Why I Will Not Sign the Kroger Petition

Sorry, Paul Hogarth of Daily Kos, but I will not sign your petition telling Kroger that I am counting on them to keep customers and employees safe. That would be counter-productive and dishonest.

I called my local Kroger stores, and then the PR guy that one store was kind enough to refer me to. The answer I received was that allowing open carry is their policy and they are sticking to it. As you pointed out, I can’t go in without shoes or a shirt, or on a skateboard. I can’t smoke in their stores even though I would have to corner someone with a severe respiratory illness in tight quarters and chain smoke for years to kill him, but they will allow a crazy person (because no sane person brings a war machine into the grocery), with the ability to kill many people instantly, to roam the aisles.

Sorry, but no one gets a second chance with me. Now, I shop elsewhere and send Kroger copies of my receipts to show them what they are losing. I will never return to a store that changes policy only after first getting tons of publicity for being jerks, and then again for changing their mind (sorta/maybe,like Target). And I think everyone who participates in this groveling process enables other businesses to play this game.  

In addition, I have been calling businesses ahead of time to ask if they have a no smoking sign on the door. Employees who answer the phone know immediately that they do. Then, I ask if there is a no weapons sign next to it. Not a single person has been able to answer that question. Some won’t go look or transfer me to someone who knows. Some try their best not to answer the question since they don’t know which side I am on. I have told several places that I will just mark them off my shopping list, question unanswered.

I’m not going to shop on line with businesses that won’t protect me inside their stores, either. They don’t deserve my business.

Please, don’t participate in the craziness. Boycott. And never go back. That will send a message to all businesses so we don’t have to spin wheels and waste time going through this repeatedly. We look sorta silly when we do that.

cross-posted on Daily Kos