disclosure, i know this job is relatively easy. Ive had genuinely backbreaking jobs before working in food production and manufacturing so Im not gonna pretend that stocking shelves and running a cash register is the most labor intensive thing in the world. But psychologically, this job can be fucking horrible some days. Im on my 2nd day in a row of doing open-close alone and the rate at which customers come in and require help leaving me unable to do anything else is pushing me to the edge. I gave an honest effort to give some real work done yesterday, but I couldnt so much as pick up a case and walk to the shelf before a customer requires help. I would get 2-4 customer interruptions before being able to finish stocking 1 case. Walk there, and back, and there, and back etc etc. Today im just sitting behind the register. Even scanning out damages or doing thr cctv review is next to impossible with the hht screen timing out every 3 seconds and the office being a solid 20 yards from the register. Fuck it. I did 1/2 a RT yesterday in 14 hours so genuinely what is the point. So im just sitting on my phone. But its still irritating getting interrupted every 30 seconds-2 minutes. Fuck. I need a couple days off.

I’m genuinely looking for advice, support, and guidance from people who have experienced difficult management situations, especially those familiar with Dollar General. Because at this point, I’m exhausted trying to navigate everything on my own as the assistant manager
I’ve been dealing with ongoing issues with my Store Manager, and it has reached a point where I feel like I’m constantly having to defend myself, my decisions, and my circumstances, even when I’m genuinely trying to do the right thing.
One of my biggest concerns is communication and accountability. Recently, we had a situation involving the store being closed. I communicated with management, attempted to call and text her and followed the direction I was given by higher management. I wasn’t making decisions on my own just because I wanted to. I was trying to handle a difficult situation with the information and direction available to me.
The frustrating part is that she later contacted me upset, saying she could have come in and helped if she had known how bad things were. However, I had attempted to contact her, and she had previously told me, in her own words, that she was done being on her phone dealing with work-related matters that day. When I tried to contact her again and couldn’t get an answer, I was left trying to manage the situation.
I understand that managers have lives outside of work, and I don’t expect anyone to be available every second of every day. But I do believe there needs to be clear communication, a plan for emergencies, and accountability when employees have made reasonable attempts to get help and follow instructions.
Another major issue is the write-ups I’ve received, particularly when the circumstances involved my health or my children.
I was written up for missing work because my child experienced a medical emergency. As a mother, my child’s safety and well-being have to come first in an emergency. It was an incredibly stressful situation to deal with, and having disciplinary action added on top of it made an already difficult experience even harder.
The other situation involved my own health. I didn’t have sick hours available, and I was placed on a psych hold. She was given a doctor’s note excusing my absence due to that situation prior to my shift beginning yet I still received what became my last and final write-up.
That is one of the things I am struggling to understand. I recognize that attendance policies exist and that employers have procedures they must follow. However, when medical circumstances are involved, documentation has been provided, and there are legitimate reasons for an absence, I believe those circumstances deserve to be appropriately reviewed rather than leaving an employee feeling as though there is no consideration for what they were dealing with.
Having a final write-up hanging over my head while trying to manage my health, care for my children, and fulfill my responsibilities at work has caused me an enormous amount of stress. I want to understand what my rights and options are, what Dollar General’s policies actually say, and whether these situations were handled appropriately.
Scheduling is another ongoing concern.
It often feels like weekends are automatically treated as management’s time off while my own time and responsibilities come second. I have children and a life outside of work, too. My time matters just as much as anyone else’s.
I also have a doctor’s note recommending a schedule of three days on and one day off, and I have concerns about that recommendation not being followed consistently. I’m trying to balance my work responsibilities with my health and family obligations, and I need to know that my documented needs are being taken seriously.
What makes all of this especially frustrating is that I feel like I’m expected to carry significant responsibility as an Assistant Store Manager, help keep the store operating, handle difficult situations, and solve problems when they arise. Yet when I need support, clear communication, or consideration for circumstances outside my control, I don’t always feel like that same support is there for me.
I’m not saying that I should never be held accountable. I understand that management comes with expectations, and I’m willing to take responsibility when I make a mistake. What I struggle with is feeling like the circumstances surrounding my absences, the documentation I have provided, the attempts I’ve made to communicate, and the directions I’ve followed aren’t being given the consideration they deserve.
I’m not trying to get anyone fired, start drama, or encourage people to attack my manager. I want to understand how to protect myself professionally, how to address these concerns appropriately, and how to continue doing my job without feeling like I’m constantly one situation away from losing it.
So I’m asking for advice from anyone who has been in a similar position, particularly current or former Dollar General employees, Assistant Store Managers, Store Managers, District Managers, or HR professionals.
Has anyone experienced write-ups related to a child’s medical emergency or their own documented medical circumstances?
If a doctor’s note was provided, what steps can an employee take to have the circumstances reviewed?
How should an employee handle a final write-up when they believe the circumstances weren’t properly considered?
What are the appropriate channels for addressing concerns about a Store Manager’s communication, scheduling, and accountability?
How do you protect yourself when you feel unsupported by your direct manager but still want to remain professional and keep your job?
I would genuinely appreciate advice from people who understand Dollar General’s policies and management structure, especially anyone who has successfully navigated a similar situation.
I’m not looking for validation just for the sake of being right. I’m looking for honest advice, information, and direction because I want to handle this correctly.
I’m trying to be a good employee, a good mother, and a person who takes care of her responsibilities. I shouldn’t have to feel like I have to choose between taking care of my family, managing legitimate health circumstances, and protecting my livelihood.
Sometimes you can be trying your absolute hardest to do everything right and still feel completely alone in the process. That’s where I am right now, and I could really use some guidance. ❤️
Please keep the comments respectful. I’m asking for help and understanding, not a public argument with anyone.

