N/A Hired and Fired in 3 hrs N/A

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bigblockz8

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Nov 8, 2011
Messages
429
Display Name
Gore
Here's what happened:

So I finally got a job after a long search. The job was at my ideal store,I have always wanted this one to be my first. I got called in for an interview that lasted 10 mins. After talking with the assistant manager and getting the job I did a little orientation. During the orientation I was told to falsify some records when I'm actually doing the job.Like an idiot I said that that isn't correct and its a sure violation of company policy and possibly a law. The manager later took the job offer back. The catch is that I am not sure if I was already hired.


Either way I'm upset. I didn't say what I said to impress the trainer or management. I kinda feel stupid for not going with the flow and blowing the whistle. If I did so that'd come back on management and then back to me. It's not only a moral issue but also saving my own a$$ type of deal I guess. I know for sure that it's a violation of just about any company's policy.

Very upsetting to say the least. How's that for a future employment reference?
 
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Fuggetaboutit, you are better off not having anything to do with them. And its my opinion you would have a hard time proving anything, let alone any losses.
 
Good luck with your actions.e
Is it possible that you misunderstood? A lot of this could depend on exactly how you expressed yourself. If you came out and said authoritatively "that's illegal and I'm not doing it" then you put the manager in the position where he pretty much is going to fire you whether you're right or wrong. He'll fire you if you're right because you've shown you won't go along with whatever scam is running. But he'll fire you if you're wrong because you've shown that you assume you know what he meant better than he did when he said it, and you don't respect his authority and give him the benefit of the doubt.

On the other hand, if you'd asked a couple of leading questions, like "Isn't this putting down stuff that isn't true?", then there's no question that you were right and not just showing an anti-authority attitude.

I only bring this up because when I was younger I thought that being correct was all that mattered. And I soon learned that in lots of situations, particularly where teams are involved, that it's not enough to be right. You have to be right in a way that doesn't degrade the effectiveness of the team. Otherwise you end up being the workplace equivalent of the know-it-all jerk that nobody ever wants to play with.

You were there, you know the context. I may have the situation completely wrong. Just something to think about. I know I wish someone had given me the advice in the paragraph above when I was younger. Not sure I'd have listened that hard, but at least I'd have understood some things that happened later on a little better.
 
You're going to sue over loosing a job in 3 Hours at a retail store????

Let's say after 3 hours you decided the job wasn't for you and walked out the door, would that be OK?

Between this and your CFI post, it makes you out to be the perfect victim.

I'll bite my tongue now, before I say more.
 
TMetzinger said:
Good luck with your actions.e
Is it possible that you misunderstood? A lot of this could depend on exactly how you expressed yourself. If you came out and said authoritatively "that's illegal and I'm not doing it" then you put the manager in the position where he pretty much is going to fire you whether you're right or wrong. He'll fire you if you're right because you've shown you won't go along with whatever scam is running. But he'll fire you if you're wrong because you've shown that you assume you know what he meant better than he did when he said it, and you don't respect his authority and give him the benefit of the doubt.

On the other hand, if you'd asked a couple of leading questions, like "Isn't this putting down stuff that isn't true?", then there's no question that you were right and not just showing an anti-authority attitude.

I only bring this up because when I was younger I thought that being correct was all that mattered. And I soon learned that in lots of situations, particularly where teams are involved, that it's not enough to be right. You have to be right in a way that doesn't degrade the effectiveness of the team. Otherwise you end up being the workplace equivalent of the know-it-all jerk that nobody ever wants to play with.

You were there, you know the context. I may have the situation completely wrong. Just something to think about. I know I wish someone had given me the advice in the paragraph above when I was younger. Not sure I'd have listened that hard, but at least I'd have understood some things that happened later on a little better.
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It just seemed way too shady. Personally I don't like getting in trouble and at this point, cooling off a bit, I just want to bring it to the attention of the company. Something seems a bit shady about lying about time worked,inventory left, and then writing that the store sold more than the amount of inventory that's actually missing.

I tried to casually mention that this would be falsifying records (near the end of the orientation) and I got a :sosp: look from the trainer. I was then left alone in an employee area for about 5 mins while the trainer "used the bathroom." The manager then asked me to leave the property so I am in the dark as to what occurred in that five minute period.

I'll just try again. No use in trying to get my job back I guess. I'd be way too open for retaliation and probably heavily scrutinized. I do see how this could come off as a know it all jerk.
 
Alexb2000 said:
You're going to sue over loosing a job in 3 Hours at a retail store????

Let's say after 3 hours you decided the job wasn't for you and walked out the door, would that be OK?

Between this and your CFI post, it makes you out to be the perfect victim.

I'll bite my tongue now, before I say more.
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Not sue, I just wanna make sure that this doesn't come back at me. As for the job I could care less if I liked it or not, it's flying money. It's better than distributing 1000 flyers for $20 in 30 degree freezing rain. I don't about the job, its a job.

Perfect victim? Nice one.
 
So, the only thing you have is your reputation.

Is it better to quit a job/be fired for this, or is it better to be fired or prosecuted for fraud.

You're better off not being there. And you have your integrity.
 
