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I am a 23-year-old single mother to a 3-year-old boy who I am raising by myself, with no help from his father. I have worked very hard the past years to stay off the welfare rolls, to work hard, and support my son and myself without government assistance.
In the almost 3 years I worked for Walgreens, I was promoted 5 times. I started out as a front cashier who worked 4 hours a week, and by the time I was fired last week, I was a Senior Certified Pharmacy Technician. In the time that I worked for the company, I didn't have any major problems with them. I worked hard, as my promotions demonstrated, and I still have lifelong friends throughout the stores I worked in, ranging from cashiers and photo clerks to pharmacists and pharmacy managers. All have vouched for my character in this incident.
Last Thursday a loss prevention employee came in, took me into a room where I sat alone with her for 2 hours, and told me I was a thief. Despite the fact that I've had access to powerful and valuable narcotics all this time, and I've NEVER been accused of any sort of theft, she tried to nail me for supposedly stealing a box of cheap (not even $10) hair color.
She grilled me for 2 hours. She didn't ask if I had stolen. She told me that I had. She said if I couldn't provide her with the reciept from the purchase (which was a month prior to this), then that was proof enough. I mentioned that the burden of proof IS on the accuser. She refused to show me the videotapes that supposedly had evidence of my theft. She refused to show me any evidence at all. She simply came in, told me I was a thief, disregarded everything I said, offered me no recourse, and had me fired.
I asked her why I would risk my job for a box of hair color when I have a young child to support. I told her to ask anyone in either store I'd worked in if I'd ever commit such a crime. She ignored me, and when I wouldn't leave the store without being provided with proof of my crime, she called the police and had me escorted off the property. I was given a trespassing notice and told that I am not allowed on the property of ANY Walgreens in the nation. She lied to the police, said that I'd threatened to hit her and was breaking objects in the pharmacy.
When I called corporate, they also refused to provide me with the videotapes, and would not respond when I asked if it was legal for them to put theft on my record when they had no proof whatsoever. They said they would not discuss that issue with me.
I am now unemployed, and my son and I have lost our health insurance. I have also been humiliated in front of my friends and coworkers, first by being escorted out by police, and then, as if that weren't enough, loss prevention emailed every store in the state telling them that I was no longer allowed on any property of Walgreens, that I am potentially violent, and that local police are to be contacted should I come into any store.
Every employee I've spoken to (I am close to almost all of them) has backed me, and knows that this is bizarre and I was obviously 'framed.' I've already had several employees report to me that they've experience similar accusations, though theirs didn't end in termination. Several also knew individuals who WERE terminated for similar accusations that were also now proven. This is obviously a problem with Walgreens.
I, too, am seeking legal counsel and will fight this until the end. I would appreciate any help whatsoever - media attention, calls to the corporate office (phone number [protected]) and the store which this took place in (listed above), letters, emails, legal assistance, and boycotts.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Walgreens forces their employees to sell their name brand products. Certain employees earn a percentage of certain items sold. Employees are expected to sell a certain amount of product in order to get those extra bonuses. If employees do not meet that quota per day the employer will have a talk with employee and ask why sales are low. I rang up a customer buying products which were giving me a bonus. I was meeting my quota for the day. One month later I am accused of giving so called customer a discount. Totally untrue. Loss prevention did not investigate and only took an assistant managers word that claimed to seeing me give such discount. I got fired. My point is I believe Walgreens is finding excuses to fire employees as opposed to to being seen as a company that is hurting and laying employees off like other companies. Big chip on their shoulder. Embarrassed to admit they made a mistake.
I have never been told that I had a 'quota' to meet per day. Absolutely never in my entire year of working there. Our store has complete and total 'lack of communication' and it is so sad. I am sorry that happened to you.
