# Salvation army... Five years down the drain **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 11, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501 "2016-08-11T23:10:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/21 "2016-08-12T03:54:17Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > Just know that you could spend years working for them and be gone the next day. That’s true for just about any company these days. However, if you were fired you should see if you’re eligible for unemployment benefits. If they really let you go for no reason, then you should be entitled to benefits. That will help hold you over until you find something else. But regardless, pretty much any company can let you go at any time. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/22 "2016-08-12T04:22:51Z")
Sorry, Claude. I got fired with a new mortgage and a new baby, for a bogus reason. I’d be glad to walk into our local SA Thrift Shop and announce loudly, “So this is the Damnation Army!” if that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/23 "2016-08-12T05:09:09Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > frank… I was told that someone I reported for shoplifting came back and made complaints about several employees. > > The customer is always right? > > I have a new mortgage and a kid in College. > [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > i was told that the customer changed her story twice. Yet they let me go. That gets tough, you could ask the employer if they have video footage (if it even exists in the first place) of the shop lifting, if they do and if it happened, you should be in the clear. OTOH, it could be a total BS (‘we’ve had complaints about you’) because they wanted to get rid of you for some reason I’m not going to speculate about here. Customer stories can change, especially when they’re under fire. OTOH, I’ve (as a, more or less, employer, always encouraged customers to complain when they have a bad experience, even if it’s anonymously. If the complaint it about a typically great employee, the employer will probably ignore it, OTOH, I’ve received complaints and thought (jesus, this is like the third person this month to say something about him, it’s time to deal with this). Having said that, unless you have a handbook that supersedes state laws WRT to some kind of warning/firing system, you’re most likely in an At Will state which means you can be fired at any time for any (non-protected reason). You can probably get some unemployment, but other than that, there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. Of course, if you happen to be gay (even more so if you live with a SO, even more more so, if you recently disclosed this to someone), you could probably sue the crap out of them. I don’t care what they say, they’ve always been extremely anti-gay (and still appear to be, at least partially, openly anti-gay in some areas). If you are gay, you could probably bring a wrongful termination suit against them and not have a problem winning it. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/24 "2016-08-12T05:40:02Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Of course, if you happen to be gay (even more so if you live with a SO, even more more so, if you recently disclosed this to someone), you could probably sue the crap out of them. I don’t care what they say, they’ve always been extremely anti-gay (and still appear to be, at least partially, openly anti-gay in some areas). If you are gay, you could probably bring a wrongful termination suit against them and not have a problem winning it. Nope. Religious organizations are exempt from that. They have a recognized right to have employees that agree with their beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/25 "2016-08-12T05:49:36Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you are gay, you could probably bring a wrongful termination suit against them and not have a problem winning it. In 50% of the states you’d have a serious problem winning as they don’t offer employment protection based on sexual orientation. The Salvation Army does have a history or discriminating against gay people. It’s completely legal for them to do so in many states or all states depending on how the court rules concerning religious organizations. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/26 "2016-08-12T06:13:41Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Nope. Religious organizations are exempt from that. They have a recognized right to have employees that agree with their beliefs. Very, very quickly glancing at [this](https://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/religion.html#_Toc203359493). All I’m seeing is that a religious org can give employment preference to members of it’s own religion (as opposed to discriminate against members not of their own religion). Also, two things of note: 1)Its day to day operations must be religious (which is probably why it changed some thing around a few years ago stating that members in the store could be gay, but people in ministry roles could not be. 2) it only allows religious organizations to prefer to employ individuals who share their religion. The exception does not allow religious organizations otherwise to discriminate in employment on protected bases other than religion –I believe, but could be wrong, that being LGBT+ is a protected class I started to dig a bit deeper into the IRS code, but it seems like it comes back to the same thing. In this example: A Christian based company that does mostly Christian based work can make hiring decisions based on religion, but that’s as far as it goes. So, they can hire a Christian person over a Jewish person, but they can’t hire (or more importantly) fire either of them because they’re female or black or blew an OSHA whistle or are gay. At least that’s how I’m reading it. - ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/27 "2016-08-12T06:21:00Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > In 50% of the states you’d have a serious problem winning as they don’t offer employment protection based on sexual orientation. According to [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class) sexual orientation is a Protected Class under federal law. The wiki page links to the (federal) EEOC page about discriminating based on sexual orientation which cites the CFR and some relevant court cases…I didn’t read ay of that, it’s much too late for me to pick through that right now. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/28 "2016-08-12T11:01:56Z")
If they’re going to do the whole “army thing” shouldn’t the OP have been court martialed and discharged accordingly? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/29 "2016-08-12T11:08:31Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > If they’re going to do the whole “army thing” shouldn’t the OP have been court martialed and discharged accordingly? You joke, but their actual motto is “Blood and Fire”. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/30 "2016-08-12T11:50:03Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > If they’re going to do the whole “army thing” shouldn’t the OP have been court martialed and discharged accordingly? > [@Gyrate](#): > > You joke, but their actual motto is “Blood and Fire”. So they should have given him a bloody discharge? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/31 "2016-08-12T11:55:46Z")
> [@Cyros](#): > > So they should have given him a bloody discharge? Eww. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/32 "2016-08-12T12:36:46Z")
> [@Cyros](#): > > So they should have given him a bloody discharge? Wouldn’t a “blood and fire” discharge indicate he was up to something the SA probably wouldn’t’ve approved of? ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/33 "2016-08-12T12:53:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > You joke, but their actual motto is “Blood and Fire”. :eek: Well, that’s loving and caring. Jesus would totally approve. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/34 "2016-08-12T13:27:39Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > Just know that you could spend years working for them and be gone the next day. Bryan who? Not ringing a bell? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/35 "2016-08-12T13:37:35Z")
Wait now, are you just an employee of the second hand store? Or are you a member of the actual Salvation Army? Because if it’s the latter there are a lot of morality clauses that would seem to apply, and could be to blame, I think. Which is it? ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/36 "2016-08-12T13:59:12Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > frank… I was told that someone I reported for shoplifting came back and made complaints about several employees. See, you _did_ know what it was about. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/37 "2016-08-12T15:03:45Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > :eek: > > Well, that’s loving and caring. Jesus would totally approve. I think He might ;): “Blood and Fire” is the motto of The Salvation Army that describes the blood of Jesus shed on the cross to save all people and the fire of the Holy Spirit which purifies believers. > **[The Salvation Army Crest - Northern Division](https://salvationarmynorth.org/northern/the-salvation-army-crest)** > > Learn about The Salvation Army Crest and what it stands for. The Salvation Army Metropolitan Division provides social services to communities in Minnesota and North Dakota ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/38 "2016-08-12T15:13:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > If they’re going to do the whole “army thing” shouldn’t the OP have been court martialed and discharged accordingly? [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXlUS5-ag_g) is what I immediately thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/39 "2016-08-12T15:19:13Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > You joke, but their actual motto is “Blood and Fire”. The Salvation Army is related to [House Targaryen?](http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/House_Targaryen) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501/40 "2016-08-12T15:37:42Z")
> [@loach](#): > > [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txlus5-ag_g) is what i immediately thought of. yes!!! :d [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salvation-army-five-years-down-the-drain/762501.md?page=3)