Whole Foods Market

On Thursday 9-2-99 after arriving at work Ken asked me to meet him in the conference room. As I entered the room Ken and Jay walked in behind me. When Ken began to talk, I asked if this was in relation to what had happened in the past couple of days and he said yes. It was at that point that I asked for an STL to be present so that another member of the store could witness what was about to be said, could document it for future reference. As far as I was concerned I had done nothing wrong. It was Jay's attitude that had caused any trouble between us. Tracy Wilcox, an STL arrived about five minutes later. I was told that my behavior was unacceptable, that I should listen to what Jay had to say, that I can't just walk away from an associate team leader when he is 'talking' to me and that I couldn't just leave work when I wanted to. It was very clear to me that the whole story had not been told to Ken. I listened to everything that both of them had to say. When it was my turn to speak Ken interrupted me within a few seconds. He went off into another tangent and never gave me a chance to say what I wanted to express. He did this several times, frustrating me more and more each time. When he had finished I would try and go back and continue at where I had left off and he would interrupt me again suggesting that this had already been dealt with. I found this very unfair indeed. Tracy did ask Jay two questions in relation to what he had said about what had gone on. He had told us that when he got to work on Tuesday 8-31, he had asked me to go with him and help him in the docking bay and eventually bring down some product that had just been delivered. According to him, I refused. Which was untrue. And when she asked him where we were when this happened he stuttered and couldn't remember. I sat there feeling very helpless as it was obvious Jay's word was being taken above mine. He went on to convinced them that the counter was full of meat particles when I was pouring the cheeses into the cups. I found this quite interesting considering I'd sanitized the whole area minutes beforehand. And I knew the area was spotless. I left that meeting with a very bad taste in my mouth. I felt that they didn't give me one single opportunity to have my view point listened to. I had been trampled on, made to look like the bad guy and that the three of them had twisted the whole event around to make me look like the agitator. I was written up for what went on that day. This was my FIRST WRITTEN WARNING.

Two weeks later I arrived at work at 07.00a.m. I was very, very tired. I had been scheduled to close the night before and did not arrive home till very late at night. By the time I took care of various things to prepare for the next day I managed to get three and a half hours of sleep before having to get up to cycle to work in the morning. The plan for the day was that Jay and I would arrive at 07.00a.m and get straight into the cooler to do our second inventory count together. He arrived at around 07.15 made a joke by rubbing his hands together and said, "are you ready for the cold Johnny?" I said I was ready when he was. I was looking forward to getting started to get the project done. My relationship with Jay had also improved since the last incident and I found working with him enjoyable. I had done inventory with him once prior and knowing how involved it is I was glad to get an early start on it. As the hours passed that morning I wondered if we were ever going to get a start in the cooler. Finally at 10.30a.m. Jay came out from Ken's office and we went into the refrigerator together. Just like the last time, he had the pencil and pad ready for my weights and amounts that I would convey to him. But instead of starting at the cheeses like the last time, he told me to start counting all of the meats. "I didn't think we were doing the meats," I asked with curiosity. As we did not count meats last time. When the meats were done we started the olives. With these additional items to be counted I realized that we would not be finished by the end of our shift. A couple of times Jay got a page over the intercom and he would have to leave the cooler for a minute to answer the phone. I took those moments to get out of the cooler and warm up a little bit as my hands and face were very cold and it felt good to step out of the chilly air for a while. Later Ken asked me to go up front to relieve a co-worker for her lunch break and I planned to take my break on her return as I had been at work for over 5 hours now and was hungry. As I was about to leave Ken passed Specialty and asked me to go back and help Jay. I explained the break situation and he still wanted me to help Jay. If that was the case, I asked if I could use the restroom before we started up again. Upon re entering the store floor Ken approached me on the way to his office and asked how many breaks I had taken. I told him only a one 15 minute break earlier in the morning. "Well you better take your lunch then and come back. I'm going to need you to help Jay, this HAS to be DONE and FINISHED by today Johnny." "Hang on," I said, "I'll help until 3.30 and that's it. I'm tired, I've had 3 and a half-hours sleep and I need to rest, I'm sorry! Jay started way too late for the extra work that needs to be done back there. He should have started earlier if you wanted this amount of work to be completed before I left." Ken was outraged and in a second his face turned red. "Well, don't ask me for any more schedule changes in the future then and don't expect any days off that you request," he barked. Because I was so tired it took me a second to realize what he had just said. "So your telling me that because I can't help you this once, I'm being ridiculed in the future for the one and only time that I haven't been able to help you out. What about all the other times that I've been there and helped you, has that gone unnoticed?" I said, still annoyed by his remark. "What other times Johnny?" Ken asked. I listed times when I was more than happy to give some extra time or effort to help out not forgetting to remind him of the hours upon hours of time I spent helping get the department ready to open. His response was almost instant; "I'm just telling you that I won't be making any exceptions for you in the future." And that was all that he had to say before he stormed off. I have never in my whole life been threatened by a superior. I was shocked to say the least. I was very, very hurt and annoyed at his attitude. I clocked out and went to the front of the store to find Tracy, the Store Team Leader. She was busy helping customers so I asked her if I could see her upon my return. She said this wasn't a problem. My lunch was filled with confusion. I felt so alone. I didn't want to go back into that store that afternoon. What was this guy's problem? I had done nothing wrong, yet I was being made to look like the guilty one here. Why should I be blamed for something that was not started early enough?

