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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhole Foods Worker Fired for ‘Stealing’ a Sweater—Though It Never Left the Store
from In These Times:
Whole Foods Worker Fired for Stealing a SweaterThough It Never Left the Store
BY TRISH KAHLE
Janette Belandres worked at Whole Foods Market in Chicago's Lincoln Park for more than three years. A small woman with a wide, pleasant smile, she was a favorite among coworkers and customers, and had a sterling work record. That is, until she was fired on December 28, 2014.
(Full disclosure: The author worked with Belandres at Whole Foods from July 2012 to January 2014 and was a leader of an organizing campaign there, which Belandres supported.)
Heres how Belandres recalls the incident: On December 27, the store was short-staffed and carts weren't being returned quickly enough to keep up with the Saturday morning rush, so a manager sent Belandres to round up carts in the store's parking areas.
Being on carts, as workers call it, is a demanding task, especially in winter weather. Typically, only one or two employees cover the Lincoln Park stores 400-car parking garage. They collect the carts, load them into an elevator, pick out any trash, and wheel a stiff column of six or more carts to the front of the store, navigating an obstacle course of customers and displays.
As she was bringing in a column of carts, Belandres noticed a black sweater, turned inside out, hanging on a hook by a bathroom near the cart elevator. When the sweater still hadn't been removed an hour later, she guessed an employee had taken it off to use the bathroom and then forgotten it. She says its typical to find lost items and take them to customer service, although the store has no official policy on how team members should handle lost-and-found.
I wanted to turn it in to Customer Service, Belandres says, but I couldn't take the time. (At the Lincoln Park store, one of the largest Whole Foods in the country, a trip to the front desk from across the store can take 5 or 10 minutes). Instead, she says, she tied the sweater around her waist and continued to work, planning to turn it in when she get a break. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17523/whole_foods_worker_fired_for_stealing_a_sweater_thought_it_never_left_the_s
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Renew Deal
(81,882 posts)I wanted to turn it in to Customer Service, Belandres says, but I couldn't take the time. (At the Lincoln Park store, one of the largest Whole Foods in the country, a trip to the front desk from across the store can take 5 or 10 minutes). Instead, she says, she tied the sweater around her waist and continued to work, planning to turn it in when she get a break.
But the day was busy, Belandres says, and she forgot the sweater until she took a bathroom break. I didn't want to take it into the bathroom with me, she says, so I placed it in my bag, which was on a hook across from the bathroom. The employee-only bathroom was on the opposite side of the store from the customer service desk, so, in her hurry, she again postponed turning in the sweater. She didn't think it would be a problem.
chervilant
(8,267 posts)had I been her supervisor, I would have believed her, and cautioned her to take the time to turn in lost items as soon as they are found.
Renew Deal
(81,882 posts)Could explain it, but it wouldn't be the first time companies are unaccepting of good intentions.
chervilant
(8,267 posts)when I read the article. I've been wrongfully terminated, and it's difficult not to take it personally...
Indydem
(2,642 posts)Don't sign petitions against your boss, or they will find something completely legal and legitimate to fire you for.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)You don't put merchandise in your personal bag for any reason except to steal it. You don't tie a sweater around your waist unless you want people to believe it's yours before you put it in your bag.
Same thing happened to me in high school....I had a long, stellar history working at a grocery store and one day got caught trying to steal a bunch of baseball cards. Of course, when they caught me, I said "No, I had these in my bag because I found them back in the freezer and I don't know who put them there, but I was on my way to return them and there were like 20 packs of baseball cards so I didn't want to drop them." Of course, I got fired because the managers knew that was a BS excuse (everyone who tries to steal stuff and gets caught comes up with a perfectly logical excuse), but when my friends heard the story they started a petition for me to get my job back. I ended up getting a job somewhere else pretty quickly, so they nixed the petition, but this lady's story sounds exactly like mine, lol.
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)And that is the crux of the story.
Whole Foods, like many, many other companies, has a history of fucking with anyone who tries to organize labor.