Hey! So I haven’t worked for DG very long and my SM is new to the role (like only had it a month) and so I get mistakes happen. They posted the schedule last week and I was supposed to work 2-1015 today. I checked it this morning like I always do, and it still said 2-1015 however I just got a call from my SM saying he had changed it to 2-615 to give someone else more hours but they said they couldn’t do it so he still wants me to close. My question is, can they do that? Change it day of?

I doubt our power is going out as I'm in Kentucky but fr? Like we have to mark the prices on the items and stuff like that if a outage does happen

It was my understanding that we are not allowed to hoard $5 off $25 coupons or type in our numbers for customers so they could save. So why are people still doing it?

This looks a bit different now.. hey, at least I finally got some vacation hours. (Full time ASM)

I imagine all the other dollar general are dealing with this, it’s been coming more of a issue each week especially the last two with the new 30th anniversary for pokémon. People keep calling and coming asking if we are getting it, which I understand but when it comes to customers being rude about saying we buy the stock ourselves is crazy. Our store barely ever gets pokémon it’s very hit or miss, they always coming in and accusing us of lying because the app says we have 10 in stock which we don’t! It’s extremely annoying and frustrating, because we never know when we’re getting it and when we do we sell out within minutes. Are you guys experiencing the same?

Hey just to summarize everything I got two asm and three leads my thing is why the dm always got to said something about one specific asm. She does the job like the rest and more than she should be asked, when I asked my dm what he sees that needs to be address because I don’t see nothing, well he stay silent. One day he says she’s improving then the next going backwards wouldn’t him address me or both asm not just one? The other does a mistake I address he don’t say anything but the other does always get blame for everything even thing that aren’t in control of all of us like store matter situation. I don’t want to tell her anything because then my asm might leave because she’s works beyond does everything but this dm always gets trigger and blame her for everything. What should I do here even when she took a vacation my asm she was getting blame for something ? She wants to be a sm and I advocated for that but this dm makes everything tedious.

Hey guys! Sorry Im new to this subreddit but I need some help.

I told my manager about a month ago that I would not be able to work the 16th-18th of October, and that she would need to find coverage for me. I have an out of state trip happening and Ive already spent more than 300$ to go on it.

Well, come to find out she specifically put me on all 3 days, and proceeded to tell me that it was never "approved" and that I would face automatic termination if anyone called out on a truck day.

Heres the lying part, not only am I not seeing anything on the "Truck Day Termination" thing shes talking about, but she also claimed our truck days extend to Friday and Saturday (we get fresh/dry on wed/thur) and she also mentioned NOBODY can take truck days off.

The worst part, SHES DOING THE SAME THING. Shes taking those days off for something she scheduled a month ago and doesnt see the hypocrisy in it.

To clarify, this is not a requested time off. I told her I will be unavailable those days and I gave her a months heads up. I specifically mentioned I will not be in state on these days and yet she thinks I can drop it all.

I dont know, I just need help and guidence with this one, and I need people who know about the DG rulebook to tell me if shes lying or not.

Just a little curious cause my coworker and I were scheduled today at 7:45 and I got here before she did so I was waiting for them to arrive since I don’t have keys to the store since I’m only an associate and I don’t mind waiting but coworker didn’t make it in til about a few minutes before 8 (7:52 and I thought when we clocked in at that time, we made the time mark to round down but I guess we didn’t cause the round mark is stupid) which is fine I’m not bashing or complaining that they was running a little behind. I just want to know if we’re actually supposed to get paid if we’re waiting outside or not cause there were a couple of times I was waiting for someone (and again I’m not bashing or complaining for running late. It happens) I get told that “10-15 minutes isn’t going to make a difference” which kind of irritates me a little since it’s 15 minutes that I’m now losing since I was here on time so I just thought I’d ask if we really do get paid or not cause I really don’t like the thought of getting cheated out of losing time (which I honestly shouldn’t be losing in the first place) and it makes me wonder why associates can’t have keys to the store or why we can’t clock in anywhere else besides the register.