Oh my goodness! They same thing happened to me in October, 2008. I worked there for almost 2 years in the pharmacy, became certified and recieved many bonuses and raises. In Septemeber I was going through a custody battle with my daughters father. His girlfriend called the Pharmacy and told them I was stealing OxyContin and other strong narcotics. Which if you have worked in the pharmacy you know those are all LOCKED away in the safe! Only the Pharmacist has the key. I was pulled aside by a Loss Prevention Manager and was questioned and verbally attacked for 3 hours in our breakroom! Telling me I was young, a single mother, and poor! So I obviously would need the money I would aquire by selling pills on the streets! I have no priors or have ever done ANYTHING illegal! I told them to check the tapes, give me a drug test anything! After the 3 hours of interrogation, as I was bawling my eyes out, they sent me back to finish my 8 hour shift! Acting as if nothing was happened. They ruined my reputaion and embarrased me in front of my whole store. A couple days later when I went to my Store Manager to ask about the "investigation" she plainly told me "Oh it's over". Come to find out they checked tapes, and counts before they even interrogated me! The count's clearly showed NO PILLS WERE MISSING! Now mind you I had never been written up prior to that, and within the month I had almost 7 write ups for pity things. Finally one day they accused me of stealing socks! And terminated me! Since the economy is so bad I can't find a job to support my 4 year old daughter and myself! I'm currently on food stamps and medical card, working for $8.00/hour. Not to mention they have a LAW OFFICE sending me letters that I owe them $600, or they will be sueing me in civil court. I am absolutly disgusted!
Walgreenns has done alot of deception that I have witnessed. Give me a call or email me and if I go through or see anyone go through that I can give you a call so we can sew walgreens . KK.
kathykaristinos234@yahoo.com, [protected]
It sounds like you were a cosmetics employee...and yes, they do have a sales quota. It's not just for walgreens products, however; there are specific products that change monthly that you are expected to try and sell. And a few that never change like Merlot.
It sounds like you were either in a bad store or weren't the greatest employee in the world and they found an excuse to get rid of you. The fact that you don't seem to understand the concept of suggestive sales makes me believe the latter, but I'll not say for sure because I never worked with you.
But yeah, sucks to be you.
I really hope you find legal representation. This is deplorable, the way you were treated. I hope you sue the living crap out of this company and the loss prevention person gets whats coming to them.
I wonder if nancy grace of cnn wwould be willing to do a story on it. u should email her and other news sources like fox news too.
^^high and mighty "### mgt or mgr" lol suggestive selling for hold your breath the glory of your lovely mgr who can show it to his/her DM to curry favor for a more profitable or 24 hour store hahahah why not fix the conditon where suggestive selling is another straw on the employee's back who is trying to ring the register faster than the cash register
itself ! have a greeter/walgreens bs ad explainer expert at the door to help bewildered customers understand what the hells going on with catalina coupons easy bs saver catalogue sales merchandise thats never there rainchecks that expire and have to be renewed umpteen times because the aholes at dc/corp never order enough ..list goes on if shopping at walgreens was a simple and pleasant experience yes suggestive sells would be a joy getting a chance to interact with the customer helping him with anything he might be looking for etc etc no no no its pile it on the min wage guy/girl then pick thru that pile of baloney to say negative things about their work habits walgreens and other min wage blood sucking corp are trash and the time will come when bubble will burst sooner than later.
One more thing all mgrs are explicity told by walgreens DM/corp policy to make advertised merchandise invisible and hard to find I wonder why ? Is this some kind sick con game with the elderly, low income citizens who according their profiles dont count anyway ? they might count if they come in to fill their profitable medicare prescriptions which is fine and dandy but just becaues they also want to buy a few things which are on sale and in their price range play sadistic raincheck con games with them ? Nice place to work if you have the same mental sickness
as the corp high rollers in getting their kicks
Every employee in the store is expected to promote certain items at their registers. Suggestive selling happens in most retail environments, Walgreens is no different. It is difficult to speculate on the reason you gave about being terminated without knowing more details, but certainly such a transaction would be relatively easy to track down in the computer.
