Paq

Ok, so
my brother works at walmart, has for a while, stocks and helps customers, pretty simple stuff...

so, i got this story today and i think it happened yesterday and i'm just shocked.... a bit..

Long story short, someone called in a bomb threat for the store. They evacuated the store, rushed the employees and customers out until they figure out what's going on. 2 whole policemen come along with a firetruck. The managers talk with the cops and the firemen, then DECIDE TO SEND EMPLOYEES IN TO LOOK FOR A BOMB!!!

i'm not kidding, 13 people, mostly hourly employees and a couple of dep't heads GO INTO A STORE THAT POSSIBLY HAS A BOMB bc management tells them to or they risk losing their jobs. My brother was one of these people ordered into the store. i'm not kidding... I wish i were. He dumbassedly (i love that word) goes into the store with the others and they search around, find nothing and evidently, it's a hoax. I'm not kidding here, 13 untrained people looking through thousands of square feet of area for a bomb that could be ANYTHING...

i'm so livid about hearing that they would be ordered in by management and that this would be approved by the cops and firemen on the scene....

I just don't know what to do and i'm honestly thinking of contacting a lawyer. All of the people at the scene needlessly endangered the lives of the employees at that store...I just can't believe the management there would send in EMPLOYEES TO LOOK FOR BOMBS..and that the officers would allow it.

Anyway, any advice on where to go from here?

__________________
Live.

Chris

Dilbert1234567

have your bro talk wit a lawyer, that's fucked up...

__________________
Donate Blood!

"Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

Fire

walmart is notorious for this kind of regard for its employees- not too suprising
sadly......

__________________
Thought the harder, Heart the bolder,
Mood the more as our might lessens

Paq

he's coming by tomorrow for christmas get together. I'm going to get him to talk to a lawyer and the local press...

it's just infuriating that anyone would send in untrained people to search out bombs in a freaking warehouse sized area...

__________________
Live.

Chris

pan6467

What's fucked up is the police department sending only 2 officers. In this day and age of terrorism and crazy people, you have to take shit like this more seriously.

The police shouldn't have let ANYONE inside that building until a bomb squad or people qualified had searched first.

As for Wal*Mart, they are fucked in the head when it comes to treating employees fairly, however, I have a feeling this was that store manager's idea and when top brass hear about it he may be in the unemployment line.

IF this was Wal*Mart policy, then I'd go to every paper, radio station (not owned by Clear Channel because getting them to go against big business.... lol), tv station and any other news agency. But make sure you get a lawyer first, so wording and what is said can be controlled to not come back and harm you... people say stupid things in the throes of passion.

Please, have a Merry Christmas Paq and may the new year be wonderful for you and yours.

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

Paq

that's what i'm screaming..if it's the manager's idea, then he should be under the prison right now and if it's policy...there is just no way it could be store policy, i just coulnd't believe someone would send in untrained employees on a freaking bomb hunt..

oh, merry christmas to you all as well

__________________
Live.

Chris

Dilbert1234567

FYI, I just read my employee manual where I work, if there is a bomb threat, I and any other employee can be asked to make a sweep to look for suspicious items, because we will know what is suspicious more so then a bomb tech... Or something likes that. Have your bro read his manual first, and then bring it to see the lawyer.

__________________
Donate Blood!

"Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

shakran

No, I think the cops did the right thing here. My station gets bomb threats all the time and we only get 2 cops as well. Why? Because if every damn cop on the force rushed to the station every time there was a bomb threat, pretty soon criminals would figure out to call in a bomb threat before they go rob the bank on the other side of town. Realistically the initial response officers are only going to be able to say "nope, no bomb here" or "yep, that thing might just be a bomb," and then call in the bomb squad. Sending more than 2 not only puts the rest of the public at greater risk, but it also puts a needlessly large amount of the police force itself at greater risk - -why lose 10 officers instead of 2 if the bomb is real and explodes while they're checking the building?



That, I agree with.


And that should be the first step - -- go to Walmart corporate. I don't think it's fair to give the entire company a black eye through the media just because some dumbshit store manager decided to play cowboy. Give them a chance to correct the situation. If they don't, THEN call us.

All this talk of calling the media and calling a lawyer, and no one's thought of calling OSHA? We got yelled at a couple of years ago because we had a metal step ladder that we used to reach high plants to water them. Had to be fiberglass, even though we never used it for electrical work. If we got yelled at for that, imagine what they'll do to a company that sends in untrained, unprotected, minimum wage employees to find a bomb.



