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The Detailed Account of the Exhausting Routine of a Merchant in a Wholesale Grocery Store Reveals How Low Net Salaries, Long Hours Without PPE in Cold Rooms, and Abusive Leaderships Drive Workers Away from Thousands of Open Positions in Brazilian Retail.
The lack of workers in Brazilian supermarkets is no longer a passing noise but a clear sign of structural crisis. Even with thousands of open positions, the sector faces increasing rejection from those who have experienced the internal routine.
The problem goes beyond just salary. Recurring reports point to exhausting hours, psychological pressure, disrespect for basic rights, and the absence of humanized management, factors that push away new candidates and drive old employees out.
One of these accounts gained prominence on social media. On the channel Gauttiz, a former employee narrates in detail his experience and claims he would never return to work in a supermarket.
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The testimony echoes similar experiences in different regions of the country. Young people, especially in their first job, describe environments marked by humiliation, improvisation, and constant physical wear.
Operational Structure and the Routine of the Merchant
The young man reports that his work routine in the supermarket began very early, with a start time of 7 AM. Right at the beginning of the shift, he needed to fetch pallets from stock, transport the products to the sales floor, and organize the goods on the shelves, always following the layout defined by the store management.
The inventory control required absolute attention. Each product needed to be displayed with an exact number of rows on the shelves. In the sector where he worked, the correct limit was five rows. However, due to a lack of clear communication, the young man ended up stocking seven, exceeding the required standard.
In large supermarkets, especially in a wholesale model, this type of error often leads to immediate conflicts. The organization of the shelves is considered essential for sales logistics and compliance with agreements with partner brands, which demand proper exposure in each aisle.
The problem, according to him, was that there was no technical training at the start of work. Without clear guidelines, the young man had to learn everything practically, observing other employees and trying to guess the standards adopted by the store. It was precisely this lack of preparation that led to the stocking error.
Even so, the mistake ended up being used as a reason for a severe reprimand from his superior. The young man recounts that he was harshly criticized, even though he had never received formal instructions regarding the product display limits.
For him, the incident made it clear that in the supermarket environment, operational errors are dealt with rigorously, even when they result from the absence of adequate training.
Hostile Environment Since First Job
According to the account, the problem was not limited to operational tasks. The leadership’s posture also negatively marked his experience.
The young man claims that, in many Brazilian supermarkets, the management adopts an aggressive tone, and in his case, there was a manager who often humiliated employees in public, even in front of customers walking through the store aisles.
These situations created a hostile and embarrassing work environment. The pressure for results was disproportionate, without considering that it was his first job and an initial adaptation period. Instead of guidance, what he received was harsh criticism and embarrassing exposure.
The young man recounts that the manager used hierarchy as a tool of power. Simple layout errors, often caused by the lack of prior instruction, were corrected with shouting and derogatory terms. This type of approach, according to him, undermined any motivation right from the first days of work.
Another recurring point was the disrespect for lunch hours. On several occasions, supervisors prevented employees from taking breaks under the argument that the restocking had not yet been completed.
The young man reports that he had to continue working even after the scheduled break time.
The deprivation of basic needs, such as food, caused significant psychological wear. He claims that he felt unsupported by the company, with the impression that his health and well-being were treated as secondary to the pressure to meet restocking goals and maintain the store’s rhythm.
Intensive Physical Work and Repetitive Tasks
The situation worsened when the young man was transferred to the cold cuts and deli section, which completely changed his work routine. From that moment on, he became responsible for the daily preparation of 48 chickens for the store’s rotisserie, in addition to other tasks related to the sector.
The preparation of the birds required constant handling of metal skewers and the use of industrial ovens. Additionally, cleaning the area was considered one of the heaviest stages of the job, due to the accumulation of fat, organic waste, and dirt that was hard to remove at the end of the shift.
Another critical point, according to the report, was the work inside the cold storage rooms. The sub-zero temperatures necessitated the correct use of personal protective equipment, such as thermal jackets, waterproof pants, appropriate gloves, and protective hats, to avoid health risks.
In practice, however, safety was often neglected. The young man states that he received used or unsuitable clothing to face the intense cold, which exposed him to extreme conditions.
At times, he suffered injuries and small cuts caused by direct contact with the ice accumulated on the surfaces of the chamber.
According to the report, concern for safety only became a priority when there was external oversight. He notes that new protective equipment was only made available after a visit from health surveillance agencies to the unit, evidencing that improvements only occurred in the face of the risk of formal penalties.
