Walgreen Pharmacy RAILROADED Deerfield, Illinois

sorry for your misfortunes at walgreens. over 23 years i have seen it done many many many many times.i never even open my soda while im waiting in line to buy it. thats stealing too. but.....only if they want it to be to get rid of you.  , im a pharmacist that was fired after 23 years and only 4 left till retirement for saying "a bad word" that supposedly the customer heard. no oral, written  write up or even a suspension. i thought this was my family. 23 years is the longest ive done anything!!!  at least you learned a good lesson early!!!

and for your edification, all companies especially huge ones that have huge loss prevention departments ( theyhave to prove to walgreens that they are worth paying) are not your friends!!!! and never will be!!! it is sad but thats the way the world is now. these people are walking on our stacked up bodies to get to the next level in the company. the ones that said fire me are too ashamed to face me. go on with your life and sit down with your next employer and explain. and remember your job is not your friend if you work for a corporation

  companys are so full of scalndels these days its hard to belive who is right and who is wrong.  just because you think its wrong to go into a store and open something before you buy it does not mean that other people think the same way.  and yes stores do have polices but others dont.  BUT with all the theft that has gone on in walgreens i dont doubt this could have happened.  but 4 years is a long time for someone who is honest to be fired over such a petty thing.  i own my own buisness and i know what its like to be stolen from plus haven our ro's getting stolen from there property.  i know it happens but sometimes you have to look at the person more than the situation. this gives us a better idea of where we are going these days

In my reply to Jason, it erroneously listed me as the owner of Walgreens.  If only.  I do not own, nor have any affiliation whatsoever, with Walgreens.  Sorry for any confusion.

You are very much wrong.  You cannot do whatever you want with merchandise in a store if you intend to buy it.   It does not BELONG to you until you pay for it.  It is still the property of the business and they have the right to expect you to handle it a normal,honest fashion.  Put it in a pocket because your hands are full?  In many jurisdictions, you could be charged with shoplifting.  Eat food off the shelf before you pay for it?  You could be charged in some jurisdictions.  99.9% of the time you won't be though because of lack of intent to deprive the business of the merchandise or monetary compensation for said merchandise.
I don't believe Walgreens had any intention of charging her, but who knows.  I think it was a scare tactic, one which I never use, to get her to admit to what she had done.  Once you have an admission that she knowingly violated company policies, which internally classified such actions as theft, you can terminate for that.  No police necessary.  Do I agree with how Walgreen's LP are described as acting?  No.  But regardless of that, she admitted that she knowingly violated policy and was terminated for it.  There are also 2 sides to this story.  There is no telling how long LP may have been investigating her.

For John:
  In your first example of a buffet, most buffets I've eaten at you pay before you get your food.  If not, the business's model dictates that you may eat off the bar prior to eating because that's the way they choose to charge.  A VERY poor comparison to this case.  The second example of a mom opening the cookies for her kid is, in fact, stealing regardless of whether she later pays for it.  Do stores charge people for this?  Not really because its almost impossible to prove.  Someone would have to witness her take the cookies off the shelf, open them, give them to her child and then call the cops.  That's the only way to know for a fact that they didn't come in with the mother.  LP people have better things to do with their time.  Most stores usually just ask the person to refrain from doing it in the future.
   Yes, she could have asked for the police.  I don't know about most states but in mine, the officer is just there to transport the person.  I actually take out the warrant so the officer doesn't investigate.  Also remember that there may NOT be any video tapes.  It may have been witnessed in person by a trained LP agent following company guidelines.  That is sufficient in 99% of courts to secure a conviction for retail theft.  She could not collect damages just because she was acquitted. It could simply be a case of jury nullification. She could try but most states have merchant protection statutes that protect merchants from civil/criminal liability as long as LP used due diligence(or whatever the state's statute says).  If she could prove that Walgreens flat out lied, then she would lose.  When asked on the stand by the prosecution at her criminal trial, and defense it she sued, if she had stolen...her response would most likely have to YES, again depending on state statutes on food theft.  They would also have her signed admission statement (I assume Walgreen's was smart enough to get one.)
    If she applies for other work and is asked if she was fired from any previous jobs, she should answer yes.  How she chooses to explain it is her choice (she's made some bad ones lately though).  If they find out she lied, good-bye job.   There are companies that LP reports employee theft terminations to that maintain databases.  When the prospective employer does a background check, odds are its through one of them.  They won't get any details but they will learn enough to move on to the next candidate.  If the prospective employer contacts Walgreens they will probably just ask if she is eligible for rehire.  Their answer would be no. 
     As I said in a previous rebuttal, most companies do not prosecute for grazing/stashing.  LP will do an investigation, and may sit in on the resulting interview, but HR makes the ultimate decision to terminate.  It is still classified as theft at many companies, just not prosecuted.  I know at my company, LP usually doesn't even attend the interview.
   As for the unemployment appeal, all Walgreens has to do is give the unemployment board a copy of her signed admission statement for theft and that's all she wrote.  Plus, she stated in her own report that she KNEW grazing was against company policy.  But she might get lucky.
   