As for Ramcharran, you clearly have a strong dislike for Walgreens. It has never been policy of corporate to "hide" advertised merchandise. In fact, we have programs that place advertised items on front endcaps at the front of the store, and on pallets near the entrance/exit for easy viewing.
Most Walgreens employees are happy to help customers find any advertised items that they are having trouble finding on the shelves. Occasionally, we do run out of stock on certain "hot" items, but managers try to keep such items in stock. What possible reason would we have for shorting the customer? Not having items on sale is sure to bring down profits for the store, and I don't know of any store who is looking to sink their own store's profits.
wow Im so sorry this happened to you... retail is shady
I was just given the two hour interrogation from Walgreens. I am a certified pharmacy tech of almost 6 years. I filed an EEOC against Walgreens on 3/18/2008 for discrimination against me for being the caregiver of disabled son. It started before that when I challenged my pharmacy manager about favoritism and about a month later had to call in sick for two days because my son was going through a major depressive crisis. After that they took hours away from me. When this started was approx. 20 hrs. a week, then it got less and less until I only worked 1 day week for five hours. I filed the complaint, got a call from corporate about mediation and refused. This May I took a medical leave because I had neck fusion. The first day back was Labor day and the following day. I went in today to get my paycheck (9/23/09) that my store manager was waiting for me. After arriving at the store, I was taken to the office and there was Ursala and her boss Mark Bunion. Ursala started out all nicey but then proceeded to accuse my of stealing a bottle of phentermine on Labor Day. She said she has me grabbing the bottle but not putting it back. She wanted to know what I did with it. I told her I don't remember (supposedly it was 7 minutes to the end of my shift), I probably just threw it on the counter, I honestly don't remember, if you know how unorganized Walgreens Pharmacy is than you know how drugs sit around all the time. They grilled me for 2 hours, I yelled, I cried and they threatened to take me to court, but if I "just admitted to taking the bottle, we could just leave it here in the office" In other words they wanted a confession and I would lose my job but they wouldn't press charges. I again told them I didn't do it, that I wasn't stupid, I know cameras are everywhere and I would not steal anything. They have no tape of me leaving, they said they have been watching the phentermine because it is consistantly off inventory counts. I asked them if they were off when I wasn't working for three months, and they said "yes" but said I had gone back there during my leave to look at the schedule (to see if I was scheduled) and I probably took some then. Right, with 4 techs and 2 pharmacists I would be able to walk to the 'fast rack' and take phentermine. I offered to take a urine test, they did not answer me. Long story short, they have been looking for a way to get rid of me since my ### of a boss got there (everyone brown noses her but me) and since I filed the EEOC charge. I am filing a retaliation form with the EEOC but we are working against a very powerful corporation. I have heard of this happening to others and have seen them leave the office in tears. it would be great if we could get a group to sue as one. I live near Chicago Illinois.
This is part of working in the pharmacy world. If you are not outright accused, you will be investigated for stealing narcotics. Too many people steal, the pills are so easy to take. If any of you folks are ever in this situation, make your statement, deny guilt, and then shut up. Don't say anything except that they can contact your attorney. They are convinced that you stole something, and nothing you can say will change their mind. The only thing you can do is show them that you mean business and if they fire you, you will fire a lawsuit missile at them. Keep in mind that in many states they can fire you for no reason, so it never hurts to keep your ears open at all times and get some kind of leverage over your boss.
That is crazy. Hope it works out for you. I used to work for Walgreens for 8 years. You should file for unemployment benefits to hopefully get you by for the time being. I used to work for the EDD in my state and if Walgreens protests your claim, they will provide "evidence" of worng doing. Hopefully you will be able to get some kind of information as to what they really have against you. Also, if they made you sign anything, i hope you either did not sign it or put that you signed under diress, and got a copy of it. Either way good luck!
