Sometimes
right thing can become wrong if taken in wrong situation. Some decision can be
a night mare if the situation is bad. In this article readers will read about
an incident that took place in Pennsylvania Rite Aid, which is the best justification
of my above thought.
This
incident took place on Thursday (3rd September, 2020) at
Pennsylvania Rite Aid store. Rite Aid is a health and beauty store located in York,
Pennsylvania. The shift manager of the store Elena Santiago narrated her story
to the York Daily Record.
She
told that at early afternoon on that particular day when she was doing her work
like other usual days, when a customer carrying his skateboard entered into the
store. She saw that he was not wearing the mask, so she requested him to wear
the mask.
In this COVID19 times it became a compulsory rule in all over the globe to wear the mask for the safety, and if anybody is not wearing the mask means that he or she is violating the law. So, because it is a rule she again asked the customer to wear the mask.
The
customer ignored her request both the time. Then she offered and tried to
handover a mask which was kept in the store for the customers to him, but he
denied her offer very rudely. After getting disrespected and ignored
continuously, she finally got frustrated.
So,
she finally warned the customer by saying “If you are going to disrespect me, I
am going to have to ask you to leave the store,” according to the reference
article. When she got ignored again she
told him that she will call the police if he will continue to disobey the law.
After
hearing this, the customer started to threaten to attack her if she dared to
call the police. By seeing that the situation is getting worse she asked the
cashier standing at the counter to call other employees to help her with the
situation.
After
hearing the words of the manager, the customer became violent and pushed the
cashier very forcefully into the magazine rack. According to the reference
paper the security camera of the store showed that the violent customer threw
store displays on ground and hit the cash register.
After
seeing that the situation is getting out of control the manager took out the
pocket knife and pepper spray to defend her and to get the situation under
control. On seeing the knife the rude customer left the store and smashed the store’s
window with his skateboard.
The
manager, Elena Santiago told that she was fired from her job on the following
Tuesday during the pandemic, when she will not get any other work easily. She
said, “I really do not understand it, I was fired for defending myself,” as per
the reference article.
Elena
said that it was very unfair that happened to her. She also said that she
should not be punished for defending her and it was unfair how the authority
handled it. On the behalf of the Rite Aid its spokesman Chris Savarese told
that she was fired because of the store policy.
He
told that for various reasons the store has “no tolerance” policy for weapons. According
to the no tolerance policy for weapons if any worker will carry weapons to his
or her workplace or show any weapon to customers then he or she will be imposed
a punishment.
He
also said that the main reason of having the zero tolerance policy for weapons is
for the safety of our associates, customers and communities, and the situation
has created a serious issue. He also added that it was not her fault it was the
fault of the unfortunate situation.
In
my opinion it was neither the manager nor the authority’s fault, it was the
unfortunate situation which can be blamed as everyone has done what was right
as per the situation. The manager did what she could do to defend herself and
the authority followed the policy rule.
I
also think that although the manager has violated the policy she should get a
first and final warning instead of getting fired as whatever she did, she have
done to defend her and it is also very difficult to find a new job in this
pandemic situation. What are your opinions on this?
Written by - Bhavana Thakur
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