Complaint Review: Wal-Mart - Sanford Florida

I started working for Wal-Mart, Store #860, in DeLand, Florida, on 11/7/2005. I was hired as a part-time seasonal cashier at $6.80. I was kept on as a permanent employee after the holiday season ended. I re-injured my back while working as a cashier & informed my personnel manager that I no longer wanted to work for Wal-Mart. During that process, I was made aware of a part-time position in the Vision Center. As I had previous optical experience, I applied for the position & was hired on the spot. This was in February of 2006. Within 1 year, my pay rate went from $6.80/hr. to $9.80, due "exceeds expecations" reports on my regualr evaluations. I was also promoted to a full-time employee shortly thereafter. I did very well at the DeLand Wal-Mart Vision Center, averaging approximately 42% of the monthly sales for my department out of a total of 4 sales associates. Sometime in April of 2006 I approached my manager (Vision Center Manager), Larry Becker, about how I could earn more money or the possibility of being promoted to manager of another Vision Center. I was referred to my District Vision Center Manager, Robert Albury, who after speaking with him, advised me of an opening at the Sanford location (Store #857). I was formally offered the position in June of 2007, at the rate of $16.80/hr. It should also be noted that I would be required to work a minimum of 45/hrs./week, with overtime compensation after 40 hours. I began my management position on July 21st. I had not previously attended the 4 month "Manager Trainee Program". This 4 month training program was not a requirement for "specialty" divisions & was not recommended or offered to me because of my physical limiations (serious back problems).

However, at the time I was offered the position, I was told by my new District Manager, Tami Berry, that in lieu of the "Manager Trainee Program", she would visit me at the Sanford store once each week for a few months to teach all the things I otherwise would have learned from the trainee program. My former District Manager, Robert Albury, also told me he would be my "mentor" & that he, too, would visit me once each week for a period of months to additionally teach me about Wal-Mart policies, procedures, & department manager duties & expections. At no time did either of the District Managers, Ms. Berry or Mr. Albury, come to my store as promised & was not given any information, either verbal or written, as to Wal-Mart policies, procedures or expectations. The ONLY knowlege I had, therefore, was based upon what had been done while I was working at the DeLand location as an "Optical II" employee. In August of 2007, the entire Sanford store (#857) began a remodeling project, beginning with the Vision Center. In order to prepare for the remodeling, we had to move everything out of the old Vision Center into temporary quarters for approximately 2 weeks. On the night of the move out, I was assisted by Tami Berry & 3 other Vision Center managers from other stores as well as one of my employees, Stelios Brittain. During the move out, Ms. Berry had filled a shopping cart full of "trial" contact lenses to be disposed of.

These "trial" lenses are free to the company & free to the patients/customers. I noticed that several of the boxes were, in fact, my prescription & told Tami Berry I would like to keep them. She informed me I was not allowed to keep them, that it would be an "integrity" issue, & I therefore returned the boxes to the shopping cart. I even suggested they at least be donated to the Lions Club who generously assists individuals with their eye care needs if they cannot afford to do so themselves, or to some other similar charity. I was told "no". Stelios & I took the shopping cart to the trash compacter, located in the back of the store, & every single box of contact lenses was disposed of. I did NOT keep any for myself. I did, however, set aside 1 display box of the "Wild Eyes" contact lenses as I knew the optometrist would want to keep these. I, at no time, removed any of the boxes of trials from the shopping cart or any of the their contents from the store. I gave the box of the "Wild Eyes" contact lenses to the doctor, Dr. Vymaris Dominguez, the next day & she was happy they were not disposed of. A few weeks later, however, the doctor offered me & I accepted some trial contact lenses which were my prescription.

I informed the doctor that I had not been allowed to keep any of the lenses that were thrown out by Tami Berry. The doctor said this was NOT the same situation & that she was personally giving them to me. As this had previously been done by the 2 optometrists that worked at the DeLand store I did not see any conflict. Approximately 3 weeks ago, a good friend of mine, Susan Case, had her eyes examined by Dr. Brantley at the DeLand Vision Center & received a prescription for contact lenses, however she did not purchase the lenses at that time because of the expense. My friend showed me her prescription, & I copied the information (doctor's name, date of the exam & the prescription) & told her I would order some free trial lenses for her. I entered her name, address, phone number, date of birth, the doctor's name & date of the exam, along with the prescription into the "BOSS" system which is the system used for ordering eyeglasses or contact lenses. The system can also be used to order trial lenses either for the doctor's own supply or for an individual patient.

