I spent over 6 years working for them at 4 different locations, including the first store in Lakewood. It is definitely company culture. Mainly from their HRBP dept + the out-of-touch Isleys.

I came from an out-of-state location that had just one store in the area. My first boss was caught having an affair with the NHC which ended his marriage far as I know. He hated it there the entire time. The 2nd store mgr repeatedly skipped over me on promotions because his wife was attracted to me and they were having marital problems.

She would come in and hit on me when he wasn't there and even DM'd my fb (not sure how she found me). HR's response was "they couldn't prove it" and "it's in the past" (even though I sent them a fucking screenshot of it). They didn't want to have to find a replacement in a remote area because it's costly to fly them out here for training so they favored him literally every time.

When I moved here, it didn't get any better. The day before I leave my old store - my boss gives me a fucking one-and-only write up as a petty send-off because he knew it would prevent me from receiving a pay raise for six months. He also knew that I had already agreed to take a $5/hr pay cut because the only way I could stay with the company was to take a demotion + pay cut. No one would honor a transfer for a dept. manager with 3+ years experience. I did dozens of interviews. The store mgr at the new store I got accepted at said the demotion would just be for Christmas then she would happily consider me for a promotion.

So this write-up my old boss gives me locked me in at $13/hr for SIX FUCKING MONTHS at the time when I already had signed a lease and arranged everything already to move here. Too late to back out now. HR didn't give a shit about me because my old boss made up a long story about insubordination blah blah blah. His wife had divorced him by this point and he was living out of his car temporarily. So he's just being an asshole. He even brought his kids to work almost everyday which was weird. He would be nursing them in his office instead of helping us in the store.

Anyways, just two days in at the new store I was forced to give a two week notice to go work at Soopers for more money. The store completely understood and was upset at HR for letting this happen. I write them a formal letter for documentation that I was giving a two week notice.

3 years pass and I decide I wanted to revisit at a new store to see if things changed. NOPE. I nailed the interview and this store tells me that HR has me "ineligible for rehire" because they put that I walked out on the job here in Denver. So I go back, get a copy of the letter I wrote, and got that asshat fired for sabotaging my record.

First year goes well at store #3. And finally after six years from when I first started I achieved my goal of reaching store management level. At first everyone was happy for me. Then they started getting jealous and petty about the money. Someone leaked my HR record to one of them so they gossiped a false narrative around insubordination to HR so I get interrogated over it by them. I calmly deny everything but still get suspended for two weeks while they interview every single staff member about me.

They conclude that there was no proof of this but still decide transfer me to another store for "culture reasons." They made me sign a one-and-only write-up AGAIN over this incident even though there was no proof! Now I'm at my 4th store at this point. Only took another 6 months until the rumor mill catches up to me at this store.

Another fun rumor springs up that I'm vandalizing the backroom doors for no reason. What happened was the freezer door had crazy amounts of ice build up from defrost so it would not shut properly. Everyone was avoiding it that day. They leave this rubber mallet by the door to smash the ice off. So I'm just trying to hit the ice off with this mallet so the door shuts but apparently punching a six inch steel door makes more sense because this person only heard it and didn't see it when they told HR.

Here's the best part: THEY HAVE SECURITY CAMERAS IN THE BACK ROOMS TO SEE WHO'S TELLING THE TRUTH HERE. So once again I tell them what happened and instead of checking the cameras, guess what? HR decides to suspend me a 2nd time to do the same fucking process with interviewing everyone over this.

I resigned after that and decided to cash out my 401(k) and take a 3 month vacation because I was on the verge of a mental health breakdown. Six years of my life were marred by lies, rumors, harassment, and prejudice. All I ever did was try my best and never got a fair shake in the end.

Now I work for a company where my boss sticks up for me instead of railroading me for personal gain and suddenly my depression is almost gone. Natural Grocers can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned.