You filled out that leave of absence wrong-You're FIRED!

[Becks]

Yet another was fired for missing too many days, even though she could prove it was from difficulties she had with her diabetes. She threatened them, and they let her come back to work.

Well, good for her for getting her job back, but...

If a place treated me like that, I wouldn't go back to work there.

[draftermatt]

If a place treated me like that, I wouldn't go back to work there.

I wouldn't either, but it's much easier to look for a new job while still employed and you can be a little choosy.

[Jester]

I expect that before I'm dead, it will have followed the KMart path and be the place that people actively avoid.

Um, hate to tell you this, but there are many, MANY people that already actively avoid Wal-Mart.

[Banrion]

Um, hate to tell you this, but there are many, MANY people that already actively avoid Wal-Mart.

I actively avoid alot of stores. Wal-mart, K-mart, and Circuit City however I refuse to step foot in EVER!

[MystyGlyttyr]

My dad and I both walked out of Wal-Mart jobs because we got sick of putting up with their crap. Mine I've already documented (they started trying to jerk me around on my hours, I told them they couldn't, they tried to do it again, I called out thirty minutes before a shift just so the assface manager would have to work it).

My dad was working in the meat department, and he liked it at first, but then he realized that working in the cold and the freezer was really aggravating his arthritis and causing him a lot of pain.

Well, the store was in desperate need of someone to work in the infants department, there was literally ONE guy there who was the manager and trying to do everything by himself. He knew my dad, liked my dad, WANTED my dad to transfer into infants, my dad wanted to go, had plenty of experience to do it, and they had plenty of workers in the meat department (though they were CONSTANTLY out roaming the aisles for no apparent reason, of course leaving him alone to work in the frigid air eight hours straight).

But for whatever bonehead reason, despite the begging from the infants manager and repeated requests from my dad, the store manager decided it was better to leave an arthritic elderly man in an aggravating environment AND leave his infants manager completely on his own...they didn't transfer ANYONE in, didn't hire anyone new, nothing. So far as I can tell, there is still just ONE person in the department.

Meanwhile, my dad finally couldn't take the pain anymore, gave his two weeks, and bailed early on his last day. I figured it was probably because my dad was working full time and they weren't going to even try to keep him because he was almost qualified for insurance.

I went by the day after he quit and was very amused to see that the level of neatness and order in the meat department had quite obviously fallen in less than 24 hours, and the department was completely deserted because the workers obviously hadn't realized yet that my dad wasn't there to clean up after them anymore. In the days since, it appears they STILL haven't figured it out.

[Gurndigarn]

Um, hate to tell you this, but there are many, MANY people that already actively avoid Wal-Mart.

You don't have to hate to tell me that. Like I said, they're on the slope downward. KMart didn't dissolve in a day, or even a year. It was a few people here and there deciding that they really liked the new place down the road. And management there deciding that since their revenues were shrinking, they needed to cut back on expenses— labor and building maintenance high on the list— in order to meet short-term goals. Which added to the long-term issues.

[blas]

Wow that's just awful. Just sickening.

The worst thing that would happen where I work is somehow, some way, the old bitties would hear about how you filled out the LOA wrong, and they'd just give you shit and call you dumb for the next 6 months about it.

Sick sick people!

[repsac]

Without digging through this again to find who said it, I hate to be honest but in a Right to work (or will to work) state; an employer only has to show minimal cause for the reason they terminate an employee. It could be anything really, from wearing your hair the wrong way, sneezing at the wrong time, or even something that happens outside of work.

All three happened by the way, not to me, but at places I worked at. The first, before I moved to the southern part of the state. One halloween a girl I knew was called in to help for a few hours. She'd been at a haunted house acting like a witch and her hair was dyed green. They fired her for it. She said they told her that her choice of dress was hers to choose, but they felt she was not projecting the wholesome attitude that Wal-Mart felt its employees ought.

The second occured at a buffet I worked at. A friend of mine (newly hired like myself) sneezed as he was coming out of the kitchen heading to go home. The buffet manager fired him for it. He was told that his termination came to prevent a customer complaining to the health department.

