Let me preface this by saying that our fairly new ETL-AP thinks she's an STL and acts accordingly. She's done several things that I, personally, feel are borderline morally wrong. She's been responsible for more people being fired than I've seen let go in my last 6 years with the company. She has caused fear, resentment, and an uncomfortable feeling of being constantly watched and targeted by the vast majority of the team. Numerous times, on the nights that she's closed, she has demeaned and criticized the team to the point that they have all walked out right at 11:30, no matter how far behind they are, because they can't deal with her. And these are people that normally stay until 12:30 - 1am to make sure all zone and gobacks are done. Before she was promoted to ETL, she was the Electronics TL at a nearby store. When she was given that department, within two months time, her entire team had either put in their two weeks, or simply walked out on her.
Now, onto the issue at hand.
A friend of mine works in Photo. I work in Electronics. Our store has a serious problem with a lack of available lockers at TSC. As in, it's nearly impossible to get one, because most have been claimed by team members that keep them locked with combination/key locks, even when they aren't currently working. We've had a problem with internal theft between TMs in the past, so my friend, when she can't get a locker, takes her wallet and phone to photo and keeps it in a drawer behind her counter to stay safe.
A few days ago, our ETL-AP dug through the photo drawers and removed all personal effects from them. Including my friends wallet, phone, the photo departments great team cards, guest comment cards, phone adaptors for the printing kiosks, etc.
Now here's where it gets fishy. The ETL, according to her own words, waited about 15 minutes after removing the items, and called my friend into the AP office over channel one. My friend finished with her guest, which took about 2 or so minutes, and then headed to see her. My friend claims that she entered the office, and the ETL handed her her phone and wallet back, without asking whether or not they were hers, and then proceeded to coach her for having her items in the drawer instead of in a locker. That's not the issue here, though. Because when my friend was handed her phone back, she immediately unlocked the screen. When an android phone has a pattern unlock password, as her has, you are given a certain number of times to attempt the password before the phone automatically locks for 30 seconds. When she unlocked it, it was counting down the time before she could yet again attempt it.
We tested it several times, and you have to attempt the password about 7 times before it locks you from attempting again. So she couldn't have accidentally tried once or twice, she would have been deliberately trying to break into the phone. And the only reason she should have had to unlock it was to check and see who's it was. But she obviously knew it was my friend's, because she had already called her to the office before she attempted to unlock it. And she never asked my friend if it was hers, and my friend made no indication that it belonged to her when the ETL handed it to her.
I guess my question is, what can my friend do about this? She feels that this was a real invasion of privacy, and that there was no reason for her try and break into her phone. As far as she knows, she tried just the amount of times that it took to lock the phone up, but considering that she was sitting with her stuff in the office for about 15 minutes means it could have been the last of several attempts. My friends would talk to the ETL-HR about this, but unfortunately, she is best friends with the ETL-AP, and the last time she raised a concern about her, she ended up being coached 15 minutes later, so she doesn't feel it's safe to bring it up without fear of retaliation.
Any advice?
Now, onto the issue at hand.
A friend of mine works in Photo. I work in Electronics. Our store has a serious problem with a lack of available lockers at TSC. As in, it's nearly impossible to get one, because most have been claimed by team members that keep them locked with combination/key locks, even when they aren't currently working. We've had a problem with internal theft between TMs in the past, so my friend, when she can't get a locker, takes her wallet and phone to photo and keeps it in a drawer behind her counter to stay safe.
A few days ago, our ETL-AP dug through the photo drawers and removed all personal effects from them. Including my friends wallet, phone, the photo departments great team cards, guest comment cards, phone adaptors for the printing kiosks, etc.
Now here's where it gets fishy. The ETL, according to her own words, waited about 15 minutes after removing the items, and called my friend into the AP office over channel one. My friend finished with her guest, which took about 2 or so minutes, and then headed to see her. My friend claims that she entered the office, and the ETL handed her her phone and wallet back, without asking whether or not they were hers, and then proceeded to coach her for having her items in the drawer instead of in a locker. That's not the issue here, though. Because when my friend was handed her phone back, she immediately unlocked the screen. When an android phone has a pattern unlock password, as her has, you are given a certain number of times to attempt the password before the phone automatically locks for 30 seconds. When she unlocked it, it was counting down the time before she could yet again attempt it.
We tested it several times, and you have to attempt the password about 7 times before it locks you from attempting again. So she couldn't have accidentally tried once or twice, she would have been deliberately trying to break into the phone. And the only reason she should have had to unlock it was to check and see who's it was. But she obviously knew it was my friend's, because she had already called her to the office before she attempted to unlock it. And she never asked my friend if it was hers, and my friend made no indication that it belonged to her when the ETL handed it to her.
I guess my question is, what can my friend do about this? She feels that this was a real invasion of privacy, and that there was no reason for her try and break into her phone. As far as she knows, she tried just the amount of times that it took to lock the phone up, but considering that she was sitting with her stuff in the office for about 15 minutes means it could have been the last of several attempts. My friends would talk to the ETL-HR about this, but unfortunately, she is best friends with the ETL-AP, and the last time she raised a concern about her, she ended up being coached 15 minutes later, so she doesn't feel it's safe to bring it up without fear of retaliation.
Any advice?