Shoppers Agree, These Grocery Chains Have The Most Unhelpful Employees

Although it may not feel like it sometimes, grocery store chains generally do everything they can to make shopping in them as stress-free as possible. After all, why would they want customers to feel as though buying stuff from them is more trouble than it's worth? Sadly, though, all of this can fall apart when it comes to customer service. Some grocery stores seem to put less emphasis on their workers being helpful and proactive than others, and while places like Trader Joe's have employees who go above and beyond, others have staff who, by and large, aren't known for being friendly or accommodating.

For this article, we researched customer opinions, looking on Reddit, Facebook, Yelp, and Google Reviews, to see where they were having the worst experiences. We also looked at surveys from Consumer Reports and the American Customer Satisfaction Index to establish where customer service was lacking in certain stores.

It's worth saying, of course, that all grocery store chains have employees who do their very best, most of whom work hard to do so, but when it comes to the ones that shoppers find the most unhelpful, certain names crop up again and again. Chains like Walmart, Kroger, and Giant Eagle are repeatedly named for having staff who seem not to want you to be there, while others like Pick'n Save and ShopRite seem to have workers who actively neglect customers. Shoppers have seen employees in certain stores sleeping on the job or even drunk at work. Let's get into the grocery chains that have the most unhelpful employees.

Kroger is absolutely enormous: Its parent company, The Kroger Co., has thousands of stores across the United States, and many of those are its flagship brand. As such, it's little wonder that its workforce doesn't have the get-up-and-go attitude that smaller operations might. When you're buying stuff on your first trip to Kroger, don't be surprised if you don't get a lot of help. 

It's pretty wild how unhelpful its employees seem to be. Kroger employees are repeatedly dubbed as uncaring, absent, or even unfriendly. This isn't just an issue in-store, either, but also when it comes to the customer service helpline, which has left shoppers high and dry. People have often spotted Kroger employees on their phones instead of helping people, and its cashiers have been called particularly unhelpful.

It is important to note, though, that when it comes to Kroger, it appears that the issues start at the top. Its workers have accused the supermarket of not meeting basic working standards, leading to staff upset and strike action. As a result, some Kroger employees have voiced frustration online with the expectation for them to be helpful and happy, saying that they'll do so when management treats them better. That doesn't change the experience many customers are having in its stores, though.

It's fair to say that customers aren't super happy with Giant Eagle's customer service lately. In January 2025, the store received the lowest customer satisfaction score out of a large number of major supermarkets, in a survey conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (and if you're going to trust anyone, it'll probably be them, right?). What's more, its score was 3% lower than it was in 2024.

One of the reasons that shoppers aren't pleased when shopping at Giant Eagle is because of its poor customer service. The store has been plagued by accusations of unhelpful employees, with customers observing multiple instances of uncaring and bored workers. Some employees have been called unnecessarily rude and aggressive, while others (including management) seem not to be concerned with customer experience at all, and are more content to speak to their friends about personal matters than help shoppers at the cashier's desk. Its pharmacies have faced particular criticism, with the counter staff being labeled as rude. While some people are happy with the customer service at Giant Eagle, they're in the minority: On Trustpilot, the chain boasts a 2.1 rating out of five, and 66% of its reviews are one-star.

Stores like Pick'n Save don't necessarily make their name on offering good customer service. Instead, the store's main offering is its low prices and savings (it's literally in the name, after all). However, that's no excuse for its customers to have actively bad experiences in its stores. Pick'n Save appears to have had staffing issues for years, with customer complaints being flagged in a 2017 story from Consumer Reports. Things don't seem to have changed much recently, and its shoppers are, by and large, not happy with how its employees behave while they're purchasing their goods.

Pick'n Save workers have been named again and again as unhelpful and unfriendly by customers, with some of them accused of being downright unpleasant. Phone use appears to be a real issue, and shoppers have seen employees preferring to treat work time as social time, instead of hours that should be spent assisting people in-store. Sadly, these aren't just one-off occasions, either. "My experience of shopping at Pick'n Save in Two Rivers for the last 3 times has been horrible. I am spending large sums of money every week and many of the employees are useless," said one particularly irritated customer on Facebook. "When did it become OK that I have to pack my own groceries while employees stand and play with their phones, chit chat with each other, while customers are packing their own groceries?" Not exactly a glowing endorsement, right?

Let's be real, you're probably not surprised to see Walmart here, right? The biggest chain of them all has long been known to have subpar customer service, with its employees accused countless times of just simply not caring that much about their jobs. Part of this, it should be said, is likely due to the sheer size of the company. Walmart employs over two million people worldwide and roughly 1.6 million in the U.S., and some people have noted that on a purely statistical level, you're just gonna end up with more folks who aren't enthused. When you combine that with working for a massive corporation that might be more concerned with productivity than employee experience, it's no surprise that people don't love working there.

Even so, we do need to talk about how unhelpful Walmart's employees can be. It seems like every other week, there's a message or video on social media about how poor its customer service is, with workers dubbed rude and disrespectful by customers. Its service standards have been reflected in its poor placement in customer service satisfaction surveys. In 2025, the American Customer Satisfaction Index reported that Walmart had the second-lowest rating of all major supermarkets, just above Giant Eagle. This supermarket may be fantastic for its cut-price Great Value selection, but you evidently get what you pay for by way of customer service. 