I could have, in fact, ordered the trial contact lenses for my friend through the same system we use to order the doctor's supply, which does not require any patient information, & no one would ever have known the difference. As it was NEVER my intention to deceive anyone, much less Wal-Mart, I ordered them as described above, which of course, left a permanent record. I had the option of ordering up to 6 contact lenses for each eye. As they were free to the company, I saw no harm in ordering 6 lenses for each eye (6 pairs) as her Rx was different for each eye. Yes, I certainly could have ordered a smaller amount, but as they were free, I did not see the difference. My friend was a first time contact lens wearer, so I also took that into consideration. First time wearers have a tendency to rip or tear the contact lenses. I advised one of my sales associates, Stelios (Stel) Brittain, to let me know when the trials arrived so I could just take them to my friend. When they arrived, I did take them to my friend.

While working at the Deland location, my former manager, Larry Becker (L.B.) had previously asked me to order several boxes of contact lenses for his daughter. To my knowlege, she was not a patient of any of the Wal-Mart optometrists, & I was just given a "verbal" Rx from L.B. & the contact lenses were ordered from the same system used for ordering the doctor's supply, which means there would not be any specific record that they were ordered for anyone in particular. This was done 4-5 times by me, at my boss's direction. Further, the doctor's "tech", Yvette, & I were also allowed to order free trial lenses for ourselves, again with express permission from L.B. Therefore, when I ordered the trial lenses for my friend, I did not realize I was doing anything wrong. As the company was not charged anything for them, & based upon what had been previously done at the DeLand Vision Center, I was not aware this was a violation of any kind, much less something I could or would be terminated for. Two days ago, on Tuesday, September 25th, after clocking in at 10:00 a.m., I was told the manager for Risk Management & Marketing, Joe Oaks, needed to speak with me immediately. Tami Berry & a store "co-manager", Betty, were also present. I was told to sit in a chair & to look directly at Joe & to not to look behind me at Tami or Betty.

Joe gave me a 15 minute lecture on the various types of cameras used by security & various types of "loss". At the time, I thought he was going to inform me one of my employees in the Vision Center had been stealing, either products or cash. I had NO idea where he was going with this line of discission. Finally, he came to the point. I was first accused of stealing the contact lenses that were in the shopping cart ami Berry told me to dispose of. He insinuated he had either camera footage &/or an actual witness who said otherwise. I told him this was simply not true & that Stel & I had disposed of ALL the contact lenses, as directed, & that I had NOT taken any of them for myself. Mr. Oaks, finally, said he believed me. The next point was regarding my order for the free trial contact lenses for my friend. I was asked why I did this. I told him this had previously done at my old store on a regular basis & that I had no knowlege this was any type of violation. I also informed him that I never received ANY of the training I was promised by Ms. Berry or Mr. Albury, that I had never received any written direction, company manual, etc. as to the specifics regarding the ordering of free trial contact lenses or the policy against accepting them from the optometrist. I was then asked why I had accepted the free trials from Dr. Dominguez & I explained that I had asked the doctor if this was "okay", & that she had told me "yes" as she was personally giving them to me. I told Mr. Oaks, that I was not aware of any of the policies regarding the accepting of contact lenses from the doctor or the policies regarding the ordering of free contact lenses for a patient (a Wal-Mart patient).

Ordinarily, it is my understanding that when an employee violates a company policy other than blatant theft, that he or she would be given a "coaching" where they would then receive an explanation as to what policy had been violated & then they would be given a "written" report regarding the incident to sign acknowleging their wrong-doing. At that point, the employee would be given an opportunity to either correct the problem or at least be made awarevof the specifics of that policy so that it would not happen again. I, at no time, ever received any kind of warning, either written or verbal, & was therefore shocked that I was immediately being terminated. I asked Mr. Oaks for an opportunity to correct the situation, inform other employees in the Vision Center regarding the company policies, & to learn from my honest mistakes. He said the decision was final. At no time did Mr. Oaks or Ms. Berry offer anything in the way of acknowlegement for all the hard work I had given to Wal-Mart. I was crying, understandably, & deeply hurt. It was NEVER my intention to deceive or knowingly do anything wrong & I feel I should have been offered the chance to learn from my mistakes & help others to learn from them, too. They, Mr. Oaks & Ms. Berry, were extremely harsh & unkind & I felt I was treated with much less dignity than a shoplifter might have received. I feel this situation is honestly a case "wrongful termination" based upon the lack of training, lack of any warnings or coachings regarding these matters, & the fact that I based my actions entirely on "what had been done before", which is the ONLY thing I had to go on. I hope you or someone can be of assistance to me. I would like my job back, a job that I worked VERY hard to get & a job I truly enjoyed, or at the very least be compensated until such time as I can obtain other employment at the same rate of pay. It was my intention to keep my job as Vision Center Manager until I retire. I am 56 years old & plan on retiring at 62. Again, PLEASE help me if you can. I am so sad. Thank you.

Piper

DeLand, Florida

U.S.A.

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