Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Claudia’s story taken from her handwritten, yellow legal pad notes. Typist: Robert H. Keck.
Claudia Keck née Sobarzo
My name is Claudia Sobarzo (Keck). I have been a Wal-Mart employee since 2002. I love working for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart had been great to me until I was promoted in 2015. The day I was promoted to assistant manager was the happiest day of my life. Finally, all the years of hard work paid off. I was in tears. I was finally a salaried member of management, my manager’s career with Wal-Mart was about to begin. My hopes and dreams of being a member of management had come true. Little did I know that it was the beginning of an endless nightmare. Had I known what I was walking into, I would have just continued my same position and not tried to better myself.
The embarrassment that I suffered at store #3799 from the day I walked in the door was not something I expected.
One week into my position I was accused of falsifying paperwork. Asst. Mgr. (redacted) handed me a form and asked me to complete it before 5 p.m.. I asked her if she could show me how to do it. She said, of course. Later, I couldn’t find (redacted), she had some kind of emergency and had left early so I asked Asst. Manager (redacted) to help me. She replied those papers are B.S.. Just write Yes on all of them, check mark everything and just write audit is complete and no further action needs to be taken. I knew deep inside it was wrong so I asked if she could just walk me through it since I don’t know where any cash office books are kept and don’t understand any of the questions. She replied, this is how we all do it, (redacted) never checks them, so don’t worry. I asked another associate and a third and got the same story from both of them. After I turned in my papers, (redacted) called me into the cash office and started to question me about the front-end audit. I responded I didn’t know how to complete it so I got help from the assistant managers. They told me the audit was B.S. and this is how we all complete the forms. [setup ?] (redacted) then replied falsifying cash office records can lead to termination. She then asked Co. Mgr. (redacted) to fax the audit to (redacted). (redacted) then looked at me and said your peers pointed out the audit you completed and told me you said it was a joke and were just going write anything. What do you say to this? [ Right off the bat (redacted)’s behavior at this point tells the tale. Is this the way an honest supervisor approaches a situation like this? This will not be the last treacherous act by store manager (redacted).]
How could I have defended my actions? If I had no proof of the conversations with other assistant managers I had asked for help what could I say? (redacted) asked me to go home and that (redacted) would contact me regarding the consequences of my actions. I walked away crushed, devastated and so embarrassed.
(redacted) contacted me a few days later and explained how serious this was. I apologized and explained what happened. She then decided to give me a verbal warning and told me not to trust anyone in that store.
I was back to work the next day. I was hurt and embarrassed but still I walked in with a smile. I held my tongue and walked in the office where all the managers stood. My Notes were for me to mop grocery –alley, clean all the freezer and dairy doors and to dust off the freezer sidekicks, etc.. [1]I completed my notes, turned them in to the office. Again, (redacted) called me into her office. She started off by saying Claudia, don’t you learn? Again, your notes are not complete but you wrote complete on all of them. I replied they are complete, I made sure they were because I completed them myself. So, I said, show me what I didn’t complete. I then asked (redacted) to show me how to complete her notes since I can’t seem to do anything right. She replied never mind, please go home.
1 Assigning an assistant manager these demeaning, belittling chores is not standard. It appears the store manager went out of her way to create a hostile work environment for Claudia. return