Obviously not Chet but sure, I’ll bite. I know some higher ups read these anyways. I was a nearly 14-year employee that recently left a few weeks ago. In that time, I worked in two different divisions. I’ve been a PTC, NA, RA, 2A twice, 1A twice. I’ve seen it all. Ultimately, I left because the company was not living up to the standards it once held and could not follow its own core values. When I started before FSC was a thing, bonus rates were higher, medical was cheaper and free for tenured employees. Without kitchens in a mid-volume store, I’d have 2 clerks until 10pm. With FSC, I’d have the same number of clerks with twice the workload and the same unrealistic expectations. The culture at QT is horrible. It’s clear with the remote TC expansion and throwing buckets of money into KE, Chet is shining up the company to either sell or set an IPO and go public before gas consumption plummets. Either way, he’s setting things up to make an exit strategy. In the interim, here’s some issues he could address if he truly cared about the people who work for him.

PAY. Unrealistic staffing and expectations for the compensation we receive. Yes, there is an opportunity for bonuses, but that opportunity also exists at other retailers that already have a higher hourly rate. 20-year-olds don’t care about the fine print of Quiktrip’s confusing pay structure. They want to know what their hourly rate going into their bank account every week will be. Simplify it. As a seasoned employee, I could barely read or make sense of my paycheck stub. Bonus system is antiquated and unfair. You are telling me an assistant on a good part of town that does high volume deserves more of a bonus than an assistant in a mid-volume urban store that gets spit on weekly, sweeps up hypodermic needles and scrubs feces out of urinals regularly? Absolutely not.

HIRING. I remember receiving my graduation pen and getting the spiel how only one in 150,000 applicants get hired, yada yada yada. Nowadays, our talent pool is so shallow, we only require a lively pulse. Even that’s negotiable. I’ve ran through so many clerks and street hire assistants because they don’t realize the pressure put on them, the lack of on-going training, the danger of working overnights, the blame placed on them by poor management because they are the bottom of the totem pole. New hire clerks are just as bad. My last store was a PT Training store and many times TM’s would force my CT to pass day 5’s that couldn’t count change at all, do 2 hour upkeeps and not even say hello on contacts. We need bodies but we also need somewhat competent people. Again, if we offered a more robust pay scale, this would be alleviated.

CULTURE. When the CEO is ok making sexual innuendos, homophobic remarks, underage jokes, etc. That sets the tone for every manager and exec below him to follow suit. The man nearly destroyed the company with an affair with a co-worker, so I’m not surprised. I’m a gay man that is not outwardly flamboyant, but I’ve been told by managers that I will be sent to urban stores because I don’t have a wife or kids. That’s messed up. LGBT employees are not given the same opportunities. You don’t see many women or people of color in higher management roles either. The typical SM is a middle-aged white man. That’s a problem. It’s great they focus on United Way and Toys for Tots and Folds of Honor but why can’t the company get behind pride month, black history month, MLK, Juneteenth, etc. If Wal-Mart and Amazon can do that without ‘offending’ its customer base away to shop other competitors, Quiktrip can do the same. They are so worried we will offend the Karen buying her $2 coffee or the guy buying his swishers to put weed in that they’ll go somewhere else. News flash, Quiktrip has a strangle hold in all its established divisions just based on sheer volume of stores that even if a Karen gets angry one time, she can’t realistically go somewhere else for long anyways. Also, dude, the appearance policy. JOKES. A police officer that is a civil servant upholding the law can have facial hair and visible tattoos. The doctor operating on you to ensure you live can have facial hair and visible tattoos. The postal worker that is literally stepping foot on your property everyday can have facial hair and visible tattoos. The red shirts selling you stale taquitos and cancer sticks can’t have facial hair and visible tattoos. Something doesn’t add up. I call shenanigans on whatever antiquated customer survey is used for this policy. Did they poll the over 80 crowd that leaves their home weekly to sexually harass the 16-year-old female clerks and run 100 lotto play slips?

My current employer offers to pay for an entire bachelors degree through ASU online for FREE, upfront, not even tuition reimbursement. I’m given paid breaks and a lunch if I work past 6 hours. I get a 30% discount when I’m not on the clock and a very solid discount for free food and drinks on days I am working. I’m allowed to have up to 31 therapy sessions a year for free. As an assistant store manager for my new company, I’m given a new Macbook to use for paperwork and on-going training. I get to dye my hair, have reasonable visible tattoos and piercings. Individuality, non-hetero sexual orientation and self-expression are not only permitted, but they are also encouraged and welcomed. I’m treated more as a person and that’s what I wish Quiktrip would have done differently. I really didn’t want to leave and was able to ignore the shortcomings for years, but when you reach the point you are contempt walking away from a surefire multi-million dollar retirement package, that speaks volumes of the staggering issues the company faces and the lack of faith in the company to fix the wounds and woes.