It’s hard to stay loyal to a workplace once you realize the people you trusted aren’t who you thought they were.

For one retail employee, that realization came after 11 years at the same store and a promotion into management.

That’s when he started noticing managers giving out improper discounts and looking the other way when employees stole merchandise.

Even worse, the mentor he had looked up to for years turned out to be doing the same thing.

He decided to report what he saw, but that didn’t go as expected either.

Read on to see what he did next.

Quit my job after 11 years working there after discovering the store management was corrupt.

I just up and quit.

I had tried everything. I had talked to corporate, I had proof, and nothing was done.

I got the job when I was 16. The manager who hired me was my mentor; he served as a father figure in my life.

I worked hard for years, getting promotions and pleasing the customers.

It sounds like a great place to work.

Our store was run well.

The store manager was a reasonable man and was best friends with the men’s department manager (my manager).

The employees here were intelligent and fun to be around. We were the highest-selling store in our state.

It was a magical place to work. I loved every minute of it.

He was excited to get a promotion.

A year ago, I was offered a promotion to manager. Housewares needed a new manager, and I was the one they wanted to run the department.

For the longest time, I was a supervisor. I was the young, reasonable guy everyone loved.

Being offered the promotion was the happiest day of my life, no joke.

I was overwhelmed and had a lot of anxiety over this, but everything worked out.

When he became a manager, he started to notice things he hadn’t before.

As manager, I began noticing how different management was from being a lowly worker.

Lots of drama, and the worst, corruption.

I noticed one day, as I was talking to the textiles manager while he was ringing someone out, he was giving that person a massive discount.

What? That can’t be right. 70% off? The item was 30% off.

Upset, he confronted the manager about the discount.

I confronted him, and he played dumb, saying it was a mistake.

I believed him. I did, because I trusted the people working here. But I was still suspicious.

The next day, I’m returning something to textiles when I see him again with the same customer, giving him a massive discount.

I confront him again. He just shrugs and tells me, “Does it really matter? Just another perk of being manager.”

The store manager told him something he didn’t expect.

I go up to Rick, our store manager, and tell him what I saw. I show him proof.

And he just sighs, leans forward, and tells me, “A manager is allowed to give out discounts. You didn’t know? That’s fine, but if you wanna hand out discounts, don’t make it so obvious.”

I sit there, my mouth agape, looking at him like he lost his mind.  “Sir,” I say. “Sir, that’s against corporate policy, isn’t it?”

He looks at me, and his eyes narrow. “If you want to keep your job here, don’t think so hard about this.”

He decided to check with someone else.

I storm out and go to find Alan.

Alan was the one who hired me. He is my mentor and like a father to me. He was the smartest man I knew, the hardest-working, a real stand-up guy. He would know what to do.

I go to his office. He looks up from his computer. “Hey, Dean, what’s going on? Need something?”

So I calmly explain what I saw and heard.

Alan didn’t respond the way he expected either.

Alan sighs and motions for me to sit. “It’s best if you ignore this. I don’t much agree with this, but the right thing to do is to mind your own business. If Rick says it’s okay, then it’s okay. Now, you’ve done a darn fine job here. Don’t ruin your career here.”

I’m stunned.

The Alan I knew would never say this to me. The Alan I knew would never turn a blind eye to these shady dealings. There’s no feeling quite like knowing the guy you idolized turns out to be just as bad as the rest.

I went home early that day. I needed to decide what to do.

At this point, there wasn’t more he could do.

I decided not to do anything yet.

Days went by, and I got the distinct feeling I was not very wanted here. The aura in that store had changed. Managers would glare at me, and I just felt unwanted. But I trucked on. There was nothing to do.

About a couple of weeks ago, I was returning a shirt to women’s when I caught a new hire, Tamara, removing the tags from a blouse and placing the item into a bag without paying. I confronted her, and she denied everything, but I saw it and dragged her to my office.

I was giving her a lecture, preparing to fire her, when the door opened and the women’s dresses manager, Amy, barged in and claimed she would handle this. I think, okay, it’s her employee and a close friend of hers. She’ll handle this.

