More Wal-Mart Bashing

32 thoughts on “More Wal-Mart Bashing”

1. I would think Canada has employment laws against this kind of stuff.Report

   1. I have a cursory understanding of Ontario labour law, and it would depend on some details.

      First, Wal-Mart says they have a policy dealing with this, but I don’t know what that policy is. If their policy is don’t confront the customer, just report it, and she went against that, that works against her. Apparently, this had happened with her before and she went to the manager. The manager told her not to confront customers, but to tell him when something like this happens (I don’t know if that’s the Wal-Mart policy or if that was the manager’s personal policy). If she got a warning and explicitly disobeyed, that also works against her.

      However, it depends on what the policy is in theory and in practice. If Wal-Mart wasn’t following their own policy, then I’m not sure how that would affect her when she deviates from it. Certainly, that would help her case.

      Also, I don’t have any specifics of the altercation with the customer. If she was belligerent, that works against her, especially if she was belligerent the last time it happened.

      It’s been a while since I’ve had to be particularly familiar with the Employment Standards Act (I used to work in HR and HR-type roles), so I can’t really judge. I would, however, strongly advise this women to contact the labour board.Report

      1. One question I would have when it comes to contacting a labour board or suing an employer, I’m not sure that that, tactically speaking, is always the best track, even if the employee is in the right. I have an acquaintance who said the office she works at googles applicants and one the things they look for is whether they are in a lawsuit with a former employer. And at the end of the day, they don’t hire such people.

         Of course, by that logic, workers might never get redress.Report

         1. That’s a valid concern. In this case, I’m not sure if labour board complaints are either (a) open to the public (certainly it’s not an open hearing) or (b) easy to access.

            Lawsuits would be different (and since this women has already gone to the press, keeping her Google-able image clean might no longer be a concern).

            Sadly, there are a lot of barriers to justice for wronged employees.Report

            1. Thanks for your answer, and I’m afraid you’re right.Report

      2. It seems like there is probably more to this story. Pissing off a customer isn’t usually a firing offense unless it has happened multiple times.Report

2. What am I missing? If my dog were jumping out of my car’s windows (a wild hypothetical, since he has to gather all his strength to climb from the outside onto the car’s floor), I’d roll the windows up halfway to keep him in, and not consider this abuse.Report

   1. C’mon. You KNOW how those Walmart shoppers can be.Report

   2. In the original story I read (which I couldn’t find tonight), the windows were rolled up all the way. You’re basically allowed (at least in Ontario), to smash the window to help the animal in such a situation.

      Again, though, that’s if the story is accurate.Report

      1. This has nothing to do with Walmart, but …

         I was reported once upon a time for leaving my dog in the car with the windows rolled up. When I came back to the car a cop was there to talk to me about an “animal abuse” situation. I told them I was in the building for 10 minutes to drop off some stuff and that the dog wasn’t in any danger. He told me – STERNLY – that leaving the windows up on a dog was against the law. I got a bit pissy with him, about the presumptuousness of it and all, and he backed right down. Said that he was just responding to a call from a concerned citizen, and that I was free to go. As he walked away a woman who was watching the interaction jumped into the fray and began lecturing me – STERNLY – about dogs and windows and whatnot. By then, my car door was open and I never did hear the end of what she had to say.

         Boulder!Report

         1. You know, the punishment for animal cruelty in Colorado is probably pretty stiff.Report

            1. Sure.Report

   3. Are you allowed to bring your dogs into WM?Report

      1. No. They’re a grocer, so it’s illegal to allow dogs (other than service animals).Report

         1. So if the woman objected to the man leaving his dog in the car, she was essentially telling him not to shop at WalMart… not that day at least.

            Seems like a difficult situation with a number of imperfect solutions. Perhaps the woman shouldn’t have been fired, but depending on the context, mentioned throughout the comments by JML, it seems there are various scenarios where it could be considered appropriate.Report

            1. It’s a difficult situation, sure, but it should be (if the story is accurate) an easy call for Wal-Mart: risk annoying a customer rather risk killing a dog.Report

               1. But what risk was the dog in? Were the windows fully rolled up? What was the temperature? Time of day? Was the guy planning a long shopping trip or did he have to run in and grab a single item?

                  It seems the customer had no intention of harming his dog. Initially leaving the windows down indicates he wasn’t simply being thoughtless. Seeing that lowered windows risked the dog getting out and getting lost or hit by a car, he took a different approach, presumably one he thought (perhaps erroneously) was safer.

                  I wouldn’t object to the employee speaking with the man. Again, the specifics matter. Did she berate him? Or did she say, “Hey, why don’t you crack the windows a bit? It only takes a few minutes in the heat for a dog to get sick.” All of these details matter.Report

                  1. This paints a different story and seems based on the women’s report:
                     http://www.ibtimes.com/carla-cheney-fired-kemptville-wal-mart-calling-police-customer-who-left-dog-hot-car-1342005#

                     It appears he rolled the windows up higher, but not all the way. She called the police. And when he attempted a friendly interaction, she confronted him. When her manager spoke to her about the issue, she argued and refused to take a different tack in future situations, at which point she was fired. It appears that local law allows police to forcibly free animals if they believe them to be at risk; the officers opted not to do this, instead just taking his license plate, which makes me wonder if the dog really was at risk.

                     I don’t mean to be WalMart’s fiercest defender. But the linked article seems a bit sensationalist. The woman was not fired for “loving animals”.Report

                  2. That certainly does change things a bit.Report

            2. he could have tied his dog up in front of the store.Report

               1. And risk this?

                  http://youtu.be/TCDbY_lXS5AReport

               2. As someone who tends to be uneasy around dogs, I find it objectionable when people leave them tied up outside stores and restaurants.Report

                  1. far better than when they run loose in the park.Report

                  2. i feel the same way around dog but what else should dog owners do? in the city in common for people to stop at a store while they’re walking their dog.Report

                  3. um. not do that if you’re dog is illbehaved.Report

                  4. It’s not just about illbehaved dogs. If you don’t know the dog, you don’t know whether it is well-behaved or not.

                     dand,
                     As the risk of being completely unsympathetic to dog owners, I’d say that they should do separate trips for errands and for dog walking. There are sacrifices that come with certain decisions, including choosing to own a dog. I can’t bring my infant to a movie theater, and while that presents a particular hardship, such is the consequence of having a child. I don’t think it is unfair to tell dog owners that part of the job might mean separate trips.Report

                  5. if that’s the policy you want i’d recommend letting the stores you shop at know, they won’t change policy unless they’ve received a large number of complains.Report

                  6. Kazzy,
                     I agree. if you can’t bring the dog inside, you’ve left a menace outdoors. Doesn’t take more than a kid pulling on a tail, or poking a dog with a stick to get the kid bit.Report

                  7. In cities, I don’t know that stores have much domain over the sidewalks and signs outside.

                     In the ‘burbs, I rarely, if ever see this.

                     I could probably theorize why this is, starting with entitled city-dwellers and their overly pampered pets.Report

               3. I do that sometimes, but after twenty minutes of people coming up and telling him what a cute puppy he is [1], he gets pretty insufferable.

                  1. He’s 15, but to most people, any small dog is a “puppy”.Report

3. It looks like the temperature in Ottawa on Wednesday was between 70 and 84 degrees. Too hot for a dog at the high, and even at the low it could quickly have gotten too hot for the dog. Dog owners: be careful about this! But still, I couldn’t tell you if the dog was actually in danger.Report

   1. Closer to 84 or possibly higher (I heard 30 celsius which the google machine tells me is 86F).Report

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