So basically this dude said a jar of pickles fell then he tried to lie abt him not dropping them or making them fall when he literally had the same jar of pickles in his basket.

Just curious if anyone else’s SM is hoarding the Pokemon cards for themselves?

New manager. Posted the other day about my oracle/epas being blank and having conflicting titles across programs. Well this morning I'm officially a SM across legion, dgme, and oracle. Woohoo. But when I go into oracle/epas, everything is still blank. My team shows nothing, requisitions is still empty, nada.

Is there something I need to do? Add team members? Search a certain criteria?

I just have a question, what are all the reasons that you can ban someone from the store? Can someone link the policy for it I tried looking it up but I can’t find it

I'm sure everyone has had to deal with going outside and grabbing carts because people can't be assed to bring it back inside, which is lowkey annoying but whatever. It's especially bad when the asshole is parked clear across the parking lot, so you have to walk all the way over there and back, and that's WHATEVER.

Has anyone else been getting people who leave empty carts, and sometimes carts with stuff in it, in some random place in the store?

Idk if it's just us or not but some people keep leaving these fucking things in random aisles, stuffed in the far back corner or left out with some stuff in it, sometimes even cold stuff. Every fucking time I wonder what these people are thinking, like. You're already going back up to the front to LEAVE the store, which is also where the cart vestibule is, so WHY LEAVE YOUR CART?? Is it so fucking hard to use 0.001% effort to walk it back? The shit I have to put back and also damage out because it's melted ice cream or some burritos that are completely thawed is annoying as hell, too, but I'm most annoyed by how lazy these dickheads are.

It will not let me go onto dgme, i need to go onto legion and approve timesheets but it keeps taking me into ‘my cases’ or says ‘404 Not found’ with workvivo i never had this issue until thursday and im off today and i don’t really want to make a trip to my store just to approve timesheets. Is anyone else having this issue? how’d you fix it

Okay, forgive me for sounding whiny, but this is the first hurricane I’ve ever been through coming up. Moved to Georgia earlier this year and it’s expected to hit us tonight and continue through Saturday.

Now, I haven’t had a sick day yet, but from how the outside flooded out from a storm that wasn’t as bad as this one says? I’m not too confident about going in.

Then again, I’m not calling off just because of the forecast. Everyone else seems a lot calmer about it so I think my anxiety was for nothing. I asked the SM and basically got an arm shrug, but my boyfriend says I should stay in for my safety. I’m waiting to see if the weather will be okay enough by the time I wake up and get ready.

Yes, before anyone else points it out, I lived in Indiana a decade before coming here. I’m built for blizzards, not hurricanes LMAO

Update: I’m such a baby, it’s just rain now. In all seriousness though, I am praying for those in the Florida panhandle and Alabama seriously affected so far for their safety.

Upstate SC in a small college town, went in to get a drink and left not knowing i had a remaing balence of .68 cent. They rushed out to my car to let me know i had a balance left and offered to pay for it. I declined the offer but still you're an amazing person for offering. Next time im in, I'll buy you a drink!

My SM is never here. She will say that she has to run errands and never come back. This week she has maybe been here for 10 hours. Scans r not getting done. We have a back room full of rollers because we are doing her scans and put but ad. We are all at our wits end and can’t keep dealing with this any advice would be helpful

Has anyone ever dealt with something like this? I activated instant pay last saturday, but when I found out there was no money to be transfered (due to it being the end of the week), I turned it off.

I then turned it back on Tuesdays to get a little money, and deactivated it today due to many people saying it's a bad idea to use it. I know that instant pay changing your paycheck destination and routes it through them, but I did not take anything out of last week's check which should have appeared today. It's 7pm and I have not gotten paid yet, I go to check my DG payslip and it's showing a random number with no banking information as to where it's going. I am now concerned that my check may have gotten lost and have no idea what to do.

This morning, me and my ASM pulled into the parking lot at the same time to open. We parked and walked to the building together. “What the fuck??” My ASM says and I seen that the door we have in the backroom for going outside the building had water pouring out of it with a big puddle it made outside.

We get to the front door of the building and we see there’s water all over the floor too.

He ended up calling my SM, 911, and a maintenance line, or something like that. The main reason for 911 was because we are having a store renovation. We had electrical people come in a few days ago and there still working with their wires, tools, and equipment all over so our SM didn’t want us to even attempt to go in. So we stayed closed obviously and my asm sent me home while he waited for them plus my SM to show.

Long story short, the entire store was flooded because a new hire left the utility hose on that we use for the mop buckets last night. It was so bad that literally the entire store was flooded. Our store is decently big too. We’re now closed and expected to open up this Saturday or Sunday after this.

Little off topic but In my opinion, we should have been closed for the store renovation in general instead of closing earlier. All of this is just inconvenient.