As it turns out, she was able to keep her job.

I go back to my department. I then see Tamara coming out of the offices and heading back to her department. She wasn’t fired.

I go to Rick’s office and ask him what’s going on.

Rick: “She had a minor lapse in judgment. Everything has been fixed, no harm done. It’s over and done with,” he harshly explained.

Again, I was wrong about this store. I was wrong about everything.

Then, he caught Alan.

That night, at closing, I was taking the trash out. Mostly everyone had gone home, and I had just finished my cash drops.

I was walking out when I saw Alan in the women’s department taking the sec-tags off the items and putting them in a bag. He must have had a dozen shirts in there. He hadn’t paid.

I followed him out of the store, and there was a car waiting. Alan’s wife was in said car. She spotted me and waved.

Alan confronted him.

Alan turned around and came up to me.

I was the first to speak. “You didn’t pay for those clothes, did you?”

And so Alan looks at me, looks me dead in the eye, and says, “No. But I can and will pay at a later date. There was no harm done.”

I grow red. “No harm done? This is against the policy. This is theft, pure and simple. I have to report this.”

Feeling betrayed, he went to Loss Prevention.

He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Son, I got you this job, and with 1 word, I can get you fired. We going to have a problem?” And then he walked off, got into her car, and left.

That was the final straw.

I felt so betrayed by Alan and this store. How could they be this blatant about their stealing?

I had proof they were, so the next day I went to LP. The LP manager, Arnold, was not the most pleasant of people to be around. He was egotistical and not very good at his job. His LP agents weren’t much better.

Apparently, he didn’t care either.

I tell him what I saw and ask if he can replay the videos. Gotcha!

Arnold looks over to me and tells me, “So ole’ Alan is stealing, eh? Who cares? You aren’t going to use me as a witness because I trust ole’ Alan. He’s a good man. Corporate will not care, and your job is on the line. Just sayin’.”

I ignore him and walk out.

Maybe corporate will care?

During break, I contact corporate.

I contact the regional manager, and to my surprise, he is willing to do an investigation.

The next day, I’m called into Rick’s office.

Sitting in Rick’s chair is a man in a suit I had never seen before. RM, had to be. And in front of him, Alan.

Suddenly, the regional manager thinks he knows exact what’s going on.

The man introduces himself as Todd and says he was contacted by a concerned manager who said we had a theft problem.

I explained to him what I saw and what had been going on.

Todd asked Alan, and Alan defends himself and then finally deflects this onto me and attacks my character.

Todd smiles and says he thinks he sees the issue here. He says he’s looked around and thinks the issue is I’m not able to do my job. He recommends that I not be placed in any leadership position. He gets up and shakes our hands.

At this point, he just walked out.

Rick is furious, and Alan is smiling. Rick looks down at me. “Should have minded your business. I should fire you, but I won’t because, truth be told, you’re a valuable employee. But your time as a manager is over,” he boasted.

I get up and walk out. Rick yells at me. I tell him all that needs to be said: “I’m done. I quit.”

As I’m walking out, Alan grabs my shoulder. “Son, rethink what you just said. You spent 11 years here. You aren’t going to be able to use us as a reference. Think about what you’re doing.”

Nope, I don’t care. I throw my badge on the ground and walk out the front door. 11 years. 11 years gone. I could have stayed, but what’s the point?

Yikes! This reads like a daytime soap opera.

Let’s check out how the fine folks over at Reddit feel about it.

This person doesn’t like his decision.

Well, that’s a good point.

Here’s a reader who offered some kind words.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an ex-Army vet who quit his security guard job after he doesn’t get a promised raise.

According to this comment, he could’ve had a case for being demoted.

How did they get away with this for so long?

If multiple managers were giving away merchandise or outright stealing it, you’d think corporate would’ve caught on eventually.

And what makes it even stranger is that he actually reported it and still ended up being treated like he was the one who did something wrong.

Ultimately, quitting was probably the only move he had left.