Coworker fired

[bean]

I can't go into much detail about it yet, mainly because I have no idea if any of the 300+ employees at my store are on here - I know the details surrounding it though.

Anyway, SOP between myself and this particular coworker is that he usually closes, I work the mid shift (and when he's off, I close). Normally when he comes in, I make sure he's got everything he needs for the next hour, help him get caught up on anything that needs to be done, then take my lunch break (30 minutes). This way we're both present for the beginning of the dinner rush.

Well, I went on my break.. got back and one of the department managers was in his spot. I asked what happened to my coworker, he told me "He's in the store manager's office". That's a big "oh shit" right there - the store manager is a pretty nice guy (and nobody I know has had problems with him), but you're never called into his office, period, unless you've done screwed up bad.

My store has a very strict policy on freebies, discounts, samples, etc. We can give away half the store to a customer (well, we have a reasonable limit on how much we can give away in a day - and none of us ever come close to it), but since coworkers get a significant discount, we're not allowed to give anything to coworkers except bite sized samples - not even discounts. It's a very reasonable policy in my eyes, though I've also worked management before. From what I was told by management, he gave another store employee a rather large discount. The recipient told the wrong person "Hey he just knocked a lot off!". Now both of them are out of a job (you can also be fired for accepting a freebie/discount from another coworker with this company).

Anyway, he was by far my favorite coworker, taught me pretty much everything at this job and was one of the most laid back people I know. Thankfully I do know how to get ahold of him, and I'll try and stay in touch with him.

It also means my 2 days off this week just vanished, and I'm now on 10+ hour shifts for the rest of the week. It does mean at least 15+ hours of OT a week for the moment, but I just enrolled in some classes starting in March and I'll have to have a pretty rigid schedule once that begins. I'll be working 38-40 hours a week and doing full time college (for the first time in many years). Also on the downside, all of the OT will likely eat up all of the profit sharing for my department this period.

*crosses fingers* Hopefully I can avoid the fallout, but I'm sure I'll be getting to hear a lot of bitching.

[AirHostess]

Oh My God. Good luck! How can you manage college as well?

[Spiffy McMoron]

Oh, wow. It sucks that you lost a great co-worker like that guy, but why would he give out the massive discount? Also, was that his first offence? Because that seems like a very stern punishment for a first-time offender.

[katie kaboom]

Oh, wow. It sucks that you lost a great co-worker like that guy, but why would he give out the massive discount? Also, was that his first offence? Because that seems like a very stern punishment for a first-time offender.

I don't know, one of the women that worked at my job for the holiday season got fired for doing something similar. Which was odd since A) it had to have been a first offense because B) she was only hired for the holidays anyway, so it's not like they'd have been keeping her much longer anyway. So what did they do? Fired her 3 days before xmas. Now that's cold.

[BlaqueKatt]

How can you manage college as well?

my husband works third shift full time and is a full time student, has been for over a year-it can be done! best of luck to ya!

[bean]

Oh, wow. It sucks that you lost a great co-worker like that guy, but why would he give out the massive discount? Also, was that his first offence? Because that seems like a very stern punishment for a first-time offender.

That's one thing they really hammer into our heads during training - and it's written in the employee handbook as well. First offense with anything remotely resembling theft (and they consider giving items to coworkers without manager approval to be theft) results in termination. The sad thing is, my manager even said that if he'd just asked if he could give someone food for their birthday and write it off, then it wouldn't have been a problem at all. My managers have been known to buy you lunch on their dime or the store's dime if you work through your break, stay late, or if you're just flat out broke - they've done it for me a couple of times now when I'm broke the day before payday (we can't leave the store for lunch, but we do get paid lunch breaks).

It does suck for everybody involved, but unfortunately it's something you really can't let people get away with even once. However, all of the managers in my department are more than willing to give him a positive reference. The guy's a very hard worker and great to work with, I'd hire him in a heartbeat if I was a store manager - but every time I've been in management I don't care about employees eating on the store's dime as long as I'm meeting my food budget (when I've been over budget, I start enforcing employee discounted purchases - thankfully I'm not in management though). I'm pretty sure if the store manager hadn't found out about it, he'd still be working there.

I did find out today that he'd apparently been discounting items pretty heavily for coworkers or tossing an extra item in and not charging for it. I think just about everybody in my department does or has done this for coworkers (I'm pretty "by the book" on discounts though - I value my job too much) - but I never saw him do it myself (and even if I did, I don't think I would have said anything as long as it wasn't a daily thing). Ironically, a coworker of mine got in an argument with one of the managers about how they shouldn't have fired him, even though she's been through the same training that everybody else has, and she has the same employee handbook.

As for WHY he gave out the discount - he wanted to do something for another coworker for their birthday I guess. To be honest, I probably would have tried to do something for them too, though I would have gone to management first and asked if we could have done something for that person.

[Spiffy McMoron]

Ah, Ok. That clears up the questions I had. I still think that the management seems to be fairly strict, but I suppose they have a reason to be.

[Retail Associate]

That's one thing my store is very strict about. A few years ago one of my co-workers rang up a friend and let the friend use her employee discount. She was fired immediately. The transaction was monitored by loss prevention on the overhead camera. This co-worker was a good friend who had been with the store for over 9 years.

[bean]

A slight update.

We have a LOT of regular customers, a lot of which have noticed A.'s absence. Like I said, this coworker was VERY well liked by employees and customers alike.

Apparently one of the customers found out what happened, and made a complaint about his firing to the main office. The asst store manager briefly mentioned it, then that particular customer walked in and we started talking. They also told me they'd put in a huge compliment about me and another coworker while they were at it - I only wish every customer was like this!

Asst store manager apparently called this customer and told them they were setting up a "review" of the termination and even suggested he has a strong chance of being rehired. Knowing this particular customer, I'm over 100% sure they'll hold management up to this promise.