My boyfriend worked for Leslie's Pool Supplies for 7 years, climbing his way up the corporate ladder until he became manager of his own store about 2 years ago. He was continuously lauded for his performance, and appeared to have a bright future with that company... That is, until this past February. His District Manager was transferred to Maryland, and was replaced with a young 1st-time DM who seems to want to "prove his mettle". Since being installed, this DM has let go of 5 managers within his district... And, of these 5, only 1 was let go for solid reasons (he was continuously purposely late for work). One manager was let go because he forgot to make a deposit one night, and the others were let gofor similarly paltry reasons. None of these managers got a warning at all before their termination, and these were solid employees that had dedicated years of service to the company.
Unfortunately, my boyfriend was the 5th casualty. This Tuesday, after working an entire work day (9 am-7 pm), his DM came to his store at closing only to tell him that they were letting him go. He had accidentally mislabeled a computer being sent back to the corporate office, and it therefore took longer than expected to get back to HQ. This apparently qualified him as "unable to protect company assets"; he was never even warned that this might result in his potential layoff, and was completely taken aback. He had been working 65/hr a week shifts to get the store in shape, and, when it finally looked good, he was given the axe.
This, it seems, is not about what the managers "have or have not done"; this appears to just be another case of a new guy "cleaning house" to try to make himself look better (like he's "cracking down", etc). To get rid of employees that have worked hard for a company for years, though, after simple mistakes is callous, disrespectful, and just plain wrong. So, I am making sure to let the entire consumer world know not to buy pool supplies from Leslie's anymore... Because why would you want to support a store that treats its long-time employees with such little regard? Please pass word of this to everyone you know who shops at this chain... Maybe if Leslie's starts losing customers, they might start treating their workers like human beings.
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