As a somewhat offtopic aside, I think it's very interesting that so many people out there love to say what biased attention-mongering shock-whores the media is, until something pisses them off, and then they can't get to the phone fast enough to call us. Just sayin'. . .

Paq

haha, good point, shakran.

i dont' think there is anything in the walmart manual about bomb threats, but if there is and it says to send in 13 employees to sweep a store...wow..Either way, i'll get a copy.

Osha is definitely on the list of people to call. The lawyer is mainly to see or know where the legal stance is and whom to ..uhh..well, attack, really. Nobody was really upset that there were 2 police officers, but that the two would give an OK for untrained people to enter a potentially bomb riddled place to do a sweep for explosives... I feel that they should have called qualified people if there were a real threat. I can understand not sending out the force for something like that..heck, i don't think bomb sniffing training is standard for officers. I could be wrong, though.

i think it'll start just over the head of the person ordering employees into the store and go from there. The media connection would not be against walmart so much as against the freaking guy ordering people into a store. and dilbert, where do you work? i could see a policy like that being effective if in a place where you work with a known atmosphere that doesn't change much..could you imagine looking around a walmart that was evacuated quickly leaving buggies everywhere, people's bags everywhere, hundreds of thousands of boxes, bags, containers, etc and send 13 people to effectively search for 'something out of the ordinary'? IIRC< bombs don't tick nor are they in ominous black boxes with flashing lights.

__________________
Live.

Chris

Dilbert1234567

I work at a college. The point of me staying, or being asked to stay is because I, as the rest of the employees, are familiar with the area, I can say, no, that box is new, or nah, that box with wires poking out the side was left there by my coworker. Basically, someone familiar with the terrain can easily point out things that are amiss. If I can help find something suspicious faster, I will.

However, for me, its voluntary, and it should be voluntary, there should be absolutely no pressure involved, especially with loosing your job that is crossing the line.

__________________
Donate Blood!

"Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

Cynthetiq

This is inflammatory at best.

They didn't send them to look for a bomb or disarm a bomb. They sent them in to LOOK FOR SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS. That's it. That's all.

And the items and stock inside of Walmart is pretty static, yes they get new things in all the time, but would a police officer know what seems out of place? I shop at Walmart from time to time, but not enough to know what belongs and what doesn't, but I couldn't tell you if that's the normal stock carts, boxed goods, etc.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Telluride

This is just a lousy situation with no easy or satisfying answer. Of course you don't want store employees to have to wander around in a building that might have a bomb in it. But like Cynthetiq said; would a police officer know what seems out of place? Someone who isn't very familiar with the surroundings could spend hours, days or even weeks wandering around the store looking for something suspicious. Hell; even someone who works there may not catch something out of place. I'm guessing that if there really was a bomb, the person who put it there might not make it very easy to find.

__________________
"I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." - Friedrich Hayek

Lady Sage

The branch of the bank that I work for is in a wallyworld store. (AKA WalMart)
For the first time in my nearly 6 years with the bank I had to call the police. They sent 2 officers who wouldnt take a report or a statement. Told me it was my job to take threats and unless he said he was going to kill me or kick my ass I was in essence wasting their time.

Seriously, WalMart is the antichrist, but people just dont give a shit anymore.

__________________
If only closed minds came with closed mouths.
Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open.
It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper
Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch.

Paq

I can understand that they would ask for a few volunteers to look for something 'suspicious', but to tell the people that their jobs depended on it just crosses the line.

Anyway, my brother was over today and we talked about it and the home office received 30 calls from customers about the incident and several employees went to upper management already...like 20 minutes after it was over. The people responsible are in a slight bit of trouble, to put it mildly, and management is handling the situation.

kudos. There is already a small story in the paper about it and it struck a nerve with quite a few people.

one thing i didn't mention is that this is in a walmart in a town of about 25K people, not a huge urban area at all, but one that used to have a good downtown area until..well, yeah. so a lot of people love the walmart there for hte cheap goods, while the only people who dislike it were the store owners. most people in the town aren't walmart haters or anything like that, but i think they would have reacted the same way if any store had an incident like that..

i can't believe the police woudl be that lackadaisical about a bank in any store. Heck, i've seen people be surrounded by guards by just joking about robbing a bank within earshot of a worker.

__________________
Live.

Chris

thingstodo

Unbelievable that the police allowed ANYone to enter the store until it was secured. We already know Wal-Mart management doesn't care.

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.