It was one of those days that I had already stayed so much later than I planned and had to be back early in the morning (it was inventory day, iykyk). So I decided to suck it up and just power through instead of teasing myself with an hour of broken sleep.

Fortunately, at the time I was young, eager to prove myself, and running on an endless supply of caffeine (anyone else remember the caffeinated water hype in the early 2000s?)

It took me a long time to realize that I did that to myself. No one had asked me to stay late or to work 26 hours. No one told me not to either.

In retail, there is always more work to do. Especially in high-volume grocery and big box. Customers never stop coming when your building is open 24/7.

So my advice to anyone out there putting in more time than you were asked to and wondering how you’ll sustain it: Don’t.

I had to learn the hard way that commitment and boundaries aren’t opposites. Sustainable performance requires both.

I’m all for being a team player—some days we have to give more than we planned. But protect the time you need to take care of yourself. Get a good night’s sleep, a proper meal, and please, I beg you, stay away from the caffeinated water. Just drink water.

What’s one thing you’re protecting to take care of yourself this week?

I’ve been working part time at kroger for the past 2.5 years. I am a full time college student typically working about 25 hours a week. I’ve enjoyed my time here until recently with new management and what I experienced today was something I couldn’t have ever imagined. The other day I was notified about an opening in produce. I went to one of the assistant managers and asked her about it and she said “we will take a look and I’ll talk to your department lead and the produce lead”. I requested possibly transferring departments because I thought maybe working in produce would work with my school schedule better and I like a lot of the guys over there. So anyway, I went into work today and my boss talks to me a for a while about the department transfer and other work related stuff. After I finished talking to him I walk back to the task I was doing and I see the same manager from other day that I asked about a department transfer. So I went up to her and I asked about it and she said something that completely shocked me. Out of left field she says” well typically when we transfer someone, it’s because they impress us and you don’t really impress me. So if I’m going to transfer someone I want them to be a valuable asset to the department they’re going to” ( implying that I’m not worth anything as a worker and not a valued employee to my department ). She then proceeds to tell me I need to “do better” but never specifically said at what. What she said hurt me so bad and embarrassed me. She said it right on the sales floor, not in closed doors in private. I went back to the cooler in my department and my boss asked what’s up and I told him “I’m done, I can’t take this store anymore, The management here is so rude”. My boss was like oh my gosh what happened. As soon as he asked that I got so upset and started crying because I was so angry and he called our assistant lead to come over and help calm me down. The incident felt disrespectful and unprofessional and her judgment of me is totally invalid. She hardly sees me, I’m only part time,so she only interacts with me 1-2 times a week and probably only sees me 3-4 times on those days she’s working when I am. It hurt me so bad, I consider myself to be a good employee and I’ve never had a complaint from anyone I work with whether that be my co workers, department lead or any other management. They all seem to value me as a worker and say I’m a good employee except this one particular manager. I had never had any issues with her before. She is rude and passive aggressive a lot but not like today’s incident. I have never been disrespectful towards her or not done anything to make her super mad to my knowledge. My department lead and fellow co workers were extremely shocked by what she said to me. I ended up having a talk with my union rep and I hope further disciplinary action is taking towards her. Today was definitely a work day I was not expecting…