PLCB Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board un-due termination Erie Pennsylvania

 I was an emloyee at the Liberty plaza liquor store from May'10-July'10. I was just out of the U.S. Army when i got this job. I did all the trainging that was I was supposed to have, then got sent to Libert plaza because they were supposed to have the greatest amout of hours available. When I got there I was introduced to the staff and the job went like it was supposed to, until one day the Manager "Bill" went on a business trip and the assistant manager was on vacation. The guy that was in-charge was a guy that CONSTANTLY came in drunk or hung over and management never said anthing about it EVER!!

The day before the assistant manager literally drew me a map of where all the alcohol was to be stacked out for the next day. So when I came in I was prepared for what was to be done and the guy in-charge "Ken" was once again hung-over wearing sunglasses in the store tells me that the stack-outs that I have done is wrong. So I asked him what was wrong about it and he told me not to get an attitude and walked away. I followed him over and explained that I had a map of where the assistant manager told me to put everything and he told me that I was wrong and that I dont have an opinion about anything since I was new. I once again reinterated the fact that the assistant manager told me specifically where everything was to go, then he told me just to go home.

On my way home I called the store thinking that I may have done something wrong due to the fact that I was new, after all I was just following orders of a superior left in place the day before, then to have it changed the day that no management was there. So when I called I appologized to "Ken" and I told him that I didnt know what I was doing was wrong, and he told me to forget about it...Only if he would have followed his own advise.

The next day I go in and the Manager "Bill" was there and he called me to the back of the store to "explain" a few things to me, and he went off on a rant about how when he wasnt there the assistant manager was in-charge and when he wasnt there Ken was in-charge. I told him I knew about this kind of thing being the chain-of-command, since I was in the Army for almost 5 years. He then told me that he would keep this in-house and there would be no need to put this up to the district manager.

The next day I got a call on my day off saying that their was a position where a manual count of all stores inventory had to be done, of course I was voluntered for the position by Bill. I left the next day to do this count I was doing this for about a week when I received a call from the District Manager to come down to his office. So I finally got down there after an hour drive back to the district store in Summit Plaza. I was told that he needed to talk to me and it was going to be him and I.

When I got there I knew something wasnt right because my manager Bill was there and they called me back to the District Managers office and he told me that I made a "threat" on the day that I had a disagreement with Ken, which just happened to come out the days following the misunderstanding?!?! Why was it not brought up that day? I have no idea... Other than the fact that I never said anything that was a threat in anyway! I asked the DM what I had said and he could not tell me what I had said other than the fact that I would be on a two week non-paid leave pending an investigation. So I asked if there was someway that I could fight this and he told me to go to the Union Rep. in Harborcreek store. On my way out Bill stopped me and told me not to worry about any of this because "EVERYONE STUBS THEIR TOE EVERY ONCE AND A WHILE" I asked him what that meant and he told me that everyone makes mistakes. I told him to f*** himself because I didnt say anything like what they accused me of saying or better yet what; what they couldnt tell me of what I was supposed to of said!

So I get my walking papers and go down to the Harborcreek office to talk to the Union Rep. and on my way in what are the chances of myself running into, of all people the best man at my wedding! He looks at me and looks to the paper work in my hand (mind you that I havent told a living soul of this predicament that I was in to include my wife yet) and says to me I bet I know what those papers are for. I looked at him and told him that I bet you dont, and says to me I bet those are your "walking papers" I looked at him with the absolute amazement and asked him how could he know that? An he tells me that the guy up in the booth was talking about it with another staff member working the register while customers were in being checked out to include himself. I walked up to the booth and asked who the Union Rep. was and he told me that "He" was. I asked him why he was talking about my situation with other staff with customers in the store and he told me that he had the right to talk to other staff members to understand what kind of person I was. Now I never worked with any of the people in that store, I never even knew who the Union Rep. was but it was his perogitive to find out who I was by asking people that never knew me, and I find it curious how he knew to be looking for me unless the DM or my manager had alerted him to the fact that I would be on my way.

A week later the Vice-president of the Union calls me on a Saturday telling me that he was sorry that the Union Rep. was talking about my situation infront of customers and other staff members. I asked him how should I be able to trust the Union if this is how the Reps. act. He stated to me that he would do everything within his power to fix this problem, and fix he did.......

A week after the call with the vice-president of the Union, two weeks after I was put on non-paid leave I received a letter stating that my position had been terminated. Then, the following day I received two certified letters in the mail that said that I was banned from the Liberty Plaza store and the other letter saying that I was banned from the Summit Plaza store. Imagine that..... Are they really that fearful of Combat Veterans???

p.s. If my spelling is alittle off my bad, I was 11B