Walmart employee fired for redeeming $2 of cans finds groundswell of support

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Walmart employee fired for redeeming $2 of cans finds groundswell of support
The Guardian

Mahita Gajanan in New York
5 hrs ago

An Albany-area Walmart employee fired from his job for redeeming $2 worth of cans he collected while gathering shopping carts in the store’s parking lot has drawn widespread sympathy and support on social media.

Thomas Smith, 52, told the Albany Times Union that he was fired in early November for redeeming a total of $5.10 worth of cans and bottles on two occasions, and said he was unaware that doing so violated store policy.

Support for Smith grew after a story on his termination from the Albany Times Union. A GoFundMe drive for Smith set up by Dounya Hamdan, of Chicago, has nearly reached the $5,000 goal as of Friday afternoon.

On the day he was fired, Smith, a formerly homeless ex-convict who has a learning disability, had stayed three hours past the normal end of his shift, having agreed to work extra time on a day when the East Greenbush, New York, store was short-staffed.


Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/walmart-employee-fired-for-redeeming-dollar2-of-cans-finds-groundswell-of-support/ar-BBngogF?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=u142dhp

[Ed Suspicious]

1. It's a dumb policy, but even stupider is the policy that it results in immediate termination.

How little do you value people when you can't pull the guy aside and say "I'm sorry but it's our policy that you don't do that." rather than firing the guy.

[Kalidurga]

2. It's a funny thing about policy

The people management likes get told that and don't get fired. But, someone they don't like and it can be for any reason such as they don't like their style of clothing (yeah I knew a sales guy) and one step out of the policy book and they are gone.

[blackspade]

3. Walmart keeps it classy, as always.

[romanic]

4. Fuck Walmart.

Getting fired from that hellhole is a blessing in disguise for Mr. Smith. I hope he gets all the GoFundMe money and more from this situation.

[napi21]

5. Ahh, yet another reason I won't shop there!

And tp those who claim they can't afford not to shop at WM, they simply haven't checked. They're believing the BS ads. I get much better prices on mosat things by watching sales flyers and planning meals around what's on sale. Lots of stores have quite a list of B1G1 items, and those sale prices beat WM every time! Aldi's beat everyone's price on fresh produce. It's aa real shame that WM continues to be the largest employer but still treats their employees like crap. I wish I could get everyone to pay attention to other grocery ads and compare the prices. As to the other things WM sells, MOST THINGS can be bought on Amazon cheaper.

[Laffy Kat]

7. Right with ya here.

Admittedly, I'm not very good at checking prices 'cause I'm too lazy; however, I'd rather pay more for an item and go ten miles out of my way before stepping into that pit.

[1monster]

18. Don't kid yourselves, folks. It isn't just Walmart. It's all the big retail outlets...

And it has been going on for many years. Big retail chains, as a rule, keep cameras on the employees at all times, so if they want to get rid of someone, they will have a "legitimate" reason for doing so and on camera. Sooner or later, everyone makes some small error or violation of "policy" and management will jump on that to get rid of someone they don't want anymore. The company that took over the one I worked for in the '90s used that method to get rid of many of the employees that came with the old company (especially the ones with minor children who were covered under the . The rest they just drove away by making their working lives miserable.

[Feeling the Bern]

6. $5K for this pour guy and George Zimmerman got six figures.

[MADem]

8. Eight grand and rising, in just one day.

He'll have some breathing room, anyway.

https://www.gofundme.com/ewb4c9yk

[Quantess]

9. Someone give this guy a new job!

[davidpdx]

10. He needs it too

The donations may help him in the short run, but as someone on parole he will have an uphill battle finding a job.

Parole officers can revoke a parolees for a number of reasons and not having gainful employment is one of them.

[davidpdx]

11. I read this earlier

What a total crock of shit. Mr. Smith is a parolee and had a hard time finding a job in the first place. I hope someone comes forward and offers him a better job than he had a Wal-Mart.

[sulphurdunn]

12. Do you have to score 100

on the anti-social personality disorder test to be a Walmart manager?

[SoapBox]

13. Walmart continues their stupid.

I've only stepped foot in one, about 20 years ago.

Then started finding out more about the company and that family...never given them one penny since.

[truedelphi]

26. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ n/t

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. Maybe if they paid a living wage

their employees wouldn't have to collect cans and bottles for a few bucks

or need food stamps

or Medicaid

or subsidized housing

or EIC

[niyad]

21. exactly!

[NYC Liberal]

25. That's Walmart's M.O.

Pay their employees the bare minimum, with shitty hours, and let everyone else make up the difference.

[mrmpa]

15. Bottom Dollar...............

a few years ago these stores came into Western Pennsylvania (an aside, Aldi Corporation purchased them all last year). My friend's son was a Loss Prevention Supervisor. He told me had to fire an employee who after work went to the dumpster & took ears of corn, that had been tossed by the store.

The employee was making $7.25 an hour & said he was going to roast some of it and freeze a lot of it to use in soups for the winter.
The supervisor said to me that the corn was still good, but he had to fire the young man.

This is crazy don't toss if still good, give to the local food pantry or allow your underpaid employees to salvage.

[christx30]

16. This policy is stupid as hell.

As a side effect of cashing in the bottles and cans, your parking lot gets clean, and doesn't look like trashed out crap. It might even make people feel better about shopping there.

I hope Mr. Smith gets the help he needs. He seems like a good guy that made some mistakes in his past, but is doing what he needs to do to turn his life around.

[adir]

17. What was he supposed to do with the cans?

Hand them over to management so that Walmart could redeem them? That policy would not surprise me. It fits with Walmart's save-every-nickel approach to doing business.

[ffr]

19. As if we needed incentives to avoid Walmart already

Hate the f*cking place. Refuse to shop there and people wonder why.

[valerief]

20. How vile. Glad I don't shop at Walmart. nt

[niyad]

22. have not set foot in the evil empire in nearly 20 years, don't plan on changing that. those

sick, twisted, money-grubbing assholes can rot in hell.

may they receive everything they deserve.

[riderinthestorm]

23. Almost at $11,000. I just donated. Thanks for this post nt

[heaven05]

24. this is detestable

abominable and just plain mean to do something like this to a worker for something as trivial as this. I know, it's store policy and he should have complied to the authorities in that store....... The new elite of america like the waltons et al, are really the new ruling class of this country and the world. They are making their presence known more and more everyday, especially in regard to the poor and minorities when they fight back against these jackbooted fascists........

[Doctor_J]

27. The Wal-Mart phenomenon is a cancer, the personification of the moral rot that's afflicted the

Country for three decades.

[MisterP]

28. they even backed a bootstraps-obsessed fundie theology, like some Star Wars villain

http://www.amazon.com/Serve-God-Wal-Mart-Christian-Enterprise/dp/0674057406