ShopRite may have some great frozen Bowl and Basket snacks, but there's nothing great about its customer service. Customers seem to have almost universally poor experiences when they're in this chain's stores, and its customer service is a frequent source of irritation. Its workforce has been described as dysfunctional and poorly managed, with its rules and employees feeling unhelpful and even anger-inducing to shoppers. Its dedicated customer service workers also don't seem that interested in helping people out: People have called them unpleasant and dismissive.

Sadly, rudeness seems to be a repeated issue with ShopRite employees, and while there are naturally some good apples in the bunch, some customers have reached the end of their tether. "There's one or two ShopRite employees that are super rude every single time I come in," said one customer on Reddit, before going on to recount almost hostile experiences with employees. There have even been accusations from customers that ShopRite employees have turned up to work drunk. As of November 2025, ShopRite has a 1.7 rating on Trustpilot, one of the lowest of any supermarket chain out there. There's no denying that a lot of that is down to its customer service.

There's no denying it: Safeway needs to work on its customer service. The chain has been constantly faced with charges from customers that its employees just aren't up to scratch, and that they don't create a particularly pleasant or helpful experience for shoppers. Some customers have simply said that its employees are a little bit uncaring, but have also noted that they can lean into rudeness at times. Elsewhere, rudeness is the main accusation, and people have stated that Safeway employees are not only unhelpful but also actively get in the way of shoppers' experiences and the ability to purchase goods in-store.

Plus, if you do want to escalate things further after shopping at Safeway, you're not going to have a much better time. Shoppers have voiced their frustrations when trying to resolve things with Safeway's customer service. Certain stores also stand out as not just the worst Safeways to shop in, but the worst in the U.S. One Washington Safeway has the ignoble distinction of having the worst-rated supermarket in any major city, on Google, and two others, in Seattle and Denver, are in the top 10. Yikes.

It's amazing what a name can do. In a world of Walmarts, Giant Eagles, and ShopRites, Albertsons stands out thanks to its friendly-sounding nature. Ever since Albertsons opened its first store, its name has invoked images of a cozy, personal experience and a family-run vibe that leaves you feeling pretty warm. That's what you get, right? ... Right?

Wrong. Albertsons can be a pretty bad place to shop, particularly if you're looking for employees who help you out. The chain has been named countless times as a place where customer service doesn't seem to be at a premium, and one where its employees aren't especially invested in helping out. Its workers have come across as rude and dismissive to customers, who are made to feel as though they're causing problems. In one particularly memorable incident, a shopper was accused of being troublesome by staff after they discovered that they had been sold a fraudulent gift card — an issue which two store managers refused to help resolve. It's no wonder that its customer service rating is so low across the board. Shopping here isn't fun.

If you're in any doubt over how people feel about shopping in certain supermarkets, all you need to do is look at their star rating. King Soopers boasts one that's especially low: With a 1.9 rating on Trustpilot, the way that its customers perceive shopping there speaks for itself. A lot of those low reviews are down to its employee attitude, which has been called unhelpful and even condescending. Customers have felt that its workers, from the cashier staff to the security guards, can have a real attitude, which ruins their experience of shopping there.

Its customer service has also been noted as being especially bad. One customer said that they had been shopping at the chain for a quarter-century, but things had become so poor that they would no longer be doing so. Certain stores, like its Denver branch on Green Valley Ranch Boulevard, have some of the lowest and worst reviews of any supermarket in the whole country. One Reddit commenter put it simply when they said, "King Soopers is the worst." Reviews don't get more damning than that.

Turns out Tops isn't so friendly. This grocery store makes a bold assertion in its name that, unfortunately, isn't backed up by customer experience. Its employees are a common sticking point for the people who shop there, and people have pointed out that its workers don't seem to be especially proactive in helping them. Elsewhere, its customer service has been called very poor, and both its workers and its management have been called rude and even corrupt. Pretty bold language, but that speaks to how passionately people feel about the way the store treats its customers.

This isn't a new problem for Tops, either. The chain has had customer experience issues that go back years, and customer complaints seem to be commonplace for the chain. You have to wonder, then, why Tops Friendly Markets insists on keeping its name. If its employees are known for being anything but nice to the people that shop there, then surely it's operating under false advertising, right?

Martin's feels like it could be an old-timey grocery store, if going by the name alone. Well, we're willing to bet that you wouldn't get the kind of customer service back in the day that its shoppers are experiencing now. The chain's employees just don't feel like they care enough to give their customers the time that they need, and people have noted a decline in quality in the last few years (associating it with its takeover by SpartanNash), with its workers and customer service not feeling enthused about helping people out. Others have noted that its employees seem to have given up on working while on shift, with one customer finding a worker lying down on the counter.

Although the downturn in customer experience has been recent for some people, customer complaints and employee issues at Martin's have been an issue for some time. Nonetheless, it seems like now is the time when customers are truly giving up on the East Coast chain. "EVERY time I go into Martins I hope and think it will be better and every time I come out wondering why I went there," said one customer on Facebook. "I'm just about done."