And why would you even mention this on any future job app? Did you sign anything that indicated you accepted a job? If not, then this never happened.
 
murphey said:
And why would you even mention this on any future job app? Did you sign anything that indicated you accepted a job? If not, then this never happened.
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Signed about 6 forms, 95% positive that I was hired. Too excited to read the fine print of the paperwork. Wanted my uniform and first paycheck this friday.

I won't mention it though, just making a joke about how it would look.
 
wsuffa said:
So, the only thing you have is your reputation.

Is it better to quit a job/be fired for this, or is it better to be fired or prosecuted for fraud.

You're better off not being there. And you have your integrity.
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Yeah that is true. Plus I was told to keep the uniform so I guess I got a free shirt and pair of pants plus my integrity. :D
 
bigblockz8 said:
Signed about 6 forms, 95% positive that I was hired. Too excited to read the fine print of the paperwork. Wanted my uniform and first paycheck this friday.

I won't mention it though, just making a joke about how it would look.
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A few years ago I went thru a couple interviews, then got hired. Went into the office, signed all the papers, then I got to the last one, which annoyed me. Add to this the person who would be my boss never interviewed me. I didn't like that last page, so I asked for a few minutes. I called a very good friend who just happens to be a lawyer and asked a couple questions. His response was very simple "If you think it's necessary to call me, then you certainly do not want to work there!"

I left. I never discuss it with anyone other than friends, or someplace like this. To me, it never happened. I was never in the payroll system.

Turns out this is a very well-known company that's well-known for poor treatment of its employees, and even the outside contractors hate the place.

Just because you signed papers doesn't mean it'll show up anywhere. Trust me, no one will ever ask you about it, or even know about it.
 
murphey said:
A few years ago I went thru a couple interviews, then got hired. Went into the office, signed all the papers, then I got to the last one, which annoyed me. Add to this the person who would be my boss never interviewed me. I didn't like that last page, so I asked for a few minutes. I called a very good friend who just happens to be a lawyer and asked a couple questions. His response was very simple "If you think it's necessary to call me, then you certainly do not want to work there!"

I left. I never discuss it with anyone other than friends, or someplace like this. To me, it never happened. I was never in the payroll system.

Turns out this is a very well-known company that's well-known for poor treatment of its employees, and even the outside contractors hate the place.

Just because you signed papers doesn't mean it'll show up anywhere. Trust me, no one will ever ask you about it, or even know about it.
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That's a relief. This particular store doesn't have a high turnover. Same faces there since I was 10. I guess this is why.
 
bigblockz8 said:
Signed about 6 forms, 95% positive that I was hired. Too excited to read the fine print of the paperwork. Wanted my uniform and first paycheck this friday.

I won't mention it though, just making a joke about how it would look.
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You got very lucky finding out sooner rather than later about the kind of people you'd have had to work with.

You did well in sticking with your morals.
 
Back when I was in college I interviewed for and got a job selling children's books door-to-door. I went to the first day of training and backed out. I haven't thought about this incident in close to 30 years. I certainly never included it on a resume.

It's a big deal to you, today, since you are young and this was apparently your first, or one of your first, jobs. In later years you'll struggle to remember that it happened at all.
 
bigblockz8 said:
Not sue, I just wanna make sure that this doesn't come back at me. As for the job I could care less if I liked it or not, it's flying money. It's better than distributing 1000 flyers for $20 in 30 degree freezing rain. I don't about the job, its a job.

Perfect victim? Nice one.
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I see you edited the post.

How could this come back on you???

When they asked you to do something you didn't feel was right. Stand up say, "thank you for the opportunity, but I just don't feel comfortable doing that". Walk out the door.

Just be glad you don't have to weight your morals against eating today.
 
murphey said:
And why would you even mention this on any future job app? Did you sign anything that indicated you accepted a job? If not, then this never happened.
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And even if you did sign, how is anyone ever going to find out unless there was a tax form or high profile something or some such thing being involved?

There is a trillion businesses on this continent so go ahead and try to find out where I worked that I didn't tell you about.

Despicable underhanded deceptive snots involved. It never happened. You can't prove a thing.
 
Alexb2000 said:
I see you edited the post.

How could this come back on you???

When they asked you to do something you didn't feel was right. Stand up say, "thank you for the opportunity, but I just don't feel comfortable doing that". Walk out the door.

Just be glad you don't have to weight your morals against eating today.
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I had two offers. One at this store and another at a store that's about an hour's walk/2hr bus ride away. I took the 20 min walk/favorable store even though it had $1 lower pay. I'll accept other interview. That's why I don't want it to come back at me. The other offer would be with a third party that has a photo center in the store.

Same company's store me but a different company's operations. I have a friend that works for the same photography company and she is paid by the photo company even though she is in the retailer's store and wears their uniform.

I guess it's like a regional airline. I'll work for Colgan while wearing the Continental name and flying under their banner. Colgan signs my check and gives me benefits, Continental just happened to fire me.


