here... reaching out to you. 

Back in November 2014 I found Metropolitan Market and I stayed not because the $14 an hour I make, but because I felt appreciated and valued. And I still do feel valued by my customers and some on my colleges. But things started to go sour since I joined the Seafood Department in September 21, 2015.

My boss is Andrea Baker she knows about Seafood but her introverted character and lack of management skills makes her difficult to be a good boss. It may be an alcoholic problem? 

Perhaps I was chosen for the Seafood clerk position because I am extroverted and have a great rapport with the Metropolitan customers. I keep asking Andrea How can I help you. I reassure her: I am here to help! But all I got to this point, it is attacks from Andrea. 

The first red flag is the lack of training by Andrea. Yes, sometimes she is kind enough to show me how to cut a lobster or open an oyster but that is as far as her knowledge sharing goes. And when I make mistakes she does not correct me in the spot, but rather goes upstairs and talks to Kelly the store director. I honestly believe she does not want me to learn the skills necessary to succeed.

Andrea's attacks are for every small thing like: not cleaning the sink, nor saying good afternoon, putting cioppino soup out, asking Mitch what is going on, taking vacations, calling sick, etc. Today Andrea moved the metal bench to the main walkway, in the middle of a very busy day, and I finally fell after many attempts to avoid the obstacle, All Andrea could say was "I warned you the bench was in the way." The meat department manager kindly came to see me and another colleague came to ask me how I was. Andrea could only think in retaliating accusing me of not saying good afternoon and because I ask Mitch for guidance this morning. I told Andrea the truth; we ask Mitch what to do because Mitch is a good organizer and knows what to do in busy days. I got suspended 3 days.

Another incident of Andrea's attacks: On October I requested my first vacation, Andrea signed the time away from work request. The form was returned to her in Nov 21 because it was missing some information. Andrea signed the time away form for second time. Then she gave me a copy of the request for my files. On Wednesday Dec 30 Andrea was very angry (she use this angry tone with me not the other male colleges) and tells me how is possible I am taking "so many days?" I reminded her that she approved and signed the time request. She said, harshly, you are not getting this again! 

She could say in a kindly way that my request made it difficult for her to schedule January, but she was very happy for me to spend time with my daughter. Andrea never acknowledged my effort to do a great job for Metropolitan and therefore have the benefit of a vacation. My first vacation since I started back in November 2014.

So at this point I am trying to continue with my superior customer service and doing my job as good as I can. However, as it seems, this is not enough. Andrea find faults in everything I do, especially where my knowledge is weak for the lack of training. As a good bully Andrea has recruit it other bullies with her, like Zac and Brandon. They will offer any wrongdoings to build Andrea's case against me. 

My Metropolitan colleges always say I do a good job and as long as I do a good job I have nothing to fear. Brandon in the other hand takes 1.5 hour lunches, 40-45 min breaks and leaves early after wasting time most of the afternoon (when Andrea is not there). He always have mistakes in the orders or forgets to order. His hours are great 9-6 with many Fridays and Saturdays off. I haven't had one Sunday off since I started in Seafood while Andrea takes most Sundays off. Most Holidays? Mitch and I are there, not for the rest of the team. 

Despite me doing a good job and making an intense effort not to confront Andrea I am here accused of "insubordination" and writing to you. I appreciate my job at Metropolitan and if Andrea succeeds at getting me fired it will not affect my life that much. The reason I am here on December 31 writing you is seeking fairness. 

I haven't done anything to Andrea or to other employees at Metropolitan Market to be treated as poorly as I have. I have dealt with the Metropolitan bullies as Alisha, Zac, Monica, Brandon, Danielle, etc. all very close friends. Why they don't like me? Why these attacks? I ask myself? Perhaps because I am a foreigner. Perhaps because the hate for Mexicans, perhaps I am bringing better work ethics to the company, perhaps because my customers appreciation? I don't know the answer....what I would like Lisa is to be treated fairly and equally.

I would like to be trained by Mitch who is a great teacher and a kind person.

I would like Andrea to stop her attacks and let me do my job in peace.

I would like equal schedule some Sundays off and to work some 9-6 or 6-3 times. 

I would like to work the same days that Mitch works, so I can learn from him.

I will give Andrea the same respect she gives to me

Thanks you so much for reading what I have to say, I hope we can reach an amicable solution to this unfortunate situation.