I don’t think arresting her for refusing to return the vest goes anywhere. They are arresting her under the claim that she was stealing her company vest. She didn’t steal it, they gave it to her. The easiest way for an employer to get the vest back is to hold her paycheck until it is returned. This is a bullshit charge that goes nowhere. Since they gave her the vest, this is purely a civil matter and not a crime. I am willing to bet the charges don’t ever get filed over this.
Back when I was a firefighter and a much more outspoken person than I am now, I had a job at a theme park on my days off, working as a life guard. I caught the manager altering time cards to eliminate the other lifeguards’ overtime. To be fair, we had a history because I was busy dating my way through the female lifeguard staff, and he was angry because I had been spending some quality time with one of the lifeguards he had been dating. We had a heated discussion, and I told him I was going to HR. He told me that the argument had made me late coming back from my 30 minute lunch, so he was suspending me and wanted my employee ID. I told him “No problem, but the paragraph on the back of the ID says I owe $20 if I lose it, so I want a receipt.”
He refused to give me a receipt, and tried to snatch it from my hand, so I stuck the ID in my wetsuit. I then went to the locker room to retrieve my belongings. He followed me in there, calling for security on the radio and demanding I also turn in the wetsuit. I told him he wasn’t getting the wetsuit because we were forced to pay for it through payroll deduction. (they took the cost of the wetsuit out of our pay in 4 equal payments) He replied that this didn’t matter, because the company logo on the wetsuit meant it was company property. I grabbed my stuff from my locker, including the bag that had my Glock 19 in it.
I laughed at him and turned around to leave, only to see a company security guard standing in front of the exit to the locker room with his arms folded. The guard told me I couldn’t leave without turning in the wetsuit and my ID. I told him to get out of my way, or he would regret it. It was at that moment that the manager jumped on my back. As I tried to get rid of him, the security guard jumped in. So I did what I thought I needed to do while being attacked by two grown men- I drew my handgun and told them to get the fuck off of me. That worked.
As I walked to the exit of the park, security followed me. By the time I got to my car, I could hear the sirens. I locked my gun the car and waited. When the cops showed up, I told them everything. They went to talk to the manager. I was soon called over, and in front of the manager, the Sergeant asked me if I wanted to press charges. The manager couldn’t believe it as the cop explained to him that attacking me for what was obviously a civil matter was illegal. I was honestly surprised I didn’t get arrested.
I didn’t press charges. I was fired. I didn’t care, it was a shitty job anyhow. That manager only lasted another few months, then he left as well. Quit, fired, I don’t know. I still have the wetsuit and it still has the company logo on it. That incident was more than 20 years ago, and the wetsuit no longer fits. Oh, and the lifeguard I was dating? We broke up about that same time. I later found out she spent some time on the wrong side of the law for establishing a fake charity and scamming people out of money.
So yeah, I have had some shitty bosses. Being my boss doesn’t make you my owner, nor does it make you my boss when I am off the clock. I can be a stubborn asshole like that.
8 Comments
Himself · August 27, 2026 at 7:59 am
The difference here is you aren’t a
The difference here is you aren’t a ‘teen’ and the ‘teen’ was fired for cause and didn’t pay for the vest. Returning it was no doubt on her employment agreement.
This is the second video I’ve seen where a ‘teen’ was fired, and did something really stupid to get themselves into trouble, for what? Pride. She’d turn in the vest to this manager not that one. What bullshit. Turn it in, take the “L” and walk out with your head up.
The other one I saw was in a convenience store. There was a manager from a different store filling in. the “teen’ was being belligerent to customers, so he sent her home but she wouldn’t leave. Even after her manager told her to leave via phone, and they’d deal with it Monday she wouldn’t. The cops tried, patiently, to get her to leave. At the end, the manager on site said he’d sign off on criminal trespass if she didn’t leave so the cops went to her and explained, patiently, what that meant, which was basically – leave and we’re done. If we have to remove you we will and you’ll get charged. So she wound up not only being fired (she wasn’t to start with) and with criminal trespass and resisting arrest. For what? an “L”. Eat it. Leave.
Divemedic · August 27, 2026 at 9:38 am
Still going to be a civil matter. In most states, larceny is an intent crime. The key issue in a theft prosecution is intent, not simply whether Walmart owned the vest. Under Florida’s theft statute, § 812.014, the state must establish that the person knowingly obtained or used another’s property with intent to deprive the owner of its rights in the property or appropriate it to an unauthorized use. That means the state has to prove she intended to not return it. For that reason, the prosecutor likely won’t take this any farther. It’s a lot of work for a petit larceny case. The cops know that as well, making this a pure POP arrest. (Pissing Off Police)
This is going to boil down to a civil matter- she owes them a vest, they owe her a paycheck. Charges go nowhere.
Steady Steve · August 27, 2026 at 9:08 am
We’ve all been there. I had a job on a boat that had absolutely no engineering records. I took photos of all the equipment and data plates as well as making a written record of all information. I also collected missing technical manuals for most of it in PDF format and started keeping detailed maintenance logs. In addition I put together emergency procedures pages with photos and arrows so any crew member could carry them out, intending to make placards.All this was on my personal computer because the captain refused to buy one for the yacht. One day when the owner was drunk and couldn’t get the sound system working he told the captain to fire me. I was on a plane the next morning and when the captain called demanding all the files I had created I told him that since the owner had deleted my job so easily, I deleted all the files. I made that my policy ever since.
TCK · August 27, 2026 at 3:01 pm
An employee at the store I work at had her vest stolen after leaving her laundry unattended at her apartment’s communal laundry. A couple weeks later a guy who was not an employee but had a legit vest almost got a pallet of expensive TVs out of the store before someone realized what was happening and he had to ditch the merchandised making his get away.
There’s a reason we want those back, especially if the employee in question was fired for bad conduct and thus more likely to attempt theft or vandalism in retaliation.
WallPhone · August 27, 2026 at 3:37 pm
The dog I was walking was bitten by a off-leash neighbor’s dog. I declined to press charges since the only injury was pulled fur.
I saw the same dog a short time later again unrestrained and unsupervised. I sent them a letter stating I was videotaping every time this condition is observed.
They made up lies against me in order to obtain a court restraining order.
I’m never declining to press charges ever again.
Tsgt Joe · August 27, 2026 at 5:13 pm
I agree with Divemedic, that charge will go nowhere and mgt could have simply held her check until she turned it in. I also believe that girl learned absolutely nothing about getting along in life.
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