Undertrained and unprofessional at Circle K

When you sign up for the job they tell you that you're not allowed to
take ANYTHING from the store. This is true for just about every
retailer. Outdated stuff MUST be thrown away. Don't get me wrong, it
totally sucks what happened, but it's Circle K. Get another job and
move on.

is that if there is new management within the store and the old
manager that permitted this is gone, there must be a reason.

Secondly, does your daughter really WANT to work for a company that
makes scapegoats out of their employees?

She should take it as a lesson learned and move on to a better
employer.

I've worked at several retailers and convenience stores and this is
typical of all the ones I've worked at - out-of-date magazines or
newspapers can be taken home by staff once the UPC's are cut out.

I agree with the letter writer - her daughter was wrongfully
terminated. The regional manager Clint is in the wrong here.

You know I'm also reminded of my first job, slinging pizzas.

We asked if we could eat the mistakes because they were going to be
thrown away anyway.


The manager told us "no" because it would encourage us to screw up
more.


That's probably why they don't want employees scarfing home unsold
mags... it could encourage some to keep a few back, hidden, just to
take them home when they went out of date.

This probably went down one of two ways:

1. The employees were warned/told they couldn't take the unsold
magazines, but decided to do it anyway ("what's the harm? they're just
going to get thrown away"). I feel for them, b/c i hate waste, but
stupid rules are still rules when it comes to your job. Your daughter
and the other two ignored the new manager and tried to get away with
it.

or

2. This new manager is such a jerk, he didn't even give the employees
a chance to comply with the rule -- no warning or anything. If that's
the case, does your daughter really want to work for someone who's
like that?

From my experience in publishing, I may be able to shed some light on
the practice that the OP references. Publishers often don't want
physical returns of unsold books or magazines. So they process it as a
return but the retailer simply agrees to render it unsaleable and
discard it. For paperback books, this usually means tearing off the
front cover. For magazines, I gather it can mean cutting away the UPC
so it cannot be sold legitimately.

It is highly plausible that a manager allowed employees to take and
read magazines that had been rendered unsaleable and treated as if
returned to the publisher. I don't know if it violates the agreement
between the publisher and the retailer, but it's not stealing in any
economic or legal sense, as far as I know, so long as the employee is
not selling the magazines.

and I say this being in on the process every so often:

-Outdated magazines are pulled from the racks and placed in totes by
the circulation company's local rep (new magazines arrive and are put
out every Friday; this is also when the outdated titles are pulled).

-On Wednesday or Thursday, somebody goes through the totes of outdated
magazines, counts the titles and copies of each title, and prints a
report. This person then fills out a log indicating the number of
totes sent back, number of magazines being sent back, and the total
cost.

-Outdated magazines are picked up by the route driver Friday when he
drops off new magazines.

-The following week, we get a spreadsheet indicating what was taken
back from our store and the cost. We compare this to our log.

If somebody was taking outdated magazines before they were sent back,
there would be a discrepancy someplace and corporate would want to
know about it. The amount of magazines we checked in the previous
week, the amount we sold, and the amount sent back wouldn't match up.

Then again, this process will differ depending on the circulation
company and the retailers' policies.

"My daughter Ashley was terminated from the Circle K in Crooksville,
Ohio for what they called theft. She was GIVEN permission by her
manager to take old out-dated magazines because she said that once
they removed the UPC's the magazines they would be thrown away. "

If your daughter's boss told her it was okay for her to rob banks,
would she do it?

People need to get used to the fact that taking things they didn't pay
for at work is a Bad Idea. Just because those magazines are outdated
doesn't mean they no longer have value to the company. Most likely
they were going to be returned to the circulation company for credit.

1) "Old manager" you say? Is that manager even working with the
company anymore?

If the manager is gone then claiming he "gave permission" doesn't
really amount to having official permission to take unused product.
... especially since stores get money back by turning unused product
in to the publisher.


2) Unemployment - straight from Ohio's own official site:
http://jfs.ohio.gov/unemp_comp_faq/faq_elig_reason.stm#discharge

An applicant's unemployment must not be his/her fault. If discharged
from a job, the applicant may be considered not eligible for benefits
-- if the employer shows why the discharge was for "just cause."


3) The manager's personal information.
Unless you are the legal guardian of your daughter (ie a minor or an
adult that requires guardianship), you will not be entitled to ANY
information regarding her employment, save what she herself gives
you.

If your daughter wishes to obtain this information it is something she
herself will have to do.

fire you, he fired your daughter. Why didn't she call? He might have
been willing to provide it to her. She doesn't seem to care enough to
do the small amount of work a phone call takes. This could mean that
she's lazy, doesn't think she really has a case,or that you are
operating without her knowledge. I'm not sure what was said, but it
had to be a little heated for him to ask three times if you were
threatening him.
I'm not sure why you think it's a witch-hunt. He didn't just fire your
daughter, he fired two other people. When times are tough and people
are getting cut, only the best keep their jobs.

Unemployment? If she was fired for theft, that means she was fired
for cause and is not entitled to unemployment benefits.