Friday, October 11, 2013

Only in the South: Defend your store, and you get fired. Say What?

The Lowe's department store chain will get a bad rap for this one.

A Lowe's in Kentucky callously fired an 18-year employee after she'd tipped police off to a shoplifter who had stolen a tool kit from her store. She tried to stop the guy, Kyle Heim, but he escaped, only to be caught later by local police after receiving a tip from the employee, Karen Sizemore. Her co-workers dubbed Mrs. Sizemore "Rambo", after the anti-hero popularized by Sylvester Stallone in a series of movies based on the David Morrell books. Right now, they're probably trying to figure out how callous their superiors have to be to hand Mrs. Sizemore a pink slip for doing the right thing.

Lowe's argument stems from a corporate policy which is defined as protecting personnel and customers alike. Like, where was security when Heim decided he wanted something he didn't have the funds to pay for? On lunch break? Give me a break!

Ya have to hope there's a happy ending to this story, since Mrs. Sizemore didn't deserve to lose her job, especially with the Christmas shopping season right around the corner. Can we give the personnel jabroni who gave Mrs. Sizemore a pink slip the address of the Smackdown Hotel? Sheesh!

2 comments:

magicdog said...

Not the first time I'veheard similar tales of brave employees fighting back the bad guys - only to be betrayed by corporate overlords for some contrived reason.

It's not limited to the south, as stories like this have happened from coast to coast. If this story gets enough attention, Lowes will be forced to make a mea culpa and/or Karen Sizemore will get a much better position elsewhere.

That kid's got moxie! You go girl!!

hobbyfan said...

Overlords? More like wimps worried about their bottom line and what worker's comp claims will do to it.