Walmart Fired me today for insabornation

[drummond13]

I'm a bit surprised at the support the OP is getting, frankly. We're only hearing one side of the story, and it sounds like a jaded, entitled side at that. Not being present for your conversation with your boss I can't say anything for certain, of course, but it sounds like you gave them attitude on multiple occasions. This often leads to being fired.

Many people are treated unfairly at their jobs. I can't tell for sure if you were, but it sure sounds like you approached the issue incorrectly.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Working retail myself, I kind of see both sides of the argument surrounding the OP's post.

On the one hand, yes. It sucks out loud to be used and abused with not even a shred of some kind of thanks. Which at this point I can say that money doesn't always count. I know people at my job who are the epitome of the "I do what you need me to do because you pay me and that's all I'm here for and thus I don't complain" types and when times have been tough even they have become uncomfortable and their morale is affected.

Morale does seem to be a dirty word these days in business. Keeping your work-force happy goes beyond paying them more. In fact I'd ALMOST venture to say that if your idea of keeping employees happy and keeping morale up is JUST giving everyone more money, you're missing a few things. Despite what it seems like, life doesn't revolve around just money, at least for most people. If you have a small workforce that are stuck doing the job of a larger one and they're really being pushed to their limits, it's best to make sure that the creature-comforts are at least intact for them. It takes the edge off of busting your arse if you see that, while you may not get paid the most, your employer is taking care of you/appreciating you in SOME way that at least seems sincere. Sincerity, either actual or the appearance of it, is important, as is consistency. Not escalation, but consistency. Workers want to feel valued in some fashion, regardless of what they do. There are ways to do that that cost little to even no money at all (words are cheap, folks. A simple "thank you" can go a long way if the employee can see you are genuinely thankful for their efforts.)

On the flip-side: many times employees fail to understand that simple clause of "other duties as assigned". It means you do whatever needs to be done, plain and simple. Yes, that sucks and it's kind of an unfair clause, but everyone sticking only to their job descriptions causes just as much pain. It fosters resentment and misunderstandings due to the grass always being greener someplace else. It can also create problems in terms of customer service and sales. Like it or not, Customers DO sign your paycheck in a manner of speaking. Helping them out is in your best interests. I can't count how many customers have been pissed off and left where I work because someone got on their high-horse about what their responsibilities or their department is. That's money out of your pocket and mine, bub. Be as snippy as you like but don't come crying to me when none of us have a job.

Also, while some people are piss-poor managers and some are great managers, they are all people. Furthermore ALL of them tend to have to spend a large amount of their time fixing messes and dealing with angry customers that you SO KINDLY threw them under the bus to. That's the crappy part about THEIR job: they are equal parts babysitter, taskmaster, and complaint department. None of which are fun to be if you're an even halfway decent human being. Thus while you may be pissed about all the extra work you have to do, being confrontational and standoffish doesn't help your case unless you do it rarely. If there's one thing that many managers learn to be immune to it's rage. Logic, kind requests, and other non-rage approaches tend to get them to listen. For example: I myself had a stretch of a month or so of cleaning bathrooms, a task which is almost universally hated where I work. Managers simply kept picking me for it. It wasn't until after that month went by that I went to my boss and said: "hey, would it be possible for someone ELSE to clean these bathrooms once in awhile? I don't mind doing it every so often, but the past dozen times I've closed I've had to do it. Is it possible for someone else to deal with it every now and again?"

Surprisingly, the reply was: "You've done it that many times?! Wow...I guess we've all been picking on you! Sorry about that! We'll make it more fair, I promise."

After that, yes. Things were more fair. Other people went in and raged about being told to clean bathrooms, and guess what they were met with? indifference and the "you don't like it? there's the door" bit. Treating managers like human beings along with backing up your words with actions yields results. Anger and an air of entitlement gets you nothing. Picking your battles helps as well. The more you complain, the less weight your complaints have because, well, you're ALWAYS complaining about something.

