<p>ICY - stop scaring this mother. This was an incredibly small event and not worth a second of her time nor a penny of her money. Ignore it and move on. Tell her not to worry about it nor for her to put it on any application in the future. If it is ever brought up (it won’t), have her explain the situation. It will be nothing more than a laugh to the employer. Good Lord, hand sanitizer? What would the worth be? Maybe two cents? Sorry, this is not worth mentioning. Period. Mom, relax and move on.</p>
<p>jollymon, icy is one of several adults on this thread who would consult an attorney on behalf of a young adult child who signed a statement over such a silly infraction. Please understand that on CC people can respectfully disagree about all matters. Many attorneys I know would consult with a parent on this sort of thing for very little money out of courtesy. There are many jobs that conduct comprehensive security studies on applicants now that are private enterprises, as well as huge applications that must be filled out for some professional affiliations. It is always wise to have legal advice on these matters. I have a friend working for the CIA who drove his delivery truck into the plate glass window of a 7/11 at about age 20 (oops.) Work place stupid things happen…although this violation is indeed absurdly trivial–it needs to be handled. We enjoyed telling the Feds who conduct face to face interviews of scores of references and employers about it since it was indeed on his work history records! He got the job of course.</p>
<p>jollymon - while you believe this is insignificant, think into the future. When the OP’s daughter is interviewing for some job, and this incident comes up, how do you know the propective employer will have a good laugh? A good prospective employer will know they’re hearing one side of the story. If they are interested in the other side, it’s likely Rite-Aid will only verify employment dates, but since the OP and her daughter don’t know what’s in the statement she signed, we don’t know that Rite-Aid won’t release it if asked for. If this girl is up against another equally-qualified candidate for a job, and this incident is discovered, do you think the employer is going to take the time to find out what really happened? No… they’re going to hire the other candidate - saves them time.</p>
<p>It can all very easily become a he said/she said event where any future employers don’t want to take the time to find out what really happened, especially if they have other equally qualified applicants.</p>
<p>I would never lie on any application about such employment. Just put it down and if it asks for reason for leaving just put “terminated”. They probably won’t ask anything about it and you can sleep well. I have had jobs handling cash where I had to be bonded. Lying about something like this by omission could cause a bond company to turn you down anf that would be bad.</p>
<p>Not an attorney, but I’d be concerned if someone had a signed statement whose contents I wasn’t fully aware of.</p>
<p>Well, if all the Rite-Aids that have replaced Eckerds here, in my neck of the woods, are any indication-- the whole chain will be out of business before she ever starts a career. What a major disaster that chain is, at least around here. They must have fired all their staff, because it takes forever to get checked out; no one ever seems to be working the pharmacy section (aside from one pharmacist) who doesn’t work the cash register; and all the shelves look half-empty (and they took over several months ago). We stopped going there. As I said, I would not be at all surprised to see that company go out of business before she even graduates.</p>
<p>my first post undergraduate job…waiting tables at a place near Vanderbilt…required me to take a Lie Detector exam and of course the first question was…have you ever been accused of stealing? Have you ever been terminated? Have you ever smoked pot or used illegal drugs…have you blah blah blah. I was 23 and went into this with zero awareness and answered all questions…and was pretty taken aback and given no notice this was about to happen when I came back for an interview.</p>
<p>Let’s summarize:</p>
<p>Daughter works at a drug store.
Daughter uses some hand sanitizer at the checkout counter without buying the product or asking permission from her manager. She did this several times and was caught on video. I’m guessing this video tape will not be deleted anytime soon (for legal reasons).
Daughter was confronted by the manager and asked to pay for the product. The OP did not say if daughter actually paid when asked. Let’s presume she did pay for the sanitizer.
Daughter signed a written statement describing her behavior. Didn’t Senator Larry Craig do the same thing?
