My daughter did something stupid!

Parent Cafe
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<p>My daughter is a junior in college and lives at home. She had a job as a clerk at a local drug store. While at work she used a spray hand sanitizer which was for sale at the register a couple of times for herself and was caught on video. She was called into the “office” by the manager and the lost prevention coordinator. She admitted to using the product and was asked to pay for the items. She also had to sign a report regarding the incident. They told her she was suspended from her job and they would contact her in a few days to let her know if she would be fired. After she got home she discussed the situation with us and our suggestion would be to go back into work at quit, which she did. She did not give them two weeks notice. They called a few days later and told her she was terminated. She is a good kid and just didn’t think and she is pretty upset over the whole thing. </p>

<p>My question is when she is filling out applications for employment for a new job does she have to include this employer?? She only worked there for 3 months. Can an employer do a background check to find out where someone has worked in the past, and the circumstances for leaving? My concern is not finding another part-time job, but a professional job in the near future. </p>

<p>Any advice would be appreciated.</p>

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<p>I think she should leave it off her resume. I also think it’s unlikely that any future employer will learn about what happened.</p>

<p>I also think that her employer overreacted. Seems to me that they could have just told her to stop using the sanitizers that were on sale. Considering the amount of germs that one can get handling money, seems that it would have been wise for the store to have supplied sanitizers for cashiers to use. After all, if the cashiers had brought their own, they could have been accused of stealing them.</p>

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<p>She was foolish to sign the report. She should just have paid for the items and resigned. Future employers may be told that she is “ineligible for rehire”. Do not list this job on future job applications if it is not necessary. Your daughter may be ineligible to receive security clearance for federal government and federal government contractor positions. Signing the form was a serious mistake. Your daughter will be required to list this job for many positions of employment. If she does not disclose it, she will be subject to dismissal for untruthfulness on her job application. The employer’s action may suggest that more was going on, but that this was all that they could conclusively prove. Every week employees are escorted out by security officials for these transgressions (theft or untruthfulness on the employment application). Many posters are giving you inaccurate advice regarding your daughter’s obligation to report this on future job applications and even on graduate school apps. Depends on the job or school. It is, however, much more serious than many on this thread realize. Do not let your daughter apply for jobs requiring a security clearance without disclosing this. Some states, by law, only go back ten (10) years, but the feds require full disclosure.</p>

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<p>Don’t worry about it. If you give them permission they can search IRS records, but that’s not going to happen with clerk-type jobs. And there’s probably huge turnover anyway; a year from now no one will have a clue who she was. Hopefully that will be her one job experience from hell.</p>

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<p>I agree with Northstarmom. There is no obligation on your daughter’s part to mention this in the future. And it’s unfortunate that your daughter was caught in such an overblown and outrageous situation. It is extreme for an employer to consider the use of hand sanitzer “theft.”</p>

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<p>Icy,
This was only her second job and I am sure she was quite intimidated with them taking her back into the office. She probably didn’t even know she could have left without signing the report. She was told that the previous management would have called the police and they would have taken her out in handcuffs!</p>

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<p>Maybe not advice per se, but I sympathize and hope for the best for your daugher. To be working and going to school is enough, without having to worry about your future being impaired.</p>

<p>I doubt any harm will come. If she is worried and does not feel the reference would be positive, my advice is just don’t mention this employer as a reference. It’s not like your resume is a rap sheet.</p>

<p>It’s reasonable to counsel employees on the personal use of store products. After all, I wouldn’t want to think that the product I buy has already been used by someone. However, some employers take the power they have over minimum wage teen/early twenty year olds way too far. Instead of cultivating good work habits and relationships, they lord their power, use of humiliation, and submission over them. I’ve seen it happen in <em>some</em> (not all) of the handful of jobs my own kids and their friends have had. Unfortunately.</p>

<p>She made a mistake. It’s not a moral or character issue. Probably any of us working as youngsters can remember doing something similar. I worked in food service and believe me, much worse happens. Trust me… I worked in the days before plastic gloves. :eek:</p>

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<p>did this happen at a large national chain or a locally/privately owned store.</p>

<p>I can’t imagine a boss getting so upset about hand sanitizer. And if it’s a major chain, name them and I won’t be shopping there anytime soon… jeez</p>

<p>I’m sure if she had asked to use it, they would have had no problem.</p>

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<p>It was Rite-Aid, previously Eckerd. We are no longer shopping at Rite-Aid either.</p>

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<p>She didn’t think and she did something stupid – but it doesn’t seem to me like it’s the end of the world. I agree that this employer was extreme.</p>

<p>However. My advice to all parents with teenagers and young adults starting out in the working world is to go over some basics about working with the kids before they start a job. As an employer of young people, it seems to me that the kids haven’t had much need to strictly follow rules, and they just don’t seem to think about a lot of things. They really do need to understand the concept of dedicating their paid hours to behaviors that enhance the employer’s interests. Parents could help their child be a success in their early jobs by going over some of those basics at home before the child starts working. </p>

<p>One of my current issues is cell phone use in the store. The darlings seem to consider it an imposition and unreasonable to be asked to put their phones in a basket at the front desk where they will be unusable during working hours. Hello! Whose time is this anyway??? I found the phone of one of my younger workers in the bathroom this weekend – with texts and calls to and from all kinds of friends that had been received and made while she was on the clock. </p>