Of course, that doesn't work with EVERY business and EVERY manager. Some people or businesses are just well and truly awful. But I've been surprised at how many times simply sitting down and having a civil discussion with my bosses has yielded, if not the results I wanted, steps towards it.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I'll start firstly with my sincere apologies for your misfortune. It's sad to hear bad news, particularly like this and in this economic climate. Secondly, I'm a little surprised that you got an immediate dismissal. Most companies, particularly large ones have a robust disciplinary system and assuming you had no previous disciplinary action, jumping straight to dismissal seems abnormaly heavy handed. Usually only the grossest misconduct results in such a thing.

On the basis that what has happened has happened, the immediate thing now is to get your CV/resumé in order and begin applying for new vancacies. Don't need to write you were fired, unless you're asked and you may need to sort a different reference since your most recent employer is unlikely to provide a good one. Don't dismiss agencies from your applications; they're paid to place people so they have motivation to find you a job. It is also very useful to have extra hands looking for you and as you can stipulate what jobs you will and won't do, you can be assured that anything that comes your way will be closer to what you want. Find an agency specialising in your preferred industry as they tend to have many vacancies ready to go.

Now I don't know anything about you OP, or your personality so what I say may or may not apply. Please forgive me also if I come across as patronising, it is not my intention. I will share something from first hand experience which you may take or leave and I offer it without judgement. In the professional world, and I would bet it applies to any other industry too, we each of us have a "reputation" of sorts. In a similar way to our eBay profiles (or XBox Live rating) if you prefer, we are judged and all our actions amongst all our colleagues are stored away in their collective memories.

Our reputation is how we are known and spoken of by colleagues when we aren't present. If one is a "no" person, one who is inflexible, unhappy, reluctant, resentful, half hearted or abrasive for example, that is how we become remembered. That person is unlikely to advance far, get opportunities or be valued highly. One of the most valuable traits we can bring to any work place is enthusiasm. Seriously, it's as valuable or more than experience or even qualification to some degree. If one is entusiastic, they show a keeness to help, they are flexible and will take every opportunity to do new things. They have a positive energy you could say, they are happier and these people become more valued.

An employee capable of managing multiple departments (instead of just one) will have multiple opportunities for advancement should vacancies arise within any one of their areas. Making yourself experienced and invaluable to a store by filling in wherever you're needed says you're willing to work and they'll pay more to keep you since losing you and your experience will be a blow. Doing things with a smile and a positive attitude has an effect on how others see and perceive us.

I appreciate that there are some shitty jobs and companies out there, but even among those, our name and reputation still matters. It's better to have a good name and have people you work with think well of you. If and when you encounter these people in other companies in the future, or depend on them for references being remembered as the reluctant, unhappy person will be detrimental. Being remembered as professional and enthusiastic, dependable and honest however will stand you in good stead in any industry. With that reputation you will likely be first in line for vacancies when they arise, have the best references to give new potential employers and open doors with ex colleagues wherever you encounter them in the future.

My commiserations again for your misfortune, I wish you the best of luck moving forward. Get your resumé updated and get applying.

 

[StormDragonZ]

I currently work at a place that hates training people. They wont fire anyone right now because the store opened up last December and it is too much of a hassle to train new people right now. Recently, I've been asked to do something I've never done before and I found out the only reason I'm doing it is because they are cutting one person's hours and I'll do that person's slashed hours on my normal time.

I told them I'll do the best I can, but if I get told anything about my performance at it is terrible, I'll tell them again I'm new at it and do what I can. If it isn't good enough, then f**k them, I don't need to waste my time being told how much I suck at something I'm not used to doing.

Concise: Do the best you can, but if it pisses you off day in and day out, tell them to have a nice day.

Of course, I've been told numerous times people like how I work a lot more than most people, so if you're not giving 100%, you better start.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I quit my job at Best Buy for something like this.

I was hired to work in the Media section of the Portable Electronics department. Basically, I was the go-to guy for all things relating to movies, music, and video games. And I was damn good at it; even had a ton of regulars who would ask for me by name and rework their shopping schedule based on my work schedule. For a while I loved it (as much as one can love a low-level job).

