Thieves triumph and corporate overlords shaft the hard-working. If anything, this cashier's story of robbery at gunpoint lends credence to common cynicism. The saga continues and the real bad guys' occupations should come as no surprise. From violent thugs to white collar jerk-offs, scum comes in all shapes and sizes.
As described in my May 9 article, a North Dallas convenience store was recently knocked off with yours truly serving up corporate cash. I was alone, holding down third shift on my seventh day of work since hire. In a rather lucrative lick, the robbers got $348 for their trouble. Undeniably, the security of that cash was my responsibility. However, demonstrating proper security procedures to a new employee working the high risk shift is the duty of management.
I was scheduled to work the night after the robbery. My boss told me to stay home due to an ongoing corporate investigation into the incident. Before long, I was told by phone when to pick up my first and only paycheck from this douchebag company. Like any company isn't a douchebag.
There are three registers in the store; the robbers ravaged them all. The contents of the two registers left overnight, counted and left in their drawers by second shift every evening, should have been deposited in the drop box. Every extraneous bill in my register should have been dropped, leaving less than $50 in the till. I learn all this well after the robbery. Once the store's first robbery took place, the boss magically became gung-ho about practicing textbook cash-handling procedures. I was fired by corporate for giving the thieves a successful night. To be fair, my boss claimed he contested the firing, and I'm halfway inclined to believe him.
I have to wonder if I put my former coworkers at risk. Surely, that score introduced another hook into the robbers' mouths.
The fact is that I promptly dropped an estimated $1,700 well before the masked men showed up. My transition from training on day shift to working alone on deep nights was rather swift. This training focused on efficiently handling deliveries and making coffee. Quite literally, the only security threat my boss prepared me for was ruthless gangs of scrawny ass, suburban teenagers shoplifting beer. The stories I heard about those hooligans were simply chilling.
Article comments
1 - klondikekitty
Thanks, Joe, right on, man!! I love the polite words you use to say the boss sucks, and the lawyers suck up to the boss!!
It would be totally awesome to put a group of 10 lawyers into the menial, degrading $7-an-hour jobs that the rest of us poor slobs are forced to accept in lieu of welfare or homelessness, and see how long they last before they realize what a joke the service industry is to blue-collar America!
It's easy to be legally proper and politically correct when you're living on a six-figure income, so I can understand why they would be reluctant to bite the hand that makes the payments on their Mercedes!!
Truly you are a voice in the wilderness, crying out for the majority of Americans who are wondering what has become of the middle class!! Rock on, brother, rock on!!
2 - Dave Nalle
Good article. I sure wish it was over in the Politics section where it belongs.
BTW, if you can write an article like this, I bet you could easily find a job paying way more than $7 an hour. And I'm not talking about th $10 they're paying at WalMart. Get a data entry or telemarketing job for $12-$15 an hour. You seem more than qualified and they even have late-shift work if that's what you like.
Time to escape the hellish cycle of abuse that is the convenience store.
Dave
3 - bliffle
The goal of management is to push the profits upward on the ladder and push the risks downward. That makes life hazardous for the lowest workers.
As for Wrongful Termination suits, The Law regards employment as an "at will" relationship that may be arbitrarily terminated by either party at any time, without notice, without termination pay, etc., just what you're owed for actual hours served.
As for judges, they are "reluctant to interfere in the rights of employers", i.e., when in doubt they decide in favor of employers. And there's always doubt.
4 - Ray Ellis
I agree with Dave, Joe. But I'd add you might actually have a future in politics. Considering our governor advocates all "law abiding" citizens should be allowed to carry pistols into bars, shurches, schools and hospitals, but nobody should be allowed to smoke in public--anywhere-- I have to think we've gone down Alice's rabbit hole. Also considering that one of the mayoral candidate's solution to crime is to tear down rundown apartments until; the problem is solved, and also considering that the yokels in Farmer's Branch passed that ordinance holding landlords responsible for illegal immigrants, and considering your own misfortune, I'd say it's time you become an activist.
Oh, hell-- just run for office.
5 - Joe Harris
Thanks for the kind words, ladies and gentlemen. Although the voices of reason fall on deaf ears, I won't be shutting the Hell up anytime soon. Voting is a lost cause, so let's storm the Bastille and use the governor's face as an ashtray.