The food service industry is having the hardest time filling open positions after the COVID-19 pandemic, which extends to grocery stores, according to Super Market News. A June 29, 2023 report from the outlet writes “that a staggering 80% of retailers have faced difficulties in attracting and retaining workers over the past year.”
Labor shortages in this business sector are “here to stay” according to some analysts, but why is that? One glaring factor could be worker pay, and it appears that businesses have upped hourly rates in a bid to attract folks to keep their establishments fully staffed.
However, one grocery store worker, Alexia Jade (@alexia_jade10) doesn’t feel like her employer is making a strong enough argument to keep her excited about coming to work. She mocked the 50-cent an hr raise she received in a viral TikTok that’s accrued over 5.4 million views as of Friday.
@alexia_jade10 Cause what is that gonna buy me
♬ original sound – BREEZYTV
Jade begins her video by holding up a couple of coins pinched between her fingers while looking into the camera. She lip-syncs the words to a song where the artist croons, “Just got rich.”
The TikToker writes in a text overlay of the video, “How my job thinks I’ll react to a 50 cent raise.”
Commenters who responded to her video seemed to sympathize with the low-raise struggle. One user said, “Then they just take it in taxes,” while another highlighted, “It’s the fact they’ll quiz you first to make sure you’re worthy of deserving the .25 cent raise also.”
Another TikTok user joked that one’s supervisors will often try to get them to look on the “bright side” by stating that they were going to get an even smaller raise at their job.
“And your supervisor will be like ‘I fought for you, they wanted to give you 0.10,’” they wrote.
A viewer claimed the tiny raise their job offered them was the final straw, so they sought out greener employment pastures instead, writing, “My job offered me a 30cent raise I gotta job that pays me $7 more.”
Judging from the comments Jade made in a previous TikTok video, she confirmed that she works for a Super One Foods grocery store location. According to Indeed, the average salary of an employee for the chain ranges from $8 an hour for utility clerks, $ 13.29 an hour for cashiers, and $21.41 an hr for stocking associates.
A number of retailers have been blasted for the salary increases they’ve given to their employees. For example, Target workers uploaded clips showing off the tiny jumps in their hourly wage they secured: 9 cents an hour, 10 cents, and 31 cents.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Super One Foods via email Jade via TikTok comment.