After a while the store decided to have its employees in the Portable Electronics department be more versatile. The idea was that if I called out sick, someone from one of the other sub-departments would be able to fill in for me. Sounded like a great plan, and I had no problems with it, until they put it into practice.

They'd stick people into departments that they were unfamiliar with before giving them any sort of training on the products or procedures of that area, they refused to help with any customer questions that couldn't be answered, and then expected us to train ourselves in our own time (unpaid).

When they put me in CarFi for a couple months I was able to deal with it. Most of what CarFi sold at my store was GPS systems, which I have a pretty good grasp of. But I knew nothing about car speaker systems and was completely at a loss to answer customer questions when they came up. But then they tried to rotate me to Digital Imaging, and that was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I've never owned a camera, I have no interest in taking pictures, and I have absolutely zero interest in learning anything about them. I was hired to give people advice about gaming and movies and music, not feign excitement for shit I don't know anything about or care about. I draw the line at lying to customers.

So I quit. Started working at a physical therapy clinic that was closer to home, paid better, gave better hours, and actually treated me with respect.

 

[paragon1]

I'm loving all the people in this thread who think the proper response to a boot being on your neck is to kiss the laces.

Also, some people are mistaken about Right to Work. Right to Work legislation typically bans union shops. The right to fire you at any time for any reason is called At Will employment. Common mistake!

 

[shootthebandit]

I'm loving all the people in this thread who think the proper response to a boot being on your neck is to kiss the laces.

Also, some people are mistaken about Right to Work. Right to Work legislation typically bans union shops. The right to fire you at any time for any reason is called At Will employment. Common mistake!

Do you guys actually have unions in america? Ive heard your employment laws are pretty lax and people can be sacked without a days notice and dont get a redunancy pay out?

In the UK employers need a good reason to sack someone otherwise they can get the pants sued off them for unfair dismissal. If people are being made redundant they usually get some sort of pay out

Captcha: no soup for you. Times must be getting tough

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

No, if you show initiative, work hard, and don't ***** when you're asked to increase your work load, that's called work ethic being taken advantage of and that's how you get promoted to higher paid positions become a target for lazy managers to foist their problems onto.

I've updated your post to reflect what actually happens in the retail world. Trust someone who spent ten years in it.

 

[Idlemessiah]

Sucks you lost your job man. I work for Asda, the British bit of Walmart if you will, and I don't touch a department or piece of equipment I'm not trained to use because I might chat to the union rep. The union rep has a very big book that he likes to throw at the management. They don't ask me to do stuff I'm not trained to do any more.

So, hot tip: No matter your job, make friends with the workers union rep. They will help you keep your job.

As for getting another job. Appeal for the one you just lost on the grounds of unreasonable dismissal. They have to (at least in the uk) give you a hearing as long as you didn't break the law. Which you didn't. Then join the union and fuck the company from the inside out!

 

[Fox12]

... I'ts called work. It's the same everywhere. You're expected to fill any hole that needs filling. I'm a Home Depot cashier, and I don't think I've worked a register all week. I've pushed carts, worked receiving and freight, and worked my ass off loading customers in the gardening department, where you basically spend eight hours, non stop, throwing bags of rock, sand, and mulch for ungrateful customers. That's life, get used to it. Part of working retail is working in multiple departments simultaneously, regardless of pay grade. I know store managers who occasionally work a register or load a customer because that's where their needed. You do what's needed, when it's needed, without complaining, and then you get paid.

You want higher pay? You want a promotion? Earn it. We all have to pay our dues. The fact is that you're a retail clerk, and you're worth a dime a dozen (much like myself). Sometimes that means you have to grit your teeth and get it done. It builds character, and it shows work ethic. I'll tell you now, one of the most annoying things in the world, when I'm working my ass off, is listening to other employees complain about it being too hard, or seeing them refuse to work, because that means more work for me.

Sometimes it really sucks, I know, I'm dealing with it now. I sympathize with you. But you have to see it as stepping stone towards whatever your goals are.

