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Got fired for the most ridiculous reason ever. Please help

My partner got fired today for not scanning a plastic carrier bag and forgot to put the 5p in the till but left it on the side. He is on probationary period but he was given no warning nor a second chance. The manager above the manager said it was gross negligence. Is this a legit reason for him to get fired?! He has to look after a house and support me and the cats. Can someone give us advice on what to do and how to appeal for the reason of being fired. Thank-you.

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Klix88
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Original post by nikkinikki96
My partner got fired today for not scanning a plastic carrier bag and forgot to put the 5p in the till but left it on the side. He is on probationary period but he was given no warning nor a second chance. The manager above the manager said it was gross negligence. Is this a legit reason for him to get fired?! He has to look after a house and support me and the cats. Can someone give us advice on what to do and how to appeal for the reason of being fired. Thank-you.


He sold an item without scanning it and then failed to handle a customer's payment correctly. There aren't many mistakes you can make whilst sitting at a till and he's managed two of the most fundamental ones. It's not the scale of the errors, but the fact that he made them at all. If he can't be trusted to sell a carrier bag correctly or put money in the till, what might happen when he's processing a £100+ monthly shop or selling a bottle of decent champagne or handling payment made with several £20 notes? The company can't trust him and what he did was gross negligence. No grounds for appeal. He's clearly not cut out for it. He should move on and try something else. His domestic responsibilities will hopefully help him focus more in his next job.
Original post by nikkinikki96
My partner got fired today for not scanning a plastic carrier bag and forgot to put the 5p in the till but left it on the side. He is on probationary period but he was given no warning nor a second chance. The manager above the manager said it was gross negligence. Is this a legit reason for him to get fired?! He has to look after a house and support me and the cats. Can someone give us advice on what to do and how to appeal for the reason of being fired. Thank-you.


Klix88 is correct, probationary periods are there just for this situation, to weed out people who can't do the basics reliably, before you commit to hiring them. The value doesn't matter, the issue is the failure to do the absolute fundamentals of the job. It's legit, it's gross negligence, move on and learn to focus on the job better at the next opportunity. Fortunately a probationary period is so short it can be ignored (unless asked on future applications if you have ever been fired for disciplinary reasons)
It was right that he was fired on the spot. Thousands of people would kill for a job like that and he goes and makes a mess of it.
(edited 7 years ago)
When you're on probation, it's free reign, they can fire you for not having big enough tits or the manager just not liking you. Heck they can do that anyway but pretend it's something else. It's why some barrel-bottom places use a loophole to create 'permanent probation'.

It's retail; even if they were wrong to fire them, don't expect any measure of professionalism. Management 9 times out of 10 are leeches who will literally steal money from the employees to make sure the budget looks a bit better, either by not giving holiday or I mean literally stealing money... welcome to retail! The area managers **** on the managers, the managers **** on everyone else, and the assistant managers are bitter failures who aren't good enough to be managers. Watch out for assistant managers, geez...
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by nikkinikki96
My partner got fired today for not scanning a plastic carrier bag and forgot to put the 5p in the till but left it on the side. He is on probationary period but he was given no warning nor a second chance. The manager above the manager said it was gross negligence. Is this a legit reason for him to get fired?! He has to look after a house and support me and the cats. Can someone give us advice on what to do and how to appeal for the reason of being fired. Thank-you.



Get your partner to send a complaint by email to the Senior Manager above those 2 other managers and threaten to tell the media about it because they will be scared of any bad publicity as that's a stupid reasont to be fired
Contact a Union or Citizens advice bureau , although maybe nothing can be done to change it but better than doing nothing and letting them get away with it as he did deserve at least a warning or second chance
It's only a stupid carrier bag and 5p
Tell him to ring or email the story to local and national newspapers, tv, news stations, Morning tv, Watchdog, magazines that pay people for stories like that
Look in your shops, supermarkets for magazines that ask people to write in about stuff like that as i think people will be interested to hear about this kind of injustice
It might be a bit far fetched and over the top but if you don't contact the media about it to try to embarrasss the company and warn people this can happen they will get away with it.
That's a stupid reason to sack anyone and nobody deserves to be treated that way as there are employees that steal from companies so what he did is nothing compared to that
Tell him not to take it lying down
If he goes public with it he could make lots of money from it by going on interviews, being paid for the story by newspapers and magazines or maybe someone will offer him a job because of it or become famous from telling about it
I'm just throwing out lots of ways to get back at the company as their biggest fear will be any bad publicity
And as for the manager saying it's gross negligence that's ******** and GT laughable
Everybody needs to hear about this story and they will think it's ridiculous too
Pretend your going to hire a lawyer and sue them, that will scare them
He should record the shop outside and put it on You Tube telling people about them

Also tell him to go straight to an empoyment agency on the high street like Reed but sign up with several agencies as that will get him a job much quicker
Also apply for Trainee Recruitment jobs online with Reed, CV Library, Monster Indeed and type Foxtons estate agents on google because both those jobs pay way better than retail jobs and you need no experience to get them and they are much better career prospects
It sounds trivial due to the item and its value but it isn't.