I experienced a recent incident of my son (he received punishment and a lecture from a police officer off site from a Walgreens) for petty thief. After the issue was resolved and the $1.99 or so toy items were retrieved by security right there at the store in a meeting that included me, he was released. Later, I received a letter from a law firm stating that Walgreens wanted to sue for $300.00 -- GREED. The issue was settled, at least I thought, in the meeting and I told them that I'm taking my son, as part of the punishment, to the police department for a lecture; Walgreens did not call the police on him. A different legal office suggested that I not respond to the $300.00 demand because of a 12 year old/no police were called.
Can you tell me since you did not repsond to the $300.00 demand whether you have heard back from this same law firm?
yes walgreens should be sued from 10:35 to 1:15 lp had me in room questioning me about shortages( not the only one on registers many other people has hands in there!, humilated me to the point of tears kept telling me to tell the truth, well i did over & over to no avail.he was a bully & tried his ex cop anticks trying to wear me down so i would admit to something i didnt do.i told him to look at tapes or give me a lie detector test for i dont steal. never should anyone ever have to go through what i did.it was a nightmare.he asked so many personal questions kept saying i can see why good people go bad.hell everyone is in a financial bind nowadays but not all people steal which he said they do.he stinks at his job for if he read me right he would have known i told the truth i dont steal i live my life as god would want me to.now i see why he doesnt work for fdle now he must have been a very bad cop!
I honestly believe Walgreens should not be allowed to sell prescription drugs anymore... Today May 6th 2010 my wife was out of her medication and also a hair color that they no longer carry ..but she brought the box in with security tag on it in anyway... She took her prescription to the pharmicist to be filled and they said an hour.. mind you my wife is completely out of her medication so doing anything else other than waiting for it was not going to be an option... She then started shopping in the store looking for the Hair Color that they no longer carry but she had the empty box with the security tag on it that made a beap when she first entered the store... About half an hour later- She is still in the store shopping and waiting for her medication- a police officer and a Walgreens Manager came up to her and accused her of shop lifting and she was arrested... SHE NEVER LEFT THE STORE..! She was never read her rights... All my wife wanted was to get her much needed MEDICATION and go... Sorry for bringing in an old empty box trying to match up a product because you really like it... I feel so bad for my wife and all the mental torture that she was put through today.. She was arrested at 3:30pm and finally back home at 5:40am still without her MEDICATION ...! I am so pissed .. anyone that would like to help please contact me johnlabonte007@yahoo.com - GOD BLESS! yes we do believe and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ!
I am a former employee of Walgreens as of yesterday. They battered me for 2 hours until I stupidly confessed to something I didn't even do. They told me I could keep my job if I just admitted taking 10 pills from the pharmacy and pay them $120. I buckled and did it and as soon as I signed the statement...they fired me. I have learned I am not the only one this has happened to. I always thought thay people who confess to something they didn't do were out of their minds. I understand fully now. They are trained to use techinques on you that make you do it. Now, I am out of a job, my reputation is ruined and they have a signed false confession from me. I am so lost now. I am wondering if this has happend to many other employees. I know of one girl in our store that it happend to also. Please comment or offer any advice. Thanks
@empw and anyone else in the same situation,
the same thing happened to me on thursday. I understand completely what you went through. Loss prevention accused me and badgered me for two hours for stealing. I was totally blind sided. I've talked to a couple lawyers and they all said nothing can really be done because I gave and signed my false confession.
It's the stupidest thing I've ever done. I've pretty much cried everyday since then.
I've talked to some lady from the corporate office the next day, because I couldn't get a hold of Loss Prevention, and she said to talk to Employee Relations [protected]). That they might be able to tell me something.
I've also talked to my parents, my boyfriend's mom and his grandparents and they said to try the EEOC (which is a long shot btw, but my boyfriend and I are trying everything!)
I hope this helps atleast a little. My boyfriend tells me everyday not to give up and stay strong.
Maybe if enough of us complain, something will happen.
Don't give up.
I think that Walgreen's is trying to get rid of people now because they are cutting back on hours and everything. They did a store clean out last year about this time and fired 5 people from my store 5411. And now we were told that LP will be back more often again. The GM is an [censor] he gives hours to less busy stores and tells our manger to cut our hours and we are one of the busiest stores in the district. Walgreen's pretty much sucks anymore.
