Sterling Jewelers, Akron Ohio.
A Little Background
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I was hired in December as a phone team associate in their Special Orders department. Training normally takes two weeks, I was trained on the phones ready to take phonecalls myself in 2 days.in 2005 I was movedd to the Knowledge Base Team (which deals in creating SKU's and product descriptions). I was given little training in this department yet was above proficient. My trainer did not speak very good english, so I was at a disadvantage.
I knew each various sub department in the Special Orders department and could perfom any duty assigned to me. I was also constantly asked questions by other team members.
I was regularily asked to complete special projects.
The Problem
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The knowledge base team, even after numerous protests from each team member, was assigned a supervisor who in our opinion was not qualified for the job. Our supervisor was chosen over our current lead, who was before that actively supervising and leading the department for two years and had extensive knowledge.
Our team received audits on a weekly basis on our work. These audits were to be performed by a team member (on the team you work on) or a lead or supervisor.
I questioned a correction to my work on my audit and found out a recently promoted lead from another team was the one who performed the audit and my supervisor could not explain to me why my work was wrong and told me she would have to speak to her. I had given her a week to do this.
I was told once audits were entered into the computer, they could not be changed. Thus receiving bad marks on an audit when in actuality they were correct.
Since I had given my supervisor a week to find the answer for me, and I had received NO answer from her, i asked the person who performed my audit - which i was repremanded for. Later in the same day, she walked by and I apologized for asking her about that. She asked me to come to her desk so she could explain it to me.
I was then rudely told by the Manager of the department to sit down in my seat, which I did immediately..
A member of MY team (knowledge base) then asked me if I could show her how to run a report because since usually someone else ran them she forgot how.in need of work to complete, I went to her desk and showed her the correct way to run a report. The manager mentioned above came over to the desk i was at, and stood over my shoulder. I continued to show her what to do and went to take my seat.
I was supposed to have a Side By Side (where my supervisor would sit with me and watch what i was doing to assist me) later in the day, and unfortunately since Sterling Jewelers decided to downsize our desks i had no room on my desk for my inbox (it was under my desk). Since it was under my desk, there was no room for my supervisor to sit with me.
I asked a supervisor what to do with the inbox that i was not using. She told me to give it to the Departments administrative assistant.
I walked 4 desks over to the administrative assistant and told her the Supervisor told me to return the inbox to her. This took 1 minute.
I turned around to walk back to my desk and was confronted by the manager who began to yell at me saying 'i told you to take your seat'.. She was literally screaming at me, embarrassing me infront of the entire Special Orders department.
I tried to explain it to her, considering I was just doing somethng to get ready for my side by side.
She would not listen so instead of being more embarrassed (my face was turning red) i started to walk away frkm her with the intent to quit, when the Departments Vice President came out and asked me to talk to him.
I spoke to him briefly because he had to attend a meeting. He spoke to me calmly and respectfully. I explained the situation to him and he agreed that it was not right. I did not want to quit I just wanted respect and not to be treated like a child. He said I could make the decision whether to quit or stay after i talked to the manager who was screaming at me.
He called her into an office and explained to her that I wanted to speak to her. I told her that I did not want to quit, I explained why I was out of my desk for the second time. She interupted, telling me in a tone that was not respectful that today would be my last day and that I was quitting. She said she would inform HR that i found a better opportunity. I tried to explain to her that that is not what I wanted, yet she would not listen. With the resistance from her, I felt it would be best to speak with the Vice President of the Department again because he was actually listening to what I said instead of forcing me to quit. I asked her if I could speak to him when he returned from his meeting. She clearly heard my request because she was looking at me, yet continued to open the door, with my security badge in hand and began walking out saying that this is the moment she is walking me out.
I feared that she would contact security and lie to them to make me look bad, so I followed her to the front door where she stood until I went thruogh the security gates and was outside the building.
I did contact the HR department and the Vice President of the department before I wrote this rip off report. They contacted me back but she clearly lied to them, telling HR that she was 'under the impression that i was quitting' even though i protested that until the time she walked me out.
HR also viewed my Myspace Page, and sent me a threatening letter regarding language that was written in a blog. The blog never once mentioned anyones name from the department. I did use foul language regarding certain parties involved and that may have gone too far. Again, I never mentioned their names int he blog.
Since the myspace incident, Sterling Jewelers HR department has not contacted me back, even though they said they would regarding the situation. I explained to HR i would not quit without giving two weeks and that if anything i would have liked to been fired at least i would have been able to receive unemployment until i found another position.
This department at sterling has many complaints from employees and the morale in the Special Orders department is downright low, in speaking with employees that are still with the company.
All in all. I feel I was unlawfully terminated, especially because the manager lied to HR and told them I had quit.
Please note - in this usacomplaints.com I did not mention names, and am free to use the name Sterling Jewelers since it is a public company. I just wanted to get the word out on this because this was unfair and unjustified. I also have contacted a lawyer to see what we can do to rectify the situation.
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