If In Doubt-Terminate

I've spoken many times before about people who have gotten a raw deal from that big Happy Retailer we all know and love. Here is someone I haven't mentioned yet. When I heard what happened to him, I shook my head in disbelief. It seems that Joe worked for that bundle of retail heaven- Walmart- for almost eight years. He had started in grocery and quickly worked his way into being a department manager. He took a chronically under performing dairy department, and had the area making a profit for the first time in years. To understand what that means, realize that most of the time, if the dairy department is breaking even, most stores are happy. Between price matches, wic, food stamps and many other reasons, the dairy department is not a huge money maker. Why do you think most stores keep it in the back of the building? It is so that you pass all the other things that you didn't realize you needed until you passed them on your crusade to the back of the store for milk. Most people have to have milk, that's a fact of life. But if the store keeps it up front and handy, how are you suppose to realize that you also need batteries, chocolate cookies, and probably cold medicine? So there you go. At any rate, back to Joe. Joe was not only making money with his department, he was also saving Walmart with their P&L. (To the uninitiated, P&L is profit and loss ) To quit speaking retail, that means that Joe was able to make money in the department and also, and more importantly, he was able to not lose money in the area by rotating his stock, keeping the dates current and not losing track of product. But enough of Retail 101. In a nut shell, Joe was doing a phenomenal job in his area. If only he had agreed to do the comanager at the time, he might still be stocking milk and rotating yogurt. But Joe had a girlfriend, a conscious, and a sense of right and wrong. So Joe said no, and the next thing he knew- he had to go. Walmart wasn't sure what to do about the problem, so they took care of it in the way that works best for them-Joe was terminated. Not for doing a great job-no. Joe was demoted from running the department, transferred, then harangued until he was terminated. If Joe was one minute late in clocking out for lunch, he was given a verbal warning. Before he knew what was happening, Joe was given a decision day(Walmart speak for a day off with pay to decide if you want to keep working for them) then on the very next opportunity, Joe was an ex-employee. But don't look to see that little story told in a commercial any time soon. Joe has a job now. Actually, Joe has three jobs now. They cover his bills, feed his family, and give him the luxury of knowing that he was right, and Walmart was wrong. He'd like to have the luxury of only working one job, but he's hopeful that in spite of recent elections, the economy will turn around soon. When it does, he hopes to quit at least one of his other jobs. And when I told him that I couldn't wait to write about his story, he said he would thank me later.