Infamous Mall boss fires back at ex-employees

[Beaverhausen]

http://gawker.com/infamous-boss-fires-back-at-former-staff-those-asshol-1251227786

SNIP

But, as is usually the case with such stories, there appear to be a few details conveniently omitted from the indignant staffers' color-coded manifesto.

An insider with direct knowledge of the events that immediately preceded the joint resignation emailed Gawker last night to offer the district manager's side of the story.

According to this source, the three employees who quit did so not because they were being wronged by an overbearing boss, but because they had been reprimanded for violating company policy and sought a way to publicly humiliate the district manager.

The source says Jamie, the DM, had caught the store manager "giving days off to her co-manager" so the latter could get their car inspected.

Which in itself would be a bad managerial move, but what crossed the line was that those PTO days fell on Back to School weekends which are mandatory for all employees per company policy.

It was after being admonished by the DM that the manager "rallied the troops against Jamie" and stormed out, making sure the entire Internet knew about it.

But the duplicity didn't end there.

SNIP

related to this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023594448

[Ohio Joe]

1. Taking days off that were earned... oh the horror!

Fuck companies that think they deserve sympathy for such bullshit. People earn time off, they should not get a raft of shit because they want to take it.

[unblock]

6. i'm with the manager *if* it was clear policy that they couldn't take off those specific dates.

i can certainly understand some businesses needing a full staff on particular expected high-volume days, and having a clear policy of refusing time of on those days. a car dealership that has an annual labor day weekend sale, etc.

i rather suspect that the car inspection could have happened on a different day. if pto is earned, the employee should be able to take it, but the particular day needs to be worked out with management and other employees' days off, etc.

that said, this employer seems like the kind to use, uh, "salty" language and no doubt overreacted to the situation.

[Ohio Joe]

7. Not me... Fuck the companies

They want full coverage when they are open, they should hire enough fucking people... Forcing employees to give up paid time off so they can have larger profits is bullshit.

[unblock]

9. companies cannot legally require employees to forfeit pto.

but they certainly can require them to schedule it reasonably.

think about it, no company can have all their employees get together and say, hey, we're all earned 5 days off so, surprise! you're going to have to shut your entire business down.

everyone knows you have to schedule these things so they can, at a minimum, ensure that not too many employees are taking off the same days.

[Ohio Joe]

11. If that was what happened, I might agree but that is not even close...

One person got a day off to register a car... Nobody should get shit for that... And THAT is reasonable.

Fuck corporate profit over people.

[Warpy]

2. I used store manager discretion that way

and spared people when I could on those "mandatory days," even though it usually meant I had to run stock or run a register until they came back. It's how I kept employees who knew what they were doing.

This asshole didn't get that memo. For an entire staff to quit a store, his behavior had to be over the top.

Nobody quits like that without a very, very good reason.

[Beaverhausen]

4. Did you read the entire article?

Remember there are two sides to every story. Three, actually.

[Warpy]

5. Bitching about employees "returning stolen merchandise"

smells even worse than the cancer allegation.

[unblock]

3. the fact that the manager calls the 3 people "assholes" and the merchandise "shit" is telling.

often in such cases, both parties are wrong. it may very well be the case that the employees violated company policy, but it's clearly also the case that the district manager is a horrendous person to work for.

it may be entertaining, but its good case study in both how not to manage and how not to quit.

[LearningCurve]

8. And the truth probably lies here

Good post and points.

[snooper2]

10. But they took it to the MAN!, or, um, WOMAN!, or

well, not really...

just petty thieves

[Shrike47]

12. I doubt the management version.

For one thing, the story was on Reddit first and the details posted there by commenters convinced me, anyway, that the District Manager is a nasty and mean person, there was indeed a cancer issue, and the employer runs a terrible place to work. I would not shop there under any circumstances.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. This is getting really bizarre, and...

I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear the store was closing and they all got together for their fifteen minutes.

Anyway, nobody gets their car inspected on the weekend in NY-- repair shops are closed Sundays and too busy Saturday, if they bother to open on Saturday. And it doesn't take several days when they do get it done, unless there are major repairs involved. Most of us drop the car off in the morning and pick it up at night, take a day off during the week, or some such thing.

The stolen merch being brought back by the boyfriend seems really odd. Why?

So, the store personnel are little brats and the DM lacks people skills on top of being out of patience with them. Makes for a fun story, but nothing more. No lessons to be learned here, no great points for any particular political side.

Just a fun story for the weekend.

[lpbk2713]

14. I'd say the manager's job is on the line from all the PR flak.

Upper management is probably telling him to make the company look good or he's gone.
So I wouldn't believe a damn thing he has to say.

[MrScorpio]

15. The DM is an asshole nt