Store says Marine teen fired for missing work during swear-in

KHOU ^ | 02/13/2011 | T.J. Aulds

[gitmogrunt]

A teen who joined the U.S. Marines claims he was fired from his job as a sacker at the Food King store in Texas City because he missed work as he was sworn in as a recruit.

Joshua Perthius, 18, claimed the store’s manager already had threatened to fire him if he missed work because of his recruit activities.

But Food King’s management claimed the teen’s firing had nothing to do with his plans to join the military. They said Perthius was fired because he never informed the store manager he needed the time off and that he didn’t follow store policy for requesting time off.

Perthius, a senior at Texas City High School, went to work for Food King about four months ago as part of a work cooperative plan at the school. As he looked at what he would do when he graduated, Perthius met with a U.S. Marine recruiter.

[OldNewYork]

Note to self, reconsider ever shopping at Food King.

[Tublecane]

“I say PROSECUTE HIM”

For what? Wrongful termination? I’m pretty sure uncleared absence is a firable offense.

[SeeSac]

I say PROSECUTE HIM ~ every now and then we need an example for the others!

You don't prosecute workers for negligence. You just fire them.

"I figured I’d be done and back in time for work," Perthius said."

[SeeSac]

For what? Wrongful termination? I’m pretty sure uncleared absence is a firable offense.

The dude admitted that the phone conversation didn't go too well. Wordsmithing for "I mouthed off to him."

[justlurking]

Reading through the thread, I see that once again several have jerked knees and made unwarranted assumptions before reading the entire story.

Some have, and apparently some haven't.

I recommend that everyone read the entire story. It's actually quite complete, and much better than the usual MSM story. Despite being posted on the KHOU site, it's actually written by a reporter at the Galveston County Daily News. That reporter could give most reporters in the "big" MSM lessons about how to write a story like this.

The reporter made a point of talking to both sides and pointing out the contrast between the two.

A short recap:

• The teen enlisted in the Marines, and went for a physical the morning of 1/27. He expected to be done by the time he was expected to report to work at 5:00 PM [I presume this is a reasonable expectation, but I've never had the experience].

• The physical took longer than expected, because another recruit went to the exam center at the same time. The teen could not call his boss, because he had been instructed to not bring his mobile phone. So, the recruiter called the manager. The manager does not dispute this call occurred.

• The next day, the teen says that the manager called him into his office and told him that if the recruiter ever called again he would lose his job. The story doesn't offer any confirmation/refutation from the manager. THe manager simply says that the first time he heard about the enlistment was on 1/27.

• During that meeting, the teen claims he asked the manager for time off for the swearing-in ceremony. The manager allegedly responded: "We'll see about that". The manager claims there was no such discussion.

• The teen discovered the next week that he had been scheduled to work on Tuesday. He complained to an assistant store manager, as well as the manager's son (who works there). The assistant manager told him that the teen should have the Marines reschedule the ceremony.

• The manager claims that the assistant manager told the teen to call him (the manager) to resolve the issue. The teen disputes that, but admitted that he didn't try to contact the manager own his own because the manager had already threatened him with termination.

• After the ceremony, the teen needed to finish some paperwork and meet his recruiter, so he called in. He was terminated, over the phone.

My interpretation: the teen didn't cross all the T's and dot all the I's, but at least he thinks he made a good faith attempt to do the right thing. The manager doesn't think so.

I've worked exactly the same job, at exactly the same age. I had to work the job around my school and other activities: that was a condition of being allowed to keep the job. I never had to put anything in writing, though. Scheduling conflicts arose, but we always worked them out without being threatened with the loss of my job.

This was before mobile phones, so I wasn't expected to call if I was going to be late. I just didn't get paid. I was never late often enough for it to be a problem, but it happened. As long as I called in when I couldn't get there at all, we were good.

Somewhere along the line, their relationship became strained, and it's hard to tell who is at fault for that. The teen sounds like he felt like he was being asked to do unreasonable things, and was powerless to do anything about it.

I never enlisted, so I don't have any direct experience. If this teen is having problems with authority figures now, the Marines may not be the place for him. But, I've see how basic training has really changed people.... for the better. He might thrive, instead.

[SeeSac]

Note to self, reconsider ever shopping at Food King.

#20 applies to you.

[SeeSac]

I agree. The boy may have missed work more than once.

In the article it mentions twice that he was AWOL from his job.

[TankerKC]

Store says Marine teen fired for missing work during swear-in

Let me edit that to be correct:

Store says Marine teen fired for missing work

[SeeSac]

he was fired right before swearing in so they didnt have to work around him on drill weekends.

If you read the first sentence you will see the error in your post.

[Sloth]

Perhaps the Corps will cure him of being a little whiny crybaby.

[Yo-Yo]

Alternate headline:

Slacker Sacker Signing Service Stipulation Sacked

[Presbyterian Reporter]

I read thru the entire story and my bottom line is the kid failed to follow the “Golden Rule”. Namely, he who owns the gold makes the rules.

The manager said he wants written requests and the kid did not do it.

End of story as far as I am concerned.

Furthermore, the kid will learn real quick that whining is not allowed in the Marine Corp.

[Ro_Thunder]

I did the same job, as well (sacker, dairy clerk, stocker, cashier, and after getting out of the Navy, booth operator, front end supervisor, customer service manager and closing manager at a major grocery store). If someone was joining the military, we would work around their swearing in ceremony.

[muawiyah]

Does not matter what you think ~ the needs of the military for recruits are paramount. We have laws!

[justlurking]

I think you're correct. But, if the conversation with the manager (after the physical took longer than expected) went anything like what the teen claimed, then he probably felt that he was screwed no matter what he did.

However, as you noted: his tour with the Marines is going to be even more of the same, so he had better learn how to deal with it. On the other hand, I doubt his DI will be ambiguous about whether any of his requests will granted. :-)

[TexasCajun]

Methinks the manager had trouble believing the teen’s story and thought he was being punked.

[SeeSac]

Does not matter what you think ~ the needs of the military for recruits are paramount. We have laws!

The dude has an attitude problem. A problem he will bring to his enlistment.

[OldNewYork]

“#20 applies to you. “

Mote, meet beam. “reconsider” implies no decision was yet made.

[SeeSac]

If someone was joining the military, we would work around their swearing in ceremony.

How do you work around a dude's schedule when you don't know what is till after he doesn't show up for work?

[muawiyah]

I meant to prosecute the boss. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) provides all sorts of things to nail the boss to the wall, but he appears to have attempted to INTERFERE WITH RECRUITMENT ~ that little comment about having them reschedule the oath gives you an idea of what his real attitude is.

We all recall the statement of Justice Holmes that: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre, and causing a panic.” ~ it was made in the context of a case involving just a pamphlet that was designed to interfere with recruitment into the military in time of war.

We'll leave it to the imagination what Justice Holmes might have said had he heard this guy suggest the military could reorganize its schedule around his store hours ~ (Bwahahahahahaha)

And hey you Marines out there, can you imagine that we actually have people in this country who believe the military can be flipped to work on a civilian schedule? We didn't even believe that sort of thing in the Army (and yet we have a couple of Air Force guys on this thread who do, which only serves to underscore what we thought about them eh).