Quick context, this particular situation happened over a year ago at a prior workplace. I quit a little over a year ago because I was moving cross country. The only reason I even remember the situation now is because this former coworker found me on social media and messaged me calling me an asshole, among other things, for what I said. Just keep that in mind for this post. I don't remember everything that was said at the time so I apologize if it seems a little vague.

So, I(24f) used to work for a grocery chain in Utah. The company prided itself on "taking care of their associates first to give customers the best experience" which, in my experience, was total bs. Especially if you had any sort of medical condition that made it a little more difficult to work. I have epilepsy and towards the end of my time with the company was spending a ton of time in the ER and just the hospital in general. The company refused to work with me on this because epilepsy isn't a physical condition and as such I needed more of a reason to miss work. It was a whole thing that I could easily make multiple posts about.

As I was helping a customer one day they asked what it was like working for the company and if I liked my job. Obviously, I said that the company was great and that I really enjoyed working with people. I was not about to say that the company was a terrible place to work in front of customers so I didn't.

About an hour after this customer interaction one of the new hires asked basically the same question. I said that I was tired of working for a company that refused to acknowledge any kind of medical issues if they weren't visible. Because epilepsy is a neurological disorder, you can't tell someone has it unless they tell you. The new hire asked if I had blatantly lied to the customer and I said no. For the most part I did like my job. I just hated the way I was treated as an employee. Management sucked. I constantly felt singled out for missing work because I was spending so much time in the hospital. The new hire asked why I was in the hospital so much and I just said that I have epilepsy.

I thought that was it. I gave my thoughts and we both carried on with our shifts. No harm, no foul. Right? Wrong.

Cut to about a week ago, I get a notification from one of my socials about a message request. Since I'm not friends with this person on that app they can't just message me. I have to accept the request first. So, I accept the request for curiosity sake. Turns out this new hire had been livid about the conversation. They really like the company and felt like I was trying to manipulate them into "quitting before it was too late". Keep in mind, I didn't really remember this even happened before this message. It's been over a year. Lots of things can happen in a year😅

Confused I just responded with, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or anything. I was just expressing some of my personal frustrations with the company. I had already given my notice so I didn't really have much of a filter about my grievances among colleagues but I made sure to keep my thoughts to myself in front of customers. I apologize. I'm glad that you're having a better experience than I did though. That's good" and left it at that.

Now I'm wondering if I really was wrong in being so blunt and honest about my experience with the company when the new hire asked. I talked about quitting a lot before I'd finally just had it and finally put in my notice. The fact that I was moving just gave me a better excuse for why.

So, am I the asshole? I understand if there's not enough information to come to a conclusion. This was a while ago and my memory is a little fuzzy with some of the details😅.