Kroger — Local services in Birmingham

Its Monday 11/19 @about 9:45 am Do my shopping, head to self check out. I have the mini small Cart because im making 2 different small purchase .One for myself and one for my Client. Both orders are under 15 items each. The Older Guy (i will NOT say gentle man) thats the attendant watches me "like a hawk". There was plenty of other people at the other stations, but he only watches me. Im on phone with my older brother so i let it be known that i see what he is doing vocally over the phone- he finally turns away and just goes to stand behind me to watch me. I finish ringing up both my orders and as im walking away, i say to him " I noticed yu only watched me and i will be going to yur managers about it". (Like really dude its not my fault the best yu could do in life is be a glorified bag boy. Some deserve the resepct i give because they do they job with the up most Respect but this dude is just rude.) As soon as i say that, hes like "Excuse me?" Which let me know he heard everything i said to my brothrr about him watching me. Mind yu my brother was on video chat and is in state law enforcement. So i let him see by turning the screen so he could see the guy. I walk away and go to the customer service desk to drop $20 into the charity box (they're adopting 2 familys for the holidays, or so they say 😒 but i never miss a chance to give to those in need) and to let the lady behind the counter know what happens .She assures me she will let managers know and i thank her and walk away.

Get out to car, put groceries into trunk and see i forgot something .So i had to go back in. As soon as i get in i notice that instead of going to the managers, she went straight to him and talked about it and allowed him to just brush it off. I stood there listening (dont know if they knew i was standing right there) ANGRY but still let it pass. Yu only know what the boss lets yu get away with .Tho, Proper protocol is to speak only to a manager and let them speak to him. But No. She stepped out of her place.

Worst Location ever. For such a small store compared to the others yu would think they would act better but alas NO. The location dont make the store, the integrity of the employees do. The guy at the other self checkout lines (the ones whose door leads to Maple road) was Very polite and friendly .If i ever do go to that location again, i will only go though his lanes. He's there most days anyway. I usually go to the one just north of...

Self checkout at Kroger is currently not in a good place.

During an attempt to buy a handful of things last Sunday I got roped into a screwball comedy featuring the self checkout attendant, four angry customers, the 'AI enabled' checkout machines, and myself.

I fussed with my self checkout machine for about 10 minutes before giving up. During this time it profiled me as a criminal and showed me a bald spot that I didn't know I had directly on top of my head (thanks for that uniquely flattering camera angle Kroger).

The backdrop to my own bizarre little side quest featured a couple who were deep in their own self checkout kiosk drama. They had scanned, by my approximation a good five bags worth of groceries, and were being stonewalled by the machine just like I was. The self checkout attendant was not able to help them in his current condition, teetering on the edge of his sanity as he was - whether it was from dealing with the machines, the customers, or a preexisting condition I could not say.

Eventually the couple, thoroughly frustrated by both the machine and the pacing and mumbling of the attendant, became boisterous, and a five way verbal altercation ensued with a couple of other customers jumping in to advocate on the self checkout attendant's behalf.

It was at this time that I realized I would not best the machine. Its intelligence, though artificial, was compelling. It was, I believe, accusing me of attempting to make off with a couple of Zucchini; and where it lacked in guile it made up with pure machine belligerence. Ultimately, tail tucked between my legs, I abandoned my haul and left.

Shop here at your peril, there's a Whole Foods with normal self checkout kiosks...

Prefacing this review to disclose that I don’t typically shop at Kroger because of poor customer experience overall with the chain. This location is no exception.

I ran in for two products that I can’t buy at other stores (or I would). Once I got to the front of the store I saw the self checkout line was 20 people deep, I figured it would be a shorter wait to go get checked out by an attendant that only had 4 people in their line (all with less than 10 items). It took 20 minutes to get through these 4 other customers & actually get to check out. I exited the store at the same time as the last person in the self checkout Lane. The attendant who checked me out was not friendly & aggressively scanning both my & other customers food.

I would typically give them the benefit of the doubt & say that it was a bad day, but I consistently experience this level of service every time I shop at Kroger. It seems like it is the culture of their company. I also understand it’s hard to find workers & employees are feeling burnout due to the pandemic, but these issues have been prevalent since before then. I should have written this review a long time ago, but today was what really pushed me to. Needless to say I won’t be back...