Imagine going about your day doing your job, not bothering anyone, and then a store manager runs up to you and almost destroys at least $1000 of merchandise.

Would you be upset, or would you think of it as a funny story to tell later?

The merchandiser in this story lived this experience and is still baffled by what happened.

Let’s read all the details.

“You must ask permission to use a pallet jack”

Preface:
I’m a merchandiser, I work for a vending company, I don’t work for the store but I stock merchandise in stores all over the county (multiple chains).

The Story:
I get to my first stop today and there are no pallet jacks on the Grocery side (large retail store, obviously) of the store, so I walk all the way to the GM side of the store looking for a pallet jack that is not in use.

He thought he solved the problem.

I find an unused pallet jack in GM receiving with no employees within 50 feet, it’s “under the steel” in the location that this particular store keeps jacks when they aren’t in use.

The nearest employee is standing 2 feet from a different pallet jack but not using it.

Naturally I assume this unused pallet jack is up for grabs so, I take it.

I make it all the way back to Grocery receiving with the pallet jack, jack up my company’s product and am on my way out of receiving to go stock it when I’m stopped by an ASM…

When I say “stopped” I don’t mean verbally, the guy grabs the handle of the pallet jack causing it to turn sideways in a narrow hallway and coming to a skidding stop… there was well over a thousand pounds of merchandise on the pallet at the time and it ALL tilts forward.

There are multiple reasons the ASM shouldn’t have done that.

Thankfully, the pallet wrap didn’t give away, but then the ASM proceeds to chew me out for taking a pallet jack that was being used and then he tells me that I must always ask permission to use a pallet jack.

First off, I don’t work for the store, at all. Store management can’t tell me what to do.

Second, Store management is supposed to pass any… grievances off to the company I work for, not track me down and accost me directly.

And Third, if that pallet had toppled it would have been the store’s fault and they Would have been charged for all the damaged product… canned carbonated beverages that are stored in receiving where there is no air conditioning so they are all warm and ready to pop (seriously, I dropped a 12pk 4 inches last week and half of them popped)

Wow! Talk about a rocky start to the work day!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person shares their experience.

Another retail employee weighs in.

Another person shares how it works at their store.

Someone without any retail experience shares their outside perspective.

It can’t hurt to ask, but don’t destroy the merchandise!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.