Nasty Ass Thieves: "I Told You So" Just Isn't Worth It Anymore
My first retail job I started at 15, and a guy in his 40s started at the same time. From the moment I met him something seemed 'off', and I knew in my gut there was something wrong about him. I told the managers my misgivings, but since there was nothing to back it up, my concerns were filed in the shredder of "whatever." After 9 months in the job he was offered role of assistant manager (we had 5) so was given keys and left to cash up etc.
He had by this time creeped me out tremendously by brushing past me in a subtle but deliberate way in the stock room and basically touching my ass. I did complain to the other managers who did take it seriously and never rota'd us on together again.
Anyway two months after he was handed the manager's position guess what? He's closing on the Sunday and he doesn't come in Monday. The safe is empty. The week's takings are gone and they of course had to then get the police involved. Turns out this was the third store this guy had done the same thing to.
I didn't even bother to remind management that I had warned them there was something bad about him.
--RHUer
Is it normal to get higher positions within less of a year of work?
Posted by: Lightning | Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 06:38 AM
@Lightning Yeah it is, depending on the store. At my store, some people shot up the ranks despite safe guards in place to prevent rapid rise as typically you have to be employed with us for six months before switching departments/getting certain promotions but they'd barely be working with us for three or four months before getting promoted. And of course, it bit my management in the ass more than once, especially the time we basically gave a junior thief the keys to both money and cigarettes.
Posted by: Kiddo | Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 09:23 AM
So I'll be the guy to say something negative here.
Your "feeling" at the start that he might be "off" was dealt with appropriately. Unless you can give them concrete evidence for what the issue is, anyone can have such a feeling. And, in many cases, its a subconscious bias against a person for baseless reasons. Subconscious racism, homophobia, & sexism are common. But so is subconscious descrimination based on superficial standards of beauty. A LOT of people seem to think that an unattractive middle aged man by himself is intrinsically creepy despite without any other behaviors. That you were ultimately correct here does not mean they handled the complaint incorrectly.
Now, the complaint regarding his unwarranted unwelcomme unprofessional sexual harassment in the stock room? Totally a valid concern to take to management. Though without further evidence (such as security footage that shows it was clearly deliberate), then their reaction to the complaint was ALSO correct. They separated you two so that your well-being was protected but they, in many places, wouldn't have enough just from a single report to terminate his employment.
What they did wrong was trust him implicitly too quickly. They didn't do a stringent enough background check. Promoting him to that level of authority, that quickly, was wrong. But if they needed a new manager, and his behavior had been until then completely trustworthy... I can't fault them still. Promoting from within encourages company loyalty and improves morale. If he was the best available option (open availability, no attendance issues, no other behavioral issues, etc) then the decision may have been sound, unfortunately.
Posted by: kitai306 | Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 10:52 AM
Hopefully getting the police involved put an end to his crap.
Posted by: Misty Meanor | Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 05:25 PM