BuzzerBeater Forums

I have continuously ran this through my mind atleast a 100 times since being off work. But have yet to see where I messed up.

So this lady comes in and has a unpurchased shirt her husband is wearing so out of experince and instanct i went back and told my manager hey this ladies husband is wearing a unpurchased shirt someone probably needs to keep a eye on them just in case. So i went back to my register they walk up after half a hour of wearing the unpurchased item and pay for it and than walk out and the police are there. So than because the police were called this person apparently is on probation and so i come in today and fixing to head home, my manager calls me into the office and says i have to write you up because they filed a complaint against you. And so in my mind it's like I was just trying to do my job.
Any thoughts?

Wow they need to stop being douches. Your doing you job. If thats upsetting to them, screw them. Your manager seems like a douche as well no offense.

I would say your customers are jerks but don't agree with E.B.W on the manager he had to do his job to,if they filed a complaint there is nothing he can do about it, entirely the rotten customers doing.

Fair enough but if i were the manager i wouldn't write him up for something stupid like that. Maybe it's just cause that's how I am but i wouldn't make my worker pay for some ridiculous customers.

I have continuously ran this through my mind atleast a 100 times since being off work. But have yet to see where I messed up.

So this lady comes in and has a unpurchased shirt her husband is wearing so out of experince and instanct i went back and told my manager hey this ladies husband is wearing a unpurchased shirt someone probably needs to keep a eye on them just in case. So i went back to my register they walk up after half a hour of wearing the unpurchased item and pay for it and than walk out and the police are there. So than because the police were called this person apparently is on probation and so i come in today and fixing to head home, my manager calls me into the office and says i have to write you up because they filed a complaint against you. And so in my mind it's like I was just trying to do my job.
Any thoughts?

.....

Where you messed up... The American constitution "Innocent until proven guilty". It seems like the guy was just walking aorund the store in the new shirt, that he had not yet purchased... which is not a crime. Then bought the shirt. Yet the police were called/there.

Harassment/slander/libel/defamation of character/wrongful arrest all of these things (to some degree obviously since libel deals with written medias), can be used as a way to explain, the manager (probably? Unless you contacted the police..) The manager jumped the gun, but since you brought it to his eye... and you're a drone at the retail store basically. The s--- rolls downhill and hits you.

The bright side... it's a complaint, who gives a f--- You weren't fired.
Police officers, get complaints on them fairly often, you know what the ones who don't get complaints are doing? Me neither, but its not their job.

you know what the ones who don't get complaints are doing?

Eating donuts?

used to be a stereotype. Now police across the nation (except for hick towns, I admit). While in academy are required to do crossfit. As well as maintain a physical standard afterwards. Only the ones' who have been cops for awhile and are able to complain about union rights, etc. Can be the fat stereotype cops from the movies.

My guess... They're helping vice get people off the streets... but not actually making arrests.

I would say your customers are jerks

entirely the rotten customers doing.

But how are they jerks? They paid for the shirt & got hassled by the cops for no reason.

The unfortunate thing is that they didn't file their complaint against the manager instead...

i'm mostly with Troy on this I guess..
(& on a slight tangent, i don't like it when people are assumed to be criminals)


but, with management like that, why do you even care if someone potentially shoplifts from where you work??? let loss prevention (or whoever) worry about that. i mean it's not like the lady was putting items in her purse right in front of you or anything...

and if the company doesn't want employees looking the other way... don't hire dbag managers.

I have continuously ran this through my mind atleast a 100 times since being off work. But have yet to see where I messed up.

So this lady comes in and has a unpurchased shirt her husband is wearing so out of experince and instanct i went back and told my manager hey this ladies husband is wearing a unpurchased shirt someone probably needs to keep a eye on them just in case. So i went back to my register they walk up after half a hour of wearing the unpurchased item and pay for it and than walk out and the police are there. So than because the police were called this person apparently is on probation and so i come in today and fixing to head home, my manager calls me into the office and says i have to write you up because they filed a complaint against you. And so in my mind it's like I was just trying to do my job.
Any thoughts?

First of all, have you seen the complaint, and are you certain it was directed specifically to you, or about the situation with the police? If it's about the police, you should ask that the reprimand be instead assigned to whomever it was that actually called the police or told them to speak to the customer after they left the store. Of course, since that almost certainly was the manager, you might then find out that the whole thing miraculously disappears. ;)

Of course, the complaint was almost certainly verbal, which makes it more difficult. And management has wide leeway to screw employees over in that regard - my mother in law was fired from a job she had worked at for over a decade because of a "complaint" even though she really had no significant history. Well, except of course that because of some medical situations, she had been quite expensive to keep insured - so of course, that's not a reason you are allowed to fire someone, but it sure makes for a great motivation to do so when you can find any other excuse to!

I suppose it comes down to how much you care about keeping the job, how much you want to pursue it and how vindictive you think your manager might be. The safest option would probably be just asking to include a statement on the record that states what happened and that you feel you were acting properly and that the customer's complaint should not be specifically considered against you. It's definitely much better than having a generic "customer complaint" on your file.

Have you talked with your human resource manager yet. f you didn't call the cops then it really wasn't you that went over board. You are supposed to report suspicious activity and if the person you told was the next up the ladder (some places train you to tell a Lost Prevention Specialist or a special number or something like that) then you didn't do anything to deserve a write up.

It's just a write up but anything in your file can be used for performance reviews, promotions and possible job retention.