He failed to scan goods and forgot to put money in the till. Straight forward sacking for someone on probation.
He could have at least got a second chance tho. It is ridiculous!
Thank-you for your advice I will tell him this :smile: is it possible he could get his job back if he explains to HR thoroughly and in detail? Plus my partner has picked up 5ps from the floor which other employees failed to do so and they are not fired. One employee was talking to a friend for 20 minutes straight plus the deputy manager messed up the rota since my partner has been working there. Lastly someone left a thousands of pounds in the countercache and those employees still have there jobs!!!! Those are legitment reason to get fired not a 5 freaking bag!
Original post by Judge Judy
Get your partner to send a complaint by email to the Senior Manager above those 2 other managers and threaten to tell the media about it because they will be scared of any bad publicity as that's a stupid reasont to be fired
Contact a Union or Citizens advice bureau , although maybe nothing can be done to change it but better than doing nothing and letting them get away with it as he did deserve at least a warning or second chance
It's only a stupid carrier bag and 5p
Tell him to ring or email the story to local and national newspapers, tv, news stations, Morning tv, Watchdog, magazines that pay people for stories like that
Look in your shops, supermarkets for magazines that ask people to write in about stuff like that as i think people will be interested to hear about this kind of injustice
It might be a bit far fetched and over the top but if you don't contact the media about it to try to embarrasss the company and warn people this can happen they will get away with it.
That's a stupid reason to sack anyone and nobody deserves to be treated that way as there are employees that steal from companies so what he did is nothing compared to that
Tell him not to take it lying down
If he goes public with it he could make lots of money from it by going on interviews, being paid for the story by newspapers and magazines or maybe someone will offer him a job because of it or become famous from telling about it
I'm just throwing out lots of ways to get back at the company as their biggest fear will be any bad publicity
And as for the manager saying it's gross negligence that's ******** and GT laughable
Everybody needs to hear about this story and they will think it's ridiculous too
Pretend your going to hire a lawyer and sue them, that will scare them
He should record the shop outside and put it on You Tube telling people about them

Also tell him to go straight to an empoyment agency on the high street like Reed but sign up with several agencies as that will get him a job much quicker
Also apply for Trainee Recruitment jobs online with Reed, CV Library, Monster Indeed and type Foxtons estate agents on google because both those jobs pay way better than retail jobs and you need no experience to get them and they are much better career prospects


That manager won't care about a letter explaining it and will just be annoyed at you wasting his/her time.

They'll laugh when you say you'll go to the media or hiring a lawyer. That's such a mindlessly chavvy thing to say. A lawyer would tell him he has no case anyway.

Morning TV, Watchdog, magazines etc. won't care. Ok, so say a magazines writes an article on it, then what? Nothing, you just get £20 payment for it maybe. He will not become 'famous'.

There are people that murder, that doesn't mean punching someone in the arm is acceptable.

Tell him to move on and work somewhere better.

If he records the shop outside... well firstly, what's the point of that? But secondly, the police will move him along... because, y'know, it's kinda illegal...

You (Judge Judy) sound like you're young, barely out of school or college (well, this is the Student Room), you've given terrible advice and don't yet understand how the world (or law) works.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Neverdie
That manager won't care about a letter explaining it and will just be annoyed at you wasting his/her time.

They'll laugh when you say you'll go to the media or hiring a lawyer. That's such a mindlessly chavvy thing to say. A lawyer would tell him he has no case anyway.

Morning TV, Watchdog, magazines etc. won't care. Ok, so say a magazines writes an article on it, then what? Nothing, you just get £20 payment for it maybe. He will not become 'famous'.

There are people that murder, that doesn't mean punching someone in the arm is acceptable.

Tell him to move on and work somewhere better.

If he records the shop outside... well firstly, what's the point of that? But secondly, the police will move him along... because, y'know, it's kinda illegal...

You (Judge Judy) sound like you're young, barely out of school or college (well, this is the Student Room), you've given terrible advice and don't yet understand how the world (or law) works.


You sound like your young and you have given terrible advice and You do not understand how the world or law works. How do you know management would not care and if no one tells management to find out if they will care or not
Just because you don't care does not mean nobody else will and you seem to think only you can give advice and nobody else can.
My point in doing all those things is not to take this crap lying down and allow them to get away with it and even if no media was interested at least they tried something.
And i wrote pretend you will go to a lawyer plus you do realise that they are not going to do everything i wrote, it was just a suggestion so you should really grow up and not get jealous of other people giving advice and trying to help someone else as you come across as a 13 year old. Just stick to giving people your own advice instead of critisizing others as you are not helping
do uber, my friend makes 1000 pound per week
Original post by nikkinikki96
He could have at least got a second chance tho. It is ridiculous!


Unfortunately for him that's the point of a probationary period. It's to weed out people who are prone to mistakes or have bad attendance/punctuality.
I think its kinda unfair I've done that before and didn't get told off I just got told to put it back in later xx
This is indeed a *****y reason for getting fired.


Ok, in the absolute letter of the law your boyfriend was wrong but it's a very easy mistake to make.

The manager was clearly looking to reduce his wagebill here or he just didn't like your boyfriend and was looking for an excuse.


I've seen people get away with a lot worse in a lot of different jobs.

I think it's good to get fired as least once. Gives you a backbone.


A lot of supermarket managers are shite.

SS
Its one minor mistake. He has never made a mistake at work ever before. He is always early and impressed his previous manager who got sick and tired of the manager above him so he stormed out.
But he has me and his cats to support and he even explained that to the guy who fired him. He didn't care at all 😠
Original post by #ChaosKass
It was right that he was fired on the spot. Thousands of people would kill for a job like that and he goes and makes a mess of it.


WTF? A job in retail?
Original post by BIGJohnson777
WTF? A job in retail?


Yes. The application:job ratio for even the most menial retail jobs is 100+:1.
Original post by Supersaps
it's a very easy mistake to make.


It's really not.

I really don't understand how, working on a till, you can forget to scan something a customer is supposed to pay for and then forget to put their money in the till. That's literally the entire job.

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