Pros
Was a great company to work for the first five years but horrible the last five after it got bought out. The first several years we were treated like family and we were an extremely productive and profitable store. In the first few years of working there, you were always treated with respect and as though your contributions to the store made a difference.
Cons
I worked for Jewel for 10 years (at a store in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, sorry but I won't specify where exactly) and the last several years were absolutely horrible. They hired several employees the last couple of years, who would constantly spew gossip, harass you for money and even bully you. We had a ton of lazy employees who were never held accountable for their actions, yet the managers would constantly yell at the hard working veteran employees. I went to management and the union several times to complain and they refused to do anyanything about it. They constantly cut people's hours and are consistently understaffed and the managers consistently yell at you in spite of you working like a dog, doing the work of three people. The managers always hold you accountable for their being understaffed. If you have any physical or health issues, don't even bother handing them a medical excuse. We've had many abusive customers over the years taking advantage of the employees and the managers will almost always take the customers (and some customers are bad for business). And no one ever gets any compliments by the managers for performing good customer service and going the extra mile for them, like I always did. And if you have a health issue or physical limitation entitling you to be excused from performing a particular job task, don't even bother handing them a doctor's note, they will make you perform that job task anyway and threaten disciplinary action.