 

[Vault101]

aha I work in a bottle shop in Australia, casual rates are higher than full time rates, I get payed $25 an hour, I have read the riot act to my manager on a few occasions, and they accepted it and apologized and we worked talked things out like adults, 2 reasons, one I work hard at everything within my pay grade and two me and my entire workplace are unionized, I never understood people that don't like unions, it seems insane

while I have little life experience I guess the thing with unions is like a tug of war

unions make demands, employers say "fuck it" and just fire them because they have no choice and can't/wont meet much demands

as I said...tug of war...

 

[Robert Marrs]

I take it you have never worked in retail. When you get hired as a cashier or floor manager or ANYTHING in retail it does not mean you just do that and never anything else. Nearly everyone in retail is doing a little bit of everything. It shouldn't matter to you what other people are getting paid because its not your business. You get employed and your employer places a certain value on you. All you can try to do is increase your value by being the best worker you can be.

Now of course if you have a shitty boss its all for nothing and walmart does not exactly have a stellar reputation when it comes to treatment of employees but it doesn't seem like you stayed there very long. So you never even got the opportunity to find out and now you have a very short stint of employment in which you were fired for insubordination. That's going to look great in the future. Honestly though I don't really know all the circumstances and I have left jobs in which I felt like I was being treated poorly so maybe you did the right thing. Just don't apply the "its not my job" logic in the future because it will get you nowhere.

 

[The Random Critic]

I work in a... not so typical place where every normal person would works.

With the expection of my pay, which is actually minimum wage or below. I very much enjoy my job, the only complain is actually that I wish I can work more often...

And after I read all of this, while I have not so much in the ways of feeling, or having a opinion on this. But I would point out that thanks to this thread I would now get a car so I could be full time there. (and work even harder, even #Ican'tgetpromotionthere)

Just some pointless sharing and rambling, nothing much else to add really.

 

[m0ng00se]

yo retail is bananas

there's like 3 major boss types, only one is any good. there's young blood with way too much ambition thinking they can claw their way up through the corporate ladder from their dead end retail assistant manager position, there's tired old cynical people who realized just how dead-end their jobs are a long time ago, and there's cool gen-x types who know their job is bullshit and get out of your way as long as the numbers look good.

if you're an idiot you want one of the first two because you can be terrible at everything and just sweep constantly and nobody gives a shit what you do. if you're actually good at anything then you want the last guy because they'll give you a lot of slack and get you transfers in the company and stuff if you ever move.

thanks to the moronic politics of corporate positions, if you're not management and you make a good impression on corporate it paints a target on your back for every asshole trying to climb over each other for a promotion. i've put myself on more than one shit list by just making sales like normal while some chode in a suit is making a mess of everything.

anyways your job is full of deadbeat jackasses who try to feel big because this shitty 9-5 at the mercy of fat old ladies has ruined their self esteem, and if you're like a part time student or something who won't get knifed for the store you have a bad work ethic

 

[Splitzi]

Stories like this actually make me feel better about working at Barnes and Noble. Aside from managers and head cashiers everyone else is a part-time bookseller and can be used in any department. We get slotted into positions we're better at (I work receiving) and we cover each other all the time. The only position that requires separate training is the cafe. The managers treat everyone pretty well and if we hit some corporate goal they order pizza for everyone. Now the pay is barely above minimum wage and they're cutting hours, but pretty much anyone except an octogenarian could replace us and I'm fine with that. I'll work there until I find something better or can stay committed in school.

 

[Johnny Impact]

I worked at Wal-Mart for six months when I was a kid. Worst job I ever had. The rule of the day is underpay, undertrain, underequip, and understaff. I'm amazed the place stays open, it's so hampered by its own stupidity.

For example, I worked register for a while. At any given time perhaps one item out of three hundred won't scan properly at the register. This probably doesn't sound like much, but when you work the express register during the holidays, you will never have fewer than ten people waiting in your line, nor will any of those people have less than 2/3 of a cartload (during holidays, the ten-items-or-less line becomes the we're-each-spending-$900-but-will-expect-express-service-because-that's-what-the-sign-says line). Your job is scan-scan-scan-scan as fast as you can for nine hours straight. Believe me, there were A LOT of no-scans.