Daughter was suspended and was told to wait for a determination about her employment status. The family advised her to quit before the manager and the regional human resources department could terminated her. </p>
<p>Questions:</p>
<p>Was the decision to quit predicated on the idea that quitting without the requisite two week notice was a way to avoid having a theft charge appear on her employment record? She quit before HR could make a determination, so her actions were moot?</p>
<p>If a customer was paying for stuff at the checkout counter and picked up the hand sanitizer that your daughter used a “couple” of times, would she have told the customer that the product was “used” and to select another bottle?</p>
<p>If she was not on duty and a customer bought that bottle, that would be OK, wouldn’t it? So what if the sanitizer was used a couple of times (once, twice, three times, more?). </p>
<p>If she had a headache, taking two aspirin from a 500 count bottle would still leave 498. No real harm done, right?</p>
<p>well, federal government jobs aside (which for some reason seem to be 99% of the concern. I didn’t know the Feds dominated the employment sector?) is there a real need to spend $$$$$ for a couple dollar infraction? What’s next? legal consultants for taking two free samples instead of one?</p>
<p>She messed up, yup. However, how dramatic do we wish to go to right this wrong? Having worked in retail my early years, I found many in management to be the essential hall monitors whom took it upon themselves to play God. Quit feeding the beast and move on. Unless there is more to this story, it is doubtful this thing will play that far… Rite aid has to pay lawyers too and has much deeper pockets. I doubt this will go farther than the store files and a do not rehire… It’s a cost thing…</p>
<p>I learned this years ago as a young manager in retail. Every night you closed the books and things never balanced at $0. One night I stayed over 4 hours trying to find where $20 went missing. I had the $100,000 days transactions down to a few cents difference after 12 hours(4 hours ot)…I was so proud of myself. </p>
<p>Until I came in the next day and talked to the boss. It seems I spent roughly $120 of labor (my time) to find $20. As he told me, I’d rather give you $20 to put in the tills as he would be saving money… a valuable lesson learned. </p>
<p>I really really doubt rite aid is going to spend the dollars doing anything with this outside of some poor rite aid management person who gets their jollies off of doing this as their own life is without any future. It will more than likely sit there, not worth the money to take any farther… </p>
<p>Yes, I guess there is always a possibility it could come back and haunt you. So just don’t run for president.</p>
<p>Your daughter should have called their bluff. Gave the manager the finger and called the FBI for false imprisonment.</p>
<p>If they do call the police, demand a lawyer and the cops can’t talk to you. And when you get the not guilty because they can’t prove anything beyond all reasonable doubt, not to mention mens rea, go after the manager for defamation of character. Make it cost them 10 to get their 3, and then lose their 3. Essentially, it’ll cost them 10 to get their…nothing. </p>
<p>Yes, I’m a future lawyer, I am painfully vindictive and I DO NOT play fair.</p>
<p>I know someone whose company was bought by a fortune 500. The new company did a background check on everyone and one valuble employee of many years had a shoplifting charge pop up from when they were 19. The company fired the person.</p>
<p>I don’t know if the police were involved when the person was charged with shoplifting but I would speak to an attorney and get advice and I would definitely get a copy of what my daughter signed.</p>
<p>Michuncle, the decision was made to quit because she knew she was in the wrong and knew she would probably be terminated. I don’t know what my daughter would have done if someone bought one of the sanitizers. In her defense the management at this particular store would open bottles of perfume ( NOT TESTERS) and spray them indiscriminately for no apparent reason, and this was considered ok.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is relevent, but I have a friend whose teenager shoplifted a small item in a store that is part of a large chain. She was apprehended by the store employees and forced to sign a confession. When the mother arrived to pick up the daughter she was asked to sign the paper as well and that they would not call the police. She thought that was that and disciplined her daughter and was thankful that was all that happened.
