I know I won't be shopping at walmart again. Here's the story from my local rag:
Charitable deed gets worker fired
Tuesday, December 03, 2002
By JENNA PORTNOY
The Express-Times
When 20-year-old Tara Osmun piled her Wal-Mart shopping cart high with basketballs and Barbie dolls, she hoped the toys would brighten Christmas morning for children and raise money for a local volunteer organization.
She had no idea her efforts would put her out of a job three weeks before the holiday.
"Right now I'm really worried about what I'm going to do for Christmas. Right now I can't afford Christmas," the Stewartsville resident said Monday, two hours after she was fired for theft.
Osmun used her Wal-Mart employee discount to buy nearly $1,000 worth of merchandise on behalf of the Harmony Township Volunteer Fire Co., which raffled off the toys Nov. 24. She saved the fire company $108 by using her employee discount.
But Wal-Mart policy prohibits employees from using their discounts to benefit anyone except themselves or immediate family members, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sharon Weber, who is based in Arkansas.
Although she declined to discuss Osmun's situation, Weber said the termination resulted from more than one discount card abuse.
"I can assure you that there was more to it than just this one time," Weber said.
But Osmun said she has never been reprimanded for misusing her employee discount before Monday.
Store employees are told about the policies during orientation and sign documents saying they understand the rules, Weber said.
"We have a really strict policy in place when it comes to associate card abuse," Weber said.
Osmun's use of the card to benefit the fire company is especially disappointing because the Wal-Mart where she worked donated $49,000 to community organizations this year, Weber said.
With more than a million employees nationwide, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the fastest-growing and largest employer in the country.
Wal-Mart assistant manager Pauline Doser echoed the company line.
"It has to be for their own purchases," Doser said, adding that all her employees know the policy.
But Osmun insists that she was unaware of the rule. About three weeks ago when she was buying the toys, no one in the store questioned her about the purchases, Osmun said.
"I don't remember anyone saying that I could only use it for myself," said Osmun, who has worked full time in the store's photo lab since June. "I got a handbook, but I started working right away so I didn't have time to read it."
Osmun worked until noon Monday and was then called into her bosses' office. She signed a document saying she would pay back the discounted amount. Her first installment of $36.21 is due by Jan. 14, she said.
A Wal-Mart loss-prevention representative was present when Osmun found out she was being fired for using the money-saving privilege improperly.
"I honestly didn't know that we weren't allowed to use it," Osmun said. "They told me that I was fired because of it because it's considered stealing. I didn't take any items, I just used my discount."
In the end, the discounted price only benefited the Harmony Township Volunteer Fire Co. that fronted the toy costs.
Harmony Township Volunteer Fire Company Chief Wesley Garrison declined to comment about the auction and Osmun's fate Monday.
Osmun lives with her uncle, Troy Rush, who is a social member at the Harmony Township company and captain of the Stewartsville Volunteer Fire Co.
"She did something to help out the volunteers and now she's getting punished for it," Rush said.
More than 120 people, including Rush and Osmun, attended the fund-raiser and bought tickets in hopes of winning toy prizes.
"The whole town benefits because they use the money to buy stuff for the fire company," Rush said.
Now he fears that Osmun's intended good deed could tarnish her permanent employment record.
"I'm afraid it's going to follow her, and I don't want her to not get another job because of this," Rush said. "If anything, she's not a thief."