diciplinary from my employer

arlene1962

i work for a very large supermarket chain and have currently been suspended from work with full pay. the reason for this being as i was on my break i walked out of the college entrance and made my way to the smoking shelter as i did so i saw a gift bag blowing in the wind passed me i went to my car to collect my cigarettes and left the bag in my car with every intention of having my cigarette and retrieving the bag and taking it to coustomer service desk however before i had a chance to do that i was leaving the smoking shelter after having my cigarette i was approached by a very rude customer who asked me in a very irritated manner if i had seen a bag blowing past i was not convinced that the bag belonged to him so i said no i returned to my car and returned my cigarettes and the bag as the customer seen me doing so he began shouting at me that the bag i had belonged to him i told him it blew passed i wasn't convinced it was his and was taking it to customer services he could retrieve it there with his receipt he began being very abusive and to save a scene i gave him the bag. i was later pulled into the office by my manager and told i was being suspended pending an investigation because the customer had placed a complaint agenced me as i had the bag in my car i aam very worried i dont know what is going to happen to me i could lose my job over this! any help will be apreciated

Googlewhacker

being suspended is a neutral activity even though it does suck. Just explain what happened and you should be fine.

You didn't steal it and they should have CCTV showing your actions and showing that you took it back to the Customer services who I would also guess could back you up.

yvonne13_2

Why did you put the bag in your car?

arlene1962

i sat it on the seat while i went to the smoke shelter i was going back to get it when i returned my cigarettes to the car

VfM4meplse

Sit down and note down everything whilst it is still fresh in your mind, so you have a clear sequence of events. Good spelling and punctuation will help, as will a union rep / shop steward if you have one.

At the disciplinary, ask what you should have done but don't get defensive - they should be able to see that you were damned either way.

The customer is not always right and you are being made an example of as a point of process.

Googlewhacker

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Sit down and note down everything whilst it is still fresh in your mind, so you have a clear sequence of events. Good spelling and punctuation will help, as will a union rep / shop steward if you have one.

At the disciplinary, ask what you should have done but don't get defensive - they should be able to see that you were damned either way.

The customer is not always right and you are being made an example of as a point of process.

Very good example with the exception of the last part.

Suspension is a neutral action and to be fair if the customer is talking about potential theft etc then it is sensible for the company to cover themselves just in case the allegation is true.

yvonne13_2

The customer asked you if you saw the bag and you said NO perhaps you should have told the truth.

arlene1962

bare in mind that it was around 8mins since i had seen the bag i did not believe that the bag belonged to this man

VfM4meplse

yvonne13 wrote: »

The customer asked you if you saw the bag and you said NO perhaps you should have told the truth.

I missed this (guilty of skim-reading the original post as it was one huge block of text) and agree this is going to damage the OP's credibility as it becomes an issue of honesty. I can see why the customer pressed their case now.

Badger_Lady

arlene1962 wrote: »

bare in mind that it was around 8mins since i had seen the bag i did not believe that the bag belonged to this man

If it had been 8 minutes, why would a random person be nosing about on the off-chance of stealing a gift bag worth, what, £1.50?

I'm sure your intentions were perfectly honest, OP, but your story does sound incredibly strange.

I can understand you putting the bag in your car but I really can't understand the conversation that followed with the customer. It's almost as though you were trying to wind him up. Couldn't you have, for example, taken a look at his receipt yourself? Rather than lying and sending him to customer services?

McKneff

You werent convinced that the bag belonged to the customer, hows that then, did you ask them what the bag looked like, if yo had done they would have told you and that would have convinced you.

Why did you say 'No' when the customer asked you if you had seen the bag.

Sorry, maybe Ive just got a suspicious mind but you arent convincing me