<p>The kids are shocked when they are told that it’s against rules and regs to be punching/signing in and out for other people. I can be relatively casual about it – I only have 1-3 employees per shift most of the time – but they should KNOW that there is a rule and the rule should be followed.</p>

<p>They know they can’t smoke in the store, and it’s against policy to do it during working hours, but why can’t they have a quick drag when they take the garbage out to the dumpster.</p>

<p>They know they are supposed to pay for anything they take from the store – but I am being overly obnoxious to tell them that a manager must ring them up, with their name on the receipt (and therefore in the customer data base) with the receipt stapled to the stapled closed bag. Don’t I trust them?</p>

<p>Most companies have an employee manual that explicitly discusses things like this. Every new employee should read it! (Ok, that was my vent for the night. Especially the bit about the cell phones!)</p>

<p>I do have a quick little talk for every new hire about what will get them fired. Some are hilarious – like if you lie down and take a nap in the dog food aisle, you will be fired. Others are deadly serious. If you mistreat or mishandle an animal, you will be fired. And then there’s the ones that no one really quite believes. If you smoke pot in the store, even if it’s in the bathroom, and even if you use air freshener, you will be fired. </p>

<p>Trust me – I have fired people for all three reasons and more!</p>

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<p>Adding that I used to work in H-R at a Fortune 500 company. I think that unless your D plans to apply to the same company that accused her of theft or unless she leaves that company on her resume, it is very unlikely that she will have any repercussions from what happened.</p>

<p>What happened to her was absolutely ridiculous, and I blame the management, not your daughter All they had to do was to tell her to stop. It’s not as if she was sneaking Ipods out of the store or charging her friends 99 cents when they bought Louis Vitton bags.</p>

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<p>To the OP: You are getting very poor, albeit sympathetic, advice on this thread. Consider contacting an employment attorney as soon as possible to determine whether anything can be done to minimize this. Her age, if under 18, will help. However, if she is over 18, it will hurt.Different states have different laws, but the feds always require full disclosure. You have an additional concern in that Rite Aid is a multi- state employer, and this incident, therefore, is not easy to hide. I strongly recommend paying for an hour’s time with an employment attorney in your state to ascertain whether or not your daughter still has any options. P. S. Are you sure that your daughter is being totally truthful with you? This thought will cross many minds in the future. Also, regarding the assertion that this is only her second job, experience is costly and most substantially affects the most inexperienced. Every week I have knowledge of employees being escorted out by security for failing to report and disclose “past due” bills, or, unpaid bills from years ago. These positions are low level positions requiring a federal government security clearance.</p>

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<p>Icy,
Yes, my daughter is telling me the entire truth about this situation. As I stated she is a junior in college so she is over 18. I think contacting a lawyer at this point is a bit extreme. Let me guess are you a lawyer???</p>

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<p>Almostlaunched: You posted here seeking advice and I gave you the best that I could. If your daughter’s future isn’t even worth an hour with a more knowledgeable source, then let her and you learn the hard way. I have no sympathy for you.</p>

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<p>That can’t be serious. Using a hand sanitizer? A part time, minimum wage, student? Legal action?</p>

<p>Good lord, what is the world coming to?</p>

<p>If a young student gets ‘turned in’ to the feds for using hand sanitizer unwittingly during her shift… and it has long term repercussions… I really don’t care to do business with companies who destroy young people like that. It also doesn’t do a whole lot for my perception of government, or humanity in general.</p>

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<p>doubleplay: The issue is not whether or not she used a hand sanitizer; it is now an issue of theft and dishonesty. Re: your comment about being “turned into the feds”, you need to reread the prior posts as you have misinterpreted them. Signing a confession is not wise in this matter as it can be used to conclusively prove theft and dishonesty, absent coercion to sign which might be successfully argued to rescind the signed confession and get an opportunity to resign. But giving advice to a fool is foolish.</p>

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<p>Procedure in these types of places is often to get the employee in the back room and make him/her believe the cops are coming to arrest him/her unless a statement is signed. It isn’t like they have to read the employee Miranda rights. It can be very intimidating to a young adult.</p>

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<p>Personally, I would prefer to deal with a clerk who used hand sanitizer.</p>

<p>I can’t believe this would be Rite-Aid’s policy. Sounds like a power-hungry store manager. All they had to do was tell her she can’t use the hand sanitizer unless she pays for the bottle. Duh.</p>

<p>I’d call the store and ask for a copy of the report she signed, then you’d know how much trouble it could cause for her in the future and whether it would be worth contacting an attorney. A lawyer isn’t going to be able to tell you much anyway unless they know exactly what she signed.</p>

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<p>my sympathies to your daughter for this new and unwelcome work place lesson. However, I do think you should consult an attorney. I am sure she has already maxed out the “lesson learned.” Now you need to protect her long term interests vocationally. Sorry…but I feel it is warranted…as you may be able to ameliorate consequences that are out of proportion to the incident.</p>

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<p>Muffy333: Although Miranda probably doesn’t come into play here, you are correct in your implication that an experienced employment attorney can help this young lady retract her confession if coercion can be shown, or, at least, convincingly argued. Faline 2: Obviously I agree with your posted advice.</p>