About six months later they received a letter fronm some firm that was demanding that they send a check for $75 to compensate the store for their trouble and their security expenses. She showed me the letter and it looked like blackmail - pay or else we will step this up to a legal issue ( with your signed confession). I was shocked when I saw it. It seemed so sleazy. </p>
<p>We did some research and found out that many stores do this now and that $75 was on the low end. Some reports said they were required to pay up to $400. The item never left the store and was not damaged - so it had nothing to do with recovering property. </p>
<p>My reason for describing this is that she was surprised that this happened as she thought that signing the paper was a technicality and nobody told her this would follow. She knew her daughter made a stupid mistake, but thought it was past them when this letter arrived.</p>
<p>Consider having D return to talk to the manager, explaining that she would like to apologize, and to request a copy of the paper which she signed without reading, and signed under duress, because she was too scared/upset to comprehend what was happening. She could mention that she has received advice from an attorney (via CC). I would suggest she do all the talking, but you could accompany her and simply wait by the door/register/office so that they knew of your presence. </p>
<p>It is entirely possible that her apology combined with the fact that she has received legal advice might cause the manager to simply return even the original paper to her. If not, she would then have a copy of what she signed available for her to review. Then, a visit to an attorney may be in order. See what she signed, what the significance of it is. A letter from an attorney about the legality of the form, of the coercion involved in her signing the form etc may cause the store to relinquish the form as well. It might not take much for the details of her incident to be removed from her file. Especially if management sprays on perfume from bottles sold to customers as an “example” to the young adult staff. </p>
<p>She made a stupid mistake. She realizes this. She has learned a huge lesson. Then she can move on.</p>
<p>I would be very surprised if the store would give her back the letter and accept an apology at this point. The store where my daughter works checks their purses when they leave to make sure they are not stealing. My office has a yearly required in service on office theft. </p>
<p>Employee theft cost stores lots of dollars every year and the management takes it very seriously.</p>
<p>It’s a bluff. If restitution was made for the stolen item, step it up first. Sue them for mail fraud. Then they’ll come crawling to you to settle. At that point, tell them you’ll drop the mail fraud charges if they dismiss the theft charges. Theft is at best a minor felony. Mail fraud is a FEDERAL offense. Actions have consequences. Clobber them in the head with them.</p>
<p>By the time I got my first professional job outside of college, I had accrued at least a dozen part time, holiday, and summer jobs. Let’s see… IHOP hostess, florist clerk, typist for law office, piano teacher, tons of accompanist jobs, bar keep at two places, housecleaner for invalid lady, front desk in dental practice, secretary at time share, typist for athletic department, lifeguard on and on. I took lots of holiday and summer jobs. There is no way that I put every single job on my first application. It didn’t have room, and I would have never been able to provide dates, names, phone numbers, etc. I put the most ‘important’ ones, in my opinion. I didn’t include, for instance, the florist job because I was just filling in for someone through the winter holidays.</p>
<p>I did get a security clearance (although not the highest level- I didn’t need that for my job). My omissions had nothing to do with covering up- if they looked into my taxes, they would have naturally found all that. It didn’t seem to affect my employment or security clearance. </p>
<p>I’m not condoning lying, but think about all the kids who have worked 10-20 piddling jobs by the time they are 22. Do you think if they leave something off inadvertantly, they’re going to be in trouble?</p>
<p>^I did not list those jobs on my resume either because they were insignificant. But that was before 9/11, now everybody checks for everything. I do know of a girl friend who did not disclose the truth about her previous employment(she left some off, fudged a little here and there), which against what I adviced, but she got the job and stayed there for 3 years. She finally quit to stay home and raise her kids. This happened very recently too,post 9/11. So I think most employees check to make sure you have your degree.</p>
<p>doubleplay, I was thinking the same thing! I cannot remember all the part time jobs I had in high school. I worked in a bunch of clothing stores for the discount and I changed jobs as I changed styles! I would be hard pressed to come up with all the names of them, not to mention the “hostess” jobs at restaurants in the mall. I was a serial job applicant back in the day ;)</p>
<p>I guess it’s all stored somewhere, my IRS records? I never got fired, but I sure quit alot!! That probably wouldn’t look good to any employer.</p>
<p>This situation sure sounds crazy, but I guess if it was my son, I would probably talk to somebody just to reassure him (and me).</p>
<p>A friend of mine at work applied for the Marines OCS program. They had people interview his neighbors, friends, former employers and anyone else had contact with since he was about 16. It might seem little now, but you never know later.</p>