Extended Shifts, Isolation, and Lack of Prospects
For the young man, the financial aspect was the main factor that led him to give up the job at the supermarket. The biweekly advance of R$ 370.00 was not enough to ensure the basic sustenance of someone living independently and needing to cover daily expenses.
At the time, the net monthly payment, around R$ 680.00 after tax and social security deductions, caused a shock in the first few months. With rent around R$ 500.00, the remaining amount hardly covered food, transport, and other essential needs.
This low purchasing power ended up devaluing the position of store operator. The young man realized that the daily physical effort, combined with constant exposure to the cold and the exhausting work conditions, did not translate into financial stability or real growth prospects.
The comparison between the required workload and the salary received generated outrage and frustration. He recounts the feeling of supporting an entire corporate structure while his own subsistence remained in permanent risk.
The shift change to afternoon and night, from 2 PM to 10 PM, worsened the discontent. The social isolation, difficulty in family interaction, and lack of a clear career plan made the resignation request seem like the only possible way out.
Today, according to the report, working in supermarkets is seen as a last resort. The negative experiences shared by former employees serve as a warning to young people seeking opportunities in more valued sectors with better conditions.
For him, companies in the sector urgently need to reassess their human resources and compensation policies. Without structural changes in how workers are treated, stores will continue to face difficulties in maintaining complete and qualified teams.
The current scenario, especially in 2025, demands that retail adapt to a new mindset of workers. Tolerance for leadership abuses and low salaries has decreased in the face of increased options for income and work outside the traditional model.
In the end, the young man concludes that the labor crisis in supermarkets is a direct consequence of years of precarization. The testimony shared by Gauttiz, according to him, is just a snapshot of a systemic problem affecting the sector throughout Brazil.
Mercado não indico ninguém a trabalhar
Trabalhei durante 5 anos, entrei como pacoteiro e tinha que ajudar em reposição em gondulas e ajudar em entregas.
Após passei repositor e era obrigado a ajudar em depósito e continuei em ajuda nas entregas, teve períodos que cobria férias dos motoristas e não ganhava nd por isso..
Várias vezes em ofertas de frango, tinha que largar o meu setor e ir abastecer a ilha de frangos, tendo que enfrentar câmera fria sem proteção e equipamento.
Tinha que fazer limpeza no sistema de resfriamento das câmeras frias, trocar lâmpadas e reator das mesmas sem conhecimento necessário para própria segurança.
Pasmem, teve uma vez que mandaram instalar uma fritadeira elétrica, sem conhecimento necessário até puxei uma tomada direto de um djuntor, porém era da câmara fria de bolos, e a fritadeira em uso acabou desarmando djuntor , no qual fui submetido a pagar os bolos que ali ainda restavam.. LEMBRANDO CARGO ERA REPOSITOR DE GONDULAS BEBIDAS.
Em outra ocasião, fui fazer entrega bateram no caminhão de entrega a rua enquanto tava fazendo na residência, quem bateu fugiu, ficando o prejuízo que foi me cobrado, lembrando que não recebia mais pela função.
PQ ACEITOU TUDO ISSO?
simples, como muitos fazem, medo de ganhar a conta..Pois quando se é pai de família, passamos por essas humilhações.
POR ISSO HOJE É FATO ESSA ROTATIVIDADE DE FUNCIONÁRIOS EM SUPERMERCADOS E ATE MESMO A FALTA DELES….SE vc tem chance em outro lugar vá, supermercado último lugar para procurar emprego..
Semana passada encontrei um ex colega de trabalho do supermercado, ele estava vendendo pastel na rua, conversei com ele como estava, falou que estava desempregado, tava vendendo pastel mais que preferia aquilo ainda do que ter que voltar a trabalhar em supermercado.
Não entendi a jornada que começava bem cedo. Dês de quando 7h da manhã é bem cedo?
Um plano bom de trabalho em um supermercado.
2 salários mínimo, nada de banco de HR, pagar HR extra caso fique até mais tarde.
1000 reais de alimentação ou refeição.
Plano de saúde para o funcionário e seu dependentes.
Um plano de carreira JUSTO, com escala e níveis para os funcionários bons.
Dessa forma eu ia querer ver se alguém ia querer sair, outra coisa capacitação dos líderes, de como eles devem agir e respeitar os funcionários isso é muito importante.
Bom acho que minha última esperança de entrar a trabalho em um super mercado foi por água abaixo,ja sofri muito na vida,eu não aceitaria isso jamais,, época de escravidão ja passou,,talvez seja liderança tóxica,só ao vosso reino,mas a mim nada.