[picappgallerysingle id="4773122" align="left"]This article in the US Columbus Dispatch reminded me of many a lively day when I managed the Virgin Megastore in York in the mid 80s. Walmart employee Heather Ravenstein has been sacked after challenging a man who walked out of the store with a $600 computer without paying for it. Although she was thanked at the time, she was called in the following day and given her cards because she violated company policy about how to treat people in stores.

[picappgallerysingle id="289790" align="left"]When I was working for Virgin in York (and this ages me!) our main sales were 33rpm albums which were shrink-wrapped with a big machine on the top floor. In those days there were not the scanner checks which you find at store entrances so it was down to us to spot them. I remember two occasions (both on Saturdays) when we lost the entire Who collection and another when we lost half the Reggae selection (approximately 50 albums). The instruction in those days was to pursue the felon and do what you could to retrieve both him/her and the albums. This often led to chases through the city centre and I remember one occasion when the woman who took the albums ran to the Lendal Bridge, threw all the albums into the river and then jumped in herself!

In our current health and safety aware society this type of escapade is clearly no longer acceptable but I do have sympathy for Ms Ravenstein who was doing what she (reasonably) thought was the right thing. It is essential for employers to provide guidance for employees about how to deal with the situations they may encounter in the course of their duties. This is why a staff handbook is essential. As part of our subscription package we provide a customised staff handbook which is tailored to suit your specific business and corresponding requirements. If you are a subscriber, you have probably already seen the benefit of this in practice. If not, please call 08000 320 974 and we will let you know how you can deal with this type of situation (and many others).