diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 32e8733..8856502 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ installation, submission, monitoring, and various commands provided by GridTK.
 Before diving into GridTK, ensure you have the following prerequisites:
 
 1. A working Slurm setup.
-2. [Pixi](https://pixi.sh/) (recommended) or [pipx](https://pipx.pypa.io/stable/) installed.
+2. [pipx](https://pipx.pypa.io/stable/) installed.
 3. GridTK installed (instructions provided below).
 
 ## Installation
@@ -34,11 +34,6 @@ Before diving into GridTK, ensure you have the following prerequisites:
 To install GridTK, open your terminal and run the following command:
 
 ```bash
-# Install gridtk using pixi
-$ curl -fsSL https://pixi.sh/install.sh | bash # installs pixi
-$ pixi global install gridtk
-
-# Install gridtk using pipx
 $ pipx install gridtk
 ```
 It is **not recommended** to install GridTK using `pip install gridtk` in the
diff --git a/src/gridtk/manager.py b/src/gridtk/manager.py
index 032c52d..e24cd15 100644
--- a/src/gridtk/manager.py
+++ b/src/gridtk/manager.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
 from collections.abc import Iterable
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
 
 import sqlalchemy
 
@@ -35,13 +36,51 @@
 from .tools import job_ids_from_dep_str, parse_array_indexes
 
 
+def parse_scontrol_output(output: str) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Parse scontrol output and return a dict similar to `sacct --json`."""
+    result: dict[str, Any] = dict()
+    for key_value in output.strip().split():
+        if "=" not in key_value:
+            continue
+        key, value = key_value.split("=", 1)
+        result[key] = value
+    # make results similar to sacct --json
+    result["state"] = {"current": [result["JobState"]], "reason": result["Reason"]}
+    result["derived_exit_code"] = {
+        "return_code": {"number": result["ExitCode"].split(":")[0]}
+    }
+    result["nodes"] = result["NodeList"]
+    if result["nodes"] == "(null)":
+        result["nodes"] = "None assigned"
+    return result
+
+
+def job_status_from_scontrol(job_id: int) -> dict:
+    """Retrieve the status of a job using scontrol."""
+    try:
+        # we don't use --json because it is not supported by older versions of scontrol
+        output = subprocess.check_output(
+            ["scontrol", "show", "job", str(job_id)], text=True
+        )
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+        return dict()
+    return parse_scontrol_output(output)
+
+
 def update_job_statuses(grid_ids: Iterable[int]) -> dict[int, dict]:
     """Retrieve the status of the jobs in the database."""
     status = dict()
-    output = subprocess.check_output(
-        ["sacct", "-j", ",".join([str(x) for x in grid_ids]), "--json"],
-        text=True,
-    )
+    try:
+        output = subprocess.check_output(
+            ["sacct", "-j", ",".join([str(x) for x in grid_ids]), "--json"],
+            text=True,
+        )
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+        for job_id in grid_ids:
+            job_status = job_status_from_scontrol(job_id)
+            if job_status:
+                status[job_id] = job_status
+        return status
     for job in json.loads(output)["jobs"]:
         status[job["job_id"]] = job
     return status
@@ -200,6 +239,6 @@ def __del__(self):
                 and len(self.list_jobs(update_jobs=False)) == 0
             ):
                 Path(self.database).unlink()
-            if self.logs_dir.exists() and len(os.listdir(self.logs_dir)) == 0:
-                shutil.rmtree(self.logs_dir)
+                if self.logs_dir.exists() and len(os.listdir(self.logs_dir)) == 0:
+                    shutil.rmtree(self.logs_dir)
         self.engine.dispose()