Posted on 02/14/2011 12:08:17 PM PST by 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 stores manager already had threatened to fire him if he missed work because of his recruit activities.
But Food Kings management claimed the teens 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 didnt 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at khou.com ...
Note to self, reconsider ever shopping at Food King.
“I say PROSECUTE HIM”
For what? Wrongful termination? I’m pretty sure uncleared absence is a firable offense.
You don't prosecute workers for negligence. You just fire them.
"I figured Id be done and back in time for work," Perthius said."
The dude admitted that the phone conversation didn't go too well. Wordsmithing for "I mouthed off to him."
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:
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.
#20 applies to you.
In the article it mentions twice that he was AWOL from his job.
Let me edit that to be correct:
Store says Marine teen fired for missing work
If you read the first sentence you will see the error in your post.
Perhaps the Corps will cure him of being a little whiny crybaby.
Slacker Sacker Signing Service Stipulation Sacked
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.
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.
Does not matter what you think ~ the needs of the military for recruits are paramount. We have laws!
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. :-)
Methinks the manager had trouble believing the teen’s story and thought he was being punked.
The dude has an attitude problem. A problem he will bring to his enlistment.
“#20 applies to you. “
Mote, meet beam. “reconsider” implies no decision was yet made.
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?
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).
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