The last one, occurred when I worked at Lowe's. A woman was leaving work and stopped in at a local bar. Afterward, as she returned home she was arrested and later charged with a DUI, to which she plead no contest. She was fired for it. I never talked with her, and wonder what their reason was.

[Racket_Man]

The second occured at a buffet I worked at. A friend of mine (newly hired like myself) sneezed as he was coming out of the kitchen heading to go home. The buffet manager fired him for it. He was told that his termination came to prevent a customer complaining to the health department.

The last one, occurred when I worked at Lowe's. A woman was leaving work and stopped in at a local bar. Afterward, as she returned home she was arrested and later charged with a DUI, to which she plead no contest. She was fired for it. I never talked with her, and wonder what their reason was.

a customer potentially (note no one complained)complaining someone sneezed and they get fired for IT?????? WTF

as to the woman who go the DUI it depends on if she was still in her Lowes uniform/shirt/apron/etc. if she was still in uniform she projected a bad image of the company outside of work ie. getting drunk and getting arrested and possibly on the local news and that IS gronds for termination

[Becks]

I wouldn't either, but it's much easier to look for a new job while still employed and you can be a little choosy.

You've made a good point there.

[ShinyGreenApple]

Well, good for her for getting her job back, but...

If a place treated me like that, I wouldn't go back to work there.

Agreed, but the area in which we live has very little choices as to where one wants to work; it's either retail or nursing or corrections, and nursing is next to impossible to get into with all the graduates filling the jobs so quickly, and I hardly imagine a person with moderate diabetes would want the stress of a corrections job, plus caring for her child at home.

It's just tough luck sometimes

[workerbee222]

Quoth repsac
The last one, occurred when I worked at Lowe's. A woman was leaving work and stopped in at a local bar. Afterward, as she returned home she was arrested and later charged with a DUI, to which she plead no contest. She was fired for it. I never talked with her, and wonder what their reason was.

When I was young, back in the stone age, a friend was arrested for DUI. His lawyer's first priority was to get a continuance for the hearing. Once that had been done, he told my friend that NOW would be the best time to 1. do his "Drunk school" DEEP courses and 2. to get an apartment close to work, since at the court proceeding he would be losing his licence. The possible damage to his job status could be mitigated by maintaining perfect attendance. Judges in this area generally allow the mandatory 48 hour sentence to be served on the weekend.

[Becks]

Agreed, but the area in which we live has very little choices as to where one wants to work; it's either retail or nursing or corrections, and nursing is next to impossible to get into with all the graduates filling the jobs so quickly, and I hardly imagine a person with moderate diabetes would want the stress of a corrections job, plus caring for her child at home.

That makes sense (and this time, IS allowed).

Thank you for filling me in.

[Gaudemeus]

They have actually hired one of the former bigwigs of KMart. My store always referred to him as "Stormin' Norman". Since he 'joined the team', the store has gone even more downhill than ever before.

Wal-Mart hasn't been in the control of the Walton family for a very long time

I know Stormin Norman! Well, I've heard stories about him, anyway. My family knows him personally as my dad used to manage a Wal-Mart. Holee Crap the things I could tell you about him.

[Kogarashi]

I maintain my own opinion that a large part of Wal-Mart employees' problems is due to local management. I've had great experiences at both stores I've worked at (as I've described in other threads), with no indication that anything this anal was happening.

At my first job, I had to fill out the LOA paperwork twice, since I worked the job over the course of three summers between college years. Both times, the Personnel Manager helped me to make sure I filled out the forms correctly, and made sure to get the Store Manager to sign them for me. Of course, that was the awesome SM who would regularly provide deli food for all of the employees in the breakroom.

At the second store, I had to request some regular days off of work for things like prenatal checkups, my sister's wedding, and the like, and management was quite willing to work with me on that count even after the computer system had rejected some of my requests and scheduled me for days when I would unavoidably be out of town. The SM may not have been that awesome, but he was tolerable and didn't seem much the type to have a hate list.

That's not to say that every store (or even most stores) will have the same level of cool management. A lot of them are very sucky, as evidenced by threads on this board. It's just that there's a good number of stores with decent management and employee treatment, too.

I wonder if the employee in the OP got one somebody's bad side in the store.