Archived So I might have made a big mistake.

[Starry]

In my 3.5 years at Spot, I have never made any mistake that has made me as worried as I am now. I'm more than willing to speak with an LOD if needed, but I need some advice for the time being.

It would be TL;DR if I typed it in paragraphs, so I will put it in bullet points:

• I worked from 4am - 11am today. After work I went to church to see some friends.
• One of the friends invited me over to their house for dinner. They need to stop by Target first. I still have my uniform on (and many others, including myself, over the years have worn red/khaki while off the clock), but I figured it was no issue. Get in, get out, go have food.
• Turns out they have to return a couple of online items (carseats) as well. They return their items and the guest service worker sees me (with no name tag, and with my phone and car keys in plain sight) and tells me to get the labels that printed.
• This is where a large part of my worry comes from. It was particularly busy and when I tried to tell him/her that I was not on the clock, s/he semi-ignored me. I've seen other off the clock TMs over the years go behind the GS counter for various things (trash, grabbing quick items), so without thinking I very quickly go and get the labels and place them on the carseats.
• I thought that would be the end of it, but the GS TM still isn't really paying attention to the fact that I'm not on the clock and tells me to put the items away. Again, I tried to tell her/him, but apparently it went in one ear and out the other.
• I figured "what the hell, it will take 30 seconds to place these items away". I realize that I'm not technically supposed to do that, but I figured it would be easier than trying to tell someone who obviously wasn't listening to me. Also, just so you know, I had another TM try and call an LOD, but none of the LODs didn't really seem to give 2 craps.
• This is where another large part of my worry comes in. The labels printed were not "online item" signs. They were clearance labels which were marked down to $6. From $250 per carseat. I realized this wasn't right , and tried to tell the GS TM, and s/he told me to just take the stickers off and to place them where they were supposed to go on the sales floor. I didn't feel comfortable with this and found a TM with seniority about the situation, and they offered to take the items to the back room; as they do have a place in the store.

So, this is where my worries come in:

1.) I know that you're not supposed to do anything that constitutes "work" while off the clock. However, given the situation, and the severe lack of communication, as well as the fact that this has not happened at any other time during my 3.5 years, how severe was what I did? Being grabbing the labels and the beginning of finding their spot on the floor before finding the pricing mistake?

2.) What about the items themselves? An "online item" sticker did not print, and it seems like it would have been a mistake to have two $250 items sell for $6. As such, once again given the severe lack of communication, was it the best practice to have the items taken to the back room instead of placing them on the sales floor?

I'm 100% willing to take any blame that comes my way, but I also want to make sure that no major mistake was made. Or that any severe consequence would come from it.

 

[Jack of all Workcenters]

You could be terminated for working off the clock, odds are nobody noticed or cares.

 

[commiecorvus]

I wouldn't panic too much unless you are not well liked at your job.
Unless they are looking for reasons to can you this isn't really a big deal.

However you should have ignored the GS TM, once you told them you were off the clock that was the end of it.
They didn't have the authority to tell you to put it away.

 

[Sickofspot]

Wow! That is tough. If AP spots this and reports it before you do, you are gone. I would probably tell HR that you were bullied by the GS TM to work off the clock. If you told them several times that you were off and they disregarded it, then they pressured you into doing it. Let the HR know you were uncomfortable and felt pressured. It may just save your ass. I know someone who was fired for checking emails before they punched in...

Rule of thumb, say something before someone else does-my store watched tm's a lot on camera...

 

[Starry]

You could be terminated for working off the clock, odds are nobody noticed or cares.

I wouldn't panic too much unless you are not well liked at your job.
Unless they are looking for reasons to can you this isn't really a big deal.

However you should have ignored the GS TM, once you told them you were off the clock that was the end of it.
They didn't have the authority to tell you to put it away.

Thanks for the responses.

I truly hope that termination doesn't come from this. Like I said, nothing like this has happened before. Let's just hope that if management did notice, that they're merciful.

Also, I have no idea why I even listened to the GS TM. Maybe it was the lack of sleep (I'm running on less than 2 hours of sleep; not for lack of trying). Maybe it was the fact that I had a severe lapse in judgment. However, one thing is for certain: something like this will not happen again.

 

[Starry]

Wow! That is tough. If AP spots this and reports it before you do, you are gone. I would probably tell HR that you were bullied by the GS TM to work off the clock. If you told them several times that you were off and they disregarded it, then they pressured you into doing it. Let the HR know you were uncomfortable and felt pressured. It may just save your ass. I know someone who was fired for checking emails before they punched in...

Rule of thumb, say something before someone else does-my store watched tm's a lot on camera...

As soon as possible tomorrow, I'm going to my HR (or an ETL if HR is not around) and will tell them about what happened. That I screwed up and didn't know what the hell I was thinking,

 

[Sickofspot]

I hate peer pressure, and I feel that the bossy GS TM did this to you. I hope it turns out well. Fingers crossed. You are doing the right thing.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Stay calm. Documents the events on what happened before you go & see hr or an etl. That way, you will be ready to answer any questions that maybe asked about the Gstm actions. How they were able to get that car seat down 6.00 is really strange unless that Gstm is buying for themselves.

 

[Starry]

Update:

I spoke with the HR ETL about the situation and s/he said not to worry about it. S/he doesn't really consider what I did "working off the clock" (since I didn't directly help a guest; like using a cash register or retrieving an item from the back room) and that it was more of an issue with communication and bad guest service on the other TMs part.

Also, I was told that the car seats being marked down to $6 was not a mistake. I still find that kind of odd, but whatever.

 

[Sushi2Go]

Hmm... $6 sounds too good to be true. It seems like it should have been savaged and not marked down further.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Update:

I spoke with the HR ETL about the situation and s/he said not to worry about it. S/he doesn't really consider what I did "working off the clock" (since I didn't directly help a guest; like using a cash register or retrieving an item from the back room) and that it was more of an issue with communication and bad guest service on the other TMs part.

Also, I was told that the car seats being marked down to $6 was not a mistake. I still find that kind of odd, but whatever.

Document those events & talk to ap about the car seat price.

 

[redeye58]

We had 3 GSTMs termed for marking down returns, hiding them in bins, then purchasing them when they were off the clock.
If she had you remove the clearance stickers & sent them back to stock, that would get my attention.

 

[RedDog]

When I have seen things like this happen before, people have just used punch corrections and added the time.

 

[Guest]

 

[indigo25]

Update:

I spoke with the HR ETL about the situation and s/he said not to worry about it. S/he doesn't really consider what I did "working off the clock" (since I didn't directly help a guest; like using a cash register or retrieving an item from the back room) and that it was more of an issue with communication and bad guest service on the other TMs part.

Also, I was told that the car seats being marked down to $6 was not a mistake. I still find that kind of odd, but whatever.

That's weird, my store would have salvaged returned car seats even if the guest says they were never used.

 

[Starry]

That's weird, my store would have salvaged returned car seats even if the guest says they were never used.

Yeah, it is weird. However, by this point, I'm just going to be more aware and alert about things. Be more assertive to pushy TMs and the like.

Since HR said not to worry about it, I'm going to be more aware of my surroundings and keep an eye out just in case.