    

First on the "grazing".  This person was not a customer they were an employee.  So whether or not CUSTOMERS do this, an EMPLOYEE is held to a higher standard because they are supposed to know better.  I would really love to know if this "grazing" policy is allowed in the Employee Manual.  But my guess would be that it either states it is specifically not allowed, or that there is a part that states all merchandise must be purchased before they are opened.

There are many things that stores restrict employees from doing that customers can(but probably shouldn't) do.  For example even in this report it states that they could only be rung up on one register.  Do they restrict customers to one register..No.  Some stores restrict employees to using a single entrance/exit.  Do they restrict customers to one exit..No.  

Second the "hording" of clearance items.  Stores are there for the benefit of the customer, not the whim of an employee to make it their own little shopping ground.  Again this person was an Inventory Coordinator, which seems like they are fairly high up.  Since they are fairly high up they are supposed to know better than lower employees.  As to why they were fired when the other two were not.  Perhaps it was because she was higher up and was supposed to know.  Although a more probable reason is that unlike the others who put the items in the managers office or stock room, this person put them in HER cart.

I am a LP professional, although not for Walgreens.  Unfortunately, you got busted.  Most companies do not prosecute for grazing and stashing merchandise, but they are still violations of company policy (which you indicate you were fully aware of) that HR can terminate you for.  Prosecution in those cases is rare but does sometime happen in egregious cases. The prosecution threats were mainly to get you to admit.  Although I admittedly do not know Walgreens prosecution guidelines so they may be one of those companies that DO prosecute for grazing.  Stashing is harder to prove theft unless it takes an additional markdown while hidden, depends on state/local statutes.
 That being said, you got caught and then admitted to doing what you were accused of.  It does not matter who else was doing it or why YOU did it, you got caught and admitted it.  Should those people have been terminated?  It all depends on what LP could PROVE or they ADMITTED.  Since it is an HR matter, you will probably never know what happened in those interviews.  Unless someone blabs.  It happens and it drives me crazy because we try to protect the confidentiality of the matter.
  As for the video, you admitted you stashed merchandise and grazed so its possible an undercover LP agent was using the store's cameras and saw you do it.  It doesn't matter if you paid for it later because once you do it, you're guilty.  If you steal something from a store and come back and offer to pay for it later, a lot of times you'll find yourself going to jail.
  Unemployment can, and will be, denied in most states when the former employee is fired for conduct-related issues such as theft.  Good luck appealing it but I would wager good money you will lose.  Getting another job may not be as difficult as you think.  6/10 times when I sent someone to jail, I would see them working at a nearby location of a major office supply chain within weeks. 
  As I tell all my suspects when its a relatively low dollar case, regardless of prosecution:  Look at this as a learning experience.  You made your own life difficult by making poor choices.  At your next job, know the policies and always,always follow them.  If you see someone else doing something dishonest, don't get involved.  Don't listen when they say they do it all the time and no one cares.  Report it if you can, that would be my advice.  Most companies have anonymous tip lines.

Hmmm....... so if I'm going through a buffet line and decide to pop french fry in my mouth that's stealing ?  If a mother opens a bag of cookies she has in her cart and gives one to her child while shopping that's theft also? Get real. Real businesses know the difference.

Walgreens is having serious problems right now. Their growth has been overdone and losses are mounting. They need to reduce headcount without layoffs. Guess what option works best for them? You got it. The 'railroad' technique works best because it reduces the headcount without unemployment being paid out and intimidates the remaining employees.

The moment they accused you of stealing and threatened to call the police is the moment you should have insisted thay call the police and remained silent afterwards. I suspect they would have backed down immediately since the arriving offficer would have had to seize the video tapes as evidence. Once that happened Walgreens would have been exposed in open court. I seriously doubt a jury would have agreed that the tapes showed any theft at all. You could have collected some decent damages in the process.

If you're applying for other work don't say you were fired for stealing. Did Walgreens ever notify you in writing you stole anything? Walgreens could never prove it otherwise they would have had you arrested, right? You can say you had a misunderstanding over internal procedures and Walgreens decided to make an example out you. The fact you were there for four years actually helps your case.

As for the unemployment appeal Walgreens will need to prove that all employees wre given WRITTEN employee work policies explaining the proper handling of company property. You did receive one of those, didn't you? I suspect you didn't.

You can win this one. 

You put aside merchandise intended for consumers therefore you were fired - That merchandise was not for your benefit - it was to be placed out and sold to customers who have monies to spend at that time

Walgreens is in the business to MAKE money like most stores are - I work for a company that owns hospitals - what if I took vaccines that were meant for patients and put them aside for my family and friends - I would be fired

You screwed up therefore you suffer the consequences

   so basicly everytime you go into a restaraunt and sit down and eat then pay AFTER you have ate then thats stealing too?? wow some peoplejust dont get it. if you go into a store and are going to purchace what you want then you can do what ever you want to it.  and if they have you arrested before you have left the store (so long as you have not tried to conceal said item) the that is a false arrest.  get it right

But.... you DID steal from them.

You cannot open packages and eat food PRIOR to paying for it.  That is theft.

You cannot hide or place merchandise in places, other than it belongs, waiting for the day you can afford it.  If it's not available the day you have money, it just wasn't meant to be.

I hope as a mother, you teach this important lesson to your children.

It's NOT yours UNTIL you pay for it.