Some items wouldn't scan at all, but the worst were the ones that scanned at the wrong price. Wal-Mart cashiers are not allowed to change prices, or leave their registers, or void scanned items. By not allowed, I don't mean you can fudge your way through if nobody's watching. I mean you need a register override key, which you do not have. Once the item is scanned, you can't remove it. You must have a CSM's help to resolve the situation. At Christmas time there are 25 registers going full steam and only 2 CSMs.

What all this means is the unimaginable money-raking machine that is the Wal-Mart express register (they told me once I had scanned over 20,000 items in one shift, god only knows the combined value) halts immediately and totally at least once every half hour. It does not move one millimeter until a CSM finishes helping the 4 cashiers who asked for help before you and finally hustles over to insert her magic key and press one button. This can take anywhere from five minutes to over half an hour. Imagine standing helplessly at a register for thirty whole minutes in a dopey blue vest, trying to look apologetic, while the shitstorm of Christmas constipates around you. Nobody in line knows why they're waiting, they only know that Christmas shopping is miserable, they are miserable, this place is miserable, and YOU are the visible symbol of everything that is wrong in their lives.

I'm not sure I dare estimate the amount of money Wal-Mart lost hour after hour, day after day, all season long, by not paying a couple more department monkeys to get the items to scan right, or a couple more CSMs eight bucks an hour to keep the registers unclogged.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

You need a job with a union.

I work retail, grocery. I've been to a few other retail jobs, and I trust me when I tell you I love where I am. The union means pretty much you really have to try to be fired to get fired. Management doesn't want to bother with it unless it's actually worth it.

What I have is essentially a really lax job, that so long as we don't go out of business I'm all right.

Funny thing is the young kids that get hired, some of them are filled with the same piss and vinegear I had as a teenager. Always try to explain to them, this is the best place because at least here they can't work you to the bone.

Petco... Motherfuck that place. Hired to do overnight stock 12 am to 7am.... We always went till like 10am. Then the fat ***** manager walks in with her coffee and berates us while, mind you, were exhausted and plain beat. I'm an abrasive guy, but I'm doing such a helluva good job keeping my mouth shut. I had enough when the night manager made this other girl cry, while granted she wasn't that good at her job, it really ticked me off. You don't treat people like this, period. So I quit, and the guy was genuinely shocked I was going to stick to a two week notice.

Stories like this actually make me feel better about working at Barnes and Noble. Aside from managers and head cashiers everyone else is a part-time bookseller and can be used in any department. We get slotted into positions we're better at (I work receiving) and we cover each other all the time. The only position that requires separate training is the cafe. The managers treat everyone pretty well and if we hit some corporate goal they order pizza for everyone. Now the pay is barely above minimum wage and they're cutting hours, but pretty much anyone except an octogenarian could replace us and I'm fine with that. I'll work there until I find something better or can stay committed in school.

Barnes was actually an okay place to work, but there were certain things about it that didn't sit well with me. The selling/pushing of the membership cards. They're plainly not that good of a deal and I couldn't in good conscience shill something, especially when I hate it when I'm shilled things.

That said, I did like helping customers find the books they wanted. Like a little khaki wearing Batman, solving the mystery.

 

[barbzilla]

Thats called a job. Get used to it.

They sign your paychecks so you do what they want. If you dont like it then you should find another job or wait until you get fired.

Sorry, but you are just plain wrong here. Unless they specifically stated that he would have to preform these "extra" duties, they have no right to "force" him to comply with their wishes that he do so. What they are doing is finding ways around hiring a proper work force, just so they can keep their overhead lower than expected. This usually results in the manager getting praise, bonuses, and eventually promotions. This also a huge part to why we have so many managers who are complete shit. They aren't being forced to be held accountable for their labor and workforce laws since people are so afraid to lose their jobs in this economy.

Anyhow, I really hope for your sake, that your boss doesn't abuse you the way you just told other people to allow themselves to be abused.