The lesson here, if there is one, is that in these contexts, it’s not only necessary to avoid doing the wrong thing, it’s necessary to also avoid the appearance of it - because even if you’re completely innocent, the process of being suspected, then singled out for investigation can result in an irretrievable breakdown of the relationship between employee and employer - you might survive the incident, but find it practically impossible to work there any more.
No, that’s not the lesson. The lesson is simply avoid doing the wrong thing (or don’t get caught like a dumbass). What the OP was doing was wrong, even if it wasn’t illegal.
This…
I work in a business where employee discounts are one of the few perks for most employees but we discount employees heavy on services (vet) and very low on inventory. No discount on pet food - food is the most likely to be resold or taken advantage of somehow.
If one of my employees did something like this, they’d be fired so fast their head would spin…sorry.
Except that the OP was suspected of doing different (and arguably more serious) wrong things than the other wrong things he was actually doing.
Whatever. The OP might as well still learn that acting like you’re doing something wrong can land you in deeper trouble than you really want.
Did n’t read all of the previous posts but I would have fired you too. Your behavior was completely disloyal to your employer and took advantage of their good will with the discount.
Hell think about it for a minute. It’s winter and your marine supply store was struggling to find paying customers to begin with. Some guy is out there wanting to by a couple paddles for his row boat and instead of buying it directly from your employer he buys it from an employee cheaper, there by taking the sale from the store and the profit as well.
Not only would you be fired but I think your unemployment benefits would be supportably denied as well.
If you place CL ads looking for a hitman to murder your boss, I don’t think the “But I didn’t have my boss killed YET” defense is going to work very well.
If you place a CL ad looking for partners to help you blow up the Sears (sorry, Willis) Tower, you’re not going to get very far with “Look, the building is still there. Obviously I didn’t do anything wrong!”
You were a pretty terrible employee and the company is better off without you working for them.
Actually, if the job application lacked capitalization and sported dozens of periods, I wouldn’t have hired OP to begin with.
Yep. The employer has evidence that the OP was stealing from them. It’s very circumstantial, not nearly enough to get him arrested, much less convicted. But more than enough to get him fired, obviously. From the company’s point of view, it’s all very suspicious.
- Stock is missing-someone is stealing stuff! OMG!
- One of the employees who has access to the area stuff was stolen from, had posted ads on Craigslist offering to sell shit just like the stuff that was stolen really cheap.
- We can’t prove he actually stole any of the stuff or fenced it on Craigslist or anywhere else.
- When questioned, he spins some cockamamie story about planning to buy stuff with his employee discount & sell it for less than retail, but more than the discounted price, and pocket the profit. But he says he never actually did it.
- That may or may not be true. Screw it, just fire him–this employee clearly isn’t worth the hassle, we’d have to watch him every minute going forward.
Today’s lesson: don’t do things that your employer might see as extremely suspicious if you don’t want to get fired.
I’m not entirely convinced that the OP wasn’t actually guilty of the theft. This whole post has the feeling of someone trying to cover some tracks and solidify their story.
Could be, or he could have been fingered by the real thief - who will now either wipe his brow and stop thieving now someone else took the blame, or (more likely) continue pilfering until he gets caught.
Also, many people (myself included) have their real name attached to their email. Perhaps the OP was dumb enough to reveal his real name to the people who inquired about his CL ad. I bet that at least one of the inquirers was actually a representative from his now ex-workplace.
That’s a separate issue. The OP did more than enough to be fired by his own admission.
I don’t disagree.
Then commence the singing of “Kumbaya!” Cool-aid and Oreos for the house!
I’ve hired a lot of young kids in retail and done plenty of new hire training.
It’s totally plausible to me that the OP was/is young and ignorant about employee discount policies. I’m surprised his employer doesn’t have a policy in writing about it.
In new hire training I’d mention what kind of discount was available to them as an employee but have to state very clearly the policies surrounding it. You’d be surprised how many of them thought it would have been perfectly fine to buy and resell the stuff if we didn’t have a policy against it. “I bought it with my discount, I now own it outright, I am free to do whatever I want to with it, including selling it.”
I’ve even fired a few employees for using their discount and then taking the product to a competitor (who didn’t require proof-of-purchase) and return the item for full retail credit. They honestly were confused since they had no idea what they had done was against our policy.