Male Netizen Shares Difference Between Working in PH & Germany Supermarkets

A male netizen has shared the difference between working in a supermarket in Philippines and Germany, online community reacts.

A Facebook user named Karl Zachary Corro has shared the difference between working in supermarkets in Philippines and Germany. The post garnered various reactions from the social media users.

Corro narrated that he is working at ALDI, a supermarket in Germany since October 2020 just earn money to support his studies. He tried to compare the difference between ALDI and SM Supermarket in the Philippines way back in 2014.

Karl said that SM Supermarket is paying their employees with a few pesos above the minimum wage while ALDI offers 9 Euros per hour starting salary. PH supermarkets require workers to sow their jeans while establishments abroad were not worries about it.

The male netizen also lamented that employees in the Philippines do not have health benefits or social security benefits while employers abroad are giving 36 paid vacation days a year, Christmas bonuses, and mid-year bonuses to employees.

Here is the full post:

“Differences between working in a supermarket in the Philippines and in Germany

I’ve been working at ALDI, a supermarket chain in Germany since October 2020 to fund my studies, and since then, I’ve seen some stark differences between working here and SM Supermarket in the Philippines in 2014. I should preface this by saying I didn’t ACTUALLY work while I was at SM Supermarket. It was a program by my catholic high school (Xavier School) to make me and my rich classmates “see the real world” by seeing what it’s like to work among “the less fortunate.”

1. In SM Supermarket, the employees were paid only a few pesos above the minimum wage, which at the time was about 500 pesos (8.55€) a day.

I however, earned 13 euros an HOUR as a starting salary. The minimum wage in Germany is about 9 euros. I receive a lot more because grocery workers here are considered essential workers. With this salary, I’m still able to go to bars with friends, enjoy my hobbies, and travel from time to time.

2. SM Supermarket employees were required to sow their pockets together, out of fear that they would steal food out of desperation

I’m wearing jeans in that photo of me in my uniform. It has pockets. They’re not worried about me being that desperate cos I can afford food.

3. SM Supermarket employees receive no health benefits or social security benefits because most of them aren’t regularised. They have to renew their contracts every five months so the employers aren’t required to provide them with such things.

I already have universal healthcare as a resident, but my employment guarantees me other benefits such as an increased pension, 36 paid vacation days a year, christmas bonuses, and mid year bonuses. I also received extra money, about an extra half my salary during the two months when the Coronavirus situation was at its worst.

4. The female employees of SM Supermarket are required at all times to wear full make up on their faces, and to use makeup that makes their faces “whiter”

My boss and most of the other managers are women. They only wear makeup if they want to.

5. I should point out here that I only spent one week at that grocery. We didn’t necessarily “work”. We just play-worked where we bagged groceries, organised shelves, cut meat, and smiled at customers. Even if Xavier meant well to get its students to sympathize with the working class, it was basically poverty porn. Some of my batchmates told me that they got angry stares from the employees. I couldn’t blame them after all. Imagine rich kids entering your workplace to learn about “how hard life is.”

If anything, we should be teaching kids to uphold the dignity of these workers by not doing these things. I also work in a grocery now to fund my education. Does that suddenly make me “less fortunate” now?”

The online community expressed their reactions to the post: