Workplace, 'harassment', and personal property

Status
Not open for further replies.

chris_shadow

New Member
Because I feel this situation is very extensive, and needs a lot of detail to fully understand the problem, I'm having an outline, and the in depth piece. At the bottom will be the main questions.

This problem is with a very close friend of mine(we'll call her Jennifer) and her best friend(until last week[we'll call her Sarah]).

Outline:
1. Sarah displays blatant insubordination, damage to/poor treatment of company property, and all of this in front of customers.
2. Jennifer and the owner decide to put Sarah on a 2 week suspension, with probable termination.
3. Sarah comes to work on anyway, rants at the owner, and the owner changes the decision Jennifer followed through on. Rudely hangs up on Jennifer, and Jennifer leaves store until Sarah leaves because of the extreme disrespect.
4. I text Sarah about her rude and vindictive actions towards Jennifer, and am reported to the owner, who called Jennifer, telling her she can get into trouble. I call the owner, clear things up. I text Jennifer and Sarah about how I talked to the owner to clear things up. Sarah threatens to call the police for harassment.
5. Sarah has some items Jennifer would really like to be returned, but as Sarah is a very immature, vengeful person, this is unlikely.

In Depth
1.
It started on Friday, November 21, 2008, when at work (a small, franchised candy store), the assistant manager(Jennifer) took her 10 minute break. It ended up being a 15-20 minute break, and Sarah got very upset.
Here's where I need to give you some extra info. In this franchise, there is the owner, then 2nd in command is Jennifer, the assistant manager. It is a bit messed up, I know. Jennifer does everything that needs to be done, from par/inventory, to cooking, to customer service/sales. The owner only deals with the financial part of the business(including ordering what Jennifer informs needs ordering). Under Jennifer is a supervisor, and under the supervisor is several sales clerks. Then under them is the cook, which is Sarah. She is never to take care of customers. Her job is to ONLY cook.
When Jennifer came back in, Sarah was furious. Note: Sarah has no right to be mad at her superior for her job in no way affects Sarah's work. The rest of the day consisted of blatant disrespect/disobedience to Jennifer and company property(slamming the company phone, and poor treatment of equipment), rudely complaining about Jennifer to other employees that were working, and doing all this in front of all customers, very rudely.

2.
After talking to the owner, it was decided she was to be put on suspension for two weeks, with a probable termination. On the following Sunday, Jennifer left a voicemail for Sarah, explaining that she was to be suspending, starting the next day, Monday, for two weeks.

3.
Come Monday, Jennifer had come to work early to pick up Sarah's job before the business opened. When opening time came, Sarah showed up, acting as if she had never received the voicemail(which she had texted Jennifer about, questioning it). Jennifer instantly called the owner, which asked to talk to Sarah. Sarah went to the back and ranted and raved to the owner for 10+ minutes. When Sara returned the phone to Jennifer, the owner yelled at Jennifer, being upset about all the exaggerations she had heard. The owner yelled that this was unacceptable and was only going to say this once. The owner also said Sarah was to stay and cook, even though she had told Jennifer to suspend her. Then the owner said she couldn't talk and then hung up. Being furious Jennifer left the store, willing to walk out on this job instantly. After talking things out with the owner, Jennifer agreed to go back into work if Sarah was sent home.
The reason Jennifer was so upset because she felt horribly disrespected on Friday, and now the owner had gone behind her back, discrediting her authority in the store, and undoing what Jennifer had done with Sarah.
Since this incident yesterday, Sarah has proceeded to call ALL employees and gossip rudely about Jennifer, with half true tales of completely personal issues.

4.
Now this comes to where I'm involved. I'm very close friends with Jennifer, and because Sarah was her best friend, I was forced to tolerate her, making Sarah think we were friends. So as far as Sarah is concerned, we have been friends for several years.
Hearing all this going on, I am quite angry. Jennifer is in a very, very high stress situation for the past year. Her situation just got more stressful a few months ago. So I'm upset that her 'best friend' is doing all this to her. I text Sarah saying 'Why are you trying so hard to take Jennifer down? Just because you messed up doesn't mean you need to mess things up for her too.' This was referring to her gossiping about Jennifer to all the employees, and even to the owner. She replied that it doesn't concern me. I replied that if that is true, then likewise, personal matters shouldn't be taken into work(this was in reference to some of the gossiping involved me). She replied, saying that I not to text her because she was going to tell the owner about this. I, a bit angry, said go ahead, maybe she'll fire me(I have nothing to do with that workplace except being close friends with Jennifer, and 'friends' with Sarah.) After this, I got a call from Jennifer that the owner had called her, telling her she can get into big trouble for what I did. This made me very upset, I demanded she give me the owners number. I politely talked with the owner, telling her that the conversation between me and Sarah was in no way Jennifer's doing. She hadn't told me to text Sarah, and I never got Sarah's number from Jennifer. I told her that my relationship with Sarah is completely personal, and what I say to her is between Sarah and I, and I have no intent on going further than it being a personal conversation with Sarah. After clearing things up with the owner, I texted Jennifer and Sarah about the conversation, just saying I cleared things up, and that what goes on between me and Sarah is just that, between me and Sarah.
Several minutes later, I got a call from the owner, informing me that Sarah(who, have you know, I have known for about 3 years) is threatening to call the cops on me with harassment charges. I laughed.

5.
Now the problem is Jennifer and Sarah are no longer friends. And Sarah is a very spiteful, rude, vengeful, irrational person (hence why I had to tolerate her). But Sarah has several items of Jennifer's that Jennifer would really like back. I'm afraid Sarah will probably not be cooperative about the return of these possessions.

Questions:
1. Are these proper grounds for termination?
4. Can Jennifer be held accountable for my conversations with Sarah? And does Sarah have a valid harassment charge against me?
5. What can be done about this? Sarah has a bit of violence in her history, and I truly fear for Jennifer's safety if she tries to get her things back.
 
1. Are these proper grounds for termination? Yes. Although grounds are not required by law.
4. Can Jennifer be held accountable for my conversations with Sarah? Yes. Next time, wait to be asked instead of jumping in and trying to do Jennifer's job for her.
And does Sarah have a valid harassment charge against me? Not as far as criminal law goes, but if the employer wants to take action against you there is nothing in the law preventing it.
5. What can be done about this? First off, you should stay out of it unless Jennifer asks you to get involved. This is between Jennifer and Sarah. Not to mention the fact that there isn't even a problem yet. If Jennifer asks for her things and Sarah refuses to provide them, or if Sarah gets violent, Jennifer can go to the police, but there's no need to create a problem where one does not yet exist.
 
First of all, this is posted on behalf of Jennifer, because she has no access to the internet. So she is the one in need of answers.

And second, about the conversation between me and Sarah, what makes Jennifer accountable? If Sarah does continue to bring it up to the owner, and does hold Jennifer accountable for me talking to Sarah, can Jennifer do anything about it?
I'm sorry, I just think it's ridiculous that someone I've known and been talking to for 3+ years, far before she worked at this place, all of a sudden can turn around and get others in trouble for me talking to her, through someone who has nothing to do with me and what I said to Sarah.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top