My sistern in law recenty filled a prescription (a Native American woman, nonetheless, for narcotics). For some reason, she was only given half the prescription and was told to return on the 15th for the rest of her prescription. This had never happened to her before but she didn't dispute it and when she returned on the 15th, she was told that she recieved the entire prescription. The natural assumption is that she is a narcotic abuser who is just trying to beat the system. My suspicion is that an employee took the liberty of stealing the 2nd bottle (incidently she'd always gotten one bottle with 120 tabs and this time they claim they gave her two bottle of 60...odd). In any event, I was there to witness the entire incident and she did, in fact, only recieve one bottle of the tabs. She also got her full prescription of Tramedol which they are claiming was the 2nd bottle of tabs. Don't they have enough record keeping abilities to see that she in fact only got two bottles of prescriptions when evediently there were three labels produced on that day. They did acknowledge that they only saw two labels and insisted that they were both for the tabs...they were not. One was for tabs and one was for Tramedol.
Any suggestions on how to get this investigated further? I have no idea where to start but it sounds like there may be some level of theft going on within that pharmacy.
I too was given the two hour interrogation from Walgreens on July 23 2010. Long story but I fought the unemployment & won, fought the termination reasoning for Cobra denial of “gross misconduct" and won.
Employee relations response to all of this: "The allegations detailed in your 9/15/10 email have been investigated and the results coordinated with Employee Relations. Any and all actions, if appropriate, have been completed. Thanks, Jim Wilson, LP Manager". A few days later, I only received a few of my personal belongings mailed back to me but still have items that were not included totaling $64 plus my Certificates of Accomplishment that are PRICELESS to me as I had many of them.
Former SBA, Lisa
you are a friggin' idiot.
ummm..huh? You don't have to sell a certain number in the day.One candy bar (not Walgreens brand) earns you a whole nickel. You can sell as many as you want, as long as you ask every customer.I have never sold store brand items.
I was a employee of Walgreens I was a pharmacy tech how ever they had fired a front cashier I had told them I would help out up front after coming back a week after surgery. While up front at cash register ringing out people my husband had come in I told him to wait because I had a line of people now mind you I was not talking to him he was actually off talking to the security guard. I was called by a new manager and told to tell my husband to leave I ask why and got told nothing but “if you don’t I will“. As I seen him walking up to tell my husband to leave I ask him why again and still got no answer so I stopped what I was doing walked away from register went back got my coat and walked out with my husband I have not stepped into t another Walgreens since then until yesterday I had decided to give them a try for my husbands prescription and yet again another disaster never will I ever go to another Walgreens !
Walgreens does what ever they want to. They dont stand behind their employees. Pretty much the same thing happened to me. I was an almost 15 year employee- trusted dependable, loyal and honest, yet one day, I was suddenly told by the manager and LPS that I am "dishonest" and was being terminated for such. I quit under duress as I have never been dishonest and expecially would have never blown my career for what they say I'd done. If I was so dishonest, The cash in the register would have made more sense to take, but they'd left me on the register for 2 weeks after they claim I ran a credit card transaction that was fraudulent and my cash handling had always been good. Wont even shop in the place anymore, as I think all managers are afraid of the LPS and dont stand behind their employees because of it.
I feel your pain on this one. I was brought into the office today by the Loss Prevention supervisor and told that the amount of Hard Keys I had was "suspicious" and that they know I was giving away products at a lesser price on purpose to hurt the company. They had me in there for 2 hours drilling into my head that I was a no good thief. The Loss Prevention guy even gave me a piece of paper and said write down everything wrong you've done while working at Walgreens after asking me many questions about my life and criminal record (which I have none). I had nothing to write. I've been a model employee the 6 months I've worked there and never taken a thing. And being that not only was I doing my job up front but when I had nothing to do up there I was helping photo with their job, the 4 mp3 players that went missing were my doing? I asked them to show me tape on the matter and they refused. Just one of those trying to get a confession through a fake tape move. I sat there just in awe at the fact that they would treat an employee who had done nothing but good for the company like that. And being the fact that I'm only 18 the Loss Prevention guy made me look like some sort of delinquent. I am a very responsible person. Not only did they fire me but they are making me pay back the $75 that I "caused the company to lose" and taking me to civil court. Walgreens should be able to show some proof for what they're firing me for.
