Rehire the Best Buy heros!
Extreme punishment for trying to stop shoplifters
Excerpt:
A pair of Best Buy employees in Broomfield lost their jobs this week after they tried to stop armed shoplifters.
The firings raise an important question: Shouldn't heroism be rewarded?
Instead, Best Buy handed Jared Bergstreser, 20, and Colin Trapp, 23, their walking papers after they tried to stop a pair of shoplifters on Aug. 1.
The men worked in the store's "asset-protection" unit, and had some training in how to handle thieves, according to Boulder's Daily Camera. They weren't security guards.
When the employees saw two men leaving the store with stolen merchandise, they gave chase.
Bergstreser tackled one of the men and Trapp rushed to help. The thief pulled a knife. The shoplifters got away, but not before a manager was cut. (The manager has not been fired. Her involvement in the melee is unclear.)
Bergstreser suffered minor cuts and bruises. He does not dispute that Best Buy's asset-protection training made it clear that he was not to make physical contact with a customer and that he violated company policy.
Trapp says he wasn't told clearly about the no-contact policy, and he is considering filing a wrongful-termination claim.
We don't know what training occurred between employer and the employees. But if Best Buy follows standard practice, it's unlikely Trapp will prevail, Denver employment attorney David Stacy tell us.
Workers Are Fired, Celebrated
Excerpt:
The firing of two workers at a suburban Best Buy Co. store who tackled a fleeing shoplifter -- thus breaking company rules -- has struck a nerve here as locals celebrate the pair as folk heroes while the retailer defends its policies.
Jared Bergstreser and Colin Trapp failed to hold onto the suspect in the Aug. 1 incident; he pulled a knife and fled. But their efforts, they say, cost them their jobs. "I really wasn't thinking," said Mr. Bergstreser, adding that he was familiar with the policy. "I just sort of reacted."
A company spokeswoman, Kelly Groehler, said Best Buy doesn't comment on personnel decisions. But, she said, "These procedures are in place first and foremost for the safety of our employees."
That hasn't convinced many locals. Scores of comments, most expressing admiration, have been posted on Mr. Trapp's Facebook page and other Web sites. "Punished for not being cowards," one commentator wrote. Added another: "Welcome to Best Buy, where no good deed goes unpunished!" Several posters pledged to boycott the chain.
On Wednesday, the Denver Post published an editorial protesting Best Buy's decision to fire the young men. "Shouldn't heroism be rewarded?" the paper asked.
Comment: I am officially boycotting Best Buy until these guys are rehired! I will buy at Amazon or Wal-Mart or Target but not Best Buy until these heroes are hired back!
Now I forget where all I've seen this, but this is about the 3rd story I've seen in the last 6 months like this. Apparently if you work in a retail store and try to stop a shoplifter you are almost sure to be fired. If you only SUSPECT shoplifting but aren't sure, then I agree with the stores. You are the criminal and are engaging in false imprisonment if you detain a SUSPECTED shoplifter. Totally different story if you KNOW the person is a shoplifter, which I believe is the way most of these stories are.
ReplyDeleteWhat does anyone think of how it gets turned into a federal case (figuratively AND literally speaking) whenever a bank gets robbed? Isn't this basically all just for show in order to maintain the image of money? Think about it this way: a nice stereo at Best Buy is worth a lot more and took a lot more work to make than money. For a stereo, there's years of scientific development, "sweat" equity by the people who physically made it, and the actual raw materials to make the product. For a bank, all they have to do is touch a button on a computer screen and they instantly created new money through fractional reserve banking - no big deal. Although what a person steals - paper money - does have a cost to it in that there is the cost of the ink and the paper. But I still think that a lot more work went into making a stereo than a piece of paper................This shows the illusion of fiat money and how paper money is extremely valued, even though it's really created out of thin air........(Granted this may be a bit of an oversimplified explanation...but at least you get the gist.)
ReplyDeleteI understand insisting that employees not make contact with thieves--employees are more important than stuff after all--but firing them for a first offense?
ReplyDeleteI'd boycott Best Buy, but I haven't shopped for AV equipment of computer stuff for half a decade. They can probably ignore me without suffering much.
The truth is; Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Macy's, etc. all have the same policies with regards to employees not making contact with shoplifters. The stores need to draw the line in order to avoid potential lawsuits. Every retail store I have worked at throughout the years has made it very clear that employees are not allowed to physically detain shoplifters. The employees at Best Buy were fired for not following the proper protocol. If they worked at Target or Wal-Mart, they would have been fired as well.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought; how often was training? I would assume that loss prevention would have a few cases each week for a reminder--but these guys just "instinctively" reacted. It would follow that the employers are NOT training their people properly.
ReplyDeleteThe principle that people are more important than stuff holds--the application to fire people when things get ugly does not.