Marine Fired for Apprehending a Shop-Lifter

[yellowwing]

Fired Whole Foods employee gets job offers
Posted by Dave Gershman | Press News Service January 04, 2008 15:39PM

ANN ARBOR -- John Schultz, the Whole Foods Market employee who was fired after he tried to stop a shoplifter, said he has received several job offers and lots of support from the public after publicity over the incident.
"It makes me feel great," said Schultz, who is weighing a job offer from an organic market set to open in Ann Arbor in February.

Meanwhile, officials of Whole Foods, which has been harshly criticized in blog postings about the incident, have reiterated that their policy is designed with employee safety in mind. And a representative of the Michigan Retailers Association says the policy is not unusual.

On Christmas Eve, Schultz, a 35-year-old former Marine from Ypsilanti Township, was fired from his job of five years at Whole Foods, 3135 Washtenaw Ave., after he tried to help stop a shoplifter the day before. Store management said he went too far and violated a policy against touching customers when he caught up to the man and grabbed his jacket.

Kate Klotz, a spokeswoman for Whole Foods Market, said Thursday in a statement that the safety of employees, customers and the community comes first.

"Please consider the potential consequences if the suspected shoplifter had a gun or knife or if the team member had caused an accident while crossing a five-lane road in pursuit of a shoplifter," she said. "Groceries can be replaced, but human life cannot."

Security systems and trained personnel are in place in stores to handle shoplifters, she said. Company policy, she said, restricts employees from physically confronting others.

When it comes to dealing with shoplifting, there's no single policy favored by retailers, said Tom Scott, a spokesman for the Michigan Retailers Association. Some adopt zero-tolerance policies against shoplifting; others do not seek to prosecute smaller thefts.

Employee safety is the biggest concern of retailers, said Scott. "But another big concern - and there have been cases in the not too distant past - (is that) retailers also have to protect themselves against lawsuits," he said.

What's most important, he said, is that the employer clearly communicates its policies to the employees. "It's a difficult situation because there's the potential for harm no matter what you do," said Scott.

Schultz said he is considering a job offer with Plum Market, which plans to open its second store in Michigan at the former Maple Village Theater site, off Maple Road.

"I've known him for years and I've worked side by side with John," said Jamie Rusling, a former Whole Foods employee who is the assistant store leader at Plum Market in Bloomfield Township and is involved with opening the local store. "He's a great guy. There's no way I'm not going to hire him."

Schultz had just punched out for his break when he heard a manager yell for help, and he dashed outside the store. Schultz, a manager and another employee cornered the shoplifter between cars, but the man broke away and Schultz gave chase, eventually grabbing the suspect's jacket.

When the manager caught up to them down the street at the corner of Washtenaw Avenue and Huron Parkway, the manager told Schultz to let the man go and the shoplifter got away. A bag with $346 in groceries and other items was recovered.

Despite losing his job, would Schultz do it again?

"Absolutely, 100 percent yes," he said, calling it his civic duty.

[lovdog]

Just goes to show you, when one door closes - another opens! Sounds like he's destinied toward a better job!!
The problem nowadays is some (not all fortunately), have forgot the meaning of honor, integrity and courage. Some who don't have these traits hide behind the legal system that encourages this menace to flourish in our society! At least most Marines have honorable traits branded into their brain at a young age and hopefully it carries on toward the rest of their lives.
Schultz lived by this code.

[yellowwing]

I don't know any Marine that would just let this happen. Whether they are 17 or 72, we will step up.

[thewookie]

I can understand why they might do this or have that policy but I don't agree with it. I work at a bank and there are 3 other Marines who work with me and every year when we have our annual bank security classes they make it a point to tell us Marines to not do anything if we are robbed. The money is insured just like the loss of food would be. Whether you agree with it or not the liability is huge for an employee to take matters into their own hands. It's a crying shame that his country has allowed this to happen but it's reality. Now having said that,, if someone ever pulled a gun in my branch while I was there I'd really have to think long and hard about why I wasn't going find a way to rip the gun out of the perps hands and shove it up his azz. But I'd probably be fired. But I think if you have any training in you, as a Marine, then it's real tough to sit back.