I have worked for Walgreens for almost 6 yrs. as certified pharmacy technician. A couple of years ago I filed an EEOC charge against Walgreens for discriminating against me because my son is disabled and I am his caregiver. He was experiencing a major depressive incident and I called off work, after that they took my hours away from me as punishment. That's when I filed. Time went by and my hours were lessened more and more until I only worked one night a week (5 hours). I developed degenerative disc disease and arthritis and neck issues from bending my neck sideways while I was at work. I had the condition before Walgreens, but the job exasperated the issue. So I needed to have neck surgery (cervical fusion), had surgery on May 26, 2009 and did not work for four months. During this time I was told I could use my vacation days (manager was supposed to put in 1 day per month) to keep me on the payroll. He put me in for June but did not put me in for July so I got "kicked out of the system" In the mean time I had stopped in the office to check in and to ask for 10 more vacation days because I needed the money, well that is when they admitted that they screwed up and I was kicked out of the system. Great! I was also asked to come in to do a PPL a learning tool on the computer back in the pharmacy that I didn't get paid for. So I did. I was cleared to work and they finally put me on the schedule for Labor Day 9/7/09 and the next day 9/08/09. I worked my days and kept checking back to see when they would pay me for my vacation days and when I was scheduled again. I received a call on my answering machine from the store manager telling me they finally cleared up the money situation and I could come in anytime to pick up my money. So I dropped off my son at school and had my dog in the car with me, thinking I was going to be in and out. Well, to my astonishment, when I went into the inner office, there were two people from Lost Prevention, the ever witchy Urusla, and the ever idiotic Mark Bunion. I thought they were going to apologize for the screw-up, I was wrong. They started by telling me that I worked on Labor Day and they had me taking Phentermine (diet pill, controlled substance) off the shelf and not putting it back and they are missing a whole bottle of pills. They asked me what I did with the bottle, I said I didn't remember truthfully, as I don't remember what happened at work three weeks ago, also it was 7 minutes prior to my time to leave so I was probably trying to get out of there and laid it down somewhere. She went on to say that they had been watching "the phentermine" because their numbers have been off. I asked if the numbers were off when I was off work for three months and she said yes, BUT I had gone back there so I could have taken it then. I explained to her that I was only on the computer and my pharmacy manager was standing next to me! I denied taking the drug, told them I was insulted and angry that they would thing I was so stupid. How would I get a whole bottle of 90 pills out of the pharmacy when my boss was sitting right there giving flu shots. They were relentless. They gave me five different ways I could have taken it, each one of them more outrageous than the next. I said "do I look like I take phentermine' I just gained 14 lbs since my surgery. She then implied that I could be selling them , so now I am a drug dealer. Mark Bunion started threatening me with criminal action and I could go to jail and he actually got in my face and said "we have the best criminal attorneys" They wanted to "keep it in this room" They wanted me to sign a statement. I continued to refuse and said I had to leave as I needed to do things. My store manager came in with my money and I said "Oh that's right that was the ruse to get me here" He denied it. So he then proceeded to tell me that I was fired, they gave me no paperwork. I left the store crying and called my brother-in-law (a lawyer) and he said he would help me out. I filled out another EEOC file for Retaliation against a 'protected' person (me) because of the firing and that I had an outstanding EEOC file, of which I don't think they knew. If they don't do anything, I will try my hardest to sue for wrongful accusation of theft, loss of wages, slander, defamation of character and just about anything I can. They got the wrong person on this one. From what I read, they do this to people who are a "pain" to them. I wanted them to make accomadations for me (headset for my neck, and more break times to stretch my back etc..) also I have always butted with the pharmacy manager because she was the one who would take days away from me when my son was sick.
I have so many stories about Walgreens that I have witnessed myself. Information that Walgreens would not like the public to know. I will have not problem letting the public know just what kind of people they are dealing with.
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