So this admittedly happened years ago in my early 20’s, however I figured you guys would love to hear this story. I got hired as a department manager at the ripe age of 21 for the active wear section of the men’s store and was super stoked. This came with the ability and expectations that I would occasionally approve price over-rides on mislabeled merchandise. This was usually approved by my direct manager, the floor manager. Anyways everything was going well for 6 months, to the point where I was being groomed for said floor manager position at a different location.
Then came one fateful day when I was called into Asset Protection’s office. They pull me into a back room and lock the door, then start asking bizarre questions such as “if you owned a business and an employee did something wrong knowingly to hurt the business, how would you react?” They were being very friendly at this point, yet the vibe was clearly off. I immediately ask “hey ya know, what’s the point of this, why am I really here?.”
“We’ve been investigating a loss totalling $457 from your price over-rides over the past several months.” I was shocked. My register alone cleared $5-10k of revenue in a single shift. “Well wouldn’t that fall into expected loss if you have a price adjustment policy?” I was then told I was allowed a $200 dollar maximum loss per year, despite this never having been explained in the onboarding process. $457 is .05% of the estimated 840,000 dollars my department cleared in a six month period (which is a fucking low ball estimate considering this averages to $5000 a day- which was the worst of days in terms of sales).
I explained that regardless, they were all approved by my direct manager, let’s call him Pete (not real name obviously). “We talked with Peter before we pulled you in and he denies ever approving any of these over-rides.” Motherfucker. His word against mine, that slimy piece of shit. I was told that I was being suspended pending an investigation, and that “a police report for theft was likely going to be filed.” These dildos relished in the power trip. I did what I never should have done and quit on the spot after telling them to go fuck themselves.
Years later I come to find out I have a family friend who’s son works asset protection in a Macy’s in a different state, which is a hilarious coincidence. I told him my story and he laughed and gave me the full rundown. He claimed that when Macy’s needs to get rid of people, they pull shit like that to try and get people to quit through intimidation and avoid paying workers comp. He claims he’s seen my exact scenario play out countless times.
Anyways I thought of this because I went birthday shopping with my gf for her mom at the same mall the other day and all these years later I see that fuck “Peter” still working the floor. Damn bastard, atleast he hasn’t gotten any promotions it would appear. Fuck that guy, and fuck Macys. Rant over.
TLDR; Was threatened by Macy’s AP over $457 in approved price adjustments, mistakenly quit.