Kroger — Local services in Alexandria

There's a reason Kroger has always been popular here. Because it's better. Following visit: Kroger always seems to be stocked well unlike, for example, the Neighborhood Walmart I visited for the very first and LAST times. In the event that Kroger is out of a particular item, it has several others that are essentially equivalent that also run the gamut of the price range. Following visit: Kroger has friendly and helpful people/employees: another distinguishing feature of the business from others in its class. In fact, it has just dawned on me that it's no small miracle that it has employees who can check out your groceries quickly with other employees who can bag quickly and properly. I think it must have been about ten years between my CHOOSING to get checked out instead of going to self checkout. It would definitely have to be a significantly and thorough good experience for me to opt (ALLOW) for someone to check me out. Following visit: It should be apparent that a pattern is emerging here. Kroger (and I've alluded to this before) is always fully stocked; alternatively, at a minimum, part of Kroger's stock and inventory is so variegated that IF it happens to be sold out of one item, there are several other items that can be purchased as a substitute. These "substitute items" reflect Kroger's commitment to its customers that they will have something that adequately replaces the original item sought, but the "substitute items" significantly vary from lower to higher prices and, consequently, from lower to higher quality. You can always get something better there than the item you are used to and...

July 3rd. 10 PM.

Had a weird little power trip moment from a self-checkout employee tonight. I dropped a box of chicken after scanning it, and the system flagged it as “suspicious activity.” Cool—it happens. But instead of just verifying the scan and moving on, the employee walks over and starts grilling me like I’m on trial: “What was that box? What did you scan?”

I told him straight up—if you’re confused, pull the receipt. He continued asking. Problem is, I'm not about to recite my grocery list in the middle of checkout like I’m under oath with a cart full of things. I politely told him he can go through my receipt and my bags and see if theres any issue. Then he hits me with, “If you don’t know what you bought, it looks like you’re stealing”—in front of a crowd of people.

Let’s get one thing straight: you’re not the law. You work the self-checkout lane, not forensics. Either verify the purchases or keep it moving. I’m under zero legal obligation to answer questions from an 18-year-old employee playing detective.

Eventually he found the item and backed off—but not before hitting me with the classic, “You know what I’m saying?” Nah, I don’t. What I do know is that if you’re gonna throw out an accusation, either make it official and call a manager—or don’t waste my time fishing for confessions while I’m literally about to spend $289...

I would rate the Store mediocre at very best, staff are impersonal and less than helpful, and some of the checkers seem to hate their jobs. the store is not as clean as it could be with dirty floors and dusty products on shelves which them selves are poorly stacked. the lay out seems rather Unorganized, but by fat the worst aspect of shopping at this store is the Parking lot. on busy days it is almost like crossing a battle filed, I have had two of my cars badly damaged with very deep door dings from the mindless zombies who shop at this store, not just scratched but half inch deep dents where the retarded residents swing their doors open without any regard to other peoples property, i have almost been run down trying to cross from the parking area to get to the store on a few occasions, and while i realize that almost none of this is the fault of the store, it does make shopping there highly aggravating. if you plan on shopping at this store park as far away as you possible can (Albertsons) to avoid damage to your car. all in all my rating of this...