My mom was a clerk at Walgreens for about 4 years, over graveyards. She is a nice lady. Never would usually do anything wrong to anybody. In fact, on her last night there, she fould a $20 bill and gave it to the manager. That is the kind of person that she is. Well, a couple of weeks ago, one of the managers thought they saw her putting jewelery in her purse. And while she was leaving that day, my mom forgot to get her bag checked on the way out, as is policy <she just didnt think about it>. Come her next day on <she had her 3 days off> before she leaves, she is called into the office with the loss prevention guy. they reviewed the tapes, which were inconclusive. then she was asked if she has taken anything, and what from the store during her employment. She then listed everything over the 4 year period, which basically is odd'* and ends from 1506'* <1506 is a writeoff code that they use in which an item is unsellable or returned and gets destroyed. these things that she took were basically batteries from those laser pointer pens, etc, or pieces of candy from a written off bag of candy, stuff like that> and also a magazine from the breakroom that was about to be thrown away anyway. They totalled everything up, and came up with $13.50. made her sign a confession of taking these items, made her pay the $13.50, then fired her. she is allowed to never come into the store again, only to return her vests. basically now, my father has said no more shopping at Walgreens for him and the family, and i will pretty much stick to it, and i hope more will follow after reading this.

So here is the recent turn of events for my parents:

Barely struggling to survive, starting to pay of credit cards when they can
Then they have to go to florida because Grandma had a massive heart attack and was not expected to survive
Then dad coming back on a bus, and them losing his luggage <he got it back next day though>
Then dad has to go to the hospital for a staff <sp> infection.
Then dad gets out of hospital, only to find out his wages are now being garnished <25% after taxes, somebody pulled a fast one on them >
And now this.

I hope this is the end of it, but my gut tells me that something else is coming, and i think it is going to involve one of the cars. probably dads.

It'* like the novel a series of unfortunate events, only on steroids.

Here'* hoping things get better

Wow! That'* a run of bad luck for sure. I'm sorry to hear about that and hope things improve for them from here on.

Sorry to hear about your parents crappy luck. I would support you on boycoting Walgreens but, they are the only pharmacy in the Memphis area. Me and my GF have a baby girl due in February and I may have to go there for baby meds. other than that, I can promise not to go there.

Man, that sucks....

Just adds to my list of blacklisted businesses...

Let'* see...
Subway (Me and two of my friends were screwed over by them, and their food sucks)
Best Buy (Fired me for being 2 minutes late for a meeting)
Germain Automotive
Walmart
BP
Honda
CVS (they turned the town pharmacy from a loving, caring place to a corporate, soul-less convenience mart)

and now Walgreens

Sorry about your bad luck, and I hope that the government can help you out. Just remember, in times of bad luck, the only way you can go is up (think positive).

Just gonna say first of all, the views expressed here are my own, not necessarily that of my employer, etc... I don't know what happened, or why they did what they did, i'm just offering

Shrink is one of the largest problems of any retailer/business, in low profit margin sectors, can be the difference between making it, and busting.

There are very specific policies as to how the 1506 claims are handled, and from what I read, they weren't followed. Walgreens is about the only major retailer who can claim an item under a few categories such as returned, shelf damaged, destroy it, and get credit for the item. We're the only big company to have this priveldge, because of our reputation solely. It has huge potential to be abused by employees, and hence the strict rules.

No store I've ever been in has the walmart/corporate type feel to it, we're all genuinely friendly, trying to help people with whatever they need. They still have to protect themselves from external and internal shrink. Theft is theft, and no business will tolerate it.

thats horrible. what complete BS. those lp guys are dusche bags. "13.50 ok bye." a-holes

and bonneMeMn, i understand that "theft is theft", but what he described was items that were to be discarded. in my mind, thats not theft. whats the sense of throwing a non-sellable item in the trash if it can be used. thats wasteful.

Ah... No.

I have worked in 2 major retail stores and they followed that exact same policy.

Ace Hardware and OfficeMax.

Yes, I saw employee'* purposely destroy the packaging on a perfectly good item so they could the item for CHEAP after the store got credit for it.

Randall, I feel for your Mom. I was in a similar situation when I was younger. I was about to get fired because my register kept coming up short at the parking lot where I worked. I quit first, and two weeks later, the manager who used to cover everybody on their lunch hours got fired for stealing over $6k from various peoples' tills.

As far as Walgreens goes, I've tried to avoid since they tore down the Kahiki restaurant here in Columbus and put up another soulless glass facade. Now they're trying to buy out the property on the corner of Grandview and Fifth Ave in Columbus, a spot that sets the character for the entire community of Grandview, one of the nicer neighborhoods in Columbus. I don't know why, but anytime I hear about some historical place or beautiful older building being torn down, it'* always for another damn Walgreens.

Sorry about the bad luck streak, I can say I have done Lp at a few hardware chain stores and let me tell you some of the stuff we have caught employees taken are unbelievable, No matter how much or how little theft is theft, at least she didnt get charged, The places Ive been ppl have gotten charged 99% of the time, Anything from a couple of bolts to a riding lawnmower all taken by employees, lets just just say the best was the lawnmower,

Hopefully things get better, best of luck

Maybe, but that'* exactly why anyone abusing the system is gonna get hit hard. I'll stress. I don't necessarily agree 100% with it, I actually think we should donate it if it'* still good (not the old milk ) and usable merchandise. Again, I don't know what exactly happened, or why they did what they did, but that'* some of the reasoning behind the policies. If it got abused/out of hand, we'd have to send every return back to the warehouse/manufacturer. Not all items go through this either... Back to what happened, all employees know the rules about the claim.

They also don't go around and buy out places for themselves either. If something is for sale in a place they've studied and done their research that they like, they'll get it, but they certainly don't push out other corps. I'm not a believer in the physical saturation that some places are getting.. A lot of it is a new store where a very old one is as well. The store I trained at moved to a new building accross the street when the business there left, and they're up 30%...

I do wish them the best of luck, there'* always a way out though, many times better than how you got there.