After lunch I clocked back in and found Tracy. I explained to her that I needed to speak to her privately about and issue between Ken and I. She needed to use the bathroom and said that she would pass me in Specialty when she was done. As I hadn't informed anyone that I was back yet, she told me to see if it was OK with Ken. He said that this was fine. Sadly, I was serving a customer when she passed so I told her that I'd be along in about five minutes. When I reached her office Ken was there. I didn't want and hadn't asked for that. This wasn't my idea of "a one on one personal talk" about an issue that was bothering me and had just happened. Tracy had already heard me specifically explain to her that I had an issue about Ken and that I wanted to talk with her ALONE. So why call him in? That was not my idea of talking to a store team leader about something that I wanted to confidentially relate to that person about! Looking into the office, Ken said, "Tracy will be here in a minute." I was completely intimidated. Tracy came in and the incident that Ken and I had gone through previously was discussed. I felt that Tracy (just like the last time) was totally on Ken's side and tried to justify his point of view with every part of what had gone on. In my opinion he was out of order by what he had said. Where in the contract did it say it was normal practice for a Team leader to demand an employee to stay over his scheduled shift and then threaten him when he refused? Ken turned the whole thing around and made it sound and look like I was the bad guy and the one at fault. I still struggle to find where I was at fault in this situation. My shift was over at 3:30. If I had been asked a little nicer I may have considered it as I knew full well how important this was. As he concluded, this man had the audacity to look me straight in the eye to tell me that I WAS SLOW, AN EMBARRASSMENT TO SPECIALTY AND I HAD NO DESIRE TO WORK. I have to stress here that you had to be there to experience this humiliation. I was shocked and lost for words at that statement. My point is I couldn't believe that he could have the audacity to lie and say such a thing about me. And even if this wasn't a lie why has he never said anything about this before. I have been working with the company for over 5 months now and not once has he made a comment like this. If Ken was trying to get a point across it worked. "I set high standards," Ken said " and you never fill them. You're so behind all the others. I was told today that you were even sitting on the beer stacks and not working. What Ken didn't know, and didn't take the time to get my side of the story was those were the moments I had taken to warm myself up after working in the cooler. Knowing that Jay was the only one who would have known that it was very clear to me that again Ken has listened to what Jay told him, believed everything he said and without getting my story formulated his own reasons. Very poor managerial skills if you ask me. "You have no ambition in the department and I even feel embarrassed about giving you a six month review." I've always had managers that addressed a situation as it came up. If I truly was one of the laziest people why has he let me work for him for the past 5 months? So Tracy and Ken conclude to blame me for this. This should give you an example of how dogmatic their thinking is. "Well, you knew what had to be done, so why didn't you just ask Jay if you could get started on the cooler," they both implied. I've only done inventory of the cooler once before. I did not feel it was my position to ask the associate team leader, Jay, when we should be starting. I blindly assumed he knew what he was doing. Is that not the reason why people are promoted to higher positions in the company because they have the skills and experience necessary to get jobs done correctly and efficiently? I'm sorry, this is HIS responsibility as an authority in the department and as someone who is training another to let me know when we should be starting. Besides, Jay had made it perfectly clear to me in our first run in that "he was the boss and I was to do what he said", not the other way around. The pleasantness in our relationship hinged on me remembering that and I know that if I crossed that line, I would be reprimanded for it. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I understood fully that no matter what, I could never do the right thing to make these people happy.