Can't follow directions
Doesn't treat customers with respect
Makes excuses for their mistakes
Throws the blame on to the doctor.
I was a Senior Pharmacy Technician at Walgreen's for almost 10 years when I got fired. I work in a right to work state, so in reality they don't have to tell you why they are firing you. I was however told I was being fired for Gross misconduct so I could not collect unemployment. I still filed and with the state of Florida the proof falls on the company to prove the gross misconduct. My LP made me take a medical leave of absence because of the stress and fact that the store I was working at did not give the non-smokers the 15 minute uninterrupted break that is required by OSHA. She came in the afternoon following an incident and accused me of being a druggy and always coming into work drugged up. I was grilled for over an hour with my store manager sitting there like a bump on a log, while she did this. I told her could have a hair sample, piss sample or blood sample and the only thing she'd find was the birth control I was on. And if the company didn't like that than they were going to have to fire a lot of employees because their health insurance covered the medication. I took the 8 or 9 weeks of half pay while off of work and when I was authorized to return to work I spoke with the district manager about transferring stores. He let me and everything was going well until about 5 months later LP comes to that store and sees me working and she stated she hadn't realized I had been welcomed back to the company. I told her that I had spoken with the DM and he had me transferred to my current store, because he and I were concerned with any vendetta at my last store. Well wouldn't you know it, less than 2 weeks later I was fired for gross misconduct. I asked them to elaborate on what I had done wrong and to show it me. I was being accused of stuff another tech with my first name had done, although I never went by my first name at Walgreen's since I was in high school. So during my unemployment hearing I was told that Walgreen's failed to show the gross misconduct that I was accused of and had been fired for. I was also told to get a lawyer, I didn't. I had already enlisted in the Navy, because the company had been bad mouthing me around town and every company I applied to needed to contact Walgreen's since I had been with them for almost 10 years. Even now after almost 5 years of no longer working for them I still can't get a decent job around town.
This company has the worst management and loss prevention team. They really treat you like dirt no matter how many years invested in working for this company. And the loss prevention does not, will not show you any proof of the crime your accused of. But will make you feel like a criminal during their interrogation. I'm sure they know the same way they all fire people they will lose their jobs just the same.
i quit after being treated unfair. i am pregnant and left early from work due to a pregnancy related condition that led me to the hospital. i later went back to work 2 days later and requested a stool to accommodate me. they refused. i later went the next day and asked a differ manager if i ca use a stool she said she would inquire and get back. next thing you know i was in the office being spoken by all 3 shift leaders on duty reminding me that i had no right to no stool unless required by a dr. i showed them the CALIF LAW Rights of pregnant employees and they still refused stating WALGREENS has another set of rules to comply with. Literally felt humiliated and walked away crying. They said they would contact the general manager at home and will give me the stool if he approved of it. I later was giving the stool stating he approved of it for the day but would talk to me when he returned on his following work day. I never went back I called the HOTLINE and made a complaint.
Does anyone know if you can record the conversation with Loss Prevention as long as you notify them that you're going to record the conversation?
Apparently you don't need a college degree to work in the pharmacy at walgreens. they don't know how to use the computer, lose prescriptions, and have generally really poor service.
having visited there many times for prescriptions, they are consistantly slow and unable to determine what computer screen to be on. the woman takes my prescription and enters it into the computer. "it'll be here for next time." and i thinking hey right. well I was right. they lost it.
*** is and *** does. i think it is time for the FDA to stop letting these pharmacies merge. walgreens and cvs suck.
You don't need a college degree to work at most pharmacies.