When I was in college, I worked at a famous chain arts and crafts store. I was a naive, starry-eyed 18-year-old. My first couple years there I had a really great manager, “Russ”. Every so often items would be discontinued, and would ring up for a penny. When this happened, it was the responsibility of the team member that realized it to go gather the rest of that product and dump it in the dumpster out back. No paperwork, nothing. Not sure the reason for that, but whatever.
It felt like a huge waste, and Russ was a cool guy, so he looked the other way. Most of the time it was toys that got trashed. Little stupid things, plastic dinosaurs and coloring books. I would take the zero’d products and bring them to the local women’s shelter I volunteered at for the kids.
Did this for a couple years until Russ got moved, there was lots of whispers about it being corporate political BS. They hired new manager from outside the company, passing over a ton of worthy assistant managers from my store.
After that the store went to hell. Russ always made sure my hours worked with my college schedule. New Guy would consistently schedule me during classes when a new semester started and kept writing me up when I would request changes, despite me submitting my availability online and in person well in advance. Lots of other issues, just a generally bad manager for the positive team culture we had previously.
I figured my days of donating zero’d products was over and I was right. He said it was too much paperwork involved. I begged to do it, offered to do it on my breaks or come in off hours. Nope. After this he put a padlock on the dumpster when someone suggested we just go diving for it after work, and started making us wait to be escorted out by him to throw anything away.
At Christmas time, the company was accepting donations for kids. Customers could buy stuff in the store and drop it in a box at the front to donate to “local kids in need.” During this time, an entire collection of safari animal toys was zero’d. Literally hundreds. Multiple trash bags full. I begged him to let me just put them in the company donation boxes for Christmas, but he said no, and walked me out to watch me throw them in the dumpster. I went back inside and just cried I was so mad.
After that I was pretty much dead inside and stopped giving a shit about the job entirely. Since I chilled out on all the wasteful product trashing he got lax with the rules for the dumpster. One day a $100 roll of canvas rang up at the front for a penny. I quietly checked the customer out.
After, I went back and found every roll of that canvas, it was about 20. I loaded up a rolling cart, grabbed the dumpster keys, and tossed it in the dumpster. I was so upset at the waste of $2000 in canvas that I must have forgotten to lock the dumpster. I was so distraught that I called my painting professor vent about such a terrible waste.
Magically the afterschool art program he ran got a huge donation of canvas for the kids. I quit shortly after that when New Guy tried to force me to stay at work when I threw up ON THE SALES FLOOR.
To this day when I walk into that store and see New Guy’s stupid, smug face, I say a quiet fuck you.