FAQ's Cases - Stewart McKelvey

Page 737 37. The Grievor admitted that the beeping sound of the cash register was very annoying soinstead of figuring out or asking how to correctly enter the asparagus he simply said "screw it",threw the product in a bag and gave it to the customer without charge.38 38. The Employer argued that the Grievor was motivated by personal benefit because thiswould have permitted him to clear the customer more quickly without having to take the time tolearn the proper way to ring in the asparagus. The Grievor admitted that he hoped this would gethim out of the cashier job sooner and back to the work he preferred in the Produce Department.39 39. According to Counsel, even if the Grievor's claim that he did not benefit from this misconductwas true, it does not alter the fact that he gave away a product that he is supposed to sell. Itis still theft even if he gives it to a stranger. The fact that he gave it to a stranger would normallymake it harder for the Employer to detect and this misconduct would not have been detected if thecustomer hadn't been a Safeway employee and reported it.40 40. According to Counsel, the Grievor was caught "red handed" committing an act of theftand under these circumstances dishonesty results in dismissal and the cases support the Employer'sdecision to terminate this employee.41 41. Counsel argued that the Union's defense that it was busy and the Grievor was stressedand confused by the pressure of work is not supported by the facts. At the time of this incident hisshift had just begun and the store was not particularly busy. This was the first customer he servedand there was no one in line behind him. When he finished this order, there were only one or twocustomers waiting in line which, according to Counsel, is about normal and can not be characterizedas a stressful or extra ordinary work situation. The Produce Department had been fully staffed allmorning and was in good shape, another employee would be working in the Produce Departmentuntil 6pm. There was no reason for the Grievor to believe that he would return to a mess in theProduce Department or be "yelled at" by the Produce Manager.42 42. Counsel argued that even if it was busy and he was under pressure, that is no excuse tostart giving product away. Furthermore, Counsel suggested that if the Grievor's solution to stress isto start giving product away, he is not a good candidate for reinstatement.43 43. It was the Employer's position that the Grievor's explanation just doesn't make sense.There are only two possible choices when ringing in produce, it is either sold by weight or at acoded price per item. When the Grievor found that the item price code would not work, the obviousthing to do was to weigh it. Furthermore, he had a phone and there was another cashier at the nexttill. He could have asked someone. According to Counsel, even if the closest cashier was difficult tounderstand, there were other people he could have asked. He never tried to find out how to do itproperly, it was just easier for him to give the product away.44 44. Counsel argued that the Grievor's conduct reveals his attitude: he just didn't care whetheror not the customer was charged for the asparagus. Initially, he wouldn't even accept the customer'shelp. It was necessary for the customer to take the asparagus out of his cart, put it on the scale andinsist that he be charged for it.45 45. Counsel pointed out that the Grievor admitted that he didn't like the cashier job andwanted to get back to the Produce Department as soon as possible. However, his job includes doingcashier work and he is expected to do it well. It is not acceptable for him to give away productswhen he doesn't know how to properly charge the customer for it. Counsel pointed out that the item