**** Just read the email from the person offering the job. Apparently the retailer didn't share age with the third party photo studio. The age requirement got me again. ****
 
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Kharma catches up with people. My senior year of high school I worked for a local movie theater with a boss who was a real stickler with inventory. If we were short a box of gummy bears, whoever worked the candy stand had to fork up the $5...on the spot. I quit the job over a different issue, but a year or so later found out that he had been messing with the books, and once corporate found out he was fired and wound up bagging groceries at the supermarket. Stick with those good morals and your integrity.
 
TMetzinger said:
You have to be right in a way that doesn't degrade the effectiveness of the team.
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You mean, "You have to be right in a way that lets the ineffective members of the team feel like they didn't screw up, and actually added value... when they didn't."

We all hated those "team" exercises in school because we ended up doing all the work and giving the team the credit... but those stupid exercises are just prep for the real world. Get used to it if you've got any talent. :)

As far as the job goes, sorry you're looking again, but you'll be better off in the end. Lots of folks tried to blow the whistle at Lehman Brothers, AIG, and elsewhere... they're not working now, and their bosses are still in the industry, gettin' bonuses.

Sad state of affairs, but that's how it is...
 
denverpilot said:
You mean, "You have to be right in a way that lets the ineffective members of the team feel like they didn't screw up, and actually added value... when they didn't."

We all hated those "team" exercises in school because we ended up doing all the work and giving the team the credit... but those stupid exercises are just prep for the real world. Get used to it if you've got any talent. :)

As far as the job goes, sorry you're looking again, but you'll be better off in the end. Lots of folks tried to blow the whistle at Lehman Brothers, AIG, and elsewhere... they're not working now, and their bosses are still in the industry, gettin' bonuses.

Sad state of affairs, but that's how it is...
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In the tech world this is very true. In the military, not always true. Sometimes you'd have a bunch of competent people and if one didn't just fit in, it didn't matter how hyper-competent he was. The fact is that in some situations a team of "average" folks will consistently outperform a team of "average" and "star" folks.

There's nothing good about incompetency, but merit isn't always the ultimate answer when it comes to things that can only be done by teams.
 
Move on. Next!! Wouldn't even mention it on a resume.

If it really tickled your fancy, look up the owner/corporate office and let your experience be known.

Maybe something will happen. Probably not, but you never know. They might decide to look at what's happening there from a corporate compliance perspective. Don't call with the expectation of another job offer.
 
TMetzinger said:
In the tech world this is very true. In the military, not always true. Sometimes you'd have a bunch of competent people and if one didn't just fit in, it didn't matter how hyper-competent he was. The fact is that in some situations a team of "average" folks will consistently outperform a team of "average" and "star" folks.

There's nothing good about incompetency, but merit isn't always the ultimate answer when it comes to things that can only be done by teams.
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Good point. In tech you're usually just trying to keep the clueless from derailing the whole project.

There's an aspect of leadership in both scenarios too. Someone has to drive the bus, whether defined by a meritocracy or a more formal arrangement.

In the OP's story, the fact that the "defined/formal leader" was already way out of bounds, makes the whole scenario one you'd want to avoid completely if at all possible.

There's too many of those types of people who've made a career out of making sure someone else goes down for their misbehavior.

Being lucky enough to have it come out 3 hours after hiring on, is a blessing, not a curse.
 
Sorry Greg, that was a bad situation. You will land on your feet.
 
Well, if anyone here is looking for an honest employee, I think you just found one.
 
TMetzinger said:
In the tech world this is very true. In the military, not always true. Sometimes you'd have a bunch of competent people and if one didn't just fit in, it didn't matter how hyper-competent he was. The fact is that in some situations a team of "average" folks will consistently outperform a team of "average" and "star" folks.

There's nothing good about incompetency, but merit isn't always the ultimate answer when it comes to things that can only be done by teams.
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Thereby explaining why it's often said that a camel is a horse that was designed by committee. :wink2:

I recall talking to an acquantence who was an executive at a company that produced "decision support" software (primarily for the Federal market). She explained that it really didn't matter whether or not the ultimate decision was correct, the only thing that really mattered was that the process be repeatable and verifiable, giving the same answer each time for the same inputs.
 
Something just ain't right...

Even a dishonest firm will wait until they can "trust" the newbie before disclosing everyday dishonest practice.

But during an interview?

Neverheardofit.
 
denverpilot said:
You mean, "You have to be right in a way that lets the ineffective members of the team feel like they didn't screw up, and actually added value... when they didn't."

We all hated those "team" exercises in school because we ended up doing all the work and giving the team the credit... but those stupid exercises are just prep for the real world. Get used to it if you've got any talent. :)

As far as the job goes, sorry you're looking again, but you'll be better off in the end. Lots of folks tried to blow the whistle at Lehman Brothers, AIG, and elsewhere... they're not working now, and their bosses are still in the industry, gettin' bonuses.

Sad state of affairs, but that's how it is...
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In order to boost our schools numbers they had the bright idea that all work would be performed in "groups", every course.... everything We all sat at a table together. They'd put one smart kid in with 6-8 of the no so smart ones. and BAM everybody's grades went up. Well we all had to sign the work and by signing it we were swearing that everyone participated equally. I wouldn't sign the papers, they gave me zeros and put me in detention for my refusal to sign them. I quit high school over it, best decision I ever made.
 
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